Our Day at Ft McHenry

I don't know how many of you know about Ft McHenry - I didn't know much about it until we moved out here to Maryland. Ft McHenry was made famous during the War of 1812, during the Battle of Baltimore. During this battle a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key, was sent by the United States to a Brittish war ship to negotiate a prisoner exchange. During his time on the ship, he witnessed the attack on Ft McHenry where he was inspired to write a poem that was later put to music. We know this song as "The Star Spangled Banner", which later became our national anthem.

Yesterday, we took my Mom and Rusty to visit the fort. While we were there, the park ranger pressed us into service. We were asked to come help raise the flag over the fort. This was a powerful experience for me since this was the spot that the colors waived during that battle nearly 200 years ago. The coolest part was that McKayela and Halee were that ones that got to raise the flag!
As you can see, the flag that we were raising is huge! It is a replica of the original that Lt Col Armistad ordered for the fort. He wanted the biggest flag ever!
This is a shot of Halee and McKayela with the park ranger. The flag they are holding is actually the night time flag - which is much smaller than the one that they hoisted.
Here's a picture of McKayela, Halee, Rusty and my mom on the side of the fort where the USA was firing it's cannons at the English ships.

We really have had a busy week - from a field trip with McKayela to Annapolis, to my graduation, to Nora being hospitalized, to a tour of the USNS Comfort (a huge Navy hospital ship), and to the tour of Ft McHenry.

McKayela's Spring Concert

McKayela had a violin and choir concert this past week. She really has been working hard on her music and loves playing. It was alot of fun to go and see her perform. We are very proud of her and the progress she's made.

This week, McKayela has decided to try her hand at blogging. She's been pestering me for a while to get her page started. I added a link to her page in my section labeled "Blogging Buddies." If you would like to see how she's doing, take a look at it. I think this will give her an opportunity to express herself and to improve her typing skills.

Benefit performance for Nora

Yesterday, the Design in Motion dance studio in Crofton, where Nora has dance lessons, put on a benefit performance for Nora. We were treated to an evening of entertainment and deserts. The dancers did a terrific job, including a performance by Nora's group. We really enjoyed ourselves.

Ahoy there! Here's Pirate Nora in her dance costume

This is Nora with Jeanne Mattis, owner of Design in Motion dance studio, Crofton, MD

The home search - Our future Brooznoll

Here's the front of what may be our next home. My Dad and I came down to San Antonio for a whirlwind house-finding trip. We have seen ~ 40 homes over the past 2 days and I think we came across the nicest of them all. It is 4bed/3bath, 2625 sq feet. I made an offer on the home - we'll see if the owners accept.



Another shot of the front of the house. There are full grown Oak trees all around the house and neighborhood. I really like the area - the house is on a Cul-de-sac.











Here's a shot of the front room, looking down from the loft.

The back of the house.

Unfortunately, the dog doesn't come with the house. :-(

Our month of April

This month is such a special one, it's birthday time for Nora and Curtis. Nora celebrated her 4th b-day on April 12th. We had a little birthday party for her on her day, and we celebrated it with her some of her friends on the 15th. She really had a great time this past week since it seems that she had a birth-week, not just a day. Cousin Kylee, my sister M'Lee, and my dad were all here for her b-day.

For my b-day, I spent the day at the Univ of Maryland. Then I came home to find my wonderful little family with a few presents and an ice cream cake.

Today, my dad and I, took a trip to Glen Mills, PA to visit the land of my inheritance. This home was named "Brooznoll", or breazy hill, by my ancestors who came to America for religious freedom. They were Quakers and left England to avoid persecution. This home was built by my ancestors, who had 17 children (I have no intentions of following in their footsteps). The new owners of the home were very gracious to let us come and interupt their day and give us a little Hoopes family history lesson.

If you can see the inscription, it says 1723 - that was the year the first section of the house was complete. The next section was complete in 1740. The wood portions of the house were added by non-Hoopes around 1920. The home was originally set on 500 acres, it now sits on 1 acre.
This next week, my dad and I will be traveling to San Antonio to find a home for my family to move into. Hopefully, it will serve my family as well as Brooznoll served my ancestors for the 200 years they lived there.

Curtis and Tracy go to the UK

Tracy and I took a wonderful trip to England to visit my brother, Jr., who is stationed over there. We decided we would take 1 week, during my spring break to do this. It was a whirlwind trip and we saw things that were within a 2 hour radius of where my brother lives - which doesn't even scratch the surface of all the things to see there.

This picture is of Tracy with Jr's family eating our lunch in front of Buckingham Palace.






Here is one of Jr's kids, Kaleb. He was excited to go to Picadilly Circus, until he found out there weren't any clowns there. Sorry, Kaleb! :-)





Here's Tracy and me at Stonehenge. I didn't know what Stonehenge was all about before I got there. I took the audio tour and I still don't know what Stonehenge is all about - Neither do the experts, apparently.




This is a shot of St Paul's cathedral. I was hoping to "feed the birds" but apparently Mary Poppins lied. The song goes "Everyday on the steps of St Paul...the dear old bird woman calls...feed the birds...". Sadly, the Bird Woman wasn't there, so we didn't get off the bus.


We got the biggest kick out of this. On the subway, instead of saying "Watch your step", the English say "Mind the gap". I liked it so much, I bought a hat with that saying on it.


Overall, we had a great time. We loved the English accents, especially hearing the children speak it. We learned new words and phrases from Jr's kids like "argy-bargy" which means an argument. We ate fish and chips like the locals. We tried Iron Brew. It was an enlighening experience being able to go to the land of our fore-fathers.

In the Beginning

Everything needs a beginning, so here is where our blog will start.