Friday...Our last full day in DC:(

We have had such a good visit here in DC. I highly recommend visiting here. There is so much to do. I thought we could do it all, but I was wrong. Yes, I said I was WRONG. Anyway, we have seen a lot of things.

Today we toured the Capital with Interns from our Congressman's office. They were maybe 19 and 21? We saw the House Floor where the President holds the State of the Union address, the Rotunda, a beautiful view of Washington Monument. Ask Kevin how many pictures he has of the Monument! We got to travel through the tunnels connecting the Capital, Library of Congress and Madison Building. There were many more things that we saw there, but I can't remember all the names right now.

After our tour, we went to the Library of Congress. Yet another huge beautiful building. It was there that we hit a wall ( figuratively!). I decided that my brain couldn't hold any more information. I decided it was time to eat, so we ate at the cafeteria in the top of the Madison building.

Our final stop of the day was the Old Post Office. Since we were unable to go to the top of the Washington Monument we were told this was the next best thing. Actually, we were told it was a better view that from the Washington Monument. It wasn't as high, but I think it was a better view of the whole city and it has bigger windows.

On our way back up the street, we bought all the crazy souvenirs - homeboy caps and sunglasses, fake Coach, Prada and Dolce Gabbana purses. Tomorrow we'll probably try to go to at least 1 more museum before we head to the airport.

Until tomorrow night...

Wednesday and Thursday

Greeting to all. We were too tired to blog yesterday! The day started with us heading to the Smithsonian of Air and Space. We stopped on the way and saw the house where Lincoln died. It is directly across from Ford's theater. The theater is under construction right now, so we couldn't go in there. A lot seems to be under construction right now.

After that we went to the museum. We had a great time there and were there quite a while. Again, there were many school groups touring. However, the museum is so big, it wasn't too bad.

We came back to the hotel for about an hour and then headed to Union Station for our Monuments at Midnight tour. We ended up taking the Metro to that since we didn't want to walk home late at night.

Union Station is beautiful. There is a Mall, restaurants, and oddly enough a train station. The Metro station also has a stop there, so that was nice.

The night tour was very fun and interesting. The only bad thing is that most of the school groups were touring the Monuments at night, so where we would get somewhere, it would be PACKED with crazy middle and high school kids who were pretty disrespectful of where they were.

We went to the FDR memorial, Lincoln Memorial (crazy packed!) , Ijo Jimo (sp?) memorial. We decided not to walk to the Vietnam wall or the Korean Memorial because the schools were all there and so loud.

We drove past the White House, but we didn't get out there. The kids were too tired and frankly, so were we. We went back to Union Station, got on the Metro and got back to our hotel after 11:00.

Today we got up and took the Metro over to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to get tour tickets. We were late and I thought that we wouldn't get any, but we did get in to a tour at 2:45. Yea!

While waiting for that we walked back to the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial and Vietnam Memorial. It was MUCH better today. Not so wild!

We grabbed a really nasty hot dog for lunch and then sat on a bench and ran around in The Mall for about 1 hour before heading to the Smithsonian Castle and then on to the Bureau at 2:45. The tour was very interesting. Glad we got in!

Since we're so tired, we ended up coming back to the room and hitting the pool and eating close to the hotel. We're hoping to get to bed early tonight, because tomorrow we're hitting Capitol Hill. Our trolley tour went through there last night and there are so many beautiful things to see.

Small world. Someone just walked up to the computer Kiosk with a Page Middle sweatshirt on. Same Page that Emily goes to.

Ok, I think that's it for now. Sorry there are no pictures. We let our room Internet access expire. So, I've been standing here in the lobby typing this.

Day 3...and we're walking!

Day 3 we went to the White House Visitor's Center and watched a video on the White House (since we couldn't get in) read a lot of info about it and saw some, pictures (Taft's bathtub was a favorite), china, etc...

We walked back to the Lincoln Memorial to go to the top, but the tickets for the day were all gone. I tried to sign on and get tickets for tomorrow. The first available online tickets are for June 25th So much for that idea.

After that we went to the Museum of Natural History along with many other school kids on field trips. It was pretty packed, but we toured most of it. We saw dinosaur bones, stuffed mammals, bugs and the Hope Diamond. That was my favorite!

We were all dragging after that and still had our tour of the National Archives to go to, so we ate lunch and revived some. We walked to the Archives, but were early. There was a really cool sculpture park across the street with a beautiful fountain. We walked around there and then sat for a few minutes before our tour.

We had advance tickets so we were taken to the front of the line of the National Archives (kind of like a Disney fast pass) and went on in. Again, there were many school groups touring. We wandered, and tried to look at everything else before seeing the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Michael REALLY wanted to see those, so he was basically running through the rest of the building. We got to the Rotunda and it was packed. We had to wait in line, but couldn't figure out how to get to the end of the line. At one point we ended up walking through the exit where people were coming out after seeing the documents. The police/security were completely oblivious. We ended up walking back out. We should have just stayed in there.

The documents looked like, well, old documents. The Declaration of Independence was really faded. The room was darker than I thought, so it was hard to see. We saw them, though. We can now mark that off our list. Michael bought a copy of each if you want to see them! Ha!

Did I say that we were tired?! Tomorrow is another day. Until then...

Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetary

Today we got up and decided to head over Arlington Cemetery for the Memorial Day ceremony. What they didn't tell you online is that you couldn't go into the main part of the cemetery until the President was gone. However, we got lucky and saw his motorcade coming in. Laura Bush waved at us. I'm sure she was looking directly at us - ha! If you click on the picture, you can see her clearly and George's hand and silhouette. Anyway, it was a cool moment. After about 45 minutes we were able to walk through Arlington. While walking we heard the 21 gun salute, saw the Kennedy's graves, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the Challenger Memorial. At the tomb of the Unknown soldier there were various veteran groups presenting wreaths to the soldiers at the tomb. We watched that for quite a while. There were many veterans there in their military dress uniforms. It was a very special way to spend Memorial Day. I'm not sure that the kids felt the same way, but hopefully someday they will look back and see that it was.

Later in the afternoon Em and Michael hit the pool for a while and then we walked through Chinatown that night.

Tuesday we are going to the White House Visitor Center and then the National Archives this afternoon. We're hoping to fit something else in today, too, but we'll just have to see how we are doing on time.

More later!

And we're here!

We arrived in Baltimore about 4:50 pm yesterday afternoon and had an exciting ride to DC. Our driver seemed ok until we got in DC then someone pulled out in from of him and he slammed on the brakes and the horn. It was aggressive driving from then on. You should have seen the look on the kids faces!

From our hotel you can see the top of the Washington Monument and the top of the Capitol. We're about 6 blocks from the White House. Last night was so beautiful that we went walking. We ended up at the National Mall. It's probably 7 or 8 blocks from here. We had a great time just walking around, figuring out where everything is. We found the Smithsonians, the National Archives, the Department of Justice, the Old Post Office. I could go on and on. We are definitely in walking distance of many things.

Today we got up and walked to the White House. It was pretty busy. There were several protesters and one man with a box on his head who is running for president - who knew! After that we experienced the Metro (subway). We bought passes, transferred to a different train and ended up where we supposed to be going! Amazing. The kids loved it.

Our destination was the Nationals baseball field. This is their inaugural season. The game was ok. We ended up leaving our seats to move to the shade. It's not really hot here, but after sitting about 1 1/2 hours in the sun, we were ready to move. We ended up leaving at the bottom of the 6th inning and now were resting in the room for a while.

There is a concert in front of the Capitol tonight. We might head over there later on. The kids will definitely be hitting the pool tonight.

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day! I think we might head to Arlington tomorrow. We'll update more then.

And...we're off!

DC here we come! Its been months in the planning and now, like a whirlwind, it is here. Our long-awaited and much anticipated trip to our nation's capital (or is that capitol?).

Anyway, we've dropped Pepper off at her friends' home and the car is packed. We've logged in and gotten our A boarding pass for SWA. The only thing that is left is getting there, getting around, and finding an adventure somewhat akin to National Treasure.

While it would be nice to discover a hidden room filled with millions of dollars of gold and artwork...we're only likely to find a moderately clean hotel room with an indoor swimming pool and (hopefully) an International House of Pancakes.

All the best to you and yours this long holiday weekend. We have several in our thoughts and prayers, but on this holiday, I especially want to lift up Danny P. who has been working with us on our investments and retirement planning and has just been called up to serve our country in the Army Reserves. Danny is a great guy. Now, I have a whole new level of respect and admiration for him. I also appreciate what he and all the others are doing. Right or wrong, they are serving our country and trying to make it better for all of us.

Considering how good things are in our family, I guess we did find the national treasure.

(OK, it was my first shot at one of these and I got a little preachy...please forgive and come read Mrs. Incredible's writings in the future.)

MR. INCREDIBLE

The boy and the missing jacket

About 2 months ago, Michael came home from school without his really cool zip up hoodie. I asked him where it was and he said "I don't know". That is a typical response from my boy. I told him to look on the playground and in lost and found when he went back to school the next day. So, he comes home the next day and I ask him if he found his jacket and he says that he couldn't find it. Now Michael is really bad about not finding things when he looks for them. I would like to say that he gets that from his father, but I'm afraid he gets it from me. I cannot lie. Anyway, this same conversation took place pretty much the whole week - "did you find your jacket?" "No". I finally decided that some hoodlum from school lifted it and it would never be seen again. It wouldn't fit him next year, anyway.

Fast forward to today. Michael was a car rider today. I was a little late getting in the carpool line and I was looking for him to make sure that he didn't get on the bus. He wore a bright orange shirt to school today, so I was looking for a boy in an orange shirt. Emily finally spotted him, but he wasn't wearing an orange shirt. He was wearing his lost jacket. He gets in the car and I said "Michael, you found your jacket! Where was it?" He proceeds to tell me that some boy found it UNDERNEATH A BENCH ON THE PLAYGROUND"! So this jacket has been outside for 2 MONTHS and Michael is wearing it. I told to take it off immediately! It had to be filthy. His response was to put his hands in his pockets and say "It just has some dirt and leaves in the pockets". Gag! Who knows what all is on that jacket after being outside for 2 months. It's a good thing he's so cute!

Pepper and The Boy

MG and Pepper started taking a 4H dog obedience class about 7 weeks ago. They went every week for an hour and learned sit, lie down, come, stay and heel. He took over feeding Pepper at home and has been practicing with her 3 or 4 times a week. They have really bonded. It's so cute when she hears the bus coming. She'll sit at the back door and pace or cry until he is in the house.

Tonight MG and Pepper had their testing. On a whim, MG took the written test before the obedience portion of the program began. AFTER 2 HOURS of waiting, he finally had the obedience test. They both passed AND Michael got 3rd place ribbon for the "skillathon" which was the written test. Needless to say, we were all shocked!

It was a long, but successful evening. They start agility training in the Fall - maybe...

Crazy Weekend!

This has been one of those whirlwind weekends. Friday, Kevin and I drove to Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks. As all you Kentuckians know, it was a lousy day! The weather was horrible. I think we watched 2 races outside. The rest were seen on a TV monitor inside with 100,000 other people! Fun! We finally gave up after the 7th race when there was no hope of the rain stopping. Kevin and our neighbor got contraband umbrellas from the gate (out of the dumpster) and we walked back to the car in the downpour. Along the way we were mooned by a very inebriated teen. Welcome to Louisville!
Saturday we had a yard sale in the morning, Em's volleyball game at 12:00 and a Derby party at 4:00. I don't know why I create so much stress in my life. Anyway, it turned out to be a good party, except for the very sad Derby race.
Last night I started losing my voice and today isn't any better. The kids think it's funny when I talk and they are trying to make me laugh, because that is even funnier.
Kevin wants everyone to know that 3 pieces of pie in a day are too many. Words to live by! I guess that's it for today. We're done with craziness for now - until my Derby Bunko party tomorrow night!