Washington DC trip- day 1

This Wednesday was Daddy's birthday- happy birthday Daddy!  And on that night we took the two older children to Washington DC.  Every November Marc goes up there for a conference and last year he took me.  This year we were excited to be able to take the two older children- and they were thrilled!

Walking into the airport- I'm pretty sure they were negotiating who got to sit with Daddy on the way up and on the way down.  Daddy is the superhero of this family- no contest.  And look at me with no bags- traveling with older children is AWESOME!   They begged me to let them pull the suit cases!





Sissy sat with me on the way up- she was so sweet. She had her stuffed horsey and talked to her the whole way "don't be scared we are going up....here we go...isn't this fun?"


We started out Thursday morning with a yummy breakfast and then off the the Smithsonian American History Museum. I had really been looking forward to this museum. I got up that morning and showered and blow dried my hair, but I was rushed and didn't get to use any heating element and thus I had my Amy Grant's 1979 Father's Eyes album hair all day.

 

Highlights of this museum- definitely seeing the ORIGINAL STAR SPANGLED BANNER! It was so touching- and it is HUGE! Also- we saw a piece of Plymouth Rock-


Gunboat Philadelphia-
The draft wheel used by the union in the civil war-
My favorite section ever- the dresses and china of the first ladies!

Daddy had to leave us at the American history musuem so he could go to some meetings. The children and I walked along the mall and enjoyed the beautiful, cool weather.

The Father's Eyes Amy Grant hair is killing me-

As we were walking towards the Air and Space Museum we were passing the Natural History Museum and Marky saw the sign for TITANOBOA! He has watched the discovery channel show on that a million times- he was SO EXCITED he could see it in person! Let's go Mommy! And they are off-

This museum is one of the most impressive architecturally- it was gorgeous-

I didn't want to see but three things in here: 1) titanoboa 2) the Hope diamond and 3) the ancient Egypt mummies. Done, done and done.

We had also watched a show on the Hope Diamond so Marky knew all about it and the "curse" it carries-

What I didn't expect here was the Mummy situation- I thought we'd be seeing the outer-layer painted-on Mummy cases that we are all used to- here's what we saw-

Am in the only one a bit unsettled by this. This is a human being- just like you and me. This does not seem fitting treatment for deceased. This person was made in the image of God and deserves more respect than he was getting from the school groups laughing and pointing. There were SEVERAL of these bodies, including one of a baby and MANY mummified animal corpses. It was WEIRD. We did see the other things that I had hoped to see-

Oddly enough, after leaving this exhibit Julia was leaning over the second-story rail and I said, "Sissy- never lean over the railing you could fall and might die!" And she said "Then they'd just put me in that exhibit we just saw, right Mommy?" See- she knows it's weird. ANYWAY- we had lunch at the Natural History Museum and then headed over to the Air and Space Museum. We walked in and I said, "stand by those rockets" and Marky said, "they are nuclear missles Mommy." :)

While we were there Marc finished his meetings and met back up with us- just in time to see the Wright brothers flyers-



We also got to watch the Journey to the Stars planetarium movie. I would tell you if it was good, but I feel asleep. :)

After the three museums we headed over to one of my personal favorites- the Jefferson memorial. As soon as we walked inside Marky said "this is modeled after the Pantheon in Rome- and turns out he was right!"



Jefferson knew it was essential that we believe some rights are given by God not government-

After all that walking- we were hungry and tired. We headed to Potbelly Sandwiches and had the BEST meal!



Who says Marky looks like Marc? Look at that resemblence to Mommy- :)




After dinner we ran back to our fancy hotel (The Mayflower) and got our winter gear- hats, gloves, scarves and then headed out on our Monuments by Moonlight Bus tour!


The capital is SO BEAUTIFUL at night-



Iwo Jima-

We also went to the FDR memorial-

Sissy and Fala, FDR's dog- I think that's all she remembers from that stop-

The new MLK, Jr. memorial-

The Korean War Memorial-

Haunting statues-

And last stop- the Lincoln Memorial- Marky realized this was modeled after the Parthenon in Greece-



Sissy's legs were DONE- she couldn't walk another step- Marc literally carried up the Lincoln Memorial steps on his shoulders-



Beautiful and amazing-

Mr. Lincoln's view-

What an amazing day with my sweet babies. We are SO GLAD we brought them- they learned so much-



Sissy was asleep before we left the parking lot-