What an adventure! Over the 4th of July weekend, we flew to Virginia to see my brother, Tim, and his family. What made it so adventurous, you ask? Most of my siblings and my mom and dad also made the trip, so altogether, there were 17 of us "Wallaces" blissfully enjoying each other's company! Our first stop when we arrived in Virginia was to tour the Air and Space Museum in Dulles. We got to see some amazing historical aircraft. I thought the coolest part was the Shuttle and spacecraft exhibits.
The next day was the 4th of July. There were big plans on Tim's army base for Independence Day activities, including a concert and fireworks. Tim has recently become the conductor of this army band and this was to be his first big concert. We all went down to the field as activities got under way with food vendors and activities for children, but as we lingered, waiting for the concert to begin, stormy weather rolled in. It became obvious that the weather wasn't going to blow over anytime soon, so the concert and fireworks were cancelled. It was a huge disappointment for everyone, especially Tim and Mom and Dad. Tim even had canons set up to go off during the "1812 Overture." We did our best to move on with our vacation...what good does it do to fume about things that are out of our control?
On Saturday, we had birthday party fun! 
We decided to celebrate all of the kids birthdays together because we never get to celebrate with Connor, Ella, and Laney (Tim and Cindy's kids) and a lot of the cousins have summer birthdays. 
So, we went mini-golfing and go-cart riding and then we came back for an awesome supper Tim made and a "Hawaiin Luau" party complete with a Volcano cake and pinata.
We decided to go to a beach on Sunday. We drove to a little beach by Historic Jamestown where the kids could swim in the ocean without too much concern about the tide. 
We had a great time splashing and playing with water guns and digging in the sand. After a picnic lunch, we spent some time exploring history at Jamestown. We saw a reinactment of the glass-blowing trade done in the 1600's when the first settlers came from Europe. We went back to the army base and settled in early so we could be well-rested for our big day in Washington D.C. on Monday.
As I think about what to write about our day in D.C., I'm realizing that I'd rather not relive all of the sorted details...I'll just point out a few life lessons I learned: you can't trust Mapquest; the subway was more complicated than I remembered; 17 people can't get anywhere quickly; you can get lost on an army base; and never, ever do I want to be a contestant on "The Amazing Race." Now I'll choose to focus on the positive. We got off our trolley tour at the Lincoln Memorial. There's something 
about walking up those stairs and into that huge room with Lincoln's statue that is just overwhelming. Even with a "not-so-impressed" four-year-old, I was able to take in a moment of awe at the importance of Lincoln's presidency. My personal highlight of our day in D.C. was our next stop, the Korean War Memorial. It wasn't there when I went with Close-Up in 1990. Also, with our upcoming trip to South Korea, it had an intensely personal connection for me. If South Korea was overtaken by the Communist forces, there would not be any international adoption program and we wouldn't be getting our Sophia, so I just stood there, looking at those soldier statues, thinking, "Thank you...thank you..." After that, we walked over to the Vietnam War Memorial, which was also very meaningful since Chris's dad, Chuck Rose, fought in that war. It's so overwhelming to see all of those names carved in that long black wall. 
We flew back home the next morning, relieved to be getting back to a regular schedule and our own personal space. It's so important to realize that even when things don't go as planned, we still have so much to be thankful for. We treasured our time with my youngest brother Tim, who we are so proud of; and Cindy, his wife, who made us all feel welcome and comfortable and at ease; and their kids, Connor, Ella, and Laney...such fun cousins for Jacob to play with!
Thank you, Ted, for driving us to the airport and thank you, Amanda, for picking us up. We are so thankful for great friends! Thank you Sue, for figuring out the trolley situation...that was very enjoyable for our family. Thank you Pete and Paula for figuring out how to get us from point A to point B. Mom and Dad, thank you for putting up with our ambitious plans without a single compaint. Tim and Cindy, thank you for letting us invade your home, eat your food, and for all of the driving you did. You are wonderful hosts!
