The Waterstraut Waterspout: Week 18: Vacation Day 6

Friday we got up early (like 6 am early- blah!) because we had gotten tickets to go into the White House. While our tickets weren't until 8:30, Mom had her conference and would miss it. They told us if we went early, they might be able to get us in (so she could go and not miss it).

The boys had a little added motivation to get up, as mom had gotten us Krispy Kreme Donuts the night before for extra incentive.

We didn't know until about a week before we left that we had gotten tickets. You have to go through a Congressman's office, give them all your information (down to your social security number!) and even then it isn't a guarantee. We were fortunate enough to get them!

They did end up letting mom in early, while the rest of us waited for our time. You couldn't take anything in with you. We had our drivers licenses (they check them against their lists-- twice-- before they let you in), and our phones. Cameras weren't allowed though. Asa and I still have old phones (no smart phones here, we can't justify the monthly cost of them), but we do have cameras on them. You could take pictures outside on your phone, just not inside.

The inside of the White House is really neat to see. I had been in it during high school when I went to the Presidential Classroom for a week with kids from all over the country. Then you even got to see the Oval office, and go in the parts the general public doesn't. We even got our pictures taken on the back lawn.

But, the boys and Asa and mom had never been inside, so it was all new to them. The view from the back of the white house is so impressive. There was Secret Service all throughout the house to answer any questions and provide information.

Once you walk through the downstairs and the Main floor, you come out of the front doors. It was pretty cool to walk out of the front doors of the white house. Probably my favorite part of the day.

Once we were outside, we were able to take some pictures (granted on our not so awesome cell phones, but it totally counts!)

After we walked out of the gates, Asa took the Metro back up to the hotel to get our backpack full of stuff we needed for the day. Calib, Peyton, Hayden and I waited in the park across the street. While we were sitting there, they began to block off the area in front of the gates on the opposite side we walked out on. A little awhile later 6 police motorcycles, a couple of black cars, and two police cars were in front of the white house. One of the black cars even drove in the gates. We figured it wasn't the President or Vice President, because there were no flags or seals, but we theorized it was maybe the Secretary of State.

A little while later, it happened again, this time with more police, and two cars with flags on them. The boys automatically recognized the flags as the German flag (we've been working on learning all the flags and capitals for some time), but there was a seal of sorts on it. I told them in other countries, sometimes they add the seal on their own flag for their dignitaries (as opposed to our President who gets a different flag with the presidential seal on it). Apparently, we were right on, because when Asa got back he told us how President Obama was meeting the German Chancellor.

Reunited with my good camera, we took a couple of pictures in front of the White House.

After we stopped by the visitors center to stamp the boys passports, we made the long walk to the Lincoln Memorial. Last time we were there the reflecting pool was under construction, and was not filled. It was nice for the boys to see it this way.

We climbed to the top of the steps to see Lincoln in all his glory, and take a peak at the Gettysburg Address.

I had recently read that there was an inscription in the stone at the exact spot where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his 'I have a dream' speech, so we looked until we found it. Then we all stood in the very spot. This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip.

On the way back, we stopped at the Korean War Memorial. Last time we were there we walked on the Vietnam side, so the boys had already seen that one.

Oh, hey, D.C if you're listening, you need to get your act together before it gets hot there, we walked for MILES before finding a drinking fountain that worked!

We walked back to the Washington Monument. Apparently it's a mile between Lincoln and the Washington Monument. I was so proud of the boys, we walked miles upon miles everyday, and while they mentioned their feet hurt, they never really complained. We picnic lunched it (again no complaints of yet another PB and J meal!), and enjoyed the view. Sadly, the Washington Monument is under construction (told you, it was a theme!), so we couldn't walk up to it.

I also thought it was funny that the boys would talk about being so exhausted and then suddenly be like "wait! Lets run up that hill and have a contest to see who can roll down it the fastest!" Silly boys.

We continued our walking over to the American History Museum. Outside of it they had all the flags of the states. Hayden worked on those all year, so he can identify a lot of them. Calib and Peyton have learned some too, just because they've been on display in the kitchen since we started them in the fall.

We had originally planned on going to Baltimore, but the rain, the tire, and all kinds of things derailed our plans. I was bummed we didn't make it to Fort McHenry (where the Star Spangled Banner was written during the War of 1812), but we did get to see the flag that inspired our national anthem, and that was a good consolation prize. (You couldn't take pictures of it though, it's even in protected light it's so delicate).

I think it's so cool that Peyton has learned so much on his timeline, that a lot of the things in Washington that weren't interesting to him when we were there two years ago, we're totally captivating him this time around. We're in the 60's and the height of the Civil Rights Movement. When I told him that was the lunch counter from the sit-ins he knew exactly what I was talking about. He even said to me 'Thats THE one? Like, the actual one?'

Sadly, I may have failed them as a parent, though. They weren't interested in the Ruby Slippers. While they are aware of the Wizard of Oz, they've never seen it.

Remember that fun Plymouth Rock re-enactment I did for Hayden on his toy timeline? Well, here's an actual piece of Plymouth Rock, which he was totally excited about.

I saw this video camera, and I thought to myself 'I am way too old if things I remember are in a museum', but then I realized this was here because it's the camera that taped the only known footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on September 11th.

Kermit wasn't on display anymore, which I was bummed about, but Miss Piggy was a decent replacement.

I kept checking out exhibits, and I found this one. Walkmans are now in the Smithsonian. There's nothing special about this one either, it's just a sign I'm getting old.

Peyton liked seeing all the campaign buttons from various Presidents.

But not as much as he liked the President wing. They are re-doing the museum, and half off it is closed off for construction, but they've done a great job with the half they have re-done and open. The President Hall is a great example of how much they can pack in, in such a small space.

We found the desk Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence on.

And Bill Clinton's Saxaphone.

They even had signs of streets named after Presidents. (In case you weren't aware, I grew up on Hayes Avenue in Fremont, Ohio-- where President Hayes lived and is buried.)

We liked the Moose Campaign, too.

And we got to see Abe Lincolns hat!

After we left the American History Museum, we went over to the Natural History Museum.

Calib found the moose in the Mammals Hall.

While Hayden was quite impressed with the Hippos teeth.

And Asa checked out the koalas. If it weren't illegal, he'd like to have one as a pet. (though I hear they are terribly mean)

We walked through the Evolution exhibit.

And the Ocean Exhibits.

Though the dinosaur wing is closed (under construction if you can believe it), Hayden did get to see this guy.

The Easter Island Heads are pretty prominent in the first Night at the Museum movie, so Hayden didn't want to miss these guys. He wanted his picture in front of him, but only if he could make the same face.

We walked from the basement to the third floor, and everyone was pretty tired (they'd walked at least 5 miles to this point), I snapped this picture of Peyton telling Asa he could make it up the stairs.

It was well worth it though, because on Asa's top list of things to see was the Mummies.

We also got to stop by the Insect Zoo. Peyton held the Caterpillar. Everyone but me refused to hold the Madagascar Hissing Beatle. And nobody even took my picture with it to prove it.

We took a small break on the lawn of the National Mall (with a great view of the capitol), before we finally decided to regroup at the hotel.

Instead of walking a couple of miles back to the hotel, we decided to use the Metro. I had a couple of metro cards left from my last visit, mom had one, and one of her friends gave her a couple- so all together we had five. It worked out perfect, and we only had to put $3 on one to get us back to the hotel.

When we got back, we all rested our feet or about an hour. Then Asa called the National Cathedral to see how late they were open, and if we had to pay to see Woodrow Wilson's tomb. Apparently, any other day of the year- you have to pay the admission (and at $9 a person it would have been out of budget for us!), but it was the flower festival, so admission was free. We decided we better take advantage of our good timing and go. Asa went to get the car and bring it around, and as we were piling in the car in front of the hotel, Mom appeared, finished with her meeting, and asked where we were off too. She was able to hop in the car, and come along with us!

Churches are not usually my thing, but this one was amazing. The architecture is stunning.

To make it even more fun, due to the flower festival, they had arrangements for various countries all around the outskirts of the church. Here is Jamaica's arrangement.

But, the real reason we even went out there was to check another President off Peyton's list. Here he is at Woodrow Wilson's tomb. The only President buried in D.C.

We kept checking out the flowers (that's totally my mom's thing- she's in Garden Club and everything). This is Hong Kong's display.

We thought Singapore's was pretty cool too. It was also nice they had the flags, so the boys were identifying them that way.

We got to walk all around the church and enjoy the views.

By the time we got to the other side, Calib was going ahead to cover up the flags and names to see if we could guess the countries based solely on the flower arrangements. Switzerland's was easy.

Hayden had the Netherlands as his country for the Olympics, so he wanted his picture taken with their display.

Malaysia had an interesting arrangement.

And while Colombia's was pretty, we didn't find it too unique.

Sweden's was easily identifiable.

And Peyton got Ukraine no problem at all (The Ukraine flag has two stripes- blue on top and yellow on bottom)

I thought this one was Austria (the flag of Austria is two red stripes on top and bottom, and a white in the middle), but Peyton showed me up by guessing (correctly) Luxembourg. He was all "Come on mom, that's clearly in the shape of an L".

At the front of the National Cathedral, is every state seal. Here's Mom with Ohio's.

We walked around a bit outside for the flower festival. Asa got some good information for our garden at home, while mom treated us to a bonsai tree AND a Venus Fly Trap.

When I was looking for free things to do in D.C with kids (there are SO many!) I came across this playground, right behind the National Cathedral. It's part of a school, but open to the public during non-school hours. And besides the park in Lakeland, this is probably the best playground I've ever seen. The slide was so big, and SO fast.

They also had this sort of zipline contraption that the boys loved.

The whole thing was pretty cool. And despite the boys saying how tired they were, they had a sudden burst of energy here!

On the way home, we decided to pick up dinner. We had hoped to find a parking spot, but couldn't get one, so I ran in while Asa circled the block. We had gotten these gigantic slices of pizza last time we were in D.C, and while I was just ok with them, everyone else couldn't stop talking about them. So, we had to stop again.

We took the pizza back to the hotel and waited for Asa to park the car (I had pre-paid parking in a garage about half a mile from the hotel, so we wouldn't have to pay the $38 a night for valet at the hotel, but that just meant poor Asa had a ways to walk every time he dropped us off or picked us up.)