One Last Hoorahh.

So for our last day off of our employment on the East Coast..

& Our last  sunmmer adventure with our sweet friends..

We decided to take a trip out to Washington District of Columbia, Maryland..

[aka.. Washington D.C.. isn't it funny the real name sounds so funny.. I couldn't stop laughing about how that was what it was in our GPS..]

And our first stop was the beautiful over 600 acres of Arlington Cemetary..
[Where the soldiers who were casualties in war or Presidents are buried]

Places like this really tear at my heart..

I think that it's so important to realize and be shown how much has been sacrificed for each of us..

& How absolutely real and selfless these soldiers are.

It was overwhelming for me to think of each of these grave stones (& trust me they never ended..) as a person with friends, and family, and people they had touched.

We are so blessed..

& it is so easy to take it for granted.

We saw the tomb of the Unkown Soldier..

[Which we learned there isn't actually a body in there it is just a symbol of those who have died for us and hadn't been identified]

And the Changing of the Guards.

Then after one last heart tearing walk through..

I promised myself I would remember these soldiers and families and try my hardest to not take this beautiful free country for granted.

Then we headed out to the heart of D.C

[Where I must tell you.. that I found the LASSTT license plate for my license plate finding game I have been playing for the last year! All 51.. yes 51.. plates PLUS a considerable amount of Mexico plates, Canada Plates, AND an ITALY. & it feels.. so good.]

Oh yeah.. and how cute are these little twins.

They were prettty.. proud of themselves for looking so good together.

:)

We got to see the [construction on the]

White House..

& Take a really flattering picture with it thank goodness..

I'm not sure that one will be going on our wall..
But it was really cool to actually see the building that you hear so much about.

Then we headed out to the Washington Monument..

Where since I have been growing obviously..

Blake thought I would be tall enough to stradle it..

He was correct of course..

And then to top my incredible tallness..

[which if you don't know me.. you would probably find this much more funny if you did and saw how not incredibly tall I "really" am..]

Blake thought he would show off his muscles..

Okay but seriously now guys..

It was really neat.

The Washington Monument, besides for just being incredibly famous, is the tallest stone structure in the world.

And as you can kind of see by the changing colors on the bottom, it was started and unable to be finished for a while because of insufficient funds.

[I know.. incredible.. we would ever over spend in this country?!]

And then when they started it again the stones they started with were no longer made so they had so use a more redish color.



Also, something I really loved about this area in Washington D.C is that everywhere you turn you can see a monument..

& Here is the Lincoln Memorial!
ah.

& If you look past the Washington Monument.. there is the capital building!

uh way cool.

& Those are just our cute friends on our journey over there..

We are sure going to miss them in a week.

So here's the truth.. I'm not even sure what this monument was..

[I think the WWII memorial?]

But I will tell you why it's awesome..

It has all of the states circling around a beautiful fountain..

AND.. it put New Mexico, Utah, and Idaho right in a row.. probably the most meaningful states to me right together.

Where I grew up and my family and friends are, where we were married and my mom and that side of my family are from and of course our new friends live there, and where Blake grew up and now my sweet in laws and our dear Idaho friends are from.

So yes..sometimes our camera doesn't like to focus on us..

& Obviously today it thought that the Lincoln Memorial was cooler than us..

Which it was.. so I'll be understanding this time..

But this was my favorite thing I think that we saw [so maybe next time we can get a good picture] I loved it!



Way better than seeing it on a penny huh?!

Then we got to see the Korean War Memorial..

I hope it's as amazing to you as it is to me that these men fought and died for people in a country that was NOT their own.. for people they had never known or even met.
Now.. those.. are true selfless heroes.

Oh yeah.. quick sneak peak back at the Lincoln Memorial.. because it was just that cool.



Then this is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall..

There are 58,195 names on this wall from people who died in this war..It definitely was extrememly humbling to see. What amazing men.

We got to see a little bit of the Holocaust Museum..

[Let me just tell you so you don't have to find this out yourself.. ONE day is NOT enough to see everything in Washington D.C.. And the main part of this museum that you will want to see closes at 4:30]

And then.. dun dun duh..
After much searching and wondering around..
A security guard leading us astray..
& Some men trying to tell us this was in Phillidelphia..
[Don't let them tell you these things.. it IS in D.C and it's on Constitution St. in the National Archives.. in the Rotunda]

We got to see the actual Constitution, Bill of Rights,

& the Declaration of Independence!
And oh man.. I thought Blake was going to pass out from excitement.
They are written on Sheeps Skin.. and actually preserved really well.
Awwee.. some.

And then..
[Another drum roll please..]



We finished our long day with the Natural History Smithsonian Museum..

& Yes.. if you were wondering why we had the drum roll..

[Because I wasn't even quite sure about this until actually after we had left!]

It is the one that is in the Night in the Museum.

How funny is that..

It was really cool though..

Those museums have EVERYTHING and they are extremely well done.

I would definitely suggest giving yourself a few days to go through them all..

I think it would be worth it..

& It's definitely something Blake and I are planning to come back someday and do if you want a couple of travel friends.

:)

Blake thought that the Gems and Minerals section was awesome..

And loved that he got to touch kiss a real meteorite that had been in space!

Who needs to go to the moon after that.

:)

& Then my husband had to almost drag me back to the car with our friends I was pretty dang worn out.

What an.. exhausting.. eventful day D.C will give you..

Let me repeat.. if you have more than one day off a week.. unlike us this summer.. take more time to see all of the history here. It really is a cool place.

I hope that everyone is having a great week and if you're going back to school good luck!

My sweet sister started HIGH SCHOOL this week..

:(

[Good luck Mar .. I looooove you & get so sad you're growing up so darn fast..]

Happy Tuesday Everyone!