For Ethan's Spring Break we flew to Maryland. The weather was perfect - warm and sunny and Spring was in the air! We had such a great week and did a lot of fun things! We have a friend here at church that is a Secret Service agent and a few months ago he sent of request for us for a White House tour and a Capitol tour. It's great to have some connections! Our Capitol tour was with our Senator Bob Corker's office. One of his assistants gave us the tour. His office building is across the street from the Capitol, so we actually got to ride the underground subway from the Senate office building into the Capitol. It was neat and there was a lot of positive and negative buzz around the buildings with the health care vote about to happen. We did get to meet our Senator and he was very nice. The new visitor's center inside the Capitol was very nice! Ethan, of course, just wanted to go back to the Air and Space Museum....
Friday was our White House tour. We were all really excited! I hadn't been inside since the 3rd grade. Of course the kids were thrilled and kept their eyes out for the First Dog, Bo. Once inside, Ethan asked one of the agents in the Green Room where Bo was....she told him that we had just missed seeing him outside for his walk. The kids were so heartbroken! It was really gorgeous inside and was just neat to be in the house where so many important people had also been. We walked down the hall and stood in the exact spot that the President and Vice President stood just 2 days later speaking about the health care bill. We really enjoyed seeing people coming in and out of the White House again and we were thrilled to have that experience ourselves. After leaving The White House, we walked over to the American History Museum - my favorite. It has recently been overhauled and the changes were very nice. It was a perfect day to be in the city!
Enjoy the pictures of our wonderful visit!
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Nina and
RoRo at the Science Center in Baltimore, MD
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Ethan and Mark playing at the Science Center
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Astronauts
RoRo and Ethan
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Mark and the kids at The Inner Harbor in Baltimore
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Air and Space Museum
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We were a week early for the Cherry Blossom festival....but there were several that were already in full bloom in the city and they were gorgeous. This is one through a window at Air and Space
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Making our way to the Capitol
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Ethan outside Senator Bob Corker's office
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Standing in the heart of DC for good luck - inside the crypt room in the Capitol.
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The Rotunda
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Outside The White House
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RoRo didn't plan on matching us....but of course, I planned it! I had asked Mark to wear his pink shirt...but didn't tell him what we were wearing. He didn't put it together until we were already in the city, thank goodness! I thought it made for a good picture and that's what mattered!
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Having lunch at The White House
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Yes, they still fight in front of The White House
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After our tour - we couldn't take cameras inside, so this is from my phone
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Reward for behaving inside The White House - they were both so well behaved!
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This is not my picture - taken from the American History website. This is the new Star Spangled Banner exhibit. It was very moving! It's very dark and all that is lit are the lights on the floor. The flag has been in renovation for almost 7 years and last year was placed in this display. Worth going to see!
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As soon as we started walking to the museum, Nina passed out
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First Lady
Obama's inaugural gown - my favorite exhibit at the museum!
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I don't know if I had a pair of Jimmy
Choo shoes, if I would have given them up - although I'm sure this isn't her only pair!
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Ethan had gotten a few new airplanes at the Air and Space, so I took Nina into the gift shop at American History to pick something out. Of course she spotted a stuffed animal that was First Dog Bo and wanted it immediately. Well, Ethan wandered in and found us and of course HAD to have one too. I said no.
RoRo bought them both Bo dogs - they LOVE them!
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On the way back to the car, we were almost back to The White House and heard the motorcycles coming and soon realized "someone" was heading our way....so we stood by to watch who it was -Vice President
Biden was heading home. It was neat to see his motorcade.
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Ethan took this picture of Nina
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Ethan took this picture of his new A380
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The kids with Uncle Carl and Aunt Jaime
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On the way home, we got in First Class. This is how Ethan enjoyed his first First Class ride
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This is how Nina enjoyed First Class!