White House, Holocaust and Pedicabs

The only picture taken on our day in DC due to WH rules. 

Thanks to our tour guide Mike for bringing his camera phone :)

We had a set date and time for our White House tour.  We were to meet at a certain point but I had no idea who we were meeting!  Just knew it was a guy named Mike from Jay's office.  I knew we were at the right point when the park police advised me that it was the ONLY entrance for tour groups.  Turns out, Mike just had a small group that included us and three other people from Jay's office.  It was great.  We were told by the WH staff prior to the visit that we could not bring cameras, handbags, backpacks or anything of the sort.  They advised no jeans and to dress in "appropriate white house attire".  Yikes.  It was a bit intimidating for sure and I didn't sleep well the night before because I was worried we were going to miss our tour time.  They said we could bring cell phones, but none of us did, and car keys were allowed.  We caught the metro train into DC with nothing but our IDs and some cash, which my brother kindly carried for us.  Eventually, Nik and I would add metro tickets, lipstick, gum and car keys to his pockets.  It was fun to breeze right through security points, but watch my brother get stuck emptying out every pocket.  He is SUCH a good sport.  We entered the WH through the ground floor corridor on the East Wing and were allowed to peek into roped off rooms such as the Library, the Vermeil Room and the China Room.  We moved up one floor which is actually considered the first floor, and walked through the East Room (the largest room in the WH), the Green Room, the Blue Room, the Red Room and the State Dining Room. What amazed me about the colored rooms is that yes, in fact they are all the actual colors that they are named and the walls are not covered in paint, they are covered in fabric.  It is really lovely.  One of my favorite things to see was a painting of George Washington that hangs in the East Room.  It is actually the only surviving piece from the original white house back in 1800, before the British burned it down.  Dolly Madison took it out of its frame, rolled it up and saved it from being burned.  Her picture is right next to GW's in the same room and again in the Green Room where it is strategically placed so that it is facing the painting of GW in the next room.  We learned some pretty cool historical facts and Mike, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and informative.  We headed out of the main entrance to the white house, first passing through the cross halls where painted portraits of the most recent presidents are hanging.  Bill Clinton's is actually in place currently because apparently the photo of George W. Bush was not a good likeness of him and they are re-doing it.  Hmmmm?  Makes you wonder if that's not a coincidence...??  When we came out of the WH, we came out in the front entrance - what is known as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  All this time, I thought the other side was the "front"....which now makes sense when we watched Marine One land a few weeks ago.  I thought it was odd that it was landing in the front lawn, but in reality it wasn't!  I learned so much in one day!!  The WH was amazing, but refreshing in a way to see that it wasn't as huge or extravagant and untouchable as I thought it was.  Afterall, it's the "People's House".  Of course, a joke or two could not escape my brother and me, as we talked of heading up the staircase that leads to the second floor "residential" area (it was just merely roped off, who would notice??) and just asking to use the bathroom...or ask Michelle if she had a healthy snack for us to munch on :) 

After the WH, we were starving and came across an awesome restaurant called Old Ebbitt Grill.  So good!  From there we made our way to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  This was one of the only places Scott & Nik wanted to see while in DC.  It was crowded and the tour for the permanent exhibit was full when we got there, but all I had to do was flash my miltiary ID and they let us right in no questions asked.  I won't go into descriptions or anything like that because honestly, there are just no words.  It was hard not to have tears in my eyes through the entire exhibit.  You just have to see it for yourself.  We owe it to those people to memorialize them and never forget what they went through.   

We had some time after that, even though emotionally drained and unable to process any more information, we started walking over to the Washington Monument when we spotted a bike rental kiosk.  Just as we were about to pick our bikes, a "Pedicab" came rolling by and we thought for some reason that THAT was the better option.  O.M.Gsh.  First of all, all three of us did not fit in his "cab", my brother was hanging off the side of it, but the guy took us anyway.  He could not have weighed more than 140 lbs yet, his skinny little legs hauled us what seemed like several miles to the other side of the National Mall, weaving in and out of 4PM DC traffic, cutting people off, slowing lines of traffic behind us and mouthing off to anyone that would honk or yell anything at him.  Scott thought it was hilarious -- I was terrified!  This guy was pissing people off left and right and we PAID him to do this.  Needless to say, I was glad when we reached our destination.  We walked the Vietnam Memorial, along the Pool of Reflection (which is still under construction) and on to the WWII memorial - which were big on Scott's "to do" list.  We made our way back to the metro and we were home by 7pm.  It was a long day, but such an awesome experience and one we won't likely forget.  I wished I had my camera, but there is definitely something to be said about not having a cell phone or any other baggage with us....we were really able to focus on where we were, who we were with and what we were doing without any distractions.  It was great.

Diane's Birthday

Since we live so far away from the nearest store or bus stop, Diane does not have the freedom to come and go as she pleases like she did when she lived in her own apartment in Washington.  Other than her daily walks around the neighborhood, she has to rely on me to take her anywhere, so once or twice a week I will take her into town so she can do her shopping and I have recently found a senior center that she can join to do activities and be around people her own age.  But for the most part, she stays home and hangs out with the boys.  Thus, this year for Diane's birthday I decided to do something special.  She loves horses and used to ride when she was younger.  Here she is pictured in 1961 at 17 years old with her horse Amber Dan.

I checked in to a few places around us that might accommodate an eldery woman, either riding the horse or just being around it somehow.  I finally stumbled upon a place 80 miles south of us in Ruckersville, VA....they offer lessons and also classes called "Mommy & Me" (in this case, it was "Gram & Me") where the child can ride the horse and the adult can lead the horse around the property.  It was perfect.  Luckily the gal that runs it accommodated us the day of Diane's birthday, so we set out that afternoon, a two hour drive in the beautiful Virginia countryside, and Zac and Diane had no clue where we were going til we got there.  Here are some pics from the day:

First things first, "Boyd the Boy" needed a drink before getting started

Trev tried his hardest to keep up 

But he kept getting distracted by the cats 

Just a few of the horses on the property 

They got to "groom" Boyd before the ride 

Tammy then went over each part of the horse as a learning lesson for Zac, surprisingly he knew a lot of the answers! 

More horses on the property 

Diane getting acquainted with Boyd 

More cats for Trev 

Walking the horse across the field to the corral 

Gram & Me lesson -

Gram leads while Zac rides

Diane in her element

  Leading Boyd through the obstacles 

Look mom, no hands! 

Side-saddle 

Zac sitting backward

Zac begged to ride the horse without Gram's lead so Tammy agreed and Boyd just followed her around the pen.  Who's birthday is it?!? 

Heading back to the barn 

We met the big pig on our way back to the car 

The goat was like a dog, it was cute in a weird kind of way...

 
So once again I had to endure my horrific allergies just so that my son and my mother in law could enjoy an hour of fun on the farm.  Yes, even the allergies and the four hour drive was worth it.  Diane seemed happier than I've seen her in awhile and Zac of course was in horse heaven.  Trev had fun too chasing the cats and getting dirty.  It was a great afternoon.

Dirt Bikes to Dancing

My boys are very talented...by day they ride around on their dirt bikes, rough and tough...by night, they put on their PJs (in Zac's case, his booty shorts) and dance the Cupid Shuffle.  You will have to pardon the snort at the end of the video, that was me not able to hold in my laugh any longer once I saw Zac "marching" when the song said to walk.  They are goofballs, but they sure do keep us laughing and I love every goofy thing they do.

A Visit from Arizona

My dear friend Susan Haney and her son Nick came to visit us for his spring break week and we had a great time.  Susan gave Nick this trip for Christmas because he has always wanted to come to DC and it just so happened that we live here now, so it worked out perfect!  Our families have known each other for about 30 years.  Susan's and my parents were best friends.  Our dads were in the Navy and on the same ship together in the early 80s when we were stationed in San Diego, and of course our moms bonded over ice cream while they were deployed :)  Even after my mom passed, I have continued to stay in contact with them and have even gone to AZ to visit on several occasions.  They are my family.  Here are some snapshots of our time together this week:

The first night introduction to Jay's arsenal. 

Jay was pretty bummed he didn't get to hang out as much as he would've liked because he had to work most of their visit.  He would've taken Nick out shooting (per Nick's request) and dirt bike riding if he had more time. 

I accompanied them on their first trip into DC, but they actually went back two more times this week.  Here is Nick posing as African Art...

At the Museum of American History - we spent a good few hours in this museum and I still don't think we saw everything.  Nick pictured here practicing for when he's president.  

Susan tried to get us into the white house while they were here.  Put in the paperwork back in December, but they told her about a week before the trip that they could not accommodate our visit.  Turns out, this week the British Prime Minister was in town. Obama took the PM to Dayton OH for a basketball game and it just happened that they were leaving the White House as we were standing there.  We got shoo'ed a ways back from the main gate and then all this police activity blocked us off.  Minutes later, Marine One came right over our heads and landed in the field in front of us.  They blocked us from seeing Obama, but it was still pretty exciting for Nick.  Whether you are a fan of the president or not, he is still the President of the United States and I will admit, it was pretty cool to witness and it was good for Nick since he was pretty disappointed we didn't get into the WH.  We told him he could pass for Obama's son, so maybe worth a try to go up to the front door...

We did not see Obama, but I snapped a pic of the Marine saluting him as he came out of his motorcade car and headed toward Marine One.

In Nick's words: "my future home"

He seemingly leans conservative, so I told him he'd have my vote :)

Aside from the barricade, this is actually a pretty picture of "the People's house" (again, Nick's wording)

As we were admiring the WWII Memorial, this couple was having a little too much PDA and Nick thought it was so disrespectful, so he took it upon himself to make them feel uncomfortable.  He went right down and stood next to them.  Not even five minutes later, they walked away.  Mission accomplished.

Susan found the name of her dad's best friend, Douglas Lee, who was killed in Vietnam.  Nick's pointing to the name.  This was a somber experience...the wall goes on forever.

The 'Occupy DC' headquarters....oy...

Passed by the Capitol Bldg on our way back to the car.  Nick and Susan actually went here on one of their days back to DC.

It took Trev the whole week to warm up to Susan for some reason, and I am still not sure he ever really did.  Here she is trying to make friends and instead of screaming or fussing, he just slowly and quietly started building a barricade of books to block her view!

Zac and I joined them on their tour of Mount Vernon, George Washington's home.

An amazing piece of property overlooking the Potomac River

Washington's tomb

(Martha is the tomb next to his and the black door leads to other family members buried there as well)

The scaffolding kinda took away from our experience...

Washington loved farming and considered himself a farmer first before the title of general or president.  The property had cows, horses, sheep, hogs...the sheep and hogs had babies running around.  Zac was in animal euphoria.

Down on the wharf overlooking the Potomac, Zac just went up and held Nick's hand and I thought it was the sweetest picture.

Susan and Zac being silly

Nick mimicking his ancestors in the slave quarters (were it not for the graphic tee and his Ray Bans, maybe he would be believable...)

The boys adored Nick and unfortunately did not get to spend a lot of time with him, but Nick was a great sport and played with them whenever he got a chance.  I think Nick quite enjoyed Lego-time.

Last stop before they headed to the airport was the Georgetown University district for the Georgetown Cupcake Shop.  This is a popular little shop because of its now famous TLC reality show called "DC Cupcakes"...we waited probably half hour in line to get in, but it was worth it.  I have never had a better cupcake!!

It was a great visit, lots of laughing as always and I think they had a good time.  It has been awhile since Susan has gone on a vacation like this.  It dawned on me that she has not flown since pre-9/11 because she texted me when she got off the plane wondering where I was....she did not realize that non-travelers can't get past security to meet at the gate anymore! :)  I am sure they could've done a few more days in DC because they didn't get to see everything....it is impossible to see and do all there is in just four short days.  We are hoping they come back again sometime before we move from here.  Thanks for the fun memories guys - we love you both!