Washington D.C. Adventure

During Spring Break, we decided to embark on an adventure, not really knowing how it was all going to play out.  We decided to take a military HOP out of Jackson, Mississippi on a C-17 that was headed to Washington D.C.  There were a bunch of unknowns, the first was whether we would actually get on the plane, and the second was whether we would actually end up in Washington D.C. since the plane sometimes gets orders to land in New Jersey while en route.  Anyhow........Keyan was a great travel agent/tour guide and had all the bases covered for us.  The flight out was short (no connecting flights required!).  The best part was that Ben and Sam got to go sit up in the cockpit with the pilot during takeoff.  Ben no longer wants to be a bus driver......guess what he wants to be now?  We actually did arrive in Washington D.C., and then encountered a minor glitch as we could not get a taxi to come on base to pick us up and take us to our hotel downtown.  A fellow passenger gave us a lift to the visitor's center by the front gate to make it easier to get a taxi there.........so we waited......and waited........and waited.  I guess there aren't that many taxis that can fit 6 passengers and the ones that were there weren't very  motivated to come get us.  We finally got one and we realized after taking several other taxi rides during the trip that the initial taxi driver got a good amount of money out of us!

We stayed about 4 blocks from the National Mall so we were able to walk or ride the Metro.  The kids loved the Metro - it was better than a ride at DisneyWorld!  I was completely confused on how one was supposed to figure out which train to take and so Keyan led the way that first night.  Unfortunately, when one of the trains came, Elyse started to get on and the doors began to close before the rest of us could follow - Keyan quickly pushed her and himself inside and off they went........leaving Mara, Sam, Ben, and I on the platform without a cellphone.  A mild case of panic set in, but I vaguely remembered  which stop we had gotten on at so I figured we could make our way back there.  It was an anxious 12 minutes as we waited for the next train and made our way to our stop......would we find Keyan and Elyse there?  Thankfully, yes.  We didn't even want to imagine all the things that could have happened if Elyse had gotten on that train by herself.......

The trip was great......Keyan, Mara, Ben, and I really enjoyed all of the historical things that we saw.  It really sparked a desire to learn more about the way our government is run.  We fit a lot in to those days...tours of the Capitol, the White House (thanks to a White House Physician Keyan met on a TDY), The Bureau of National Engraving, The Libray of Congress, The Washington Monument, Arlington National Cemetery...plus seeing the Lincoln Memorial, the VietNam Memorial, Mt. Vernon, the Washington D.C. Temple,  The National Art Gallery, The Museum of American History, The Museum of Space and Aeronautics, National Harbor, and China Town.   The first thing Elyse would say to us as we were going into a building was, "when are we going back to the hotel?"  She just wanted to swim and watch movies all day!  She was a good sport, though.........she had several moments when she lost it, but she did great overall.  I only wish we had taken a stroller for her to ride in......she fell asleep everyday while we were out and Keyan or I had to hold her...and she is heavy when asleep!

We were scheduled to come back home on Friday....got loaded on the plane which was on it's way back from Germany with some soldiers that were being flown down to Texas to the hospital.  It was a great thing for our kids to see that.  That is the reality of life right there.  We sat on the plane for a couple of hours, though,  as the crew determined whether the plane was fit to fly.  They finally gave a thumbs down (even though it had just flown across the ocean from Germany!) so we had to get off and scramble to find a place to stay for 2 more nights.....but we did get to see a few more things, like Mt. Vernon and the Washington D.C. Temple.  We also learned after driving around to find a place to eat for 2 hours, that we were not comfortable being the only white people in a restaraunt that had a police car parked outside...and that's why we drove around for so long looking for a place to eat!

Here we are waiting at the Visitor's Center for a taxi to come pick us up.

The guard at the the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.  It was very impressive and humbling to watch him walk back and forth and then to witness the changing of the guards. 

The view from Arlington National Cemetery.........I think this was the most beautiful view in the city, mostly because of what the view represented.

The Washington Monument - yes, we did go up to the top!

Chilling out on the marble slabs by the Washington Monument.

Ben and Sam

The Smithsonian Castle........beautiful!

We hit the right time to visit, all of the cherry blossom trees were blooming out and they were beautiful!

Beautiful cherry blossoms.

On the slab in front of the Capitol Building.......If I look a little stone faced, I was...Sam looks a little too happy....can you put those two faces together to figure out what was going on?

Playing at the Smithsonian  Museum of American History

Mt. Vernon....we all really loved this place!

The kids were SOOOOO excited that there was a dusting of snow while we were there.  They did their best to make snowballs and have a snowball fight (except Mara who was not that interested in snow and would rather stay in the room and watch "One Night With a King.")

Is this a future congressman?  We went and visited the office of our congressmen from Florida, Mike Miller....he wasn't actually there, but we did get to tour his office and sit in his big fancy chair. 

On the National Mall lawn....the US Capitol Building behind.

One of those times that Elyse fell asleep.

The Lincoln Memorial

On the steps of the Washington D.C. Temple.

"I'm going there someday!"

Mara by a statue of "A Girl Reading" in the National Art Gallery.  We really liked the Art Gallery.......we could have spent more time there, excpet that we had little hands that didn't appreciate the "No Touching" rule!

Sam on the steps of the Bureau of Engraving........we got to go on a tour and see how money was made.  That's about as close as we'll ever get to $1,000,000!