Washington D.C. - April 1st and 2nd, 2007

I'm sure anyone who checks our blog frequently knows that we're on vacation with Randi, Joe, and Rachel. We took off from Indy on Saturday morning at 5:12 a.m., and after stopping so Miss Rachel could "leave her mark" on Ohio and Pennsylvania (motion sickness), we ended up arriving at our hotel in Gaithersburg, Maryland at 5:10 p.m., just shy of 12 hours. Jill drove the red-eye leg of the journey, handing over the wheel after breakfast in Columbus, Ohio. We got some weird looks in our Purdue gear at the local Cracker Barrel. The trip was happily uneventful, and it was fun to drive through some of the Appalachian foothills.

After spending the first night at the room, we got up on Day 2 and drove down to Arlington, Virginia, to hook up with my cousin David and his family. They were nice enough to act as our D.C. "tour guides", and we all headed over to the city - 3 babies in tow. Madelyn was happy to meet Jake, Chang and David, and Rachel had a good time exploring their condo in Arlington. The picture above is obviously taken in front of the White House, on the Pennsylvania Avenue side.

On Day 2 we saw DuPont Circle, the White House, the Treasury Department (and many other Departments), the Blair House (official guest house for visiting heads of state), the Ellipse, the Washington Monument, the World War 2 Monument the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the World War 1 Memorial, the Cherry Blossoms along the Tidal Basin, and the Jefferson Memorial.
The Cherry Blossoms were nearly in peak bloom, which was a lucky break for us considering they can be there as early as mid-March, and as late as late-April. One look and you can understand why this is a special time for the city to celebrate these 3,000 trees donated by the Japanese government. The picture above is David Ellison, his wife Chang, son Jacob, and myself, Jill, and Maddie.
Maddie liked all the monuments and open space of the Mall. Our first day was a little cool, so she had to leave her jacket on all day, but I think she had fun. In this picture she's parked in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the West side of the Mall.
Mommy and Maddie in front of a blossoming Cherry tree. The Washington Monument is just over Jill's left shoulder (it seems to pop up in every picture:).

Day 3 weather was considerably better than Day 2. We all had short sleeves and got some sun (the girls had SPF 60). We did a LOT of walking today, and I'm pretty beat as I type this post from all of it, but it was definitely worth it. We saw the Smithsonian "castle", the Mall, the National Gallery of Art, the National Archives, the National Air and Space Museum, the Capitol Building (above), and Union Station.

Since the American History Museum was closed for renovations, some of the most popular exhibits were in the Air and Space. These included Dorothy's shoes from The Wizard of Oz, the hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing at Ford's Theater, Thomas Edison's first demonstration light bulb, Alexander Graham Bell's first phone, and Jerry Seinfeld's puffy shirt. I was most impressed by the Air and Space exhibit on the Wright brothers. Their original Wright Flyer is on display - hard to believe that the original has survived to this day. Also on display was the Spirit of St. Louis and WW2 fighters from the U.S., Japan, Italy, Germany, and the U.K.

"The Thinker" was on display inside the National Gallery of Art, as were many paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, and Renoir. Great success!

Maddie playing with Daddy in the Mall. It was a perfect day to be outside. We spent some time laying in the grass relaxing in the beautiful weather. Madelyn found some chocolate in the grass, and decided to sit in it. Savages in this town...
Rachel was very willing to help, as always, as you can see here. Although in this shot, I think she was testing Aunt Jill's patience :) She had a really great day exploring and seeing lots of new things. I asked her if she saw the big Capitol Building down the Mall, and she said, "Yeah...look, a rock!" Ah, being two.
The girls with the girls in front of the Smithsonian Castle (administration building). They have a nice garden area south of the building.
Maddie had a chance to get acquainted with Jacob at David & Chang's house in Arlington. They played well together, since they're within a few months in age.

Thanks for checking in with us. It's been a fun trip to far, and we're off to Hershey, Pennsylvania tomorrow, to learn how chocolate is made and maybe sample some if we're lucky. I'm scared of the Chocolate River, but maybe that's just fictional...