Space Shuttle Discovery

There is a National Air and Space museum other than in DC at the National Mall. Here my 3 guys are looking at the real Discovery Space Shuttle!

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Dinner at Checkers

A walk-up & drive-up only burger joint. They had good burgers and hotdogs, and they had really good loaded potato skins and chocolate soft serve.

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Departing DC

Metro to VRE to car to resort. Four tired people, 8 very tired feet.

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E = m c ^2

Hans & Fritz reading Einstein's notes.

After visiting the Albert Einstein memorial outside the National Academy of Science, we went inside to cool off, rest our feet, have a snack, and look at the exhibits. I dont think the public comes down here to the cafeteria very much.

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Washington Monument

It is very humid in DC today. The Washington Monument is closed for repairs from the 2011 earthquake.

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VRE

Taking the train from Fredericksburg, VA to Washington, DC.

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O'Betty's Red Hots

Hot dog museum and restaurant, Athens, Ohio.

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Day 3

We spent most of the day in and near Indianapolis. We were at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis when it opened at 10. The staff put on a brief 'Be Our Guest' performance before the museum opened. We headed to the rock wall ticket booth first to get signed up for a free climbing slot. Hans and Fritz both determined that the wall here, which resembled real rock more than the wall at our YMCA, was more difficult than the one they are used to climbing.

Dad's favorite part of the museum was the 3 story tall water clock. In this photo, the staffer is explaining how it works before it drained almost all 70 gallons at 1pm.


After a late lunch at White Castle, we headed north to visit my aunt and uncle, whom I hadn't seen since my dad's funeral over 4 years ago. We finished off a nice 3 hour visit with dinner at Applebee's. Then we drove through a heavy rainstorm (twice) into Ohio for the night.

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Day 2

After only 24 hours of vacation, we have spotted license plates of 30 different states. Our rules include that we must be in the car and that the vehicle we spot must be moving.

We started the day in Missouri, having crossed the border last night to get out of Kansas in Day 1. We traversed the Missouri River twice and spotted the Gateway Arch from a distance on our way through St. Louis. In Illinois, we stopped at My Garage museum, and saw the restored 1910 gas station in Effingham that we learned about from RoadsideAmerica.com. We didn't get a photo because it was raining at the time. The Volkswagon section of the museum had WW II vehicles, and the other section had Corvettes. We found a poster with Volkswagons, and Dad was able to show the rest of us which kind was the same as 'Sparky,' the VW bus he drove in college. After that, we drove into Indiana for the night.

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And We're Off...

Less than 2 hours later than our target time, but it's all good! Packing was an exercise in 3-D Tetris.

Where's George?

We have started spending the $300 that I "Georged" over the past 2 days. Where's George is a fun website!

Watering new tomato plants at our church's community garden

Fritz didn't want to dig holes for the new plants, but he was happy to water them after our friends got them in the ground.

Archery

Hans in PE at Camp Hyde this week.

Happy 2013!

Hans was playing around with my phone recently and took these pictures with the "posterize" effect.

Rite of Passage

Fun or work?

Old fashioned jungle gym

Independence Day celebration

Hans and Fritz each pulled the pin on our soda geyser. Later, we watched city fireworks from a park.

Parking Lot Carnival

Two of those blurs are Hans and Fritz.

Science

Hans disassembling the nonfunctioning toaster.

New Year's Eve

Unseasonably warm... t-shirts without jackets.