Our Summer part 2 - Museum of Flight

Next on our Washington adventure we visited the Museum of Flight with Grandpa and Grandma Call. It was raining pretty hard this day, so it was the perfect day to spend inside in a museum. The boys enjoyed the museum. Devin would have preferred the opportunity to linger at some exhibits and really learn more about all the amazing flight craft, but children don't always have the attention span necessary for that.

Of course this airplane should have an arrow, pointing down.

The Anson

The above model is a replica of an actual airplane, named Anson that served the Royal Air Force during and after World War II

Joseph enjoyed a lot of the museum. He loved the space exhibit.

We loved how they had aircraft suspended from the ceiling. It was amazing to see such large machines dangling from such fine wires; as if they all floated mid-air.

  

  

The fighter pilots

Pilot Helmets throughout time

Joseph stared at this guy for a really long time. 

He was certain he was real.

They had a flight simulator too.

 

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a fun and enjoyable trip to 

the Museum of Flight! Can't wait to do it again!

The Sentencing

This is the picture Dacia used to design
the Run Ella Run t-shirts.

A couple weeks ago, we went to the Lexington County Courthouse for the last time as the drunk driver who hit Devin and Ella was sentenced.  She plead guilty in February to felony DUI involving death - a charge that carries a 1 - 25 year sentence in South Carolina.  At the February hearing, the judge was clear that he wanted us to speak to help him understand the "mitigating and aggravating factors" to help him issue a sentence.  This was a heavy responsibility that we thought about and discussed together. 
Joseph went to our friend's place and Tanner and Anson came with us.  We were joined at the courthouse by a handful of close friends, our personal attorney and the lieutenant with the South Congaree police dept. After the prosecuting attorney's very brief remarks, Justice Cooper asked for the victim's family to speak.  Dacia helped everyone feel Ella's personality and the precious life that was lost.  She then clearly articulated the pain she felt as she prepared Ella's funeral largely on her own as her husband was trying to heal enough to attend the funeral.  The judge later said that Dacia's remarks weighed heavy on him as he has a granddaughter the same age as Ella with a similarly vivacious spirit. 
After Dacia's moving remarks, Anson asked if he could speak.  He told everyone about the night of the accident after his mom received a phone call from a stranger and then gathered Tanner and Anson to kneel in prayer.  He said he thought Dad and Ella would be in the hospital for a few days, but would be alive.  Then when he heard his little sister had died, he was happy and sad.  Happy because she would sometimes say she wanted to live with Jesus and she got her wish.  Sad because she wouldn't be with us for a while.  Several people including the defense attorney and judge would later compliment Anson's composure in addressing the court.  Mom and Dad were proud of the words he came up with on his own. 
Then Devin spoke with the purpose of helping the judge understand our family's feelings regarding Caitlin Braun.  First that we believe the Savior's commandment that He will forgive who he will forgive, but of us it is required to forgive all men.  As a result, we have tried to do all in our power to help Caitlin receive a very small bond of $110,000 and that she would be allowed to return to New Jersey with her mom to await trail.  We also worked with her to allow a deferred sentence so she could prepare herself for imminent incarceration.  Despite our personal feelings, mercy cannot rob the demands of justice and society requires that justice be served.  Then Devin told the judge that we don't have any recommendation of a sentence and simply pray that he would issue a fair and just sentence.
Caitlin had a few friends and family members who spoke on her behalf before her attorney effectively argued that this case deserves a sentence on the minimum rather than the maximum side of the range.  Caitlin spoke to our family directly to express her sorrow and said that she feels guilty every time she is happy as she doesn't deserve to be happy after what she had done.  Everyone seemed to compliment our family for how we have handled this situation and shown forgiveness.  This was very uncomfortable as we did what we felt was the right thing to do in the eyes of our Heavenly Father, not realizing that it was anything special. 
It was apparent that our experienced judge struggled with the sentence.  After a long pause, he explained that he wished the legislature in this case had given him less judicial freedom with the sentencing.  He explained that incarceration typically has three purposes - none of which would be served by a lengthy sentence in this case.  1)deterrent for future crime - most people don't know the sentence for a given crime and thus aren't deterred.  2) vengeance for the victim - he said he understood that the Shumate family recognizes the fruitlessness of vengeance.  3) rehabilitation - this isn't necessary as Caitlin is a good person who made a series of bad choices one day while in a bad environment.  He then issued a sentence of 18 months in prison with the requirement to create a drunk-driving outreach program in Lexington county upon her release from prison.  She would not be eligible for release until 85% of her sentence had been served. 
Our attorneys were shocked with the leniency of the judge as they suspected something closer to five years.  But they understood and respected our position.  18 months in prison would do more for Caitlin than 20 years would for a real criminal.  We know that she will be held accountable again before a heavenly court, but that will also be a lenient sentence as she will be represented by Jesus Christ, who already paid the price. 

Our Summer

The summer has been a whirlwind.  We have been so busy, but had a lot of fun along the way. If only summer could be a little longer. The end of summer here in South Carolina, doesn't mean the weather is cooling off, in fact, we still have plenty of hot days left in the schedule, but it means the boys are heading back to school. It's hard to believe school is starting in a matter of days. We have neglected the blog a bit, but here are some of the things that we have been up to.

 The following week after the race & luau, we jetted over to Washington State to visit family and friends. The boys were very excited, and overall, the flights went well.

 Joseph was probably the most excited to get on an airplane. His favorite pastime on the flight? Reading the safety brochure. He read that thing over and over and over again.

 He was also very excited that Grandma's house had LOTS of legos. He is a lego maniac and spends a lot of time building creations.

 One of our first stops on our trip, was to visit Ella's grave. We decorated her grave site with flowers and enjoyed a little Washington summer rain.

 Next we headed out to explore one of our favorite places, downtown Tacoma. We road the link (the light rail train) and walked a good bit too.

 Some of my favorite architectural elements downtown, the old clock tower

 and the Spanish steps

I love the graffiti art on some of the buildings

 One day I had lunch with some of my girlfriends, and Adrianne went into labor immediately after leaving our lunch date... so the next day I got to go see baby Alexis!

 The boys always enjoyed being cozy at Grandma's

We spent some time with our good friends the Turner's, and stayed the night up at their new house. It's always a party when we get together. 

 

Lake Stevens, a few minutes from the Turner's house

 

skipping rocks into the Puget Sound

Many Washington Beaches on the
Puget Sound consist of rocks like these

Nothing is better than eating Ivar's clam chowder
& fish & chips while at the waterfront

 It's always fun to stomp around in the rocks, and search between the cracks for crabs and other small sea creatures that hide til the tide rolls back in.

After we left the Turner's, we headed back to Tacoma, but not before stopping to visit the Seattle Temple Grounds. We walked through the gardens and Joseph had to kiss the baby girl statue.

 Anson had to roll down one of the soft, grassy hills. Tanner just liked sitting and pondering.

This is a little glimpse at what Seattle/Bellevue/Tacoma traffic looks like. Every time we go home to visit Washington, we are reminded how much we hate the traffic and don't miss it.

More of our Washington trip and summer adventures to come