This picture I found online actually makes it look pretty, don’t you agree, Alli?

The American History Museum is full of artifacts from our history.  Here are just a few I liked:

The Presidents section was very cool. 

But I was shocked to find the exhibit of the First Ladys’ gowns was also really cool.  They had one from every first lady.

Martha Washington

They even had a sun stone from the Nauvoo Temple!

I wish we had been able to spend more time in the Smithsonians, but we had a tour scheduled at Ford’s Theatre we did not want to miss.

This one is much better and a lot closer.

Ford’s Theatre was one of my favorite things on this trip. I’ve always been fascinated with the story of this place.  Our tour guide was amazing and made the whole story come alive.  Cade and Alli loved it too.  My pictures were terrible so here are some better ones.

It was fascinating to see the door Booth used to get into the box.  And to walk up the very stairs they carried Lincoln down after he was shot.

Such a tiny gun to kill such a great man.  They have this on display there.

Across the street is the Peterson House where Lincoln actually died.  This is said to be the most accurate drawing of that night.

Alli and I were a little disappointed we did not get to see the blood stained pillow he died on, but in writing this blog post I discovered that it WAS there!!!  It just wasn’t in the room with the bed and so we missed it somehow.  So here ya go, Alli.  

As you walk out of the Peterson House you go down this winding staircase.

Can you guess what the books are about?

All the books ever written about Lincoln!  The sheer volume is mind boggling.

After Ford’s Theatre, Alli decided to hit the Smithsonians some more while the rest of us went to the Nationals baseball game.  I was not very excited about this event beforehand, but it was actually pretty fun!  The subway was a sea of red-people dressed up for the game.  The Nationals are my kind of baseball team.  It’s all about America, lots of national pride goin on. The mascot is a bald eagle and they have the “Running President’s Race” every game starring these American presidents:

And everything is red, white and blue!

   

They were giving out free tank tops at the game and Cade, who was sure he would die from the heat and humidity in D.C. put his on right away.  This boy, who LOVES baseball, was determined to stay for the entire game.  The moms were not too keen on that idea.  We were fine giving everyone a taste of the game, but baseball is a very long game and we didn’t want to deal with drunk crowds at the end. I was gearing up for a fight with Cade about it, but the sun did my fighting for me.  For a few hours it was cool and pleasant where we were sitting, but then the sun moved and it got really hot again. All the kids were happy to leave before the end of the game thanks to the heat.

I never did hear if the Nationals won or not.  That’s how into baseball I am.  But with a team like that, I could maybe convert.  It was fun to experience the great American pastime with so much patriotism.

On our last day in D.C. we went to the National History Day Award Ceremony. This was THREE HOURS LONG!  But seeing as how I’d missed the first two award ceremonies here in Idaho, I suffered through this one in silence.  Idaho didn’t win any awards, but it was exciting and tense for the boys to wait and hope.  They all handled the loss very gracefully.  And were thrilled to have just gotten the chance to compete.  The highlight of the award ceremony was the parade at the beginning where all the kids marched around the floor of the auditorium.  Cade was even on the jumbotron!

Our flight home that afternoon was pretty uneventful, though we did have to run very fast to make our connection in Phoenix.  The kids all enjoyed the moving walkways and I have to admit they came in handy as we were running for our lives down the terminals.

A few last general thoughts and details about the trip.  

The subway was so much easier to tackle for Alli and I with our experience in the New York City subways.  However, there was one entrance that always gave everyone trouble.  The card reader was so finicky that every single one of us had trouble at some point and the big black dude with the yellow vest sitting in the booth would have to come out and tell us we were doing it wrong.  I made the mistake of teasing him about his faulty turn style before I had any trouble myself.  And sure enough the next time we came through he was there and I had trouble.  We got into a little face off that I think made the other moms a little nervous.  I was just joking around and he was too… I think.  

The subways and crowds did freak the other moms out quite a bit, however.  They both had a younger child in addition to their middle schooler and were worried about getting separated.  They made me look like the “Free Range Kid Mom” in comparison. I don’t know whether Cade remembered the subways at all from NYC but he sure wanted to lead out everywhere we went, above and below ground. His need for freedom, his hubris, and his lack of skill was disconcerting to all of the adults and in an attempt to keep the other moms calm I started sounding like a broken record, “Slow down!”, “Stay with the group!”  He thought he was old enough not to have to stay with mommy.  I would be sugar coating this blog post if I said that did not cause lots of arguing between mother and son and sometimes even nephew and aunt.  But in our defense, this is the same kid who at five years old had an assigned adult every time we went into NYC whose only job was to keep track of him. He tends toward the oblivious.  

We never did make it to the Jefferson Memorial.  We tried several times but were just too hot or too tired.  I even bought a bag of peanut butter M & M’s so I could leave them on the steps of the Jefferson for Cade to find and eat just like he did the first time we went there when he was five or six. Back then he caused quite the freak out by eating a peanut M & M off the steps when he was supposedly allergic to peanuts.  We have found out since that he is not allergic and I thought it would be a fun joke.  Well, the US Capitol security guards did not find my little joke cute and they confiscated my M & M’s.  NO FOOD ALLOWED.  Those dumb candies cost me almost $5.00 in the hotel gift store!!!  Sigh.  

And that, was D.C.  I think Cade had a good time despite his mother making him pose in front of every monument for a picture.  Oh, and despite the fact that I wouldn’t leave him at the Nationals game-alone- and let him find his way back to our hotel an hour away. Life is rough as a kid. Especially when you get to go to Washington D.C.

This is the view of Washington from the Lee Home.  John F. Kennedy loved this spot so much his wife had him buried at the bottom of this hill.

We were able to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  

Very Cool. 

These soldiers stand guard 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  You’ll see in the video how little they move as they walk. Someone told us that in a snow storm they get at least a foot of snow on top of their hats! 

The changing of the guard.  Watch till the end cause it’s pretty cool how close we were.

An amphitheater near the tomb.

No.  He’s not taller..yet.

Love this one of Alli.  I’m so glad she came with us.  She kept me sane when things got difficult.

After Arlington we headed to the National Air and Space Museum.  This was a highlight for Cade.

The boys from LSMS

The original Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk air plane was the ONLY thing Cade asked me to take his picture in front of the entire trip.  He really thought this was cool.  He loved seeing all the space ships, shuttles and NASA stuff.  As of right now he wants to be an aerospace engineer.  

While killing time waiting to see the monuments at night we made a very happy discovery for all three of us.  SHAKE SHACK!!!!!!!  Our favorite place to eat in all of New York City was in D.C.!!!  I think we ate here at least 3 times in 5 days.  🙂  Ahhh.  Heaven.  And the best part was there was no line! You have to wait 40+ minutes in NYC but the people of D.C. must not be aware of how amazing their shakes are yet.   

The monuments at night were worth the wait.  However if you ever go to D.C, don’t go with Alli or I because the reflecting pool will be empty if you do.  That’s right.  The last time she and I went to D.C. in 2011 it was empty for reconstruction.  😦  We were so looking forward to seeing it full this time. Monday of THIS trip, the pool was full.  And you’ll remember that we almost made it there, but the kids were too tired so we stopped.  But Tuesday morning when we woke up and checked the weather report we found a notice that said 80 ducklings had died the night before in some kind of freak algae growing in the pool in the extreme heat.  So they drained the pool!!!  I hoped all day the report was wrong, but it was not.  By the time we got there that night it was almost empty.  Not quite, though. There was a little bit of water in the very middle and if you took your picture just right you could get a reflection.  I’m going to blame Alli.  Our air conditioning always breaks when she stays at our house.  I think there’s a connection.

I think being in this big room inside the monument was the hottest/sweatiest I have EVER been in my life. If you look closely, my skin is actually melting off of me.  But Abe is always worth it.  

I just finished reading Team of Rivals and I absolutely LOVE this great man. His monument is my favorite.

Last picture of the night.  World War II and Washington.

Stay tuned for our dash through the American History Museum and Natural History Museum, our tour of Ford’s Theater and the Nationals Baseball game.

First day in D.C.

We made this big trip with the other two boys who made the NHD website with Cade and their moms.  Here are the boys just after their website was judged at the University of Maryland.

They had the very first time slot for judging so they got the hard part out of the way and had the rest of the time up until the award ceremony on Thursday to sight see.  

First stop-the Capital

“Hey kids, these are telephone booths!”  “What’s a telephone booth?”

Cade’s NHD project last year was on Apollo 13 so we had to get a picture.

The stairway a President Elect walks down to be inaugurated.

Paintings in the rotunda

The Senate Chamber

The highlight of the capital tour was getting to visit the Senate Chamber while the senate was in session.  We got to hear Chuck Schumer (who I heartily disagree with on almost every issue) blathering on about the evil Republicans new healthcare bill.  Ordinarily I do not enjoy listening to what this man has to say but it was REALLY awesome to to hear a senator speaking in the chamber especially because I disagreed with him!

One interesting fact we learned on our tour that I did not know is that in the days right after 9/11 we thought the white house was the other target in D.C. but since then intelligence has proven that it was actually the capital building that was the other target.  Congress was in session and it would have been a tremendous loss of life and leaders had they succeeded.  They have a plaque up in the capital to honor those who stopped that from happening on flight 93.  I continue to be amazed and moved by the acts of heroism from that horrific day.  So grateful for those who sacrificed.

After the capital we headed down the mall.

If you look hard you can see the capital in the distance.

WW II Memorial

By the end of this first day we were all exhausted. We were going to hit the Lincoln Memorial next but the kids were done.   It had been a long, hot day.  So we headed home. The eighteen hour traveling day the previous day had really done us in.  

These two cuties looked like we all felt.  Too bad we couldn’t all sleep like that.

Stay tuned for Day 2-Arlington Cemetery, the Air and Space Museum and the Monuments at night!