Memorials and Natural History Museum with Grandma & Papa Patrick

My parents came to visit us for 9 days, and just left yesterday! We had such a great time with them and are so happy they came out to visit us! We visited lots of places with them, including stuff we hadn't seen yet.

Our first day out was Saturday. We visited the Vietnam War Memorial. My dad looked up an acquaintance from high school who died in Vietnam. We found his panel and row, and eventually his name. We made a rubbing of the name. Pretty cool momento.

Next, we saw the Lincoln Memorial, which we have seen before, but I think they really liked it.

We moved on down to the Korean War Memorial, new to most of us. We came up the back, and I tried to imagine walking through fields with a bunch of gear and a gun, not knowing what the next step would bring. I really liked this memorial. Along the soldiers in the field, there is a wall of polished gray granite, over 10 panels long. The wall has photographs of 2,000 soldiers' faces sandblasted into it. No names, just faces. Up at the end of the memorial, there is a small reflecting pool and the quote "Freedom is not free." I like seeing the war memorials, because they inspire me to learn more about the wars and the reasons they were fought. I'd better get busy.

After the long walk along the reflecting pool, we reached the WWII Memorial, also new to most of us. Very beautiful and very big. I love that the war memorials seem so interactive to me. Vietnam, we see our reflection in the names of those who died. Korea, we walk along with the soldiers who fought. WWII, we find the state we come from and take some time to sit at the side of the pool of fountains to reflect(and maybe dip our fingers into the water). It was very beautiful.

Monday was my first driving experience in the DC area. I took my parents and the kids into town to the National Archives. We parked about a million miles from it, but nobody complained about the walk! Wow, it was really neat to see the Declaration of Independance, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. They are so old. Not quite as old as dinosaur bones, but more impressive. I'm certain Jake was re-enacting the movie National Treasure in his mind while we were in there. Flash photography was NOT allowed, and all of my pictures turned out very dark. Check my parents blog...I think my dad took lots of pictures. There was a lot of other cool things in the rotunda as well. I liked the handwritten note on lined paper, from France, describing the delivery of the Statue of Liberty to the United States. We didn't look at the other exhibits in the Archives....just wanted to see the cool old documents!

We strolled through the Sculpture Garden again with my parents. The kids led the tour and showed their favorites to my parents. We wandered around the mall a bit more. We rode the carousel and toured the gardens of the Smithsonian headquarters. Then we headed back to the van, as we had to leave by 4pm or be ticketed.

We decided to stop at the Iwo Jima Memorial on our way back home, as it is right off the highway...very convenient right? Well, it being my first driving experience, I exited the freeway one exit too early, which led us north on the Washington Memorial Parkway, and I couldn't get off! I finally left-exited onto another freeway, took it for a little while, U-turned, got back on the Washington Memorial Parkway, heading back toward the monument, then...you guessed it. I passed the exit I needed. So, I headed south on the Parkway, somehow figured out how to follow road signs, and eventually got us to the Iwo Jima Memorial. Whew. Rachel had fallen asleep on this little adventure, so I stayed in the car with her whilst everyone else walked up the memorial. They said it was really cool. Maybe I'll see it someday.

We visited the Museum of Natural History on Wednesday after the kids got out of school. That was awesome too, but you'll have to take my word for it, as I forgot my camera. I wonder if I enjoyed the experience more because of it. haha. I loved the photography wing, and seeing the Hope diamond and other large jewels. Poppa treated us to ice cream afterward, and I've never had a better Dove ice-cream bar. We had such a fun time spending time with my parents! I hope we'll get to see them again soon! Next time, we'll be in Mexico!