Day in D.C.

On Friday I took the boys into D.C. and we spent the whole day there.  It was so nice and we were able to squeeze a lot in in one day.  

We started our day at Ford's theatre. When I went to D.C. in 8th grade, Ford's theater was the thing that had the greatest impact on me, and what I remembered most about our trip.  I loved being able to show it to J and it is just such great timing because he is learning all about it in school.

They had a bunch of statues of former presidents and this is what happens when you take 11 year old boys to a museum.  ha,ha

Me and good ole Abe

The revolver that John Wilkes Booth used and the pillow Abraham Lincoln rested his head on after he was shot. 

The Presidential suite where Lincoln was shot. 

The outfit he wore

Outside of the Peterson house (where Lincoln later died) and Ford's theater

                       

The next visit was to the White house

J thought it was cool because you could actually see guards with big guns on top of the White house. 

Back of the White house

I love just walking around the city and seeing the monuments everywhere.  Very cool.

Next stop was the Museum of American History

Kermit the frog and the original Ruby slippers

And here he is your President.....  Joshua Karg

All the streets named after Presidents

It was pretty cool to see a display of Gabby Douglas's hand grips, bag and tape that she used in the 2012 Olympics.

Her official pass for the Olympics

My favorite part was seeing the original flag that the Star Spangled Banner was written for.  We couldn't take any pictures but it was so moving to see it all lit up.  Very cool

I had to take this picture. You had to twist the hand grips to show how hard it was to wring out clothes back in the olden days.  The boys tried it and they could barely move the dial, so of course I had to give it a shot.  I was a little nervous because my grip isn't as strong after the carpal tunnel surgeries that I but I gave it a try.  I twisted it with EASE and if you can see the lever, I moved it all the way over to the DRY side with no problems.  I was laughing so hard because the boys made it look so hard.  I guess I'm still stronger than the boys....  I know someday that will change.  But for now.... Mama still's got it!!!!

After that we walked over to the Spy museum.  We couldn't take any pictures inside the museum, which was a bummer but it was a pretty cool thing to experience.  They had a whole section on the James Bond movies and another section on foreign spies that were able to infiltrate the US government.  Pretty amazing.  The only bad part was after you leave the museum, you look at everyone twice and think, "Are you a spy?"  

I had to stop for a coffee break and to get my D.C. Starbucks mug... the boys had hot chocolate. 

  

I loved the architecture in the city.  Pretty cool

Last stop was Chinatown for dinner.  It was nighttime so it was a little scary but I was able to grab this picture and we did have dinner and then headed back to Virginia.  They boys were such troopers and walked ALL day and never complained.  I feel so lucky to have been able to spend the day with them exploring the city.