Hey Guys, This is Mr. Mo



First of all to Gracie, Eva, Sharon, Karon, Morgan, Sarah, and Nicole:



You girls are a trip. If you had told me you could put me on a motorhome with 11 people, nine of which are girls and six of those are teens, travel 2000 miles over 5 days and 4 nights, and still come back sane, palease. But these girls proved me wrong. I am overwhelmed by what you girls have shown me the last few days.



First of all, the patience you all showed when we were having what seemed like one problem after another (step problems, belt problems, thunderstorms, traffic jams) and that was all within the first eight hours of a 106 hour journey.



Then for all of you, especially Karon and Nicole to overcome some serious reservations about the rides that Kings Dominion offers. And by the end of the day, they were begging to go again on the most challenging rides.



Then the following day in Washington, DC to see the range of emotions that you experienced as we visited the memorials and monuments. Especially Gracie and Morgan, as Valerie told you about a childhood friend she had who was killed in Vietnam. And amazingly among the tens of thousands of names on that wall both of you found that one name as you were just walking by the wall. Friends and family often spend days looking for their loved ones name on that wall. Just amazing what you did. And Morgan touched the deepest parts of my heart and soul as she insisted that we visit the WWII Memorial, because she knew her grandfather, my dad, was in that war and has recently shared with her not so pleasant memories from that time of his life. It was tough to fight back the emotions as I took her photo in front of the WWII memorial for her to send to him. She also had me take a photo of a penny that she threw in to the water at the memorial for him because he will probably never have the opportunity to visit it himself. And to see Gracie and Eva so entranced at the Jefferson Memorial, and I have photos to prove it. I asked Gracie why she was videoing the entire wording, she just said it was some of her favorite quotes.



Girls, I hope you all had a great time. I hope you were able to learn a little, laugh a lot, think a little and grow a lot.



To the Parents:



You should be sooo proud. I was in no way dreading this trip, I just did not know what to expect, or what I had gotten myself into. Please believe me when I say, that I was blown away by your girls this week. Yes, we had the usual and customary, (no you can't, get some paper towels; quick, be quiet and go to sleep, and an occasional was that you?)

But you would be proud to see your girls be able to connect the dots in their minds. You could see the wheels spinning as they saw things that they had heard about and studied about almost come to life in front of their eyes. I heard comments numerous times about "yea I read about this in books but it didn't interest me because it was just words on a page.....now I can put pictures with those words and it means so much more."

Ask them to tell you how many "life lessons" they learned. How to read a subway map, how to flip pancakes, how to work as a team, how to properly dispose of bean dip, and how easy it is to function without a cell phone. (The way we used to do it)

Thank you for letting me get to know your girls better this week. If this happens again in the future, I strongly encourage you to try to participate, you will not regret it.

Lastly Parents, we knew we were tackling a lot for a small amount of time, but my hope is that your daughter has been shown some things that were new to them. We only had time to hit the highlights at most places. Ask you daughter how she feels about returning as a family vacation some day. I bet you will be amazed at the response you get.



Till Later,



MO