Fort McHenry

In May of last year, right before our trip to Oklahoma to help with tornado relief, I told Nick that I had a very strong impression that we needed to visit each one of my siblings some time in the next calender year.  He said that sounded nice, gave a sideways smile and nod, and moved on with whatever he was up to.  I think he thought it was a passing notion that would come and go.  You would think after 13 years of married life, he would know his dear, sweet wife a little better.

The "notion" did not come and go.  Indeed, it was soon put into action.  Within the next eleven months, we made two trips to Oklahoma to see Jason and Robin and Kyle, a trip to Houston to visit Greg's family, and after a little wheeling and dealing, planned a trip to Washington D.C. to see Eric and Jenny.  We managed to orchestrate the trip to coincide with not only a conference Nick needed to attend in D.C., but also with a conference my Dad had in the area.  It was wonderful timing and set the stage for 10 days of fun and memories.

The trip kicked off with many longs hours of driving, then flying, then waiting, and flying some more.  Thank heaven for brilliant people who started putting play places inside airport terminals!

Thank heavens as well for a sneaky mother who brought along a little surprise to thrill the children during part of our wait time.  As I mentioned a few posts ago, Grandma and Grandpa Hoskins gave the kids some caterpillars as a special Easter surprise.  Unfortunately, they had not hatched by the time we were set to leave for our ten day trip.  Consequently, there was no other option than for me to place them in a small jar, collapse the butterfly house, and discretely sneak them onto the airplane!  I'm not sure I was technically doing anything wrong by bringing them onboard, but just in case, I was wise enough not to publicize my decision.  

Upon arriving at the Baltimore Airport; however, I could no longer conceal my surprise.  I took a quick peak at them as we were waiting to pick up our rental car, and low and behold--one of the chrysalises was shaking like a leaf in the wind.  I popped open the butterfly house, set the container of little cocoons inside it and Presto!  A beautiful little butterfly emerged right on cue.  The kids were tickled!  We stopped and stared at the amazing transformation that had come over our homely little furball, and ignored the many imploring looks we received as other travelers wandered by.

Then we loaded up our things into the car, and set of to kill a few hours before heading south to Eric and Jenny's home.  As we pondered what to do over a Subway Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich, Spencer suddenly perked up with an idea. 

"What city did you say we were in?"  he asked.

"Baltimore," Dad replied.

"Isn't that the city the British attacked during the War of 1812?"  he continued.  "Couldn't we go to the Fort and see where the Star Spangled Banner was written."

I was totally taken back by this astute observation.  Why the heck hadn't I thought of that!  I quickly googled Fort McHenry on my I-phone, and sure enough, we were within ten miles of the fort.  We popped back into our rental car, and a proud little Spencer navigated us to the entrance of the park.

Just as we pulled into the parking lot, butterfly number 2 made his grand re-entrance into the world, and the kids quickly gathered some flowers to leave in the car with their new friends as we toured the site.

Then we headed inside.  Our first stop at Fort McHenry was to the big amphitheater to watch what turned out to be a super cool presentation.  In the theater, we watched a historical video  that ended with the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.  As the song played, the movie screen rose to display a huge window and Fort McHenry right above us on the hill.  Waving in the wind was an accurate replica of the Stars and Stripes as it flew on that fateful day.  It was a stunning surprise that moved most of the audience to tears!  I know I was sniffling away!  I just love American history!  What a perfect way to kick off our trip!!

The video was followed up by a brief tour of the museum, and then a few leisurely hours wandering the grounds and buildings of the historic fort.

The kids loved it and capped off our visit by letting Dad make a video of them singing all three verses of the Star Spangled Banner--a school memorization project that mom was quite proud of.  A crowd gathered as they sang and applauded them heartily as they concluded.  They were pretty pleased with themselves, as was their school teacher and mother!