Thursday:
Monument: To go up the Washington Monument you have to have timed tickets, so, Suzanne went out early (letting all of the lazy males sleep in!) and was in line at 8:30 to get the tickets....we made it over there for the approximate 10 am start. The tour is pretty simplistic, in through the ever-present metal detectors, up the elevator, look out the windows, and down you come, with a slow stop on the elevator around the 220' level to look at the blocks states, organizations, cities, and countries donated and had placed in the monument.
Christopher in front of George inside the base of the monument
Looking West from the top of the Monument
Under new occupany soon.
WWII: We proceeded to head west from the WM to continue our monument tour; stopping at the World War II Memorial. The quotes and the murals were pretty impressive; the use of the water in the fountains and in the still pool in front of the stars was pretty cool also. Sadly, despite repeated warnings, one boy couldn't keep his feet out of the water, so, the rest of the memorial walk this day was marred by a Christopher-time-out and continued sulkiness.
This tree provided an irrestible break for the boys after the trip up and down of the Washington monument.
Literally, 10 seconds after this photo, his foot hit the water and, well, Christopher got his turn at the nadir of the behavior-biorythym scale.....Lincoln: A long walk down here, but, worth it. Christopher, at this point, still wants nothing to do with the rest of the family, and that's why he isn't in the picture below.
There was a moment where we couldn't find Matthew and Christopher; they had moved off to the side to sit and reflect on the day's events.
Vietnam, Embassies: Left the Lincoln Memorial and walked up the Vietnam Memorial....not sure how much of this the boys understood. We explained why all the names were there to Matthew and Christopher, but, I probably will ask tonight if they remember it and why the names were there. We'll see. Hutsell's split up after this; Kevin and I stepped up the pace to catch a subway to get back to the hotel to get the car, Mom and the boys took a small side trip to the Natural History museum until we got back. After we got the car and picked up everyone, we travelled up "Embassy Row" checking out the different embassies and the neighborhoods.
Turkey: Returned to the hotel for dinner and football.....had some turkey and some sides from Boston Market...had stuffing (with sausage!) Suzanne had made. Leftover chinese food? yep, had some of that. Leftover Nachos? Matthew was all over that! Strangest Thanksgiving dinner in a long time.
Nighttime: Everyone came out in the car in the evening as we did a nighttime drive by the sights.....don't know why, don't know if it was normal, but, there was quite a police presence around the Capitol, we passed at least 5 manned patrol cars as we circled around the Capitol. Headed down past the White House and the WM; drove by the Lincoln Memorial and stopped at the Jefferson Memorial. Parking was closed, but, the monument was still open and I think I enjoyed the look of the Jefferson Memorial a lot. Sadly, a boy tripping on the stairs required a return trip to the car for Dad, so, I didn't get to see the museum there, but, Kevin and Mom report that it's pretty impressive as well.
Friday:
Holocaust Memorial: The Hutsell's split up again this morning; Suzanne and the boys went back to the Natural History museum for more animal close-ups, and Kevin and I went over to the Holocaust Memorial. Kevin had watched the movie Freedom Riders recently, so, at least had some idea of what we were going to see, and spent a lot of time reading the displays and watching the films (so much so that I felt like I was rushing him through the museum....we were going to meet the otherHutsell's for lunch and I didn't want to leave Suzanne with Heckl and Jeckyl for too long). The museum was really really well done, they have a display geared for children on the first floor that's really good, and there's a tower of photographs from a shetl(sp?) that depicts life in the town in the and the people and the sad note at the bottom of the tower that the village ceased to exist in 1943. Very moving. I think I'm going to get Schnidler's List to watch with Kevin in the next week or two to reinforce the lessons learned today.
Swimming Pool: Headed back to the hotel after lunch; went to the swimming pool for the last time. The swimming pool at the hotel was a major bust....closed for 24 hours from Sunday afternoon into Monday, and then Wednesday/Thursday Matthew and Christopher are complaining of 'itching'....their skin is all red and we realize the chemicals in the pool are 'burning' them.....Friday, we take a long look at Christopher's swimming trunks....what once were kelly green and blue are some funky aqua-marine shade because they've been bleached out.
