Washington DC--Tuesday

 This was our "seeing as many monuments as possible" day. There was a lot of walking and, thankfully, Isaiah did better than yesterday. I think having an aunt and uncle distraction made today more enjoyable--maybe even possible. I don't think we would have made it as far as we did without them!

The first stop was mostly for me. I found out through facebook that a girl I had gone to high school in Oregon and whose family was friends with my family was also in DC with her son's class trip. It turned out that on Tuesday she was going to be the American History Museum in the morning. We had also wanted to see an exhibit at the American History Museum. It wasn't at the top of our list, but I put it on the top of our list. We went there first and were able to park on the road on the same block as the museum. I texted Andrea when we got there and she was on the 3rd floor at the exhibit right beside the First Ladies Exhibit that we wanted to see. It was way to much fun to give her a hug and introduce her to my family. Jeremy and Andrea also have a common aunt and uncle. It's a fun little connection God gave me to Oregon.

Anna was looking forward to the First Ladies Exhibit where all of the inaugural ball gowns are on display. All of the official state china sets that the First Ladies chose are also on display.

I found that gem on my camera. An original painting by Bob Ross.

And Dorothy's ruby slippers. We also got to see the flag that inspired The Star Spangled Banner. It is a huge flag!

By then enough time had passed that we had to move to a new parking place. National Archives was our next stop. We again found a parking spot literally across the street from the building. There was a park type place right by our car and we decided to eat lunch there.

This was the most highly anticipated stop for Aliza. I had not been to National Archives either.

My heart dropped when I opened up the email with our tickets and our time was 1:00. I thought I had scheduled it for 1:15 and that is when we arrived. Thankfully it was not a problem at all. 

The building itself is just beautiful inside and outside. No photography is allowed inside the building. I would have loved to have a picture of Aliza studying the documents seeing what signatures she could make out. We were able to view the Mayflower Compact and in the Rotunda the Bill of Rights, Constitution and Declaration of Independence. We also learned there are 39 signatures on the Constitution and 39 steps up to the National Archives building.

At this point it was 1:45 and Isaiah was pretty sure we had seen enough and was ready to go back to the timeshare.

Isaiah was outvoted. The next stop was to see the White House. We didn't get quite as great as a parking spot but we couldn't complain. We walked a few blocks and ended up on the back side of the White House.

From there we walked to the Washington Monument.

And then it wasn't *that* much farther to walk to the World War II Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.

Isaiah had a complete meltdown here while Aliza wished that she knew more about the symbolism built in to this memorial. I was very aware of the age differences of my children at this point!

I completely stole this picture from either Joel or Amanda. It's my favorite.

It was a warm walk, but we made it to the Lincoln Memorial. Looking back from the Lincoln Memorial over the reflecting pond was just beautiful.

While we sat inside the Lincoln Memorial, Jeremy rode a bike back where the car was parked and brought it to us. We had a bit of trouble figuring which direction North was to find him and ended up taking the longest route possible to find him. 

It was another rush hour drive back to the timeshare. The rain held off until we were just about back in the room. Joel and Amanda sacrificed staying dry to grab Starbucks. After an evening of Pokemon talk it was time for Joel and Amanda to head home. As soon as the door closed the girls flopped on the floor and stayed there. After a few minutes I asked them if they were ready to go to bed. They said "No. This is just what we do when the fun people leave."

 

What Jeremy and I do when the "fun people leave" is move all of our stuff into the master suite!