The Capitol - Day 3

The National Zoo was a bust...I'm not gonna lie. The only time it rained was Wednesday morning - when we were at the zoo. It wasn't a downpour, but it was enough to make it unpleasant. Fortunately, the zoo had an event recently and white tents were set up everywhere. So we had plenty of shelter. In addition to the rain, we learned that the kids really weren't that interested anyway...after the fact, of course! But we spent a couple of hours there and had a good learning experience.

Because of the rain, we were planning to just skip Arlington Cemetery and the Jefferson Memorial and head home. We had lunch in Arlington and watched the clouds open up to blue skies. So we asked the kids what they wanted to do. Karen and I were tired...but we didn't want to leave DC on a soggy note from the zoo. So we decided to postpone Arlington Cemetery for a day trip (we weren't really prepared to know what we wanted to do there anyway) and we headed to the Jefferson Memorial.

I had never been there before. It's one of those monuments that looks really cool but is just out of the way...aka not on the National Mall. But I'm so glad we went. The kids really wanted to go because they feel like they know Thomas Jefferson really well. It's kinda cute.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Peter can't see but everyone else is genuinely happy--after three days...can you believe that? They really were great considering all the walking we did. In fact, they seemed more energized Wednesday afternoon than they had the rest of the trip (with the exception of Tuesday night...they really had fun that night). So did we.
Here's a unique view of the Washington Monument as we walked around the Jefferson Memorial. I love shots like this.
Like I mentioned before, everything is so big in Washington DC. Seeing our kids next to these massive columns really illustrated that.
There are various quotes throughout the memorial. This one happened to be Mark's favorite of the group. If you want to read it, you'll probably have to click on it to enlarge the picture.
Again, watching our kids walk up and down the steps really illustrates the size of these memorials.
This picture was taken by Mark. Not bad, huh? :)
And here are most of the kids with Thomas Jefferson. I'm so glad we live where we do. Our kids are being exposed to some great historical sites. Hopefully, it will make the events of the founding of this nation more real to them. It's important for them to know that this country was founded by good men inspired by God. The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are holy documents.
Three days was just right. Maybe more for the parents than for the kids. It was a great experience for us and a lot of fun. I forgot to mention that during day two, I was taking a picture of the kids in front of the Spirit of St. Louis (the picture is the the previous post). After I took the picture, an Asian woman approached me with her camera. She pointed towards the plane and I assumed she wanted me to take her picture with the plane in the background. As I was getting ready to take the picture, she wrapped her arms around our kids and pulled them in close. It was so funny...and very sweet. Our kids ended up being in several Asian tourist photographs during the trip. I'm assuming they were all Chinese. I'm sure some hearts ache due to the laws of their land. I'm glad they were able to see what real freedom is all about.