Men of Bronze and Boston

We had planned on visiting George Washington's home at Mount Vernon once we got off the Auto Train in Lorton, VA.  The estate is only 15 minutes from the station and we thought it would be a great way for the kids to get out their wiggles out before we started our long drive.  

What we didn't plan was to be there 15 minutes before our train was scheduled to arrive!  Somehow our car turned out to be one of the first cars off the train.  Wish I could say we planned it that way but I can take no credit, we were just very thankful.

 

Mount Vernon Estate is full of history and incredibly beautiful gardens.  Amber and Titus were rather tired after the train so they didn't run around as much as we expected.  In fact we ended up keeping Amber in the stroller since she insisted on only sitting down on the ground playing with the gravel.  Surprisingly we ended up spending three hours enjoying the grounds.  They have a really neat treasure hunt for the kids that slowly takes you through the main points in order to gather all the clues.  Jared liked it so much he wants to go back and do it again.

Then we began the second leg of our journey, the drive to Scranton, PA.  We chose to avoid the "corridor" (I-95 through DC/Baltimore/Philly/Jersey/NYC)  traffic and congestion by taking an alternative route presented by a friend.  We are so glad we did.  We never hit any traffic on Tuesday and were very grateful.

A couple hours into our journey Tuesday, it was time for a potty break, to stretch and to eat a late lunch.  As luck would have it the next stop included the historic Gettysburg Visitor Center.  

What a beautiful site, I wish we could have stayed to do the shows and tours but alas we needed to get on the road.  However, we did look through the artifact cases and the food was great in that it wasn't fast food.  Plus there wasn't gravel so Amber was happy to walk and walk which helped her survive the second half of our day.  It was a nice surprise in our journey.

We arrived without further incident in Scranton, PA Tuesday night and left around 10am Wednesday after a nice breakfast.  Our big laugh was a bridge we took over a river entering New York that suddenly hits you with an unexpected toll charge to get off the bridge.  They don't post the amount anywhere, so we paid what the attendant told us.  Chris laughed and said "I guess when you come into New York they just start taking your money."

We drove through and arrived in Boston about dinner time. Overall the drive was rather beautiful and traffic fine till about 15 miles from the hotel. 

Boston is crazy!  There are no lane markers, no street signs, no straight roads or intersections, jay walking is regular....basically we hope to never drive again till we leave.  Our hotel for the next 10 days is right next to the hospital so it should be easy enough to avoid for a while.

Today, Thursday, we spent from 7:30am to 4:30pm at the hospital today talking to doctors, getting prodded, giving blood (Chris and Jared), and filling forms, almost continually.  Everyone we met was incredibly nice and positive about all the good they believe Jared will gain from the surgery. The kids were all phenomenal!  However, its no surprise we are all exhausted; mentally, physically and emotionally.  The exhaustion and stress shows in all of us in different ways, we are surviving but please keep the prayers coming.

Tomorrow is 7am MRI, unfortunately he'll need to be sedated and possibly intubated since it will take at least 90 minutes and probably longer to get all the pics they need and they want to do another special ECHO while he's under.  However, these pics are very important.  The better understanding of his heart they have before they start surgery, the better plan they will have and less time he will be on the heart pump.  Depending on how he recovers we'll see if we can do something a little fun for everyone in the afternoon.

I did update my The Journey Begins! - Monday post before starting this one today if you want to see a few pics of our journey.

FYI though we can receive emails we can NOT send them out over the hotel internet, one of the reasons I thought updating the blog might be easier.  Also for those of you on Facebook Chris is also updating during the day.