Some of us in front of the Washington Monument.

      The little boys were getting hot and tired so we, Dani, and Nick went to the Lincoln Memorial by ourselves. We half ran, half walked up the steps and then got to see the amazing statue of Abraham Lincoln. On the sides of the Memorial are his oath of office. It’s an amazing view looking down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. You can see the Reflecting Pool, Capitol Mall, and Washington Monument. These are great Monuments and Memorials.

The Lincoln Memorial.

A photo of The White House from The Washington Monument.

Until a later post,

Splinter and Bug for the K9family

       On Monday morning at 6:45 (EST) Nick, Stephen, Dad & I went to President Bush’s speech. When we first got to Arlington National Cemetery there was a HUGE line to get a tram ride up to the outdoor theater, where he was giving his speech. So we started walking up to the theater. When we were most of the way there a security guard told us we couldn’t walk, so we had to take a bus. So we walked all the way back down and stood in line to catch a tram. We waited in line for 45 minutes and thought maybe we should just go back to the hotel. We walked to the down the edge of the line and immediately got on a tram. REALLY WEIRD! So we able to get through security and enter the outdoor theater where around 5,000 people can fit. We were in the last 2,000 but still got great seats close to the stage. By the time we got seated it was 9:00, but the ceremony didn’t start until 11:00. So we had a very long time to sit and wait. The Marines band started playing at 10:30 and Mr. President laid the wreath on the Tomb of The Unknowns at 11:00. No-one in the theator could leave their seats so the people that had set up put a TV screen so that everyone could see the cermony. A marshal prayed and then a couple people gave short speeches. The president then gave his speech. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but was really meaningful and very well written. We were really exited to be so close to the President and figured that it would probably be the closest we would ever be to a President.

Some photos of President Bush's Memorial Day speech.

Until a later post, :)

Bug for the k9family

      Nick, Mom, Dad, and I went to the Holocaust Museum on Saturday. It is a sad, but very well done museum that covered a lot of history people really need to know. My dad’s work colleague has some friends at the museum and gave us some tickets.  When we got there we showed them the tickets and they immediately ushered us past lines and lines of people waiting to go up. We were really happy. Thanks Mr. Kershaw!  There are three floors and you start at the top. The third floor is all about the Nazi’s rising to power. We shouldn’t have spent so much time there because we didn’t realize how much more was left to see on the lower floors.  The rest of the museum was in chronological order about WWII, The concentration camps, the suffering of the Jews, the ghettos, and the end of the war. I thought the saddest thing was the Nazi’s killing all the handicap children and adults just because they didn’t want more people that way.  I was glad I could learn some more about this time in history; a sad depressing time that we should not forget.

Until a later post,

Bug for the K9 family

Some of the members of the K9 Spy ring: Nicholas, Kate, Matt, Chris and myself, Stephen.

Members of the K9 Spy Ring in front of The International Spy Museum.

     When we entered The Spy Museum we scouted the place out and sat down at the Spy City Cafe and had lunch. After lunch we walked through the line to enter the tour. There, hanging from ropes from the ceiling, was a statue of the man who started the Russian KGB.   It looked just as it did when it was being taken down by the Russian people after the fall of the Soviet Union.  At the beginning of our mission we had three minutes to memorize a fake identity. My name was Billy Henderson; I was 14 years old and was a student. I was from the USA, born in Isabella, Spain, but on my way to London, England for a nine-day vacation.

     After memorizing our identity we moved on into the Briefing Room, where they told us a little bit about being a spy. After our briefing we moved onto the Training Room. There they taught us: How to pick a lock, figure out a mild computer password, some disguise techniques, how to smuggle people across the border of a country in a car, and many other things. One of the attractions there was a spy car. Like the one James Bond had in the movie, Goldfinger. It was an Aston Martin DB5 equipped with machine guns, tire slashers, a bulletproof shield, oil jets, a dashboard radar screen, and an ejector sear. The car inspired many Intelligence Agency’s to incorporate similar items into vehicles used in dangerous situations. It is believed that the Presidential Limousine features Gun ports, Tear gas cannons, and Layers of Kevlar and other bulletproof materials beneath it’s sheet metal.

     Leaving the Training Room we were required to enter all of the information we had memorized previously. If you passed the security check you were given your mission that you were supposed to enter at the end of the museum. Then we moved through the history of spying. From the Revolutionary war to spies of today we covered most of the history of spying. Did you know that during the period of the Cold War the nations involved had more active spies than any other war and then, many of them were let go; that Nathan Hale was the first spy killed in the line of duty and coined the phrase, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country or that Russia now has many more spies than it did during the Cold War? The International Spy Museum was a great museum that was fun for all ages from me to dad. I would highly recommend this museum as a must for all of you reading this that might go to Washington D.C. The museum can be reached on the web at: www.spymuseum.org

Until a latter post,

Splinter for the K9family

         Now was the time all of the older kids had been waiting for. We were going to tour The Library of Congress! For all of you reading this that have seen National Treasure, when Riley and Ben are in the big reading room where they are looking at the plans for The National Archives. We got to see that room, in person! There we were able to hear how The Library of Congress worked. First, you have to fill out a slip of paper with the all books that you want to read on it. Handing it to one of the librarians there they put it on a conveyor belt to another building on Capital Hill. There they find where all of your books are and get them for you. Putting the books on another conveyor belt they make their way back into the reading room where you are patiently waiting for your books, as long as they don't go into any of the other 25 reading rooms. If the books that you want are one of the 20,000,000 on Capital Hill it will take them around an hour to get to you. If they are in the 100,000,000 in the warehouses in Maryland, they will be over nighted to the Library for you to read in the morning. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world! It contains over 130,000,000 books, tapes, CDs, magazines, phonograph records, and many other items. Another name for it is the Jefferson Building. The bummer of it is that you have to have a library card to access any of the books. You have to be over 18, have photo ID, and a reason to access the library. But the overall beauty of the building is amazing. The Library of Congress was a fun addition to our trip.

The older kids in front of The Library of Congress.

Until a later post,

Pickle for the K9family

    At 3:45 (PST back home) & and 6:45 (EST here) we got up to go to the white house. That was really early for us. REALLY EARLY! We arrived at The White House 7:00 EST taking nothing but ourselves. Not even a camera! The tour started at the east wing, leading through the Library, & Tearoom. We walked through the halls with tons of former President photos, and met one of Mrs. Bush's personal assistant's. Then we went into the East Room on the second floor where we saw chandeliers that Teddy Roosevelt bought. Each chandelier has about 30,000 crystals on it. Also in the East Room was the portrait of George Washington that Dolly Madison saved when The White House was burned in 1814. Then we walked through some more rooms and came to the Banquet Room where we learned about 180 people can fit. By the way all of the tour guides were Secret Service agents so the boys were really excited. We exited The White House and asked an agent where the snipers on top of The White House were. In a joking voice he replied "What snipers?” We walked outside and saw that there was a Secret Service SWAT officer. According to Stephen, that made his day at The White House, and to top it all off, the President happened to be in the oval office during our tour. But, no, we didn't meet him.

The group in front of The White House!

     After the tour we waited for dad to get the camera from the car. Stephen had carefully been watching the roof of the White House and then, without warning, several SS agents appeared on the roof. Stephen, Matthew, and Christopher were very excited. After taking a few photos of us in front of The White House we walked towards The Eisenhower Executive Office Building. After trying to walk into the road in front of The White House, we were told that it was closed for 45 minutes, but that we should walk around because, "This is something the kids should see." The only problem with getting there was that we had to walk all the way around The Eclipse. What happened after we got halfway around was something that most people only see on TV. The President was picked up by helicopter. The helicopter flew right over us on it's way to the lawn on front of The White House. While it was picking up it's we walked 3/4 of the way around The Eclipse. There we could stand with no crowd around us. During this time all of us were wishing that we had Dr. Fletcher's new camera. Because, on the helicopter's way back we all waved to it, and a hand appeared at the window waving back at us. Dad had strategically placed us so we would be facing the side that President Bush was sitting on.

Snipers on the roof of The White House.

The helicopter above The White House.

Until a later post,

Bug & Pickle for the K9family

This blog, k9family, is run by the entire Kjeldgaard family. The reason that this blog has the name k9family is because our family has 9 family members. And Kjeldgaard is just way too hard to spell. The topic that we will be covering for the next two weeks is our family vacation. First we flew to Washington,DC, then we will drive to Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and will end up in Wisconsin. Then we will fly back to San Francico from there. Photos will be released as they become avalible.