May 20-27, 2006
            Saturday we put our luggage in the car and then took the 10 hour drive to Richmond Virginia.  I slept through Georgia without knowing.  When I woke up I thought we were still in Georgia.  We finally made it to Virginia where we stayed.  We stayed at Aunt Kathy’s house in Richmond for the week.  She is Roxie's sister. 

Sunday We went to Washington DC and went to church at the Washington National Cathedral.  The Cathedral was made completely of stone with no steel.  There are lots of stain-glass windows and every one of them represents something.  One shows planets in outer space.  The statues are of Jesus and some Saints.  We went to George Washington’s house called Mount Vernon.  It was huge and 3 stories high with 3 buildings as part of the house.  We also saw his farm in which some of his 300 slaves worked. 

Monday We went off to Jamestown Settlement and saw a real live ship go off from the shore.  It was named after the original Godspeed which first landed at Jamestown in 1607.  The new Godspeed was going on her first voyage.  The sails were fully open as they went out to sea.  (Read more about Godspeed)  Later on we went to Colonial Williamsburg and saw lots of lots of old timey stuff like a horse and carriage.  Tuesday We took the Metro train into DC and then started walking staying close to the mall.  The mall is a big grassy area between the Capitol building and the Lincoln Memorial.  We also looked at all the other monuments.  We went into the history museum and I walked right back out the exit without knowing.  Before we really left the museum we saw a huge house and it was very old too.  We also saw a whole lot of tour groups.  There were mostly 8^th graders on field trips.  Wednesday was our break day because we had walked so much yesterday.  We went to a park and ate lunch.  Afterwards I wrote in my journal for  the past week.  We came home and I played with a new friend I met.  I played darts with Kathy’s husband, Rob.  We ate pizza after that.  We walked to get ice cream after dinner and it was delicious.  We came home and went to bed. 

Thursday we went to Monticello and we finally found Aunt Hanan.  We walked around and got to see inside Thomas Jefferson’s huge house.  He had a clock that not only told the time but also the day.  We saw his garden in which he grew almost every vegetable that I know of.  He was buried in his own cemetery as well.  We ate lunch and then went home.  We all woke up Friday and went to DC for the last time.  We got our Washington monument tickets for 2:30 PM and then tried to do some other things.  We went to the Arlington Cemetery and ate lunch.  We headed toward the Washington Monument at 2:00 and got to go up in it.  Before we went in it we saw the President's helicopter fly over us.  It was awesome.  It landed right in front of the White House. 

(photo taken by Troupe himself)

Next we went to the Air & Space museum and got tickets to the planetarium.  It was great because it gave you a real picture of space.  We headed back to Richmond after that.  Saturday we packed up and headed home.  On the way home I played on my Game-boy.  We stopped to make lunch and then we ate our lunch.  When we were done we headed on our way home again.  At 6:00 we stopped to eat dinner.  When we finally got home we unpacked the car and I watched my new hot-wheels movie.  It was sweet.  When it was over I typed my journal and then played some video games. 

Sunday, May 28, 2006
            After church two of  the Manning boys came over and we played on my PS2.  We went outside before it rained and played with my Flywheels.  I still had Connor’s ramp so we used it as well.  Our wheels went super high.  We came back inside and watched my new hot-wheel movie.  They liked it.  It is my favorite movie yet. We came back into my room and played on my computer.  We also played some more on my PS2.  We ate dinner and then took the manning boys home.  We played on their Zip Line.  It was sweet.  We finally came home and watched a movie. 

Monday, May 29, 2006
            Two days from now I fly to Texas.  Let me tell you how I do it.  first I get on the plane and if there are any kids my age I try to get a seat next to them.  If I do, I am lucky and I can talk and play with them throughout the flight.  But you need to ask a person first before you move seats.  If someone is sitting next to the person you want to sit next to, also ask them and if that person is nice he might switch with you.  I normally listen to music or play on my game boy.  That is how I fly on an airplane alone and enjoy it. 

Tuesday, May 30, 2006
            Connor came over to my house at 8:00 AM.  We played almost all day on my PS2.  The game we mainly played is called Gran Turismo 3.  It is really fun now that I am good at it.  We rode bikes to one of our favorite climbing trees and climbed it.  We came back home and ate lunch.  Mrs. Wakefield also came and ate lunch with us.  When we were all done eating Mrs. Wakefield looked over all my school work to say that I passed 5^th grade and I did.  I went back upstairs to play with Connor.  We then went to the pool to swim a while.  Right before he left Andrew came over and we WATCHED Connor play some on my new favorite game.  Andrew and Connor then went home. 

Wednesday, May 31, 2006
            By the time you are reading this I will be in Texas.  This is where I get a break from typing my journal and will not be typing until around the beginning of August.  See ya!!

Pictures taken May 31   (Click to see larger image)