{Spring Break} A Presidential Virginia

While we weren't able to get away for a long period of time this Spring Break, but we did make an effort to take a mini getaway to Virginia to check off a few more stops on our (seemingly never-ending) presidents list...

First stop - the site of President James Monroe's first Charlottesville home...

and his second, "Monroe Hill", on the University of Virginia campus...

We visited his most well known home, Ash Lawn-Highland, a couple of years ago...

From there, we stopped at the birthsites of both President Thomas Jefferson...

and President Zachary Taylor...

before heading over to tour Montpelier...

and then, Poplar Forest, the lesser known home of President Thomas Jefferson...

{10 Trip} Celebrating TEN ~ Arizona!

So, we wanted to plan a special one-on-one trip with our littles when they turned 10, and with our oldest turning the magic number later this month + our favorite Tigers heading to the CFP National Championship in Arizona, we thought that the perfect little getaway surprise!

When I think of B, I think of Clemson, football, hiking (really nature and anything outside), and presidents, so here we go!

 

From getting up close and personal with all of the important trophies...

  

to getting autographs from some of his favorite players of the past...

we had a wonderful time...

even if our favorite team didn't come out on top.

We also made time to get in a little presidential history, of course, by visiting the Roald Amundsen Pullman Car at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale...

  

Built in 1928, and now listed on the National Historic Register, the Roald Amundsen is best known for being used by every president from Herbert Hoover through Dwight Eisenhower.  In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister W. L. McKenzie King signed the agreement that provided for the joint defense of North America, now known as NORAD...

 

Before catching our flight home, we got in a little exercise, too, with an afternoon climb to the top of Camelback Mountain... 

All in all, a great little getaway with our most favorite 10 year old!

{Weekend Adventure} Driving on the Beach

While we had a pretty uneventful drive home, we did make a lunch stop in Daytona Beach...

because you really haven't lived until you've driven ON the beach in your car!  My memories of doing this as a child were way more exciting, but it was a fun adventure, nonetheless...

{Weekend Adventure} Key West, FL

Anyone who knows us at all knows that it isn't a true adventure unless we tie in something presidential or at the very least, educational...  Ha!

So, while already down in Miami, we decided to go on down to Key West.  We hadn't been there since a wedding back in 2007.

Our first stop was a tour at the Harry S. Truman Little White House...

before grabbing the must-do photo op at the Southernmost Point of the Continental U.S.A. to commemorate the girls' first trip to Key West... 

See my thoughts on extreme points here, along with the ones that we have visited so far...

Lubec, Maine
Angle Inlet, Minnesota
Rugby, North Dakota
Belle Fourche, South Dakota

But, I digress...

We enjoyed dinner at Blue Heaven...

especially the Key Lime Pie...

before starting out on the trek home!