White House, monuments, and more

Friday morning, we left our house bright and early (6:00) and dropped Milo off at our friends' home on our way to the White House. I had requested a tour through our Representative. Two weeks before our tour date, the White House confirmed that we could have a tour at 10:00 am, and we were told to arrive 15 minutes early. I had prepaid for a spot in a parking garage for the day ($18), but I didn't realize it was valet parking. Oliver had gotten carsick on the drive down to DC which added to the "adventure" of the morning. We walked rather quickly to the meeting spot for the tours only to find out that we were allowed to enter the tour line any time between 10:00-12:30. Seriously! So, if you ever sign up for a public tour, just keep that in mind! We wouldn't have left our house at 6:00 am had we known that. Also, I forgot that no bags were allowed. I had remembered they didn't allow cameras with detachable lenses, so I had left my camera at home, but I was using a small purse. Because the van was parked by valet, it didn't seem feasible to walk back to the parking garage and attempt to put my purse in the van. The park ranger said there was a hotel nearby that would store bags for a fee. If the purse hadn't been my mom's, I would have put the contents in my pockets and thrown the purse away, but it had enough sentimental value that I was willing to pay a fee for it to be stored for one hour while we toured the White House. It had been decades since I had toured the White House. Back in the day, we were taken into more of the White House and didn't go through nearly as much security, but I'm glad my kids have at least been in part of the White House.

Jefferson Memorial

After I retrieved my purse, we went to the White House Visitor Center, and the kids each received a Junior Ranger Badge. Our next stop was the National Gallery of Art. We explored a significant part of the West Building. We've studied quite a few different artists this year since we've been studying the Renaissance. It was exciting to see original paintings from many of the artists we've studied. The disappointment was that the one part of the museum I was most looking forward to seeing (French Impressionistic paintings from the 19th century) was closed as they are doing renovations. We each got one thing from a vendor (I set a limit of $4 per person) for our "lunch." I don't recommend buying a soft pretzel. Paul and I did so, and they were very stale. Our next stop was the Museum of American History. As a child, my favorite part of that museum was the First Ladies' inaugural gowns. That museum has changed a LOT over the last few decades, but they still have some gowns on display. 

Our next stop was the Washington Monument. I had been trying for years to take the kids up there. First, they had it closed due to replacing the elevator, then it was closed due to COVID, and then I had trouble getting one of the $1 tickets. Paul and I really enjoyed seeing the views from the top of the monument. We planned to visit the Jefferson Memorial on Saturday morning, but the weather was beautiful on Friday, and it was supposed to be raining on Saturday. So, we decided to walk to the Jefferson Memorial on Friday afternoon. The kids weren't thrilled because they were tired of walking. Who would think that two adults in their 50's would have a much higher tolerance for walking than three kids between the ages of 11-15? I had gotten our National Park passports stamped at the White House and the Washington Monument, but due to renovations, we were unable to get ours stamped at the Jefferson Memorial. Two monuments in DC that the kids haven't been to yet are the ones for Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr. The visited the Korean War, Vietnam War, WWII, and Lincoln Memorials last year. After we walked back to the parking garage, we drove to Alexandria, Virginia. We had dinner at a pizza place and then attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert at a church that is located in a shopping mall in Alexandria. The concert was the reason we headed to DC. Nadia would have liked it if we drove back after the concert because they had to miss a Seussical rehearsal on Saturday morning, but we wouldn't have gotten home until 1:00am (at the earliest).

Because it was raining on Saturday, the only place we visited was the Holocaust Museum. Four of us selected cards at the beginning that were of Jews who survived. I was the only one who had been there before, but Paul and I have both (separately not together) visited concentration camps in Europe. The museum had changed some since I was there (when you go more than 20 years in between visits that's likely to occur), but the part that had been the most impactful when I was there decades ago (the exhibit with the shoes) was currently under renovation (no shoes for the time being). In addition to the main exhibit, we walked through one about the more recent genocide in Burma as well as the children's exhibit called "Daniel's Story," which is based on an excellent book I used to read my students back when I was a classroom teacher.

We had eaten breakfast at the hotel in Alexandria, and the kids were grateful we left the hotel at 10:00 considering it had been 6:00 the previous morning. State College is the same distance from DC as our home, and so we drove to PSU from the Holocaust Museum to attend a concert called Winter Jam. On the way we stopped at Roy Roger's (my request) because I haven't been to one of those in many years and as a kid, I loved their strawberry milkshakes. Those milkshakes were our "lunch." In State College we stopped at Wendy's for dinner (using a gift card). It was raining in DC, raining during the entire drive, and raining while we stood outside the Bryce Jordan Center waiting in line to enter the arena. There were about 15,000 people in line. I am not exaggerating. You don't buy tickets in advance but just pay $15 at the door. Nadia and Ian joined the group from our church's youth group. They had been waiting in line for 2.5 hours, so they were at the front of the line and got in long before Paul, Oliver, and I did. But we all got seats. Four of us (Oliver being the exception) had the same favorites - Katy Nichole and Cain. I also really enjoyed the song "Arise my love" by Newsong. I was very grateful for my ear plugs for the entire event, and I walked around the concourse during two of the artists (the two Oliver liked the best). In the future, I doubt Paul and I will attend Winter Jam. We'd prefer just to let the kids go with the youth group, but this one time it was nice to go as a family. We skipped the last artist (Crowder) because I wanted to leave before most people did to avoid the massive traffic jam on the campus when that many vehicles are all trying to leave at the same time. The other reason I didn't want to stay until the bitter end was because we were losing an hour of sleep that night due to DST.

We picked Milo up around 12:30 after church as the people he was staying with live about 5 minutes from church. Thankfully while we were in Florida and Ecuador, Milo really bonded with their eleven-year-old daughter. Milo loves Lucy! Honestly, he gets as excited to see her as he does to see Ian, Nadia, or myself. Prior to her I had never seen him show that much affection for anyone outside our immediate family. He also likes their dog, Cooper. It's such a blessing to know he is happy to be at their house while we're away. We are scheduled to watch Cooper for about 10 days in July, and they are scheduled to watch Milo for one week at the end of May/early June and for another week at the end of August. I'm hoping that Lucy can continue to be our dog sitter for years to come! Milo was so excited when she came over to our house for co-op last Tuesday. 

It's been harder lately to find audiobooks that Nadia really enjoys. I recently hit the jackpot when I got the first book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. All three kids, especially Nadia, really enjoy this series. Typically, Ian is the one asking when we can listen to a book on a road trip. Now it's Nadia who is asking! The first few books in the series are each between 12-16 hours long, whereas many books we listen to are between 4-6 hours long, but we're already on the third book. I'm not sure if we'll listen to all ten books. Maybe the kids can read the last few if I get them from our local library? We shall see, but it's nice to find a series that Nadia really, really wants to listen to. 

View of the White House from the Washington Monument