Washington DC, Day 2

We started off the day early. Left the house in Virginia, braved an hour's worth of traffic, and got to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing ticket line by 7:45. We saw millions of dollars beings printed, but they don't let you take pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it.

That morning we also walked around the Tidal Basin [where the cherry trees are] and saw the FDR memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.

Nathan, with the Jefferson Memorial in the background

Me, with the Potomac, a duck, and the Jefferson Memorial

View of the Lincoln Memorial from the base of the Washington Monument

That's the White House back there... by this time my feet hurt and I had blisters on my toes, so we didn't get any closer than this. They wouldn't let us in anyhow.

We rounded out the day with a thorough visit to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We saw the actual Star Spangled Banner (awesome, and way bigger than I thought it was. It would cover the floor of my kitchen and living rooms combined), the First Ladies' inauguration dresses, a historical house that was dismantled and rebuilt inside the museum, the original Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz, and Seinfeld's puffy shirt. And of course, the original C3PO from Star Wars.

At the end of the day we met Uncle Dick & Aunt Hazie for dinner in Rosslyn and then headed to the Iwo Jima memorial for the Marine Corps Sunset Parade. The coolest thing about it was that the bayonet corps doesn't have anyone counting off or leading them, they just start their routine and are in sync right off the bat!

Washington DC, Day 1

Nathan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a trip to DC. We were able to stay with his Uncle Dick and Aunt Hazie, who were the Best Hosts Ever! We had curbside 'taxi' service into downtown DC, free accomodations, plus they made us what Rebeccca calls 'big fancy breakfast' every morning.

We left in the early evening on Father's Day. The kids all stayed with Nathan's mom for the week, and when we dropped them off Rebecca informed Grandma Toone that she was not staying at her house for a week, but rather, was "having 7 sleepovers at Grandma's." They had so much fun playing with aunts and uncles and going on picnics to the park that the only child who would admit to missing us when we returned was Cassidy. That's the way I'd rather though, because I'm not the kind of mom who dies a little inside every time I leave them. I love them and it's good to be with them, but every so often it's good to be without them too.

Monday we started our Week of Fun at Arlington National Cemetary. We saw the Kennedy grave site and eternal flame, and visited the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

This is the view of the Washington Monument from Arlington.

Next we visited the National Gallery of Art. We did the "if you only have an hour here" tour of the highlights, because the two of us are just casual lovers of art. Even so, it was so awesome to see the works of some of the greats. We saw Monet, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Whistler, among others. No photography, because that's what uncultured swine would do. We took a walk around the sculpture garden outside after lunch.

Next was a stop at the National Archives, where we viewed the actual Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution. I tried to get a photo of John Hancock's signature, but the ink on the Declaration was extremely faded and they request that you turn your flash off to protect the documents from unnecessary light exposure.

My heart skipped a beat when we viewed the documents in the Archives. It was one of the coolest things ever to be so close to the works of the Founding Fathers.

We ended the day with a cursory visit to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, but we were so beat by then that we walked around the main floor just wishing we could sit down and have someone bring the museum to us. We even watched a dumb 5 minute kid-oriented movie about evolution and a character named Harry or Honey or something because we could sit down while we did it. We made it up to the second floor to take a look at the Hope Diamond (and, from the looks of the photo, our best friend Some Kid), and then Nathan's uncle called and said he was done with work and ready to come pick us up.

Nerd + 1 = Braden to the nth power

So last week I was sitting on Braden's bed and talking to him in his room. I realized that his quilt was a couple years old and I had been the one to pick it out. I asked him, "Do you still like your sports bedspread, or if we bought you another one would you rather have something else?" Nathan, who was sitting on the floor chimed in, "There are lots of choices. You could pick space, or dinosaurs, or even a plain color if you are too old for pictures on your bedspread." Braden thought for a brief moment, and then said, "I know what I would really like, but I don't know if they make it. I wish I could have a bedspread that has all different sorts of Math Equations on it."

Oh, goodness. Not that it's of prime concern to a 6 year old, but that's not a way to get the ladies...

I told him that indeed, I do not think they make that kind. And no, I am not going to try and make one. He'll have to make do with the bedding that normal boys have!