August 25th

playing  bit of catch-up to get the blog back on track... August 25th was a lovely Sunday afternoon when we discovered that there's a lot of free stuff in DC that you can do on the Sabbath. The best part (for cheap-skates like us) is that street parking is free on Sundays too, so we were able to spend about 3 hours downtown without spending anything, or requiring anyone else to work. Win-win.

WWII memorial. the kids loved all the fountains and water-features

I don't recall seeing this memorial at all when I was last in DC... it's really nice, the names of all the states and territories are all around, and I think all the countries that were involved in WWII

the kids, especially Afton, were really excited to see Lincoln. I think that's mostly because of the penny.

I'm pretty sure I appreciate this picture far more than they do. they just liked the eagles.

The new MLKJ memorial. I really loved this one, the quotes on the walls were perfect too. It was the week of the 50th anniversary of the march, so there were about a million people there and we couldn't get a pic with the actual statue, but like I said, I really liked how it was done.

with the tidal basin. This was the main reason we came, to walk the tidal basin. the girls wanted to get an idea of what it's like before the cherry trees blossom so they can compare it in the spring. see the Jefferson Memorial in the background?

FDR's memorial has lots of water features too. (walking through it was enough to influence all three kids at different times that they had to run to the bathroom--influence-able much?)

Malachi was enthralled with the letters, I just thought it was cute :)

for Maggie :)... the kids loved the dog statue.

we made it all the way around to Jefferson's memorial. it always amazes me how big it is!

chi couldn't walk anymore because he fell and skinned his knees :(

and just to prove we were there too :)

in other news, or not news really, but it amused me, Afton designed a library in her room that Sunday morning... I thought it sounded like a nice, quiet activity when she told me what she was doing... then I saw it... she was getting out every book and every stuffed animal and posing them together all over her room. it was actually a HUGE mess by the time she was done, but it was a quiet activity... oh well. at least she's big enough to clean up after herself!

ps, that's her sheet hanging from the top bunk instead of being on the mattress... I have no idea why.