Family Visit part 1

I know that I haven't updated the blog in awhile. In my defense I really don't have a minute to myself. I literally can't even pee without having Ayla either come in the bathroom with me or bang on the door and yell "What doing Momma?" Being a stay at home Mom with two kids is much harder than being a full time teacher. Someone needs to start a stay at home Mom's union and petition the government to get paid for it. (HaHa :) ) Anyway, I'm going to try to update as much as I can so this post will hopefully be the first of a few new ones.

My Mom and my Stepdad Ray came to visit the first week in May. I hadn't seen them for almost a year so it was really great. I really missed them. While they were here we had Caiden's blessing at our church. My sister Tina, her husband Felipe and their two kids Raquel (4) and Camila (2) were also able to visit for the weekend of Caiden's blessing which also happened to be Mother's day. It was great to be together. Ayla really loved playing with her cousins. She still asks about them and wants to know where they are. While they were here we visited some of the local historical sites. Fredericksburg is very full of Civil War history it was a major battle in the Civil war and happened to be a huge victory for the South. We also have several other battlefields in the area, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, and Wilderness are all within a 20 minute drive and Mannassas (Bull Run) is about 45 minutes away. Anyway we visited the Fredericksburg battlefield which was fought on two fronts. The Union army set up their headquarters at Chatham manor which is a huge old mansion literally 2 miles away from our house. The union army basically just came to the mansion and took it over, they told the family to leave and they made it their headquarters. It's really a beautiful place. Before the war it was a working plantation complete with slave quarters and everything. After the war it became a working plantation again for awhile, but now it is a historical site. The following pictures were taken at Chatham manor.

Raquel, Camila, and Ayla all posing at the flower garden at Chatham manor.

Ayla, Raquel, and Nana looking into the fish pond

Ayla looking out the windowFelipe and CamilaThese trees are the oldest trees in the county, according to the tour guide. She said that the armies cut down all the other trees to be used in the war effort. These two trees are held up with boards and planks trying to keep them from falling down. The tour guide was telling us how the union army had a hospital clinic set up at the manor and so many men were coming in with wounds to their limbs that couldn't be fixed that the limbs would just be lopped off and thrown out the window. These two trees had limbs piled up all around them from the doctors just throwing them out. It created quite a vivid picture in my mind. The famous American poet Walt Whitman was there at the manor looking for his brother who was a soldier in the Union army and also supposedly there at one point. He looked out the same window that Ayla was looking out in the earlier picture and saw all the arms and legs piled up around these two trees and wrote a poem about it. I haven't looked up the poem yet, but I will.
This is the view overlooking the city from the manor, much is unchanged since the war. You can see the Rappahannock river at the bottom of the picture. This is what the Union army had to cross to attack the Confederates who had taken over the city.This is a picture of the manor from the other side of the river.

Later that evening we all took a walk around downtown Fredericksburg. I love downtown Fredericksburg, it's a really cute little town with small stores and quaint restaurants.
There's lots of little artsy stores, and some studios, also many antique stores. We wanted to show off our little town to my family. I really love Fredericksburg. This is what Caiden was doing while we walked around. Grandpa Ray carrying Raquel on his shoulders

The next day was Caiden's blessing. we are very blessed to have had my Mom, Ray, my sister Tina and her family in town for it. We also had Lucas's family, and my friend Ann and her husband Paul come to church with us for the blessing as well. It was very nice we took up two whole rows in the chapel. After the blessing we had a cookout with all of our family members. It was great fun. Here's Ayla playing with the bug catcher that Nana bought her.
Raquel holding baby Caiden.

Caiden in his blessing outfit.

Our family with Lucas's parents and his brother Leif. Please ignore what Ayla is doing in this picture. And no she did not learn this by example.

Mom and I with my kidsNana and Grandpa Ray with my familyAll of us together. Lucas's sister Emily and her husband Ike also came over but they arrived later and were not there in time for the pictures.Caiden and I

Nana and Grandpa Ray with CaidenGrandma and Grandpa Walde with CaidenThe last full day that Mom and Ray were here we went to DC. Ray had never been there before. It was great. We went to the American History museum, and Arlington Cemetery. Mom and Ray had gone up very early in the morning and visited all the monuments and more sites that we had all ready seen. With two kids we thought it would be better if we drove ourselves up and tried to do as much as possible. Here we are on the tour bus that drives through Arlington.

JFK's graveThe Eternal FlameArlingtonThe Tomb of the Unknown SoldierWe loved having my family visit. It was over much too quickly. While we really love the area that we live in the one downfall (besides the temperature and humidity) is that my family is sooo far away. We really appreciate the times we do get to spend together and we are really happy that Lucas's parents are close. We try to see them every Sunday and sometimes more often than that.