Washington, D.C.

Our three visitors had never been to Washington, D.C., so we took a mid-week trip to our nation's capital. They loved it. It's much more laid back than NYC and they were ready for a break from the chaos. We arrived in the afternoon and walked the Mall. Seeing the monuments at dusk was awesome.

Washington Monument.

Abby pretending to touch the top of the Washington Monument. Bryan and Ahnna went to great lengths to get the perfect picture.

World War II Memorial.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Our favorite memorial was the Lincoln Memorial. We were all in awe.

The next morning, we got up bright and early and went to the Capitol. We sat in the Senate Gallery for a bit, and then went to the Library of Congress. Abby, Ahnna, and Micah humored me by visiting the Supreme Court.

We ate lunch at Union Station, and then went to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The museum holds tons of interesting American artifacts including Abraham Lincoln's top hat, the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore for "The Wizard of Oz," Kermit the Frog, the Star-Spangled Banner, and Thomas Edison's light bulb. I think it's one of the best museums ever. A few other highlights:

The day before we arrived, Michelle Obama donated her inaugural gown, shoes and jewelry to the museum. STUNNING! Our timing was very lucky.

The Museum also holds Julia Child's kitchen, which was really fun to view especially after seeing the movie Julie and Julia.

Julia Child's pegboard for her pots and pans are below. You'll see that she drew outlines of her pots and pans so that she knew where to place them after she washed them. Seems like something I would do.

Finally, we went to the White House. We were certain we saw the President arriving, only to find out he was in St. Louis the day we were there!

We left D.C. feeling very patriotic. It was a great trip and our visitors really seemed to enjoy it.