Washington DC Wednesday August 4, 2010 {Day one}

Our Washington DC adventure started early in the morning. We left about 5 am to get those miles under our belt and the kids could get some sleep while we travelled. It really did help with the "are we there yet" questions. We heard it only a few dozen times. We drove for 9 hours and made it to DC! It was very exciting to drive in to the city. As we were driving in we saw what we are pretty sure was the Presidents marine one. Unfortunately, we think the President was out of town the whole time we were there. (No matter what your political views are we still have respect for the President of the United States.) So we are pretty sure he was not in it.

Our first stop after checking in at the hotel was the White House south lawn.

The walking was just getting warmed up when we hit the Washington Monument next. It really is bigger in person. I did not imagine it being so tall and wide. We did get tickets to visit the inside and go to the top during the week but the weather was raining when it was our time. Bummer for us. Thank you to our daddy who got up early and stood in line for the tickets. :)

Next stop the WWII Memorial. We stopped to catch out breath here and kept on trucking along. If you have been to Washington you know this is no little hike. The girls were troopers.

Finally, we made it to the Lincoln Memorial.

Nicole's thoughts "He is bigger in person too." That seemed to be our thoughts many times in Washington. Our government is bigger than you think.

A small celebration time. I think they thought we would take a taxi home. Little did they know that we would not spoil them so easily.

The Washington Monument in Kate's fingers.

On the walk home we passed the Vietnam War Memorial. All those names on the wall was so heartbreaking. We were felling very thankful to our brave men who serve our country.

On the walk home Nicole's little legs were starting to give. She begged for a ride on her dad's shoulders. He just could not resist. I guess he was glad we saved the taxi fare. :) I did marry a dutch boy.