On day two of our trip we started nice and early and headed in to Washington D.C. We wanted to see as much as possible before having to be back in Baltimore at 6:00 for a dinner for the Punt, Pass, and Kick competitors. We parked the car and started to walk toward the White House.
As we neared, this is the view we saw. It would have been fun to have been part of a tour group to get to go inside, but you have to contact your state and have background checks cleared before that can happen, and we didn't have enough time when we found out where our trip was taking us.
We wanted to see the side of the white house that you generally see in the movies, and it was quite a walk around before you could get there. When we had flown in the night before, it was quite warm, but starting on Friday, the temperatures dropped and the wind picked up. The wind had so much humidity to it, that the cold just sliced through you! We were freezing!
As we were heading back to the car, we found a store that had souvenirs from Washington inside. Each of the boys picked out something to bring home, and then we had fun posing with the backdrop they had set up inside.
We then drove to the end of the National Mall to start our huge walking tour.
A nice lady was coming out of one of the buildings and could tell the boys were FREEZING as we were taking pictures and telling them to look WARM. She suggested that after we looked at the capitol building that we visit the botanical gardens to warm up. What a lifesaver that was!
I would love to go back and visit when the weather was warmer. I think the sites were amazing, and it would be so much fun to walk leisurely along and take in all the sites.
Happy to be warm at last!
There were stairs that you could walk up and see the gardens from above. On the way down, Greg and Tyson took a glass elevator while Kaden and I walked down. We took a picture as they descended. We walked slow and still beat them to the bottom.
We loved seeing a cacao tree. We thought it was pretty neat!
As we were heading down the mall, we stopped at the air and space museum. Kaden took this picture of me by the stewardess display. And, no, I could never have been one. I think the only requirement out of about 10 I met was that I was female! Your height had to be between 5'2" and 5'6", your maximum weight 135, your age between 22 and 26, never married, etc. Oh, well!
Kaden flying a plane.
The boys talked us into letting them do a simulator ride. The two of them got it and Kaden piloted while Tyson was the gunner. They were giggling like little girls when they got off. Kaden has recently gotten a flight simulator game on his computer that is like one they are using in a class at school. Maybe he will grow up to be a pilot someday.
After this museum, we walked down to the Holocaust Museum. Kaden had really wanted to see it, since he had learned a lot about it at school. I will have to check Greg's camera to see if he took any pictures. I got so caught up in the museum and the feelings it emoted, that I totally forgot to take any pictures. We spent quite a while in this museum. Tyson was having a hard time grasping what had happened. The museum has done a wonderful job capturing what happened during that horrific period. We left the museum quite somber.
As we started back down the mall, we came to the war memorial.
One of my favorite sites was the Lincoln Memorial. I had no concept of how huge it was. Kaden is standing after we have already walked up one flight of stairs. I guess my image of the size of the memorial was skewed because of seeing the Lincoln in silly movies like Night at the Museum. It was very impressive to me. I loved looking down the mall from the memorial. I wish the reflecting pool would have been full of water, but they were doing some construction on it. I bet when it is full it is beautiful.
The Vietnam Memorial was pretty awesome too. And yes, Tyson does have a football in his hand. Greg and he played catch along the mall to warm up for the competition the next day.
As we were walking along, I was impressed with all the geese that were at the mall.
And for some strange reason, my boys love it when they can yell, SQUIRREL!
After walking the mall, we took a taxi back to our car. We were about frozen solid by this point. After we got the car, I made Greg drive by the spy museum for me. Every year I read my class a book called Spy Mice. It takes place in this museum, so that was fun for me to see.
We then took the car and drove along until we found the Martin Luther King memorial. We felt like we needed to see this statue since it was the holiday weekend. It was a pretty amazing site.
From the Martin Luther King monument we could see the Jefferson memorial in the distance. I wish we would have had more time and nicer weather so we could have walked and seen more.
Our next quick stop was to Arlington cemetery. We were too late to catch the changing of the guard which we hear is something memorable to witness, but we were able to walk to find Kennedy's grave site.
What an amazing day. We then drove back to Baltimore to make it to the dinner at the hotel. The hotel that the NFL housed us in was beautiful. We were very spoiled there!
On day two of our trip we started nice and early and headed in to Washington D.C. We wanted to see as much as possible before having to be back in Baltimore at 6:00 for a dinner for the Punt, Pass, and Kick competitors. We parked the car and started to walk toward the White House.
As we neared, this is the view we saw. It would have been fun to have been part of a tour group to get to go inside, but you have to contact your state and have background checks cleared before that can happen, and we didn't have enough time when we found out where our trip was taking us.
We wanted to see the side of the white house that you generally see in the movies, and it was quite a walk around before you could get there. When we had flown in the night before, it was quite warm, but starting on Friday, the temperatures dropped and the wind picked up. The wind had so much humidity to it, that the cold just sliced through you! We were freezing!
As we were heading back to the car, we found a store that had souvenirs from Washington inside. Each of the boys picked out something to bring home, and then we had fun posing with the backdrop they had set up inside.
We then drove to the end of the National Mall to start our huge walking tour.
A nice lady was coming out of one of the buildings and could tell the boys were FREEZING as we were taking pictures and telling them to look WARM. She suggested that after we looked at the capitol building that we visit the botanical gardens to warm up. What a lifesaver that was!
I would love to go back and visit when the weather was warmer. I think the sites were amazing, and it would be so much fun to walk leisurely along and take in all the sites.
Happy to be warm at last!
There were stairs that you could walk up and see the gardens from above. On the way down, Greg and Tyson took a glass elevator while Kaden and I walked down. We took a picture as they descended. We walked slow and still beat them to the bottom.
We loved seeing a cacao tree. We thought it was pretty neat!
As we were heading down the mall, we stopped at the air and space museum. Kaden took this picture of me by the stewardess display. And, no, I could never have been one. I think the only requirement out of about 10 I met was that I was female! Your height had to be between 5'2" and 5'6", your maximum weight 135, your age between 22 and 26, never married, etc. Oh, well!
Kaden flying a plane.
The boys talked us into letting them do a simulator ride. The two of them got it and Kaden piloted while Tyson was the gunner. They were giggling like little girls when they got off. Kaden has recently gotten a flight simulator game on his computer that is like one they are using in a class at school. Maybe he will grow up to be a pilot someday.
After this museum, we walked down to the Holocaust Museum. Kaden had really wanted to see it, since he had learned a lot about it at school. I will have to check Greg's camera to see if he took any pictures. I got so caught up in the museum and the feelings it emoted, that I totally forgot to take any pictures. We spent quite a while in this museum. Tyson was having a hard time grasping what had happened. The museum has done a wonderful job capturing what happened during that horrific period. We left the museum quite somber.
As we started back down the mall, we came to the war memorial.
One of my favorite sites was the Lincoln Memorial. I had no concept of how huge it was. Kaden is standing after we have already walked up one flight of stairs. I guess my image of the size of the memorial was skewed because of seeing the Lincoln in silly movies like Night at the Museum. It was very impressive to me. I loved looking down the mall from the memorial. I wish the reflecting pool would have been full of water, but they were doing some construction on it. I bet when it is full it is beautiful.
The Vietnam Memorial was pretty awesome too. And yes, Tyson does have a football in his hand. Greg and he played catch along the mall to warm up for the competition the next day.
As we were walking along, I was impressed with all the geese that were at the mall.
And for some strange reason, my boys love it when they can yell, SQUIRREL!
After walking the mall, we took a taxi back to our car. We were about frozen solid by this point. After we got the car, I made Greg drive by the spy museum for me. Every year I read my class a book called Spy Mice. It takes place in this museum, so that was fun for me to see.
We then took the car and drove along until we found the Martin Luther King memorial. We felt like we needed to see this statue since it was the holiday weekend. It was a pretty amazing site.
From the Martin Luther King monument we could see the Jefferson memorial in the distance. I wish we would have had more time and nicer weather so we could have walked and seen more.
Our next quick stop was to Arlington cemetery. We were too late to catch the changing of the guard which we hear is something memorable to witness, but we were able to walk to find Kennedy's grave site.
What an amazing day. We then drove back to Baltimore to make it to the dinner at the hotel. The hotel that the NFL housed us in was beautiful. We were very spoiled there!
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