New Hampshire and Pennsylvania...

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

A Few of our Favorite Things!!!

Hi it's Allie!

Here are some of my highlights of the trip so far...

-Boston - because of the old buildings, the history of the city, and that it's by the harbor.

-Mount Rushmore- I have seen so many pictures of it, but it was really neat to finally see it in person. The President's faces were carved in great detail.

-Washington D.C.- D.C. has so much history about our presidents. The Lincoln Memorial, White House tour and seeing the original copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were awesome!!

--We have been to several cute towns on this trip. My favorite town that we went to with our cousins is Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The town was adorable! Very cute shops and the architecture is beautiful! It was also right across a bridge from Maine that we walked across! **(The best part was being with our cousins!!) :)

How's it going! It's Matt! My highlights so far are...

-Seeing the changing of the guard of the unknown soldier at the Arlington Cemetery. Because the Marine that was on duty never flinched- for 1 half hour!

-New York city because there were so many people! You could barely walk! And we went to the top of the Empire State Building!!!

-Gettysburg because you can see real entrenchments and cannons.

**Salutations, Kevin here. I enjoyed...

<>The Cody Night Rodeo in Cody, Wyoming, because of the bull riding and the Rodeo clown.

<>Cincinnati Reds Baseball game because we saw Aroldis Chapman pitch his first inning ever in the major leagues. His pitches were 102mph and 105mph!! Wow!!!

<>Seeing the company headquarters of one of the insurance companies that my dad works with-Mass Mutual. The Mass Mutual building was built in the 1800's and it is spectacular! Lots of Marble and beautiful columns. We also met the president and CEO of Mass Mutual! :) He was very nice!

New England Highlights

We spent the last several days in New England visiting Boston, Cape Cod, Plimouth Plantation, Lexington and Concord. The weather here has been terrific! We took the subway to downtown Boston and walked the 2 1/2 mile Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail includes sites and buildings of the critical events in Boston and the nation's struggle for freedom. Do you remember the history when the colonists were getting taxed and not being represented in the parliament? The colonists finally had enough and stood up to Great Britain. And most of the action happened in or around Boston... We saw the graves of John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. We took a harbor cruise out to the USS Constitution - Old Ironsides - which was one of the first American Navy ships. After that, we saw the Old North Church where they hung the famous lanterns (one if by land and two if by sea) and the house of the midnight rider Paul Revere. There were so many interesting things to see, but these were a few of our favorites...

We then went back in time, to the founding of our country, and met the English colonists and the Wampanoag Indians at Plimoth Plantation. They were all in full dress from the year 1627. The colonists stayed in character and talked and acted as if they lived in 1627. When we asked if they would take a picture with us, they would stare and ask us what a picture was. We asked them questions about what life was like back in 1627. We were able to look inside their homes and work places and see how they did things. We watched a blacksmith make a nail by fire and another do beautiful carving in wood with 17 century tools. The guy who did the woodworking used absolutely no power tools. We all really enjoyed the plantation and learned more about our Pilgrims. They worked very hard and endured so much to come to America for freedom of religion. We finished the day by going on the Mayflower II, which is a replica of the original ship that our first settlers traveled on. It was so amazing to visualize how these brave men and women traveled in a ship this small - there were 130 people on this small ship!! Small beds, tight quarters, little food, and livestock only a few feet away - WOW!

Another day was spent in Lexington and Concord where the first shots were fired between the colonists and the British. It was also the place that Paul Revere and two others rode at midnight to warn the Minute Men (farmers and other men of the town) that the British Regulars were coming. It was amazing how our forefathers left their homes, came out to fight for their freedom and to save their land. It was very heroic of these men to stand up against the well trained British Army. They were able to force the British back to Boston. It gave the colonists great encouragement to continue the fight for independence. One of our favorite places to see this day was the North Bridge, where "the first shot was heard around the world". There is also a beautiful statue commemorating the Minute Men.

We wrapped up the day by visiting "The Wayside". This home gained its fame in the 1800s through three literary families: Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Whitney. The home way pretty run down, but it was interesting to see where all of these great writers lived and created their literary works....

That's it for now. Thanks for checking in on us... Blessings, The Miners

A quick update on Nancy...

For those of you who did not know, Nancy recently had an accident where she fainted and fell off of a horse. By the grace of God, she is doing fine, though she is still a bit sore. Here is what happened.... We were riding horses on the battlefield of Gettysburg last week. What an amazing experience!!! We stopped because one of the women on the ride wasn't feeling well. We waited about 15 minutes for this woman to feel better, and as we were ready to go, Nancy said that she wasn't feeling well... That's the last thing she remembers - she fainted while on top of the horse! We all watched this unfold, but no one could react quickly enough to help her... She more or less "slid" off the back end of the horse, and fell to the ground - gently I might add... It was as if God cradled her as she fell... It was a miracle! And all that witnessed it said the same thing - it happened in super slow motion-she should have landed much harder, but she didn't - really a miracle. She could have gotten tangled up in the stirrups, the horse could have spooked, etc... I jumped down from my horse and ran over to her... She looked at me when she came to, and said - "did I just fall off Sadie?" She got up after a minute - thank you, Lord - took a quick inventory of her body, and said that she felt something coming on and before she could act, she went out... We had her checked out and the X-rays were fine - just bruised up a bit and sore. The doctor said that she was lucky to be alive, and that these types of accidents usually have an unhappy ending. We thank God for his mercy and care - He is awesome! And we thank all of you who have been praying for Nancy!

So, we will fill you in on our trip to Boston in the next day or so.... Thanks for keeping an eye on us! Blessings! Eric

The Big Apple - New York City!!

Hi all, it's Allie again!!

Yesterday we spent the day in bustling New York City. Wow! I never knew that so many people lived and visited NYC everyday!! When we walked through Times Square, we could barely walk! We took a bus tour around the city so we could see more of the it than our feet could take us. The bus took us around China Town, Little Italy, downtown, Ground Zero and more. On the tour we saw lots of shopping stores. One of the department stores, Macy's, is 3 blocks long! We got off the bus and boarded a boat to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Once we were at Liberty Island, we took a few pictures and enjoyed the sights. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty is made of 300 pieces of copper and she is 350 ft.tall? It is amazing that she still stands because she was built in 1886. Ellis Island was our next stop on our boat ride . A few of my mom's relatives came to America through Ellis Island in the late 1800's. We tried to find a plaque where their names were listed, but we couldn't find it.

In the early evening, my brothers and I wanted to walk in Central Park because of the movie "Elf", and several other movies that had a scene or two filmed there. Once we walked inside the park it was quiet and peaceful compared to the city. There were so many people at the park running, cycling, and exercising... As we walked through the park, we could hear the city, but the farther you walked into the park, the more quiet it became.

That night, we went up to the top of the Empire State Building. WOW! It was so beautiful! It was a clear night, so we could see for miles and miles. We were able to see the lights of the city and clear across the river. It was warm and breezy and surprisingly nice - I thought it would be much colder up there at night! I was amazed, that at 10pm, the restaurants were crowded, and it seemed that there were more people out than in the morning. Newbury Park is not like that because everything closes early. We ended the evening with a soft serve ice cream from the Mister Softee Truck and it was so yummy!!! That night, we figured that we walked about 4 miles. Over all, it was a great day and we experienced quite a bit of the busy city.

All for now! Pictures will be up tomorrow:)
Allie--xoxo

Adventures in Gettysburg

Over the past few days, we have been exploring the Gettysburg battlefield. Did you know that Gettysburg goes down in history as the deciding battle between the North and the South??? And that the battle on Little Round Top in Gettysburg was the most important few hours of fighting - probably of the Civil War??? We purchased a self-guided audio tour that we listened to while we drove around the battlefield. The Civil War historian was so knowledgeable, and we learned so much while listening to him, driving around the battlefield. We spent about 2 hours one day, and 2 hours the next day driving around, listening to the audio, and getting out of the car to check out the monuments and important sites. There are several hundred cannons - most all of them are real, but there are a few replicas. All over the battlefield are monuments and plaques that told of the losses of each brigade, regiment, or of where men died. There are over 1,200 plaques and monuments displayed in the middle of farms, in front of houses, and in the fields. We watched the movie "Gettysburg", and it helped us understand the battle in more detail. We saw all of the different parts of the battlefield where brave men from both sides fought for what they believed in.

We also were able to take a horseback riding trip, and ride onto the battlefield. It was really fun!!! We had another audio historian lead us through the battlefield while we rode around on horseback. It was so much easier to understand how the battles were fought each day, looking at the battlefield from the actual battlefield instead of the car.... It made it easier for us to understand why some of the ideas that General Robert E. Lee had were going to fail. Our favorite spot was visiting Little Round Top. This is where the South nearly took the North, but the brave men of the Union Army's Twentieth Maine held the ground. The were tired, and just about out of ammunition, so Lt. Colonel J. Chamberlain led the famous bayonet charge against the South and held the ground. The South retreated. This, according to the historians, was probably the most important battle fought in Gettysburg, and maybe the entire Civil War.

See you soon! Allie:)

Our Nation's Capital-WOW!

The last couple of days have been "history heavy", with visits to the White House, Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, World War II Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, etc.... Also, We have had many opportunities to learn about the Civil War, and how important this war was to the future of our young country... A couple of nights ago, we had the opportunity to go to an event at the National Archives Museum, hosted by Retired General Wesley Clark - the Democratic Presidential candidate in 2008. He moderated a panel of authors who wrote biographies on the great Generals of the Civil War - Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Sherman. We were tired, and had a long day of Museums and walking, but after a little bribery (frozen yogurt) and convincing, we all decided to stick around and check it out. We were so happy that we did - the evening was absolutely spectacular! The panel helped make these great leaders come alive, and shared things about these men, giving insight to their character. The struggles that these men faced, and their ability to overcome personal and situational obstacles, and persevere, was the common theme of the evening-a great lesson for us all. The kids had the chance to meet all of the authors after the event, and spend a few minutes talking with them about these Generals. They loved it. Also, we had the chance to talk with Gen. Clark - what a nice guy... The author who wrote about Gen. Sherman is a history professor at Texas Christian University-a home school dad with 7 kids!!! He was so kind and gracious....

Washington, DC on 9/11 - what an emotional day. There was a Tea Party rally at the base of Washington Monument, and we wanted to go and show support for our country. It was great. A pastor from New York gave a great message about how our country was founded on Christian principles, based on a love and reverence for God, and how we have fallen away from this simple, yet, critical fundamental ....

Our family has been struck by the morals, values, ideals, convictions and drive our Founding Fathers possessed to see their visions and dreams realized. These leaders worked tirelessly, usually not caring who got the credit, to make sure that the fundamental truths of our country would be preserved for generations to come.

We hope that all of you are doing well. Thanks so much for your comments - we look forward to reading them. May God bless you!