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