Visit from the family...

A few pictures from one of the best parts of my summer so far: a visit from my mom, my sister, Colin, and Olivia. I don't have that many, in part because my mom and Tara were snapping tons of pictures the whole time and I'll just get copies from them. I still wanted to share a few, though.





We visited Harpers Ferry (both the National Historic Park section and the Historic District) and really enjoyed it. I think you could spend several days there doing all sorts of things. I really like this shot of Colin looking at the geese by the river. I love how he has his hands crossed behind him.


One of my favorite parts of Harpers Ferry was the John Brown Wax Museum (not a part of the National Park). Equal parts educational, campy, horrifying, and funny, you have to see it to believe it. I wish I had audio of my sister trying to explain slavery, abolitionism, and the complicated legacy of someone like John Brown to her kids. Case in point: the first scene represents young John Brown witnessing a slave child being beaten. Then came a scene from "Bleeding Kansas." Quite a challenge for a parent to explain. I must say, though, she did a great job emphasizing the bare bones truths: people should be treated fairly no matter what they look like and violence is rarely the right way to solve a problem.


The kids were mesmerized (and probably permanently scarred) by the body of Heyward Shepherd, the first man killed in John Brown's raid. It lays on the ground and when you hit a button, and as a narrator tells what's going on in the scene, the guy's chest moves up and down in the throes of death. Lovely stuff. It just gets better from there--John Brown on a stretcher during his trial (which is historically accurate, of course), and finally...



...Brown about to meet his doom. I was half expecting his wax figure to turn animatronic and fall through the floor, but thankfully (for the kids, at least) it didn't go that far. Still, even this image is a lot to explain to a couple of 5-year olds.


That same evening we had dinner at my mom's favorite Shepherdstown restaurant, the Bavarian Inn. It was a lovely night--we ate outside (in perfect weather for outdoor dining), the kids were well-behaved, the food was delicious, and as we sat there, the lightening bugs lit up the grounds around the inn.



Colin snapped this picture of my mom at the restaurant. I am struck by how much she looks like my late great-aunt, Tante Lieselotte, in this picture.



One last picture--another one Colin took--of Olivia and I at dinner.