Natural Bridge Trip

These photos are from my Earth Sustainability class trip to Natural Bridge, Virginia on October 18, 2008. The boys joined us and one of my students from last year came along to help watch the two young mountain climbers!

It's quite huge -- you actually drive over it to get there!

Where's Waldo?

Imagine me saying 500 times this day, "boys, get down!" It was made harder by the fact that the big "boys" of 18 and 19 were doing the same!

Spencer listened intently to a discussion on how early Monacan Indian tools were made. Those tour guides are sure passionate, but equally long-winded.

This was taken in the caves. They are fairly sizable and it takes about 45 minutes for a guided tour.

I'd love to know what was going on in that little mind!

Halloween preview

This was an easy Halloween for me as costume maker. The kids would have opted not to dress up had that not been a condition of getting candy! Spencer is reprising his role as a ghost, and he did the white makeup himself (much to my chagrin, but Robert told him to go ahead...that's what I get for napping!). Grant is a LEGO. This was the real resourceful one. I bought some green sponges, cut them into circles, turned a matching green shirt inside out (because it had pictures on it), glued them on, and added LEGO logos using the computer t-shirt transfers that you can make yourself. They wore their costumes to Fall Festival at school this evening.

DC Trip - Day 1 & 2

VT was off for Fall Break on Friday so we took the kids for a whirlwind trip of DC. On the way up we stopped at the Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles. My favorite thing was the prototype for the space shuttle Enterprise. The plan was to retrofit it for flight but that never happened so this one was never in service. What is incredible is the size and scale of it and to think of it piggybacking on a 747 I think it is. It's pretty massive.



In the tower overlooking Dulles airport - 168' up. Looks like the "City of Brotherly Love"!


Robert wanted this photo of an ancient computer (it pains me to even call it that!) that he actually worked with. Geez, that really dates him (OK, us!).

Outside the museum at Dulles.



We took the Metro downtown. Of course our monkeys could not resist the poles. And yes, I recognize the connection to a certain type of disreputable dancing!!


The capital. This is as close as we got.



The White House!
One of many "drink breaks" requested by the kids as we marched them around Washington. The deal was, if you complain, we're packing up and heading home! That kept the complaints at bay. (Was I that wimpy a walker as a kid?!)


200 million-year-old petrified wood outside the Natural History museum.


Day is done.

Grant loved his perch in the hotel elevator that opened up to the 8 story atrium!

Let's Go Hokies!

I went to my first Hokie game in many, MANY years. Did I mention MANY years? A neighbor offered three tickets so Spencer, Robert, and I made the trek. We enjoyed a brief visit to the Cranwell tailgate then took in the Homecoming game against Western Kentucky, where we won, 27-13. We were in the East Stands which were bathed in sunlight and we baked. Fortunately I had a tank on under my Hokie shirt and could shed a layer. Others were not so lucky!

Looking like a first grader!

Grant lost a top front tooth - the natural way, this time! So now he looks like a true toothless first grader! He lost the other one when he was three I think - lost to a concrete step. It was ugly. So now we have to hope that both top teeth will come in. There was some question about whether the growing adult tooth could have been damaged in the fall. I hope not!

Here's another chair picture! This is one of many ways in which bodies are draped over it!