Washington DC

I can't even begin to tell you how much fun we had in DC, but alas, I will try. The kids had never flown before so they really enjoyed getting to fly. They even enjoyed getting the luggage off the carousel. On arrival Sunday night, we headed straight for Ebbett Grill where several people told us we needed to eat. It was delicious and very affordable for such generous portions. We went there again and shared everything the second time.

It the Ebbett was .5 miles from our hotel the Washington Plaza where the kids are standing in front of the huge George Washington mural. It was also just one building away from the White House. We laughed our heads off the next day when we walked back to the White House and the restaurant we had eaten at was right there! The big city was quite an adventure with all the crosswalks and we loved how they all had a count down on them to tell how much time you had left until the waiting cars ran you down. We didn't even have any close calls!

Monday, we headed out in the drizzly low 60's to sight see. First we walked to the White House, Sherman Square then to the Washington Monument, WWII, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War, WWI and then made our way to the Hard Rock to eat dinner. Each night, we chose a restaurant and Bryan walked to meet us there after his class ended at 5:00 to eat at 5:30.

Blake loved to stand side by side with the soldiers at Sherman Square. Washington Monument was amazing. I would have loved to walk up the steps. I will have to read more about it. They told us to get a ticket we would have to be in line by 5:30 to be sure to have a spot! I have heard neat things about it.

Bailey asked why the faces of the men were so scared and scary on one of the war sculptures. We explained to her that war is scary and they were just men, and boys, people's fathers, sons and brothers and they were cold and afraid, and that they were lonely. It was so touching that she could see and feel just a glimpse of the horror of war through that art.

It was breathtaking to be there to honor the sacrifices of so many who have given so much, even everything for people they will never even know.

On the way to dinner we walked passed the Ronald Regan Building. It was beautiful. That night, we ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Tiniest ice cream sundae ever! One scoop of vanilla (The menu called it three scoops, we asked just to make sure, yep this is the right one!) -$7 Aside from that, and obviously more important, it was next door the the Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot. It was closed, but a neat landmark and across the street, was the house where he was actually taken and died hours later.

Tuesday-we rode the subway (this was frightening as the homeless people were screaming and we couldn't figure out how to use the machine to buy tickets-we never rode again) to visit the Museum of Natural History where the kids enjoyed seeing all the animals and even getting to go into the butterfly house and view the Hope Diamond. We literally ran through the National Gallery of Art West although it still took 45 minutes and we still missed about one fourth of it. Bailey's favorite sculpture was of Cupid catching the water off of Venus hair in a Sea Shell. It was very cute. Many of the art in the exhibit tied into the school work we have been doing this year nicely.

I kept joking that we should move there, but I shouldn't because Bryan could have us there in a month! No JOKE! Tuesday night we ate dinner ate Qudobe grille. It is a fast food Mexican place. It was good. The kids were such troopers. We walked almost EVERYWHERE. That night we went to the Madame Tousseu's Wax Museum. It was so much fun! We posed with all kinds of Presidents and Stars and the kids even got to make their own wax hands. It was amazing how real some of the figures seemed. It felt like we were in a room full of people when there were only just the five of us sometimes. It was so strange!

Wednesday morning we decided to take a cab to visit the White house, but the President was home, so they told us to come back in 2 hours. We had $6 dollars between us and our license and that was it. You weren't allowed to take anything in the White house. We didn't even have jackets because we just thought we would go right in the house and then be warm, and didn't want to carry coats. FFw 2hrs later we are up to the gate. They can't find us on the list.

They told us to go wait behind another gate. They finally let us in. I don't have pictures, because they don't let you take anything in, but it looked like a movie set downstairs. Everything looked fake. The upstairs was beautiful though. It was so weird. We really enjoyed it. I needed to go to the restroom so bad by the time they let us in the gate (and they don't have one in the White House) that I thought I was going to pop!) Did I tell you that during our wait I found a Starbucks to keep me warm? Well, it kicked in when the line got moving.

That afternoon we went to the Air and Space Museum which housed the American History Museum and then to Legal Seafood for dinner. We even rode the Circulator (bus) for the first time. It was relatively pleasant.

Thursday was our first day on the open top bus tour. It was beautiful and sunny! The first stop was the National Cathedral, which was beautiful with all it's stained glass and it's statue of George Washington. It then drove through Georgetown and many areas of DC on the way to the Arlington Cemetery. We arrived and walked to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We watched a "reclaiming ceremony" and the the changing of the guard. I am not yet sure what the ceremony means, but have have been meaning to find out. The children really enjoyed the changing of the guard.

We then proceeded to Union Station and then to Capitol Hill.

Unable to tour Capitol Hill, we proceeded to office 440 Missouri Representative's office, yes, that is right, Missouri Representative's office, by mistake, where the MO's intern took us to 440 Texas Representative's office TWO buildings away through TUNNELS under the building to the Office of Texas Representative Kay Grainger. Very Nice-

We all enjoyed the tunnels-

Texas couldn't help us-Texas intern was out-

MO intern was still with us, I asked if she could take us to tour the Capitol, she said it was ok, if they all said it was ok-

Long story short-She took us through more tunnels-very cool-under the street to the Capitol and not through the two hour security line up above on our own private Capitol tour. Lucky us! It was amazing. She was home schooled K-12. Just a side note. We had much fun with her. It was the greatest guided tour ever.

We saw Congress called to order like 6 times. Then we found a cartoon in the archives which says "Congress, please come to order." We took a picture. In fact, we took over 500!

Friday we started the day off at the Botanical Gardens, but they just didn't open fast enough for us and we decided we better move on. We were there a little to soon for things to be blooming. We moved on to the American Indian Museum. It had so many interesting and beautiful artifacts from the Indians. We could have spent days there. The artwork was amazing.

We sped on there and through the modern Art Museum and Gardens and then throughout the National Archives. The lines were very long, so we didn't view the actual documents, but we really enjoyed the political cartoons. We had a busy day planned on Friday, as we had a date with the Secret Service that afternoon.

We had the privilege that afternoon of viewing the secret service museum and presidential motorcade. It was wonderful. We actually got to view President and Mrs. Bush's personal vehicles inside and out. They were amazing. I am so proud of the care taken to protect our President and First Lady.

Our final special date was to view the Eisenhower Executive Office building, (Bryan actually got to join us for this tour after getting a 94 on his text,) next door to the White House. It it a beautiful Gothic building where many White house staff work and many treaties are still made with other countries. It was an interesting building with marble floors (you can see them in a photo of B and B standing in front of a tiny door) and very high ceilings. Back in the day, men even used to ride their horses in the hallways if you can believe that!

In this building was the Indian Treaty room. In this room, I took a beautiful photo of the White house.

We visited the Jefferson Memorial on our last evening in DC. It was beautiful.

I have always taught my children that there are no heroes on this earth, only one worthy of worship, but there are lessons to be learned by all. We learned many lessons by many this week. We honor, and respect their sacrifices. God bless America!