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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Monticello - Day 9

Well, it has taken a while, but here is the final post of the official vacation part of our vacation! We drove Sunday morning to Charlottesville, Va. where the home of Thomas Jefferson stands. Around here, we call him TJ and he is Holly's favorite president (long story!). In case you don't know, Monticello means "little mountain" and is so named for the "little mountain" that it sits on top of. We were bused up to the top and enjoyed the views immediately.



Next came our tour of the house. He was such an awesome guy and had the coolest things that he invented or improved upon in his home. I am amazed at the "technology" they had back then! We were not allowed to take pics, so once again, you will have to go for yourselves to see the inside! After the tour, the kids used quill pens and ink to write notes:






The tree pic:



The rest of our day was spent walking the grounds, climbing up and down the mountain and enjoying being together in a beautiful place.

TJ had an immense garden with all sorts of things growing that is kept up even now. One of the most intriguing to us was the Caracala Bean. The flower is called the snail flower because of the way it twists and turns. I want to grow these! You can see the flower and the bean in this pic:



I had to get a good pumpkin pic since fall is in the air!

We were beginning to get REALLY homesick by this day and these windows in a hallway of an outside building reminded us of church:
The pics don't do the view around us justice, but here they are anyway - it was breathtaking!

It was a beautiful end to our vacation. When we finished our day here, we began the drive toward Charlotte, NC where Mark was flying out of to go home on Monday. We got him to the airport (much crazier even than OIA!) and the kids and I drove to Alabama to spend some time with my bestest friend and her family. That is at least one whole other blog post and I will leave you hanging there! Let me thank all of you though for your thoughts and prayers as we have been on this journey. It truly felt like you were with us and it made the trip that much more fun!