Hi there! We have missed you!! Sorry that we haven't updated more recently - it has been a bit hectic.
Last weekend we visited our cousins and Nancy's Uncle Tom and Aunt Judy in New Hampshire. We worshipped the Lord with our cousins at their rockin' church! It was great. We really enjoyed it, and we loved the message from the pastor. After church, we went to lunch at a great natural restaurant in Portsmouth, NH. We walked across a bridge to Maine. It was amazing that we were just a bridge away from the state! We all enjoyed our time seeing our cousins! :-)
Early in the week, we went to Mass Mutual Life Insurance Company - a company that Eric works with - and took a tour of the building. This beautiful, majestic building was built in the late 1800's. The rotunda in the lobby is gorgeous with stunning architecture, colors, marble and stone. We walked around the campus and saw lots of offices, the cafeteria, the gardens and many of the meeting rooms. We learned that there are about 1,000 employees on each floor, and there are 4 floors! And that doesn't include the other campus locations in Connecticutt! Wow! We even met the new president and CEO! Mr. Crandall had a few minutes to meet with us. He and Eric hit it off well as they are both avid fly fishermen - you know, fish stories.... The kids imagined the Mass Mutual that dad talks about as some small office building with only a few offices. It was great for the kids to be able to put a "face" with the name that dad talks about....
We visited the capital of PA-Philadelphia and spent some time there. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross's house and Ben Franklin's grave site. The Liberty Bell is known throughout the world as the symbol of freedem. We all were so impressed with the size and the condition that it was in - it still looked fantastic! Independence Hall is really neat. It is the building where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed. It was also the site where the US Constitution was "hammered out", debated, and signed. Almost all of the original furniture is still there today! We all thought it was awesome to be able to stand in the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written and signed!
Here's a fun fact - Did you know that 200 years ago it took 3 years to make and mint 1,000,000 coins? And today, that same amount can be made and minted in just over 30 minutes? We visited the Pennsylvania Mint and found it to be very interesting! We were able to see coins being made while we were there. The progress that has been made in the minting of coins is incredible - so much of the process is automated today...
The next couple of days were spent laying low. The remnants of Hurricane Nicole provided us with a tremendous tropical storm... We decided not to drive south as it was raining hard and it was very windy! It rained almost 10 inches in one day! The kids took that time getting ahead on some schoolwork. We also snuggled up and watched a couple of movies. It was much needed!
Before we left Pennsylvania, we visited the Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The countryside was so pretty, so we just drove around and meandered through the country lanes. We had the opportunity to visit with a couple different Amish families. Somehow, we had a very different ( and wrong) impression of the Amish people. They are very nice, and were open to sharing their life and customs with us. We even had one family take us into their barn and show us their horses and buggy....
We are going to move down towards Virginia, so we will fill you in on our travels in the next few days. Thanks so much for checking in on us. May God bless you!
The Miner Clan
Last weekend we visited our cousins and Nancy's Uncle Tom and Aunt Judy in New Hampshire. We worshipped the Lord with our cousins at their rockin' church! It was great. We really enjoyed it, and we loved the message from the pastor. After church, we went to lunch at a great natural restaurant in Portsmouth, NH. We walked across a bridge to Maine. It was amazing that we were just a bridge away from the state! We all enjoyed our time seeing our cousins! :-)
Early in the week, we went to Mass Mutual Life Insurance Company - a company that Eric works with - and took a tour of the building. This beautiful, majestic building was built in the late 1800's. The rotunda in the lobby is gorgeous with stunning architecture, colors, marble and stone. We walked around the campus and saw lots of offices, the cafeteria, the gardens and many of the meeting rooms. We learned that there are about 1,000 employees on each floor, and there are 4 floors! And that doesn't include the other campus locations in Connecticutt! Wow! We even met the new president and CEO! Mr. Crandall had a few minutes to meet with us. He and Eric hit it off well as they are both avid fly fishermen - you know, fish stories.... The kids imagined the Mass Mutual that dad talks about as some small office building with only a few offices. It was great for the kids to be able to put a "face" with the name that dad talks about....
We visited the capital of PA-Philadelphia and spent some time there. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross's house and Ben Franklin's grave site. The Liberty Bell is known throughout the world as the symbol of freedem. We all were so impressed with the size and the condition that it was in - it still looked fantastic! Independence Hall is really neat. It is the building where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed. It was also the site where the US Constitution was "hammered out", debated, and signed. Almost all of the original furniture is still there today! We all thought it was awesome to be able to stand in the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written and signed!
Here's a fun fact - Did you know that 200 years ago it took 3 years to make and mint 1,000,000 coins? And today, that same amount can be made and minted in just over 30 minutes? We visited the Pennsylvania Mint and found it to be very interesting! We were able to see coins being made while we were there. The progress that has been made in the minting of coins is incredible - so much of the process is automated today...
The next couple of days were spent laying low. The remnants of Hurricane Nicole provided us with a tremendous tropical storm... We decided not to drive south as it was raining hard and it was very windy! It rained almost 10 inches in one day! The kids took that time getting ahead on some schoolwork. We also snuggled up and watched a couple of movies. It was much needed!
Before we left Pennsylvania, we visited the Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The countryside was so pretty, so we just drove around and meandered through the country lanes. We had the opportunity to visit with a couple different Amish families. Somehow, we had a very different ( and wrong) impression of the Amish people. They are very nice, and were open to sharing their life and customs with us. We even had one family take us into their barn and show us their horses and buggy....
We are going to move down towards Virginia, so we will fill you in on our travels in the next few days. Thanks so much for checking in on us. May God bless you!
The Miner Clan
Wow, you are seeing such amazing things! I'm so glad you got to visit with the Howard family in New Hampshire, we enjoyed seeing the picture of the cousins. XOXO Jill,Jim,Jenna,Megan & Scott
ReplyDeleteHi,You are really getting an education! Great trip. We are glad you visited Tom and Judy and Tess and children. Very cute picture of all of you. Love to you all, Mimi and Papa and kisses
ReplyDeleteAgain, we were so blessed by your visit - we hope you are back on track and getting to visit more places - Gary made it home safely from Guam & Tom & Judy are heading home! God is good!
ReplyDelete