day 7: arlington, va.: washington--the monument, the city, the man

We finally made it out to Washington D.C. all together as a family! Daren was feeling mostly better, although he probably overdid it a bit today and put himself to bed even before the boys went to bed tonight. It was nice, in so many ways, to have him along with us. The sun was finally shining here so I could orient myself with directions according to the sun. First stop: Washington Memorial.

This is a pretty cool picture of the memorial, especially since you can see the flags so well. And you can see the flags so well because of the wind BLOWING so hard. We totally underestimated the day and weren't prepared with warm enough clothing. We had big ambitions to spend our full 3 hours of free parking walking around the mall and seeing the other memorials, but we only made it to Washington.

This is the view, ummm, west (I think) from 500 feet up the Washington Memorial. Even with a ton of dormant trees, it's still a beautiful sight. Lincoln Memorial is between the long pool of water and the Potomac River.

Looking south--Jefferson Memorial in the domed building just off the water.

Looking east on the "mall," the Smithsonian museums, and our nation's capitol.

And finally a look north, including the White House. This is an amazing place!!

After that, we couldn't stand to be out in the cold anymore with a bunch of whining boys, and parents(!), so we headed for, what else, FOOD! We wanted to go to Ford's Theater to see where President Lincoln was shot, so we found food close to there...Hard Rock Cafe. Ben wanted me to include a couple of pictures, especially the one he took of Jake. Did I mention Jake lost another tooth last week at school? Well, he did.

It turned out that the only time they are open for a tour, that we could go on, is tomorrow morning, 9am. That's going to be a killer getting out the door to, but it will be cool. So, in looking for something else to do, we decided to go out to Mt. Vernon to see George Washington's home.

George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon is so amazing. To think that you are standing in the same room he had been in, to make many important decisions in...and to see the very chair he sat on, and the wooden chest he used as a general in the Revolutionary War. It's really incredible. The boys had a treasure map to fill out, although I just now remembered that we forgot to turn it in at the end for their prize. Darn it!!

family picture on the back porch at Mt. Vernon

President George Washington is buried right there.

We hurried back up the hill to get to the education center before it closed.

I would have loved more time at the whole place in general, but it was still a great time there. What a great man to have been the Father of Freedom and peace for our country.

There was a little display on one wall about the Stamp Tax. Ben was so excited to see that because in his third grade class they each had to pick a famous person to study about and write a paper on. He chose Ben Franklin, who was a key figure in getting the English government to repeal the Stamp Tax. There will be more coming on Ben Franklin in a couple of days--we talked Daren into going to Philadelphia on Saturday. That is where Ben F. lived most of his life and he had such an influence on that city and our country with the things he "invented" there. But this was it for today. Came back home and watched a movie while everyone around me crashed. Now I need to go do the same! Good night!!