July 14, 2008, DC/Williamsburg Vacation day 2: Mount Vernon

Afer getting caught up on our sleep on Sunday night we let the kids sleep and we left the Howard Johnson's in Maryland at around 10:00 a.m. We were on our way to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. After experiencing our first bout with the traffic (We got stuck on the bridge going over the Potomac into Virginia, but it gave us our first glance at the Capital building and the Washington Monument) we got onto highway one, the George Washington Memorial Parkway. It was a beautiful section of road. Lot's of places to stop for a picnic and just to enjoy the river and its banks. We made it to Mount Vernon without too much trouble.

As we entered Mount Vernon there was greeter there who kepts saying "Happy Bastille" Day. I thought he said "Happy Best Deal" day. I thought we had come on the right day to save some money, but soon found out I had just heard him incorrectly. After petting the goats ouside the entry gate we walked through the museum and watched a short film on George Washington. It was very moving. (Okay, maybe that was just me, although I worked hard at helping my kids realize for the rest of the vacation that our freedom came then, and still comes with a price)

We made our way to the main Mount Vernon attraction, George and Martha's house. Calvin was wearing a Christian shirt he has that says "loser" on the front of it. As we were standing in line, the guy who was playing the role of a slave worker on the grounds inquired as to why Calvin had such low self-esteem. Of course that gave us a chance to explain what his shirt was all about.

In George's house we learned that Martha always had a Virginia Ham on the table every night for dinner. There was one room that was an awesome bright green, (Calvin's opinion) and the house, although made of wood was painted to make it look like stone. They would paint it and then throw sand on it. We also learned that George Washington loved Strawberry Ice Cream. We saw his current tomb and his former tomb, and also some of his farmland. He was quite an innovator when it came to farming, and all his time as General and then President of the United States were a distant 2nd and 3rd to his longing to be at home and simply work his land.

After a good day at Mount Vernon we meandered our way through the Washington DC suburbs to Clifton, which is an outlying suburb. We finally found our way to the home of Lee and Cindy Wilbur. Cindy is Rose's cousin. We would stay for them for the next 3 nights. We had a good dinner with them before they all had to leave for play rehearsal that most of them had a part in. The kids ended up playing Rock Band (video game, which would be a nightly occurence) that night before we crashed for the evening in preparation for our first day on the National Mall.

July 13, 2008: DC/Williamsburg Vacation Day 1: Early to Rise, Early to Bed

We got the kids out of bed at 2 a.m. to drive to Colorado Springs. Yes, dad thought it was a good idea to fly out of Colorado Springs instead of Denver. (We did save a little money that way) Seemed like a good idea in April. Kids slept as much as they could in the car. We got to the Springs in plenty of time. The Colorado Springs airport is small enough that we got right through and ready for our plane in plenty of time. It was there that we realized we had left our banannas for breakfast in the van and mom forgot her hat too. No problem. The gift shop in the airport had a hat mom could buy and we got a pastry and egg bagel sandwich that we shared for breakfast.

The plane rides from Colorado Springs to Houston and Houston to Baltimore were uneventful, thankfully. All but dad watched the movie Penelope on the plane and we got little mini sandwiches to eat for lunch. When we got to Baltimore we got our bags and got reintroduced to humidity. We don't get much of that in Colorado. We made our way to the Avis car rental counter and I surprised the kids by renting a Toyota Highlander (What else would someone who has owned only Toyota's get?). I told the kids not to expect a mini van or the like, but this car had a third seat which was very important to Kendra. (she doesn't like to sit by her sister too much) Once we found our way to the interstate we headed south to D.C. One of the first things we noticed was all the trees and very little ability to see beyond the road we were on. In Colorado we can see for miles. In Maryland and Virginia you can only see what's right in front of you.

We made it to the north end of DC and checked into our Howard Johnson hotel in Cheverly Maryland. Our hotel wasn't much to write home about, but it was a roof over our head. There were many people from other countries there. (A Japanese contingent and some of Australian persuasian to be exact) The A/C didn't stay ahead of the hot humidity too well in our room, but we survived. For dinner we ventured out to a Ruby Tuesday's in Landover, saw the stadium where the Washington Redskins play, and then got a few groceries at "Giant". We were all pretty beat after getting up so early, so we were all in bed and asleep by 9 PM.

We had made it through day 1, and we were on the East Coast ready for several days of adventure.

Family Vacation to DC/Williamsburg Virginia

Recently the Gifford clan took a two week vacation to the East end of the country. (DC area and Williamsburg Virginia area) We checked out as much history stuff as we could fit into a 12 day trip. We also got to experience some other things we aren't used to experiencing like seeing lots of trees and feeling lots of humidity, a couple things we don't have too much of here in Colorado.

We had a great time together, not to mention some funny moments!

Anyway, in the coming days look for a recap of each day of our trip.

Crash!

A funny thing happened on the way to guitar lessons. We were on the street in front of the music school and a woman in a Ford Explorer got a little tired of waiting to turn left and did it any way, without really checking the traffic and plowed right into us. Paige and I were okay and since I knew it would take awhile to deal with, I sent her to her lesson while I waited for the police. I had to get my car out of the street, which was a new experience with three wheels working and one smashed in, sort-of underneath the car. It was a slow dragging, driving, rubber being peeled from the tire kind of motion. It felt very wrong to be trying to drive a car that way but I didn't want to be hit again because I was in the middle of the street.

Debbie, the other driver, was not hurt but when she went to grab her jacket out of her car she found that one of the two dogs in the car with her had gotten so upset he had peed on her coat. Her car was very drivable, with just stratches on the bumper. You know what they say about accidents, the bigger car wins.

Paige was a trooper, no panic or tears, just headed off with her quitar strapped on her back. I think she was thrilled to have the adventure to share at school. My children have now determined that Kendra is the only one in the family who has not been a passenger when mom had an accident. Also, when I called Dave to tell him, he was meeting with our friend Scott. Scott mentioned that they were together the last time I called Dave to tell him I had been in an accident. From the way these people are talking you would think this is a weekly event.

Dave spent the evening unhappily shopping for minivans on-line. He was hoping that buying a minivan had been a once in a lifetime experience but here he is again. He kept asking, "does it really have to be a minvan?" He knows the only other alternatives that will accomodate 5 people (3 of whom are growing everyday) and the big dog are a van or an SUV. The kids suggested a van like the church has (a long 18 passenger) or a station wagon. Not going to happen. We also all know Dave is NOT going to pay to drive a gas guzzling SUV and they many times don't have that much room anyway. I told him to not think about buying a minivan for himself but that he is buying for his wife. His little convertible will have to wait. So for the time being the Gifford's are the proud owners of a 1994 Toyota Camry with the bent antena that just reached the milestone of 200,000 miles as our only form of tranportation.

I hit the car door with a little bit of force so I am a little sore and have a bruise on my right thigh and didn't sleep so well but I know I have so much to be truly thankful for. I had planned to shampoo the inside of the van, fill the almost empty tank and get that cracked windshield fixed. We also had an emissions test coming up and weren't 100 % sure it would pass, something about a cadilitic converter acting up. So needless to say I am glad I procrastinated on all those details. Seriously, I know that God protected us from harm on a busy street at rush hour. He continues to bless us with what we need and more. (Dave saw a few used vans with heated seats and automatic sliding doors, talk about luxury!)

An added blessing is that Paige made to her lesson and is now working on "Colorado Rocky Mountian High" as her next piece so life is good.

Rose

Battle of the Books

I'm gonna be in Battle of the Books.You probably don't know what that is so I'll tell you: Everybody in fifth grade got a slip it talked about the program. You Fill it out and return it to the librarian. She gives a list of book's and schedule and a paper where you make question's. You have to read 5 out of 10 books. When your done with the book you make 5 question's. You also have meeting's every other Thursday. Then you have battles. They ask you very detailed question's. If you win the school battles then you go district thereyu compete with 21 other school. If you win it you get a trophy and other stuff. It's really fun so far. :-0 :-) :-) :-)

Dakota's Birthday

Dakota is now A year old in people year's,7 year's in dog year's. We had a birthday party for him on 1/5/08. the Tillion's came to celabrate. They even brought their dog! We had a cake the dog's had a ton of treat's.They both got a santa chew toy. Dakota loves his. Actually he's playing with it right now. His real birthday was tuesday. He kept using the exscuse " it's my birthday ". Dakota's barking sorry talk to you later,Bye.

Happy New Year

Another year has passed and more memories have been deposited in the Gifford Family memory bank. 2007 has been quite a year for the Gifford clan as we have grown closer to God and to each other.

Happenings

Kendra had the opportunity to spend a week at DisneyWorld in Florida with her Aunt Jill. They had a great time together and a memory that she will have for the rest of her life.

In February Rose and I got away to Hilton Head South Carolina for a week. It was a great time to rest, to reconnect, and to celebrate our 20th anniversary a little bit early.

This summer Dave had many opportunities to hike and climb with friends from church and his friend Scott as they led people on a series of meditative hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Dave, Calvin, and 3 other guys from church spent a long weekend in a cabin just outside of Telluride. It was a beautiful setting. We did some hiking, soaked in the only geyser in Colorado, visited Mesa Verde, and even got in a little fishing.

In July we all went to the Black Hills for 2 days and then headed to Primgahr Iowa for Rose's parents 50th anniversary celebration. The kids got to perform a talent in front of the church family. Paige sang Old Rugged Cross, Kendra recited all the books of the bible, and Calvin amazed the audience with his card trick abilities. The men and young men in the group even dazzled the crowd with some dancing performed to the music of the Bee Gee's.

Dave

The Fall has been very busy for Dave as he has been engrossed in an effort to change the culture at the church we attend. We want to build a church that is built on getting people connected in LifeGroups. We are well on our way with over 70 groups formed to this point and over 700 people actively involved meeting with others on a regular basis.

Rose
Rose is still working hard at Thornton High School and very busy orgnaizing events for the FCCLA program there. She still teaches kindergarteners every Sunday, and has even done some teaching of some parenting classes at the church.

Paige
Paige is not in 3rd grade and growing up fast. She loves playing with her friends, playing guitar (she did her first recital recently!) and asking when our family is going to do its next "family fun night". Paige loves to organize people (even if they don't want to be organized) and keep the mood in the house light. She seems to have a real knack for this.

Kendra

Kendra is in 5th grade and anxiously getting ready for middle school. She has her moments now, when she seems very much like a middle school girl, so I guess she will fit right in. She continues to excel in school and still doesn't like to go hiking or camping. (how did she end up in Colorado?)

Calvin

Calvin is now in 8th grade and just months now from entering High School. (Where did the time go?) His voice is changing and he has lots of friends at school and church. Calvin loves Christian music, playing basketball and even took some golf lessons this year. (Maybe he and I can hit the links together)

New Patio

Our big project for the year was transforming our backyard into more usable space. We had a 20 by 20 slab of concrete layed and bought all new patio furniture to complete the project. We even bought a fire pit! (Next year though we have to do the AC in the house.)

Dakota

But lastly but certainly not leastly, the biggest event in our year may have been on May 25 when we brought home a new addition to our family. At only 16 weeks young we brought home a beautiful 36 pound Golden Retriever. What a gift and blessing from God he has been to us. His name is Dakota, but don't let the mass of fir and bones fool you. (He is 75 pounds now!) He is a true sweetheart of a dog. He loves to play, but he also loves to please anyone who will give him attention. We are all learning the art of dog ownership. We can't run enough with him to please him, so he is a great weight control device too. He is always ready to go farther and faster than we are.

God has blessed our family in many ways this year. We try to thank him everyday for what he has given us in life itself, in the gift of each other, but mostly, the gift of God's son, Jesus. Our hope is that you have the hope found him as well. May 2008 be a year that brings us all closer to God through Jesus.

Happy 2008 from the Giffords!