Family Time!

I love that my job allows me 3 months off during the summer. We get to spend lots of quality time with family and friends. My parents and oldest sister, Anna, came to visit us in June and we took them to Yellowstone. My parents hadn't been in 38 years. It was fun sharing it with them, even though it was still chilly.

Then we got to host the Bischoff Family Reunion at Bear Lake. This was a surprise highlight of the reunion when all the moms dressed up and tap danced.

Minus 2 husbands and a granddaughterAnother important event in June was my sister Louisa's wedding.

This is the best picture I have with the most people looking at the camera.
My brother and sisters are among my best friends. It's so fun to be adults together, even though we don't always act like adults.

Washington D.C. Days 2 and 3

I loved visiting Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot and learning more about this great man. He is one of my favorite presidents. It was also interesting to learn that his son was nicknamed Tad because as a baby his head was so large he looked like a tadpole.
We ran into Samuel L. Jackson! How awesome is that? (it's actually wax)

I was really looking forward to the American History Museum to see these:

and these:

And I was pleasantly surprised to see the original Star-Spangled Banner. I didn't know it was preserved. This flag is massive. It's 30 ft. x 34 ft. You can't take pictures of it, but here is a picture of a picture.

Seeing this flag was a touching moment as I thought of what it represents. This was one of my favorite things this trip.

This day I also got to see money being made and visit the Holocaust Museum. That was a very humbling and sad museum, but well worth it.

I ended the day by riding the Metro out to visit my friend Sara. We were neighbors in Hawaii. They had just moved there a few weeks before and I couldn't miss the chance to see her. I miss having Sara stop by our apt. on her way home every day and also sampling each other's cooking. That girl can cook!

We only had a few hours on our last day in D.C. so a teacher and I made the most of it by going to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Way better than the other wax museums in Gettysburg! The models have so much detail it seems they could come to life at any moment.

Compare Gettysburg's to Madame Tussaud's.

All in all, this was a wonderful trip. I learned a lot that will help my teaching, and I now have pictures and souvenirs to share with my students. Getting to know my colleagues better was also a great part of this trip.

My work in D.C. is done.

Washington D.C. Day 1

Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday we got to spend in D.C. Tuesday a bunch of us rode around on an open-top double-decker bus. It was fun being so high. You had to watch your head for low branches! One thing that was weird was when the bus driver and other worker got off the bus at the mall and said they were taking a 10 min. break. They took the keys and walked away. How is that good business?? This is me waiting during the break.
We went to Arlington Cemetery first. It's always peaceful and pretty. I love the magnolia trees.
Next we went to the Jefferson Monument. I really liked that one because it was quiet and beautiful.
Then we went up to the National Cathedral. The organist was practicing and it sounded like the Phantom would appear any moment. We found out to attend the private high school on the church grounds costs $41,000 a year!!
My favorite part of the day was going to Georgetown Cupcakes where the show D.C. Cupcakes is filmed. The cupcakes were yummy!We got to go up to the top of the Washington Monument at night, 500 feet! Luckily we rode the elevator instead of climbed the 800 steps.

Mount Vernon

Wednesday our group traveled to George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon. By 9 A.M. we were all sweating! We toured the mansion and the grounds, then spent the rest of the time in the museum and education center. I would recommend you visit here if you're making a trip to D.C.

This side of the house has a beautiful view of the Potomac River

Wouldn't you love to sit on your porch every day and see this view??

This is the "Necessary" or outhouse. It has 3 seats! Is this what started girls going to the bathroom together??

These fruit trees are trained to grow low to the ground. It saves space in your garden, and no ladders needed to pick the fruit. Genius!
We got to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony for George and Martha's tombs.
In the education center, this hologram image looks at you wherever you walk. It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz.
I ate a piece of cherry pie here, but my friend has the picture. It was great to learn more about our first president and see where he lived!

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

After attending seminars and reading books this year, I got to join the history teachers on a trip to Washington D.C. As soon as I walked off the plane, I could feel the moisture soaking into my dry, Idaho skin. Ah! Felt like home.
After a stressful Metro ride, we made it to our hotel. One teacher got her body halfway in the car when the doors shut and it caused the train to malfunction. When the driver announced we may have to unload the train, the people were cussing and muttering, "Y'all done broke tha train." I was just praying it would correct itself so we wouldn't get jumped! I know there were 15 relieved women when that train started moving.

Our hotel was 1 block from The Mall which was a perfect location. It had an awesome, roof-top pool that overlooked the capitol building.

The next day our group of about 30 rented a bus and we rode out to Gettysburg-about a 2 hour drive.

This was a "witness tree" that was there during the war.

Most of the middle school S.S. teachers

We got off the bus a few times as our tour guide explained the events of the 3 day battle. I loved that I had a background knowledge since I taught it just a few weeks ago. I'm excited to show pictures to my class of the battlegrounds. The trees behind him are where the first shots were fired.
We got to have lunch in the oldest building in Gettysburg. It was built in the 1700's! After lunch we saw a hideout for the underground railroad.

My friend JuliNext, our director had booked 2 museum visits for us: The Soldiers National Museum and The Presidents' Hall of Fame. They sound fancy right....wrong! I learned a new word to describe these museums-kitschy.

The soldier museum started out so so. It had glass cases of plastic soldiers set up in battle scenes. It also had helmets and weapons and things like that. It had bones from the Civil War with bullets in them which was actually pretty cool.
Then we saw this newspaper clipping and then we couldn't take it seriously anymore.

The "museum" was just a collection of toys!

We went down some steps into the "spook alley" of the museum. They had wax soldiers set up in a war scene in the forest/jungle. It was dark, the trees were hanging down all over, the soldiers had bushy hair and crazy eyes and were in strange poses. I thought at any minute something would jump out and grab us. We were dying laughing.

This is my boyfriend, Johnny Reb.

You have to see the natural lighting to get the full effect :)So after the "haunted house," we went to see the little orphan boy exhibit. I know it's sad to think about the orphans, but he looked so pitiful and scary, and we were so hyper, that this put us over the edge. I was about to cry I was laughing so hard.

So we go to the next museum and it is just as bad as the first. They had wax statues of all the presidents. Is this really what they looked like? They all had black circles under their eyes and crazed expressions. I could not believe teachers in their 40's and 50's were climbing under the ropes and taking pictures with them! We don't have to be good examples during the summer, right?

Washington and Adams

Jefferson

We did get a few more good things from Gettysburg before we left-real civil war bullets found on the battlefield (or maybe just rolled in the dirt out back), a pic of where the Gettysburg Address was given, and pics of houses with shrapnel and battle scars.
This red door is the house where, according to the brochure, "the only woman killed in battle while baking bread," was killed. Maybe they should reword that sentence...Oh, and I made better friends with my co-workers. I never knew some of them were so funny and crazy! They probably thought the same thing of me. :)