Our next stop in Virginia was Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.  This was one of the most interesting tours of our trip, because it had so much of Thomas Jefferson’s personal character throughout it.

Aside from being the author of our Declaration of Independence and our 3rd President, Jefferson was also an inventor, a brilliant scholar, a dutiful keeper of records, and an enthusiastic farmer.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the house, which is a shame because I’d love to show you some of his original inventions, such as the 7-day weighted clock, a copying machine that would transcribe a duplicate each time he wrote a letter, and the self-closing door.

He would have been a fascinating individual to know, even aside from his patriotic duties and accomplishments.  His duty to this country cost him much.  He died bankrupt after being forced to pay for the government out of pocket, since there was no federal funding set up at the time.  Yet, he still completed the Louisiana Purchase, which devalued his own land (his only asset) as it doubled the size of the country.

Exterior

This little square is the earliest portion of the mansion, and is where the Jeffersons first lived:

Gardens

Jefferson considered himself first and foremost a farmer, and he had the gardens to prove it. He spent his life raising plants in fields and greenhouse, searching for a new species that would be of notable benefit. Evidently, he never found it, but enjoyed the work.

He leveled off a plateau on one side of the estate, where he planted rows and rows of various vegetation, organized by which part of the plant was harvested: roots, leaves, stalk, etc.

That’s Jens and his mom Cyndy in the distance:

Trees

There are some pretty cool trees on the property, such as this massive one:

And this gnarly thing:

And this one that used to be pretty dang large:

Burial Site

The Jefferson burial grounds remain private property of his decedents, and are still used today.

Anne Harloe Truscott’s was my favorite:

In case you can’t read the message to her late husband, it says, “After 52 years of being together, this time, dear, you led and I will follow.”

Thomas Jefferson’s obelisk covers several of his family members. It is larger than the original obelisk that he designed. I’m not sure what happened to that one.

People throw coins onto his grave. I find that ironic, seeing as he died penniless.

For Jens’ 30th Birthday, his mom took us on a trip to Virginia to see some of our nation’s historical sites.  Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery.

More than 300,000 people are buried in an area of 624 acres (2.53 km2). Veterans and military casualties from every one of the nation’s wars are interred in the cemetery, from the American Civil War through the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.

The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It stands on top of a hill overlooking Washington, D.C.

One of the more popular sites at the Cemetery, the tomb is made from Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It consists of seven pieces, with a total weight of 79 short tons (72 metric tons). The tomb was completed and opened to the public April 9, 1932, at a cost of $48,000.

It was initially named the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” Other unknown servicemen were later entombed there, and it became known as the “Tomb of the Unknowns”, though it has never been officially named.

Other frequently visited sites in the cemetery include the grave of President John F. Kennedy, who is buried with his wife and two of their children. His remains were placed there on March 14, 1967, a reinterment from his original Arlington burial site, some 20 feet away, where his body was interred in November 1963. His grave is marked with an eternal flame. The remains of his brothers, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, are buried nearby. The latter’s graves are marked with simple crosses and footstones.

The longer I look at this picture, the more it makes me laugh.

Kaelin: “Do cats lick themselves like dogs after they poop?”
Daddo: “Yes.”
Kaelin: “Hmm… Cats are cool.  But I wouldn’t want to be one.”

Why yes, it DOES look different around here…

Jens has this thing about not starting the “Christmas Season” until after his birthday, which is usually a couple of days after Thanksgiving.

Up until this point, I’ve been pretty accommodating… but this year?

My Christmas blog design is going up early.

I AM SUCH A REBEL.

It’s been a while since I’ve put together a blog design in Expression Engine.  I hope the entries still show up in everyone’s feed reader.  That’s the thing about EE – it’s highly customizable but it seems that everything you do affects everything else.

So anyway, let me know if you see anything wonky going on.

Also, I bought Kaelin a Christmas tree for her room.  We’ll see how long before the big tree gets put up in the living room.  She’s on my side now

So I’ve been jogging lately.  It’s a good form of exercise, a good way to relieve stress, and a good way to push myself into doing something I never thought I was capable of.

See, I’m not a runner.  Actually, I think it’s safe to say that I’m not an ATHLETE.  I can’t think of a single sport in high school P.E. that I remotely excelled in.  Swimming, maybe, but that’s because most of the girls in my class were pretty bad swimmers.

But I’ve always hated running.  In high school, we had to run a mile each week during P.E. It took everything I had to make it around that 1/4-mile track ONE time.  I usually felt that my lungs were going to give out on me afterward, despite the fact that I had walked about 3/4 of the mile.  My personal best time was 12+ minutes, and I remember being pretty near death after that one.

The other thing that has always prevented me from running is the fact that I have bunions, so I can’t use my big toes too much or else it’s hard to walk the next day.

Today, I ran a mile.  An entire one.  Without stopping, even once.  My time was somewhere around 11 minutes, according to the clock on my iPhone.

And when I finished that mile, I continued to run 2 more miles, walking only about 15% of the time.

Now, I know an 11+ minute mile isn’t anything spectacular.  This guy I know just ran a 5K in under half an hour, while pushing 2 kids in a stroller.  But I couldn’t help thinking how at almost 30 years old, and 20 pounds heavier, I’m apparently in better shape (muscle-wise, anyway) than I was in high school.

And how even at this stage in life, I can push myself to accomplish something that I used to believe I would never be capable of.

As always, my moment of glory passed quickly.  Shortly into mile #2, I tripped over a ridge in the sidewalk and totally ATE IT on the pavement.  As in, belly flop onto the ground – my knees never got the chance to catch me.  My hands, thigh and lifeline iPhone paid the price.  As did my pride.

I never did that in high school either.  I guess some things do get worse with age.

“Koren, you don’t have to keep shouting, shouting, and praising the Lord like a MANIAC all the time!”

Someone PLEASE tell me what to do with the 3 ENORMOUS bags of Halloween candy still sitting in my pantry!

Last year, I didn’t have enough candy for all the trick-or-treaters.  So this year I stocked up.  Except… we didn’t get back to the house until 8:30pm.  And apparently all the trick-or-treaters in OUR neighborhood have returned home by 8:30.  When I was growing up, I seem to remember people coming to our house steadily until well after 10pm.  When did this change?

Anyway, Halloween was fun, and I DID in fact get Koren’s costume finished in time, with a few hours to spare. 

My mom had to do an emergency restoration on Kaelin’s costume, which she wore to a birthday party the night before, and which, contrary to what the tag says, WAS NOT MACHINE WASHABLE.  The stupid thing fell apart.  Obviously, we weren’t able to get the glitter back on, so you can see that it only extends 2/3 the length of the dress.  But thanks, Mom, for piecing the skirt back together!!!

Jens had an all-day-through-dinner meeting today, so it was just me and the kids for most of the day.  It’s almost 10pm and he’s not home yet.

Since I’m not used to single-parenting after 5pm, I had a panic attack decided to fill the late afternoon hours with activities.

First, I loaded up on drinks and snacks and took the kids to the park for an extended play session. 

Kaelin met a new friend and they followed each other around and shared shacks, while Koren tried everything he could think of that would lead to certain death.  This particular playground has a lot of levels and he hasn’t yet figured out that he can’t fly off a 2-foot drop.

After Kaelin’s new friend went home, the kids ran and rolled around in the grass for a while.  We ended the outing with a trip to Yogurtville, which met the approval of both parties.

We returned home for dinner, baths, and our nightly tradition of playing chase around the living room.

I ended up with two very sleepy kids.

I have nothing to say!  Here, let me distract you with pictures of my kids!

Koren has recently adopted Kaelin’s fascination with “cleaning” and tries to “help” whenever possible. Unlike Kaelin, who prefers wet cloths, Koren’s cleaning tool of choice is any of the various floor mops.

It seems that for every minute he manages to entertain himself, I spend 2 minutes cleaning up after him when he’s done.