Capitol Tour and Mt. Vernon

Today we went into DC for our last day of sight seeing. We started off with a tour of the Capitol at 10. 

I take that back. Our day started off with another free breakfasts. I'm grateful for the nice staff at Springhill Suites for feeding us like this every morning that we've been here. It's been nice. 

Quiche today, oatmeal, egg and ham on english muffins, cereal and yogurt. We left at 9:15 and got to DC in time for our 10 o'clock tour. We were able to find parking ok, and pretty close to the Capitol. Walking up the sidewalk to the Capitol building. 

Waiting in line. This is a new entrance, different from last time we were here in 2006. No link for that though... it was before I blogged. This east entrance was completed in 2008.

It was a nice tour, and mostly uneventful, except for when K #1'd, and I must have been holding her in just the right wrong spot, cause her diaper didn't absorb quickly and she got herself all wet. And a little bit on the floor too. Just a little, a few drops, but I didn't wipe it up. Here we are close to the scene of the crime.

Unfortunately for me, I had not listened to the prompting this morning to bring an extra outfit for her, so sad. So Corey and I mostly held her after that, cause the kids were too grossed out by her wetness. Under the dome - 

A photo with our man Brigham!

After the tour, I took Katharine to the restroom and took of her clothes and gave the pants a quick rinse and wrung it out, which I was hoping would mostly dry before our next stop. Then we headed to Alexandria. After we first stopped by Costco for lunch! A 16 inch pizza, hot dogs, soda, churros, and ice cream. Chicken Bake and fruit smoothie for Corey.

I didn't know the time of our tour at Mt. Vernon but learned at 1:10 that it was at 1:20, so we were late. We got there and did the slavery tour first, cause that was at 2 so we weren't late for that, then we did the house tour. Wesley really liked the little model of the home! So cool. 

It was made by engineers and "miniaturists"... He loves working small things, so I pointed that occupation out to him. He think he might have found his future career! "That would be so fun!" At the Capitol tour, our guide pointed out a the floor with lots of tiny tile it in, and said "How would you like to put down each individual tile?" suggesting "No way, that would take so long!" but Wesley said longingly "I would LOVE to do that, that sounds so nice... that would be so therapeutic!"

So our slavery tour was a little longer than the kids would have liked, but they endured it well. After that, there was still a crazy long line for the house tour so we were debating what to do. The kids didn't want to wait in line. Corey watched the kids have sword fights. They made weapons with sticks and had a good time. 

I took the girls to see Washington's tomb.

We also walked down the hill to the Potomac River. We passed by a very large poplar tree on our way, estimated to have been there in 1766! 

We came back up and found Corey. If he had been waiting in line for us, we could be on our way inside the house... I still wanted to see it. I nursed K, she fell asleep, then I took her in my arms and went to wait in line. Abi, Sophi and Lily came and joined me after I was close to the front. We did the house tour with Katharine. It was cool. After we were done, Corey and the boys were gone. We headed to the exit to find him. We walked by another Tulip Poplar tree that was planted by George Washington! Very cool

After the house tour, we couldn't see Corey. He wasn't answering his phone and hadn't seen my text. I assumed they had left for home, cause they seemed tired and done. We decided to leave. BUT FIRST we went in the gift shop - Lily really wanted a bucket hat. So we got that, Abi got a sweater, and I got a copy of George Washington's Rules of Civility book. Ok, now we're done, we can go.

We had arrived separately after Costco so we weren't parked together. But thankfully Abi was being observant and knew where they parked. So we went to my car, then drove over to where his car was but we couldn't find it. Do we just leave? No, he had Katharine's car seat, he wouldn't have left with that, would he?

K sat in a big kid seatbelt as we searched for his car. No luck. Back to the entrance.

I decided to drop them off so they can triple check that Corey for sure is not inside, and I was going to go search again for his car. This time I found it, so I parked by him and walked back to the girls. The visitors center said no re-entry, but I said I lost my husband and kids, so they let us in. They stopped Abi and Katharine "I'm with them" haha, sure you are! We found Corey coming out of a theater where there was an amazing 4D show. I was sad that we had wasted time looking for them outside, cause now it was too late and we weren't able to see the museum. I skipped the museum when we were leaving cause I thought the boys were for sure ready to leave, but they were still there. So too bad for me I missed so much of the museum! We saw what we could before they closed. I took a lot of pictures so I could read them later. 

Go read the Washington Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard to learn about the scripture that Washington (who was very meticulous and intentional with EVERYTHING he did!) put his hand on when he took the oath of office! Ok, I'll tell you... so, when George Washington was given the Oath of Office as the new First President of the United States of America, he asked that a Bible be produced so that he could receive the Oath as a Covenant. The man who ultimately presented the Bible was a Mason and took care to mark where George opened the Bible and placed his hand. There is only one place in the Old Testament which can be easily interpreted to be prophesying about the new Promised Land - Genesis chapter 49! This chapter describes the lineage of Joseph as one day expanding across the ocean, or the ‘wall.’ This passage has been construed by scholars to mean the children of Israel, through Joseph, would move across a barrier to build a new posterity. Washington specifically chose this page to lay his fingers on as he took the oath. Could this be symbolic? Ballard's hypothesis is emphatically yes! George knew through inspiration or even revelation, that this was his mission. So go read that book and read the reasoning and make your own decision. So cool. As Corey said to the kids tonight - there are two people, in his opinion, that live up to their legend. Joseph Smith is one, and George Washington is the other. He was and is as good as we think he is. They are both 10 out of 10. 

Back at the hotel, I went by Giant grocery store, where I used to shop when we lived here in Centreville, and I bought pineapple, grapes, and popsicles and we enjoyed that sweetness. Then the kids watched Bluey and then Star Wars, while Corey and I took a break before the trip home tomorrow. 

I blogged, kids collapsed, I didn't brush their teeth. Oh well. 

Three bodies on the bed, Peter was on the floor. Wes put Peter on the bed while I pulled out the couch sofa sleeper - now 4 kids in the bed!

And Katharine is that little spot of pink in the other bed at the top. I was glad to blog a bit. Hope she doesn't wake when I move her. Glad to be going back home. I hear that the weather is winter again - like 3 feet of snow fell today! We'll see, I hope we make it home.