Washington DC - Day 2

Our second day in DC started at the Supreme Court. The court was in session and I was hoping to get in to see the justices! When we got to the court, the line was VERY long. It was probably 9:45. I asked the security guard which line this was, because there were supposed to be two lines - one to get in for the entire session, and one for a three-to-five minute viewing of the courtroom, which was the one we wanted to be in. He explained that they had already seated the 50 or so people for the morning session, so this remaining line was the 3-5 line. I did a quick calculation and figured that there was at least an hour's worth of folks in front of us and the sky was threatening to drench us at any moment. Given that this line didn't start moving until 10 and we had a tour appointment for 12ish across the street at the Capitol, we opted to skip the courtroom experience and just see the exhibits inside instead.



The Supreme Court had, by far, the most educational movie about its function. The movie featured all of the justices talking about how they work. The courthouse had this really cool staircase inside, too:



When we left the Supreme Court, it was raining, so we quickly made our way across the street to the Capitol. We had to wait outside for a bit to get through security. We had a quick snack and then visited the displays in the Capitol Visitor's Center before our tour. The Visitor's Center just opened in the last year or so, and it was quite nice, but honestly, the tour was lame. Now, I'm comparing it to a tour I took when I was in college, and we were guests of a congressman, but still - we only got to see three rooms on the tour! Here's a look up in the Rotunda:



If you read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, you know what the painting is at the top - the Apotheosis of Washington:



The hall of statues:



This room was the "tomb" under the Rotunda, and here are the girls with General Stark of NH:



I had hoped to visit the Library of Congress of the Capitol, but we were starving, so we walked up to Union Station and found the Capitol City Brewery in the old Post Office Museum across the street. HIGHLY recommended if you get to DC! After that, we thought Sophie would take a snooze if we strolled for a while (we were about two miles from the hotel). We decided to walk partway back and then catch a train. Well, we kept finding interesting things to sidetrack us, so we ended up walking the whole way - and only the last three blocks in the rain! Here's the friendship arch in Chinatown. DC's Chinatown is pretty lame - all chain stores with Chinese signs, and honestly, we didn't really see too many Chinese people there!



The back side of the White House:



We weren't very hungry for dinner after eating a late lunch. Our friends, the D family, stopped by and we had some snacks.

Trip to Washington DC - Day 1

We returned yesterday from a wonderful week in Washington DC. It was a great trip, and the girls had a fantastic time. EJ is such a history and politics buff that she is at a good age for this trip!

We stayed at the fabulous Tabard Inn, an historic hotel just south of Dupont Circle. It was a great location, just six blocks from the White House and very close to a Metro station. We had the penthouse suite, which was enormous - 700 square feet! And it was about half the price of most in-town hotel rooms. It even included breakfast in their restaurant every morning. The downside was that the penthouse was on the 4th floor, and due to the historic nature of the hotel, there was no elevator. And the staircase was twisting and steep and narrow! It really is a beautiful old property. The first night there, the inn was hosting a beautiful wedding. We also noticed that a lot of young professionals seemed to gather in the bar for after-work drinks, and the restaurant was VERY popular!

We bought weekly subway passes and used them several times a day, but we still walked a LOT. We probably averaged 4-6 miles a day. The girls were troopers and never complained about being tired.

We drove down on a Saturday and arrived in about 8 hours of driving. We just relaxed the first night and wandered around the neighborhood looking for something for dinner. We ended up at a great Irish pub called Mackeys for some crab cake sliders and potato soup.

The forecast for the first few days included a lot of rain. Our original plan was to go to the zoo on Sunday, but we decided to stay indoors instead and headed to the Museum of American History, where we met up with the D family to do some touring. We saw Abe Lincoln's top hat that he wore on the night he was assassinated:


Julia Child's kitchen:


EJ taking a stand behind the presidential podium:


This museum has a wonderful exhibit featuring the First Ladies that I had looked forward to seeing. Here's Michelle Obama's inaugural gown:

Hilary Clinton's (left) and Laura Bush's (right) inaugural gowns:

Archie Bunker's and Edith's chairs:

Kermit the frog:

Apollo Anton Ohno's Olympic speed skates:

Judy Garland's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz:

Sophie in the playroom:

EJ and her friend M in the science center:

We had lunch at the American History Museum and then decided to head over to the Museum of Natural History. When we stepped out onto the Mall, we were surprised that it wasn't raining, and it was VERY warm! There was an Earth Day-related event in progress - the Climate Rally. Sting was the featured artist, but we didn't see him. We decided to look around at some of the displays.

We finally made our way to the Natural History Museum:

This museum is famous for its dinosaurs, which were featured in Night at the Museum 2, Battle of the Smithsonian:

The Hope Diamond is also on display:

Sophie fell asleep as we left the museum. We strolled through the Smithsonian Sculpture Garden and stopped to have an ice cream treat before our next tour at the National Archives. No photos were permitted here, but we did get to see the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

We had a reservation for the tour and didn't need to stand in the long line, but the crowds inside were a bit unorganized. Instead of going around the room in a line, most people just headed across the room to view the important exhibits, which slowed down everything.

The National Archives keeps immigration records and copies of all correspondence to presidents, so Sophie has information there, as does EJ (she wrote a letter to President Bush and received one back).

Easter

Sorry it's taken a few days to get these together! We had a great Easter. The weather this weekend was just fabulous. It was strange to have the girls going to church in sundresses and just a sweater...usually it's winter coats! You might remember that last Easter we were still able to sled through the back yard!

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast with the Easter bunny at the Elementary school. Sophie was just a little shy and wanted EJ with her, but she gave the bunny a big hug.

On Easter morning, the girls woke up and couldn't find any eggs or their baskets anywhere!

Finally, Sophie spied some eggs out on the porch!

She found her basket in the corner of the dining room:

EJ was getting a little concerned, because she couldn't find hers anywhere!

Finally, she realized it was in the washing machine!

For breakfast, we had K's homemade sticky buns!

After church. The forsythia is in full bloom now.

Sophie enjoyed some time with her vehicles in the driveway on Saturday.

Coloring eggs on Friday night:

Black and White Wednesday

Saw this on another blog (The Long Road to China - Black and White Wednesday) and thought it might be fun to try. I'm having a lot of fun learning about my new camera!

Catching up...

Yeah, I'm still here. Busy, busy. A few things to catch up on, but I'm just going to lump them all into one post!

I splurged a bit and bought myself a new digital camera a week or so ago. It's a Nikon D5000 DSLR with two lenses (18-55 and 55-200). I've been playing around with it a little, as we're going on vacation again in a few weeks and I really want to get some great photos! I've only taken some "basic" shots around the house over the last few days. Saturday, the weather was so incredible, and Sophie and I decided to kick the soccer ball around a bit after dinner. I thought this was a good opportunity to take some shots in "sports mode", but they all came out blurry!

Well, last night K and I watched the training video and guess what? I learned a lot! I wanted to try out the action shots again today, so I had the girls dance around (and jump!), and giving the shutter priority over the aperture did wonders!

Last weekend, we also bought Sophie a big girl bed! FINALLY!!!! She really likes it!

About three weeks ago (when there was still a bit of snow on the ground), K got out EJ's first bike...this cute little Madeline bike. Sophie really felt like a big girl on it!

This past weekend, we went to a Manchester Monarchs hockey game. The Monarchs are an affiliate team of the LA Kings. EJ's school chorus sang the national anthem. The first two pics were taken during the sound check, when the parents were allowed on the platform. During the real performance, EJ was on the Jumbotron!!