The Strong Little Women and one LONE man: DC or Bust!

We went on an amazing trip to visit our niece AshLee. AshLee lives in Washington DC, so we stayed with her while we were there. Her location is perfect. She is just a few blocks from both the Capitol Building and Union Station. AshLee was a great hostess. She must have pumped Terrell for all of the girls favorites snacks, because her refrigerator was stocked with them (as well as mine and Kevin's).

Terrell dropped us off at the airport early in the morning for a long day of flights to get there. What an adventure that was (most of it revolving around Kendall). First off, we left "Cowie" on the plane in Denver. Kendall did not realize this until about halfway through the next flight. I heard bellowing sobs in the seat behind me, sure enough Kendall realized Cowie was missing. There was no consoling her. To top it off, Kendall gets extremely motion sick. I have never thought to use Dramamine (more on that later), so she proceeded to fill several motion sickness bags. Oh and did I mention the moving walkway incident? Yes, we were taking the moving walkway in Denver and whose shoelace gets stuck in the walkway at the end of it...you guessed it - Kendall's! This may all sound like a terrible travel day, but it was really quite nice. Despite everything, the girls are really great travelers and rolled with the tide. I did feel very sorry for Kendall because 3 takeoffs and 3 landings later, she was not feeling so hot.

AshLee had quite the week planned for us. The first morning, we rode to work with her. We had coffee and milk in the Capitol cafeteria while she got her day started. About half an hour later, she came to get us.

We headed up to meet the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. The girls were most impressed with this. Speaker Ryan greeted us and brought us into his office to sit down and visit for a few minutes. He talked to Kevin and I about the military, Idaho and Montana. He shook hands with each of us and gave us a Challenge Coin (military friend will understand the significance of this). He is a very busy man, scheduled in five minute increments. Yet, he took time to visit with our family and take a picture on the balcony. I am very impressed. The most endearing moment was later that evening. Speaker Ryan had sent AshLee an email saying how much he had been thinking about Kevin and our family all day. Might I add that after he visited with us; he met with Congressman Kevin McCarthy, gave a speech and jumped on an airplane to Florida for a fundraising event.

We got a real treat when we met Chris (pictured in the center below). Chis was working on the Speaker's staff (it was his last week on the job, before starting a new endeavor). He gave us a behind the scenes tour of the Capitol. I loved that he spoke directly to the girls and geared the tour to them. He kept them engaged from the beginning to the end. Here we are looking up in the Rotunda.

A shoefie of the spot where Abraham Lincoln had his desk.

The chapel within the Capitol. The girls found it hilarious that Chris was telling them all the secret codes to each room, though totally fictitious, they were eating it up.

We sat in the House Gallery while a vote was actually being taken. It was awesome to watch the House floor come alive as the closing of the vote came near (no pictures allowed there). The girls leaning on the desk of the ceremonial office. This is the office that the President or other dignitaries use while they are at the Capitol.

Sidney did not want to leave AshLee's desk. I think she was ready to take over. She tells us that she is moving to DC.

Kevin and the girls outside of the Supreme Court.

We were very fortunate to visit both the West Wing and the East Wing of the White House. We had a gentlemen that worked with the White House Press Department, Brian, give us a tour of the West Wing. Kevin and I were in awe. The girls were less than impressed. The West Wing is the working side of the Capitol. We saw the Oval Office, the Situation Room (only the outside of course), the Mess Hall (nice to know the Navy still has the best cooks), the Cabinet Room, and many other amazing places. We sat in the Press Room where the President gives his press conferences.

Outside of the West Wing.

The girls standing outside the West Wing with the White House behind them.

Standing in front of the White House in the evening.

We toured the East Wing on a different day. The girls were much more impressed with this side of the White House. I am not sure why, but we mostly forgot to take pictures. Here is one looking from the inside out. After that, we seemed to have forgotten our camera.

The girls sitting in one of the rooms overlooking the White House lawn. We each had our favorite room. My favorite was the Green Room.

So here is a funny one for you. I walked onto the porch (outside of the White House) to take a look around. I turned to walk back in and one of the secret service guys said "Mam, You cannot go back in." Seriously, there is not sign. So I proceeded to walk back in. Then it hit me, I turned around and saw the nervous look on the agent's face. No, he was not joking. I walked back out and said, "You are not joking." He said, "No mam, standard SOP." Poor young man, he was probably worrying that he was going to have to tackle this 5'2" mom. I could literally see the internal conflict going on. Who knew? So, I had to wait outside while Kevin and the girls finished up.

We spent one full day touring the monuments. We opted to take the metro down to the National Mall, which was conveniently at about 9 am. The metro was jam packed, standing room only. Ashlee has a picture of the girls grinning ear to ear. They were, by far, the happiest people on the metro during rush hour.

First stop was the Washington Monument. Chris (from the Capitol) arranged for us to go up to the top.

The girl's trying to push the monument over. Good luck!

Waiting at the bottom of the monument to take the 70 second elevator ride to the top (555 feet).

Of course, being the engineer, I could not resist this photo opportunity.

One of the views from the top of the Washington Monument.

My personal favorite was the World War II memorial. Here we are between Montana and Idaho.

Love this picture. We are at the World War II memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.

The Lincoln Memorial.

The girl's laying on the spot that Martin Luther King stood for his "I have a dream" speech. Sidney will now always remember the date of that speech, It was on August 28th (her birthday) of 1963.

The girls standing in front of the Martin Luther King Memorial.

Sitting on the edge of the Tidal Basin with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

We were so fortunate to have the most perfect weather while we were there, 70 degrees. We were also there for peak bloom of the Cherry Blossoms. What a gift from God. We could not have planned that if we tried.

The girls got such a kick out of this sign. I am not sure which one of them noticed it, but it was the source of endless giggles.

The girls relaxing in AshLee's backyard.

A woman we met on one of the planes to DC told us about Georgetown cupcakes. One evening, Kevin proposed we take a ride over there for a sweet treat. It was definitely worth it!

I think we finally tuckered Kevin out on the last night. He opted to stay in and watch basketball while AshLee and I took the girls on a walk to the park, then to the Capitol for more fun.

Sunset on the Capitol steps. Photo courtesy of Sid.

Tree pose and another pose (hmmm Sid....what is that?). Shortly after this the girls did cartwheels across the Capitol lawn. I even manage to bust out a cartwheel.