The Three Days Home

Hello Everyone!
I'm writing this post from the comfort of our house. We arrived last night at 12:09. The picture that I took for the previous post was snapped just as we pulled up and I immediately posted it. However, this post is not about last night or today but rather about the last several days. I'm sorry that there aren't any pictures, but is very difficult to get pictures from my iPod on this blog. But, I am working on a slide show of pictures from our whole trip. Many are ones that my Mom and Dad took and are spectacular pictures. I will try to get that on by tomorrow night.

Day 13:
We left Maine and started south. On the way, Dad saw a sign for Lowell National Park. Lowell was the first industrial factory in the United States. He decided to stop there. It was very interesting. We got to see fabric weavers in progress, as well as read and learn about the beginning of the Industrial Revolution as well as the conditions of factories during that time. We stayed there for three hours and then continued down the road. We made it to Albany, where we stayed the night.

Day 14:
We left Albany and drove. and drove. and drove. We made it to Fremont Ohio, which is outside of Toledo. Not much happened, except that this was the last night we stayed in a hotel.

Day 15:
The final day of the trip! (Sort of. I'll get to that in a second) While eating breakfast, we noticed a flier on the table. It was advertising the Presidential museum/library of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president. It is not an 'Official' Presidential library, because it is not affiliated with the Federal Government, but that didn't mean it wasn't a great museum! We got to learn about Hayes' life in the military, governorship, presidency, and his life afterwards. There was also an exhibit on the War of 1812 in Ohio, as well as an extensive weapons collection which included pieces of the USS Maine, weapons carried by men killed at Lexington green, as well as cannonballs fired from every war up until the Spanish-American War. There were also many Chinese weapons from the Chinese Boxer's rebellion. We spent several hours there before hitting the road. We stopped at our first Steak'nShake ever. It was really, really good. It was so good in fact, that we ate there for dinner to! We entered Iowa at around 8 o'clock and

Day 16:
got home at 12:09, just 9 minutes into day #16. We were welcomed by our Aunt Lynn. We unloaded the truck, and then went straight to bed. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about our adventures, and I'm sorry that I have been a little behind on the posts. The last post will be the video/slide show. Thanks so much for reading!
JM

HOME!

The Last Few Days....

Hello Everyone!
I am sorry that I have not posted in a couple of days. We have been in Maine with our friends, and we have been getting up in the morning and doing things and then going straight to bed. It has been awesome. However, I will start off with a summary of the last few days before getting to Maine.

Day 8:
We went to the awards ceremony and got to march in the parade representing Nebraska. Then, the ceremony began. The awards ceremony is very long, (3 ½ hours) and our category was near the end. In the end though, the wait was worth it. William and I won third place in our category with our documentary. Joel and his partner came in first in their category with their website. After the ceremony, we visited Ikea, (My Mom’s favorite store) and then began our trek to Maine.  Maine is a VERY LONG way from Washington D.C. It is a good ten to twelve hour drive. So, we did not make it all the way to Maine that day. We went to Newark, New Jersey.

Day 9:
Today, we made it to Maine. On the way, we got to see the Statue of Liberty, (From a distance) the Liberty Tower (The World Trade Center) as well as the 9/11 Memorial for New Jersey residents.  We then continued north. We arrived in Maine at 8 P.M.

MAINE:
In Maine we visited our friends the McHughs. They live two miles from the ocean in a small town called Kennebunkport/Kennebunk. The town is known as the summer home of Former President George H. W. Bush. We did many things here, and as it will be easier to put it all as a single subject instead of divided into days, I will do so.

The day after we arrived, we made a basic list of everything that we wanted to get done. Here is what it looked like:

Kayaking
Boogie Boarding and Surfing in the ocean
Hiking in the woods
Exploring the woods
Go Man Shopping in the “Dock Square”. (The business sector of Kennebunkport)
Watch the Hobbit movie
Play Basketball

We managed to get all of that done plus a lot more. On the first day, we spent most of our day at the beach or playing woofle ball. The beaches are beautiful. We got to collect shells, boogie board, search in tide pools, and I got to try to surf. We also tried to build a sea wall and levy system to protect our sandcastles. It was awesome. We also played basketball. That night, we were so exhausted that we went straight to bed without any ado, which is not normal because generally we stay up and talk.

The next day was Father’s Day. I got up early and help Mrs. McHugh make breakfast. We made Biscuits and Gravy. We went hiking while the Moms went shopping. We then went ‘Man Shopping’. We toured several of the shops with our friend Elliot. That night, Joel, Jake and Elliot watched the Hobbit, the rest of us went for Ice Cream and an awesome creamery named Goose Rocks Dairy. Their Ice Cream was incredible. That night, we watched the College World Series on TV. I am rooting for Indiana and Mississippi State.
We were planning on leaving the next morning as the McHughs were going to go on a camping trip, however, they put it off a day, so we stayed another day. While the other boys went to play basketball and go to the beach, I went with Mrs. McHugh and Mom Antiquing. We went to four different shops as well as a flea market. I got two British Coins from the early 20th century. I also got a medallion commemorating the bicentennial of the United States as well as a Ronald Reagan political button. After browsing the shops, we went to a business called Port Canvas. Port Canvas is a business that makes canvas bags from materials all made in Maine. While the Moms were shopping, I started talking the General Manager, and she gave me a full tour of their headquarters. She showed me how the bags were embroidered and how they were put together. She also showed me all of the different products that they made. I got a medium sized duffel bag embroidered with my initials. It was a cool experience.

The next day, we packed and prepared to leave. We packed up and  left at around 10. I will post more on the trip home tomorrow. Today is our last day on the road, no matter how long it takes us.

Quick Summary and then Day 8!!!!!

Hello Everyone!
I'm going to do a quick summary of Days 5,6, and 7, and then I will talk about what we are doing today.

Day 5:
We to up early and went to the University of Maryland to compete. We competed, and then decided to go to the National Zoo. We went there and saw the Pandas. Then, we returned for dinner, where we learned that Will and I had made the finals and got to compete again.

Day 6:
First, we toured two of the Smithsonian. (The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History)  We then went back to our hotel so that I could get ready to compete. We went to the University of Maryland and I competed in Finals with Will. Then we went back to our hotel.

Day 7:
Yesterday, we went to the Nebraska breakfast, where all of the representatives of Nebraska speak. Then, We toured the Capitol with our friends the Rothfusses. We then went to the National Museum of Art and got to see the only DaVinci on this side of the ocean! We then returned to our hotel, where we swam for a couple of hours and then played Pictionary with our friend Spencer. We then proceeded to go to bed.


So there you have it. Today, we are preparing to drive to Maine. The award ceremony is this morning, and then we will drive to New York. Tomorrow, we will make it to Maine!
Today is the award ceremony. I will attempt to blog live (if they have WiFi) but I'm not sure if I will be able to.
Thanks for reading!
JM

The Documentary

Hello Everyone!
This may give away the material in the next few blog posts, but that doesn't matter. After competing on Monday, William and I made it to the finals. We then competed Tuesday night in another round which was the same as all the rest only without any Q and A. So, we have a one in ten or so shot of making it into the top three. However that is not what this post is about. Since we have competed for the very last time, it is now time to officially release the documentary! Now, don't feel obligated to watch it, but if you have benn wanting to watch, here it is!

Thanks for reading everyone!
Have a great day!
JM

Day 4!

Hello everyone!

This post will be on Day 4. I am sorry that I’m so far behind on the updates. It has been a busy the last few days.

Day 4:

We got up early to check out of our hotel. We then went to the National History Day check-in on the campus of Maryland University. We checked in and received our competition times and we got free stuff. (Always good!) I received five magazines on the American Civil War. Our Grandma bought us National History Day jackets and t-shirts. After that, we decided to go to Fort Stevens, a small gun emplacement in the middle of urban Washington D.C. We did not realize that we were there until we were in the parking lot. (It was not the best part of town) We were expecting a full blown fort and a visitors center, (It was the National Park Service.) but what we found was quite different. It was a small grass field, with a wall around it. Two cannons were positioned along the side of the wall. We found a large plaque which said that the spot where we stood was the place where the only sitting President who has ever come under direct fire from an enemy combatant. Abraham Lincoln had stood there 151 years before. The walls, while looking like wood, were actually concrete. It was all very cool. After staying there for about half an hour, we returned to our hotel. We stayed there for about an hour before proceeding to the Opening Ceremonies of National History Day. One of the cool things about NHD is that each state (And territory) has its own button. Each student gets there state’s buttons and then tries to trade them for all of the other state buttons. It is a lot of fun. I currently have 46 of 56 buttons. We traded buttons for an hour before the opening ceremonies. We listened to the host of NPR’s “Wait wait, don’t tell me” game show, a constitutional historian. We then listened to the sponsor of NHD and then the we got ready to go to our hotel. It was an awesome night.

(I will add pictures when I get some from Dad.)

Thanks for reading!

JM

Day 4! Sort of....

Hello everyone!

 Today was an awesome day. However, the competition starts tomorrow and I need to get to bed, so I will blog on today tomorrow! Tomorrow, we compete at 10:20. I will be sure to have dad take pictures. Thanks for your patience! 

JM