Christmas in DC- Part 2

The next morning we started out a little earlier to catch our private tour of the Supreme Court.  This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  We got to sit in the conference rooms while our tour guide told stories about different justices.  She was so great and just ignored all the little kids playing on the floor.  The kids had fun and everyone learned a lot.  

The stair case was incredible.  We all wished we could walk up but it was off limits.  We'd packed lunches, so we piled into the cafeteria and made a bunch of sandwiches, cut up apples, pealed oranges and passed around snacks till everyone was full and the table was a disaster.

Then more walking (or riding if you were lucky).  The Parkinsons headed to the Holocaust Museum but we made a little detour to the National Gallery.  We took an audio tour that highlighted the most famous works from that building.  The girls loved listening to all the stories and recognized some names from the things they have studied in art class at school.

The holiday decor was magical.

Kate had to take some photos of Degas's ballerinas.  It was one of her favorite things on the trip.

Then we headed to the Holocaust Museum and spent an hour exploring.  The museum was so well done - powerful and moving, but also overwhelming.  It was a bit much for the littles so we skipped some parts and hurried through others.  After that we made our way to the tidal basin to see the last of the memorials.

Laurie acted as tour guide as she masterfully used the internet to explain the significance and symbolism of the MLK memorial.  Then onto FDR where Brett acted as tour guide.  That memorial would have definitely been better in daylight with the fountains on, but it was still cool.

I loved the walk around the basin though- it was so beautiful to see all the monuments lit up and reflecting off the water.  We ended at the Jefferson Monument - so huge.  It was worth the walk to see all of them.

It was a long day of walking; we covered 12.5 miles by the time we got to IHOP and Panda Express for dinner and then home for the night.  The cousins were leaving the next morning so they stayed up as late as possible playing together.

They spent hours with that play-dough.

These sillies decided this was the best place to sleep so the three of them climbed in the queen bed and slept together.  They slept quite soundly.

It was hard to say goodbye the next morning; Having the Parkinsons with us had doubled the fun.  All the kids would say that being with cousins was the best part of the trip.

Christmas in DC- Part 1

With Anut Laurie's encouragement we decided to take the kids to DC for Christmas.  So we celebrated a day early and left the house around 5:15 am on the 25th.  The stewardess was very generous with the soda- no complaints from Mack and Andrew.  Everyone enjoyed the hours of movie watching as well.

When we arrived in DC we realized that there had been a mix up with the car we were borrowing from TURO so we had to take Uber to our place.  The kids thought it was pretty cool because other than Natali and Mack they had never been in an Uber.  Andrew loved talking to the drivers and asking all sorts of questions.  

We moved into our place; the reality of which was less impressive than the images online.  But all things considered we fit 19 people in there so it worked.  Greg and Andrew found us some Christmas Chinese takeout (and saw a nice rat- first mammal of the trip) and then we got to take another Uber to the DC Temple to meet up with the cousins and see the lights.

 We listened to a choir of sister missionaries but the kids were most excited about the cousin reunion.  After the performance we wandered around to see the lights.  They were so beautiful.  I can't imagine the man hours required to put up and take down that many lights.

The next morning it took us a while to get out the door but we had 30 minutes to check out the Library of Congress before our scheduled tour of the Capitol.  

The exterior and interior were amazing.  I loved taking it all in- I wish we'd had more time.

We got to see a Gutenberg Bible and the Reading Room as seen in National Treasure.

We loved seeing the statues of historical state figures in the Capitol Building as we waited for our tour.

The tour was interesting and the rotunda was as amazing as I remember.  I love the paintings on the walls and ceiling were definitely a highlight and that huge dome is incredible. 

Natali wanted to go into a session, which required a special ticket from a state rep.  So while we all ate lunch in the cafeteria, Natali went looking for Idaho's representatives.  Terms were ending so most offices were in the middle of changing.  She had a hard time finding state that could find their tickets. Her persistence payed off and she eventually got 6 tickets from the Representative from American Samoa.  Unfortunately, Congress was only in session for 6 minutes that week - in no hurry to resolve the issue about Trump's wall and the Government shut down.  So all her work was for not, but the tickets were a great souvenir.

We became pretty familiar with the Metro system by the end of our time in DC.  We drew a lot of stares with our, stroller, scooter, skateboard and 13 kids.  People usually gave us plenty of space.

Our first few times underground sent my healing head loopy but by our last train ride I hardly noticed the motion.  It was a long 6 weeks but I was finally getting back to normal.  

After the lunch that day we headed to the Air and Space Museum.  We hardly dented it in an hour but it was fun to see so many historical planes and space equipment.  I especially loved teaching the kids about the Wright Brothers.

We left the Museum and walked down the Mall to the Washington Monument to start our walking tour of the monuments. (Side Note:  Before the trip I had the kids make a map of the mall.  We printed out pictures of all the places we were going to go and drew on the grass and water and pasted and taped it all together.  It was quite a masterpiece.  However, when we started walking from the museum to the Washington Monument no one could believe how long it took.  The reality felt much longer than it looked on our map - and that was just the beginning of our walking.)

We learned about the White House and posed for a picture - Can you see it way back there?

The WWII Memorial was new since I'd been their last.  Too bad we couldn't see the fountains, but the symbolism and scope of the structure was impressive.

From there we walked and walked and walked to the Korean and Vietnam Memorials.  Some kids walked more than others (Lily had a lot of piggy back and shoulder rides).  

The guide told us that there is a soldier looking at you no matter where you are in the Korean Memorial - the girls had a good time trying to prove her wrong.

Our last stop for the day was the Lincoln Memorial.  It was so cool to see at night - all lit up.  I enjoyed standing there looking down the Mall at the Capitol, White House, Washington Monument, and all the museums; a cool site to see.

Brett's sister, Krista, had joined them for the adventure.  It was great to have another adult to man all the kiddos.

Everyone was exhausted and famished by the time we were done but we still had to get to the Metro station.  Our guide directed us to the nearest one but it was way farther away than we expected. The kids moaned and groaned but having cousin distractions made it manageable.   

We made it to Chick-fil-A where the kids devoured chicken and milkshakes.  By the time we got to our place for the night we had walked over 11 and 1/2 miles!  I had walked far less than that in the 5 previous weeks combined.  All that walking had been hard on me- I climbed in my bed and just checked out for 30 minutes but then I was able to jump back in the fray and get the kids to bed so we'd be ready for another big day.