our day started out early on thursday – needed to get luke in those dreaded khakis and dress shirt and tie. greg tied his tie for him and showed him the all-important step of taking the thing off. that will be his very favorite part. he was not the least bit happy that he had to wear it in the first place. his clothing of choice is a gray tshirt. but he was supposed to show up looking spiffy so that’s what he did. we had breakfast at the hotel and for some odd reason it turned out to be free. now who in their right mind would see us coming with our 3 boys and still make an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet free??? we like that restaurant, and not just because they fed us for free this time. it has a great view.
after breakfast, we were off to the conference center to get luke signed in and started on his weekend. as soon as we got there, we knew exactly where his spending money was going. there was a game room and there were vending machines and there was a gift shop. luke creasy can NOT resist a gift shop. (he actually ended up not doing too bad with his money.)
we said our see-ya-laters and he was off to meet all new people and have all new experiences.
he's a social butterfly, so this was right up his alley! from there, the rest of us got started seeing the sights (again) of D.C. we have been there many many times and usually see the same things every time but i can honestly say i never get tired of it. (except maybe the natural history museum. dinosaur bones and stuffed wildlife lose their magic for me quickly.) we traveled by metro the whole time we were there. it really is so much easier than driving and having to find a parking spot because that’s pretty much impossible. and the whole
metro thing is fun, at least i think so. we went to arlington national cemetery. and we actually got to take the little tourmobile thing around instead of hoofing it around that huge place.
saw kennedy’s grave and of course the tomb of the unknown soldier along with the changing of the guard. we went to the reagan building for lunch. we went there with sarah beth a couple years ago and since then have gone there whenever we’re down in D.C…it’s just a food court but it’s inside and it’s clean and it’s a pretty building so we go. plus there’s a coffee place down in there.
after lunch we went to the washington monument and went up inside it again. it was a clear and sunny day so we had a fantastic view once we were up. you can see all of the monuments and the white house and the capital building from there. last year we went through the entire holocaust memorial museum. let me suggest to you that if you’ve never been there, you really should make a point to go. of course it is emotional on many levels, but i think it’s a must-see. this year we went back but only went through “daniel’s story”, which is an exhibit for children to learn about the holocaust on a level they can manage emotionally. knowing what the rest of the exhibits held, i knew that i couldn’t do it again this trip. so hard to fathom what man can do to man. many of the areas are walled off, so if you are a child you aren’t even tall enough to see over them – so the horrors behind them are hidden from you. blake, who hadn’t seen it with us last year, wasn’t really up for the whole experience, which we respected.
he is tall enough, of course, to see every exhibit, every picture, every piece of newsreel footage.
so i wasn’t sorry that he didn’t want to see it that day. those images are burned quite permanently in my mind, so it is nice to spare him for awhile longer. on a much (much!) lighter note, we finished off our day with dinner at chipotle (a new place for us), some caffeine at starbucks and some pool time for the boys.
our day started out early on thursday – needed to get luke in those dreaded khakis and dress shirt and tie. greg tied his tie for him and showed him the all-important step of taking the thing off. that will be his very favorite part. he was not the least bit happy that he had to wear it in the first place. his clothing of choice is a gray tshirt. but he was supposed to show up looking spiffy so that’s what he did. we had breakfast at the hotel and for some odd reason it turned out to be free. now who in their right mind would see us coming with our 3 boys and still make an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet free??? we like that restaurant, and not just because they fed us for free this time. it has a great view. 
after breakfast, we were off to the conference center to get luke signed in and started on his weekend. as soon as we got there, we knew exactly where his spending money was going. there was a game room and there were vending machines and there was a gift shop. luke creasy can NOT resist a gift shop. (he actually ended up not doing too bad with his money.) 
we said our see-ya-laters and he was off to meet all new people and have all new experiences. 
he's a social butterfly, so this was right up his alley! from there, the rest of us got started seeing the sights (again) of D.C. we have been there many many times and usually see the same things every time but i can honestly say i never get tired of it. (except maybe the natural history museum. dinosaur bones and stuffed wildlife lose their magic for me quickly.) we traveled by metro the whole time we were there. it really is so much easier than driving and having to find a parking spot because that’s pretty much impossible. and the whole 
metro thing is fun, at least i think so. we went to arlington national cemetery. and we actually got to take the little tourmobile thing around instead of hoofing it around that huge place. 
saw kennedy’s grave and of course the tomb of the unknown soldier along with the changing of the guard. we went to the reagan building for lunch. we went there with sarah beth a couple years ago and since then have gone there whenever we’re down in D.C…it’s just a food court but it’s inside and it’s clean and it’s a pretty building so we go. plus there’s a coffee place down in there. 
after lunch we went to the washington monument and went up inside it again. it was a clear and sunny day so we had a fantastic view once we were up. you can see all of the monuments and the white house and the capital building from there. last year we went through the entire holocaust memorial museum. let me suggest to you that if you’ve never been there, you really should make a point to go. of course it is emotional on many levels, but i think it’s a must-see. this year we went back but only went through “daniel’s story”, which is an exhibit for children to learn about the holocaust on a level they can manage emotionally. knowing what the rest of the exhibits held, i knew that i couldn’t do it again this trip. so hard to fathom what man can do to man. many of the areas are walled off, so if you are a child you aren’t even tall enough to see over them – so the horrors behind them are hidden from you. blake, who hadn’t seen it with us last year, wasn’t really up for the whole experience, which we respected. 
he is tall enough, of course, to see every exhibit, every picture, every piece of newsreel footage. 
so i wasn’t sorry that he didn’t want to see it that day. those images are burned quite permanently in my mind, so it is nice to spare him for awhile longer. on a much (much!) lighter note, we finished off our day with dinner at chipotle (a new place for us), some caffeine at starbucks and some pool time for the boys.
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1 comment:
luke looks so spiffy with his tie on!
your pics make me well up inside..the cemetary, the tomb..just all of it. we are SO blessed to be US citizens.
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