Spring Break: Washington, D.C.

For our last Spring Break here in Indy, we decided to go somewhere we had on our bucket list to do before we left.  It worked out great since my mom is living in Morgantown, WV temporarily with her husband's job, so we stayed with her a night there before taking her with us to D.C.

We bought a day pass for the metro, and that is the only way to go since everything in D.C. is in walking distance to each other.  The kids loved riding the train, and Ella kept asking if it was our stop, like the bus stop she's familiar with.  Brock slept through the morning ride into the city.

 We first got some lunch there and headed over to see the Washington Monument.  It was closed for tours, so we were bummed, but what a cool building to see.

There was this huge fountain on the way to the Lincoln Memorial, and it was a great time to stop and nurse Brock and let the kids put their feet in the water. It was our first "hot" day of spring, over 80 degrees when we've been used to 40-50's, and we were hot and sweaty all day. I had to dress Brock down to just his onesie.

 Then we walked over to the Lincoln Memorial.  The kids wanted to sit on his lap, and the railing didn't stop Cole, he starting climbing over it and we had to catch him.  What an amazing sight, I didn't think Lincoln was going to be that big!

 The Korean War Memorial was really cool how they set up all these soldier statues dressed in coats.  I didn't realize it was in the bitter cold winter they were fighting, how miserable they must've felt besides the horror of fighting a war.

 The Vietnam War Memorial was really touching because that's where my mom's husband Fred fought at.  There were 58,195 names on the wall and it was amazing to think of the things Fred must've seen and been through. We felt touched by his service.

 Arlington Cemetary was something we all really wanted to see.  The tombstones of all those who died in wars fighting for our country's freedom.  Here we saw the demonstration of the changing of the guards. It is a ceremony that is dead silent and it was neat to see the guards do their drill commands.  We saw the tomb of the unknown soldiers.  We also saw the eternal flame on JFK's memorial and tombstone.

It was so incredibly beautiful this time of the year in D.C. with all of the cherry blossoms in full bloom. I felt like we were in the gardens and not a cemetary. 

 The 2nd day in Washington, D.C. we took the opportunity to attend the temple, just Scott and I, since the last time we were able to go was a year ago on our anniversary before we had Brock.  (These days we've been going separately since Brock just this week decided to take a bottle).  The D.C. temple is huge and beautiful.  Inside there are water fountains and staircases everywhere, and beauty I can't even speak of.  My mom took the kids in the visitor's center while we were in the temple and they had this room with a tv playing the mormon ads.  There was also the large statue of Christ that I love.

 I'm so glad we were able to spend some time with my mom, and that she was able to go on our trip wtih us.  She's really happy living in Morgantown, WV and we were able to do some fun stuff there a couple days before we had to come back to Indy.  Scott took the kids to the children's museum there and the park while my mom and I had some quality shopping time.  Great trip, I'd do it all over again.... (even the hours and hours of driving in the car with 3 kids!  How did we survive??? Three words: Portable DVD Player)