Washington DC

( at the washington monument)

 We pulled our kids out of school and took them on a 9 day trip to Washington DC. The best part about going is that Uncle Ben and Aunt Emily live about 45 minutes away in Virginia, so we got to stay with them. The kids LOVED seeing their cousins and we loved getting to spend some quality time with their darling family. Emily was amazing and took us all in even though she was 8 months pregnant. Amazing, I say!

The picture above is my very FAVORITE! Uncle Ben layed down on the sidewalk and didn't care about the weird looks he was getting from passersby as he took this shot. I love how it turned out and I'm so glad that Ben is man enough to lay on a sidewalk in the middle of Washington DC.  He must love us or something.

(playing "just dance")

The perfect way to wind down after long days exploring Washington DC.

Jumping on the tramp was another favorite activity. Even Uncle Matt got in on the action. That makes him the cool Uncle.

Eli, Andrew and Spencer showing the love at the Washington Monument.

The weather in Washington DC was HOT! Like in the upper 80's and into the 90's. Ivy hated it and kept saying over and over, I don't feel good when I'm hot! Uncle Ben came to her rescue and carried her on his back. He's nice. Ben said that he kept her on his back for so long because Ivy kept making a funny fart noise with her mouth and it made him laugh. And he kept laughing about it for days after.

Cooling off at the World War II memorial. After we were done and walking away we saw police kicking people out of the water. There were signs that said no wading, but they didn't even want people sticking their feet in the water. That's got to be hard to enforce on a 90 degree day.

I took Rylie and Sophia to he Holocaust Museum while Matt took Eli and Ivy to the Air & Space Museum. This was for sure the one place I most wanted my older girls to see. We got to meet the son of Anne Frank's mothers cousin.(did you get that?) What an amazing experience to be in his presence. We also got to meet two holocaust survivors. Two women in their 70's or 80's. They were seated at a table that had pictures of them in the concentration camps and you could ask them any questions you wanted about their experiences. I just cannot imagine what they went through. And they sat there with smiles on their faces wanting to educate those trying to understand all the madness. Amazing. I think the part that sticks with me the most is walking into the room that has nothing but shoes. The smell is strong. In this room you learn that the shoes were worn by a load of Jews that were shoved into train cars and taken to a concentration camp. After hours and hours of travel they were then told to take off their shoes and clothing to prepare for a cleansing shower. Feeling relief and in desperate need of  that warm shower they did as they were told. They took their families and went to the shower room where they were gassed. Most died within a few minutes. Men. Women. Children. All innocent. It makes me sick. You can't help feeling humble, sad, angry and so grateful for your blessings after you come out of the Holocaust Museum.

Eli especially loved exploring the Natural History Museum.

Oh look, Matt found his relative.

One of our highlights was touring the US Capital building. Matt made arrangements through Oregon congressman, Kurt Schrader, before we left and he provided us with a wonderful tour guide, Zack, who took us on an hour and a half private tour. We learned so many cool things and he was extremely patient with our kids. If you go to Washington DC I highly recommend making tour arrangements with your local government officials. The tours are free and private. If we would have done the tour on our own once we got to the capital we would have been in a huge group and the tour would not have taken us to half the places our private one did. I would also add that we would recommend this tour any day over the White House tour. It was kind of lame.

Standing in the very center of Washington DC.

Zack told us it brought good luck to stand there, so of course we all had to get us some of that good luck.

Smiley Ivy

 

We found this statue of Brigham Young in the US Capital. And being that we're Mormon folk we just couldn't resist a family picture!