Saturday evening Jeff got up to Virginia, to join us on vacation, so Sunday we headed into Washington, to visit the monuments, which had been one of the things he really wanted to do.  We started out at the Lincoln Memorial.  Ever since we vacationed at Gettysburg a couple of years ago, any time I see the Gettysburg Address, I love it even more.  That was especially true when I saw it on the side wall of the Lincoln Memorial.

We visited the World War II Memorial for the first time – it wasn’t built the last time Jeff & I were in Washington, in 1999, we think it was.  It was impressive, to say the least.  This is the floor medallion, just as you were walking in the front.

The Number One thing to do on Clara’s list while we were in Washington was to talk to President Obama.  We couldn’t work that out, and weren’t even able to get in on a White House Tour – we waited too long to start checking on that – but we did at least get by for her to SEE the White House.  This was as close as we could get that day, though, because a demonstration was scheduled out front.  Still, it is something to behold.  Just looking at it makes me even prouder to be an American.

The cabins where we were staying outside Washington, DC, adjoined the Battlefield at Chancellorsville, so we headed over there the second day we were on vacation.  I do love a good battlefield.  In case you’ve forgotten, Chancellorsville is where Stonewall Jackson was killed – shot by friendly fire.  It was a great museum & movie – both had very recently been updated – so they were very enjoyable.  I found this sign very interesting, & am going to have to do some more checking on it.  I thought for sure that when I was at the site of the Battle of Yorktown several years ago, there were trenches you could still see that the soldiers had dug then.  Maybe I’ll just have to plan a return trip there!  This also makes me a little sad we didn’t have time to check out the battlefields at either Spotsylvania or the Wilderness.  That definitely calls for another trip.

We took a short walking tour led by one of the national park rangers – they are always so, so good and knowledgeable – and then went on the self guided driving trail.  That actually involved quite a bit of walking, too.  At one of the stops there was a fork in the path, so Mallory & I went one way to check it out, and Lindee & Clara went the other.  They got the best end of the deal – theirs led to some of the actual trenches, while ours was just the link that led back to the visitor’s center.  Here is Mal running over to reconnect with the other two when we all came back out of the woods.  As you can see, it was another lovely day.

Here are a few more pictures to document our fun, fun day at the National Zoo on the Fourth of July.  Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to seeing the pandas when we were there.  And it just worked out perfectly.  We walked out onto the observation deck, and the momma panda started roaming around.  And then while we were watching, there came the baby panda shimmying down out of the tree.  You have to look really closely to see it in this picture, right at the bottom of the tree.  And then the momma went in her house, and the trainers came out, & just picked the baby up like it was a human, & carried it like a real baby back into the cage.  It was the cutest thing – definitely a highlight of the day for me.

How’s this for a lizard?  In the Reptile House, of course.

We decided to watch the fireworks over the Capitol from Arlington rather than from the Mall, where they were expecting 700,000 people to show up.  The view was still lovely, even though we couldn’t hear the music.  My batteries died before I got many fireworks pictures at all, so I completely missed the ones that said USA, the smiley faces, and the hearts – but they were all beautiful.  And everyone was just so happy and friendly and mostly polite.  It was a good, good day.

Friday morning we were up bright and early to head into the city – Washington, DC, seemed like a perfect place to spend Independence Day.  Our original plan had been to head to the National Archives, where there were all sorts of activities scheduled to celebrate the day.  As it turned out, though, it was supposed to be one of the prettiest days predicted weather wise while we were on our trip, so we decided to make it an outdoor day, & headed to the zoo.  Lindee was a whiz at reading the train maps, and got us to our destinations all week long with no trouble whatsoever.  I’m not sure what setting my camera was on to take this bizarre shot of her and the girls heading through one of the train stations, but I thought it was actually kind of cool.

Posing with what was surely my favorite statue in the zoo 🙂

And enjoying the carousel.  What a special, special day…

We headed out on our vacation a week ago this past Thursday – July 3.  Lindee & I both worked until about the middle of the afternoon, & then she & the girls got here to pick me up, & we got on the road around 4.  Jeff took this picture of us heading out.

Unfortunately, we ran into even more than the regular rush hour traffic in Charlotte – it took us two hours to get across town, and we still were hardly moving.  We got off the interstate, & rode back roads for a while, & then by the time we got back on I-85 traffic was moving.  It did put us arriving at the Virginia Welcome Center later than anticipated, and the girls were SO excited to see a playground there so they could use up some energy.  Lindee & I even got on it to work out some of our kinks from sitting so long.  We got to Springfield, VA, maybe around midnight, & checked into the Hampton Inn.  Springfield is as far out as the Metro runs to take us in Washington the next day, & that turned out to be a great plan.  Here are Lindee & Mal on the playground.  These should be required at every welcome center!

Another great summer day yesterday.  June & Mason helped me in the kitchen, making corn casserole for lunch when Papa got home from work.  Here is June adding the green peppers we’d just chopped.

That afternoon, after we ate our yummy corn casserole for lunch and then had naps, we headed over to my friend Charlotte’s house to take advantage of her pool.  It was just as cool and refreshing as it looks in this picture.  Meg brought Little Hope over to play with us, too – here she & Mason are making a train, & pulling each other back & forth.  It was a great day.

Monday when the kids were here we tried a new craft project – making pumpkins and apples out of strips of magazine pages.  The pictures had looked so cute – and easy! – in the directions I read, but we did not find that to be the case at all.  I did go back & play with it myself after all the kids had given up & gone back outside to play, and figured out what we were doing wrong, so we’ll try it again later.  Here is June giving it a good effort.