When school got out, our nephew Sam came to stay with us for 3 weeks to watch the kids while we worked. We still remember hearing the news of Elizabeth being pregnant with him a little over 17 years ago, and have loved watching him grow into the young man he is today. It was really special to have him with our family for a few weeks, and to get to spend individual time with him. The kids all look up to Sam, and we loved watching them bond and have fun together. Elizabeth and Abigail drove out with Sam, and Abigail surprised the cousins, which Eliza especially loved! They made it on time for Benjamin’s last soccer game, and the next day we got to visit with Jen, Joe, Michel, Catherine, Ron, and Nancy.
Sam kept busy with his cousins, each week they had different plans. Benjamin had 1/2 day soccer camp two of the weeks, the boys had sleep away camp the middle week, and Eliza had 1/2 day VBS one of the weeks, so they all got to spend individual time with Sam at various points throughout his time here. Sam kept them active, they did lots of fishing, swimming, basketball, bike riding, trips to the library, took Eliza to swim practice, bounced one day at Skyzone, and took trips into town for chocolate milkshakes. He did a great job planning active days that kept the kids engaged and having fun. I don’t have many pictures of their days, but here’s a few.
Fishing at the dock
Drop off for sleep away camp at Camp Highroad
Lots of time at the pool
One day we all went to the Shenandoah River to go kayaking and canoeing. We did a 7.5 mile trip, which took about 4 hours since we got out to swim, played in the rapids, and floated. Waiting by the river for the river company to open. There was only one other group of people fishing down the river, otherwise we had the entire river to ourselves.
We were driven 7.5 miles up the road then dropped off!
The boys had kayaks, and Nathan, Eliza, and I rode in the canoe, and sometimes we played musical boats.
Our exciting very small class 2 rapids, but the kids enjoyed playing there for a while.
It was a fun day!
Another morning when Caleb had gymnastics, Nathan took Sam and Benjamin hiking at Great Falls National Park.
The following week the boys were away at a sleep away camp and we had a day off work, so Nathan and Sam hiked Old Rag Mountain. It’s one of our favorite hikes in VA with beautiful views, it’s a challenging 9 mile hike. Nathan said they did it in record time of 3 hours and he could hardly keep up with Sam!
Another day when Caleb was at gymnastics, Nathan took Benjamin and Sam to the Dulles Air and Space Museum. The museum has thousands of aviation and space artifacts, to include the Space Shuttle Discovery, a Blackbir SR-71, and a Concorde. Sam is interested in aerospace engineering, and enjoyed seeing all the aircraft.
Another weekend we went to the International Spy Museum and the Bible Museum downtown. The Spy museum showcases spy tradecraft, its history, role espionage played in many world events, and it has the largest collection of espionage artifacts on display. A few years ago the museum moved to new location in a much larger building, and we all enjoyed visiting the interactive museum that took each person on a spy mission throughout their visit.
This hang bar was popular and everyone wanted to try it. Eliza held on for almost 20 sec, Benjamin for close to 30, and Caleb and Sam went the entire time to 60 second. As you held on it rotated and moved. They said it was challenging.
Sam loves history, especially WWII, and he soaked up how espionage played significant roles in major historical world events.
We packed a cooler and had lunch in the car, then walked about to the Museum of the Bible…it was a hot day!
The museum was opened in 2017, and it show the narrative, history, and impact of the Bible going back to Biblical times. It has 1,150 items in its permanent collection and 2,000 items on loan from other collections. The museum had 6 floors of history, and while we were only there for a few hours, one could spend a couple days there to see all the exhibits.
We visited multiple floors, starting with the history of the Bible, then visited an exhibit on the history and archaeology of ancient Israel, and we ended our visit with the Bible experience, which were two animated walk-throughs of the Old and New Testament, and an exhibit on Jesus of Nazareth. It was a such a well-done museum and we would love to get back to see more of the exhibits.
This was a collection of bibles that were transcribed into world languages. The bibles were characterized by fully transcribed Old and New Testament, just the New Testament, portions of the Bible, in progress, not begun, and not yet acquired. There was a large section of languages where it was prohibited to have a bible, and that was most of the ‘not yet acquired’ languages. It was a fascinating display and encouraging to see how many languages the Bible has been transcribed into.
Views of the DC skyline from the top floor of the museum.
While we all loved the museum, one of the highlights for the boys was getting to meet the University of Maryland Terrapins football team. Sam noticed the group during the Bible walk through, and rightly suspected they were football players. He and the boys may or may not have followed them to the bathroom and gift shop, before getting the courage to talk to them. The guys were so kind and offered to take a picture with the kids and signed some autographs. We later saw them at the ice cream truck outside the museum and talked to them a little more.
Another day Sam went to the Bobrowski’s, and Joe took them on a tour of the Pentagon. Afterwards, they visited the Arlington Cemetery, and toured many of the monuments near the mall. He said it was a great day and loved seeing the Pentagon and all the US history.
All good things must come to an end, but we were excited to visit IL. On the way back, we stopped at a couple of college campuses along the way. First stop was Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, home of the Hokies.
VT is a beautiful campus with lots of old brick buildings and open green spaces. It is a top rated engineering school, and Sam was interested in seeing some of the engineering buildings. We found the library and a couple of the engineering buildings. Each discipline had their own building! Afterwards, we played in the green space, had dinner at Mellow Mushroom, then called it a night.
The next morning we stopped at the field house on the way out of town, then headed to Knoxville to see the University of Tennessee.
Home of the Volunteers!
They are both very large college campuses with almost 30,000 students at each, but UT seemed liked a larger campus and has a more urban feel to it.
Football is very popular here too.
Future college soccer player
Future college track star
It was a great to show Sam a couple colleges, and a fun way to end our time together. Next stop, Herrin, IL!
