Dangerous Wonder

Jan. 24, 2009

The Best Field Trip Ever: Part 5

The next morning, my Superman husband went to run with a running group for his long run. He had called local running stores to see if there were any that he could join up with to get his training in for the day. There happened to be one that met at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. So my Superman went for his long run. The kids and I lounged around our hotel room, leisurely ate breakfast and prepared for our day together in D.C. When Daddy arrived back, he was just beaming! Obviously he had a great run! He shared with us that not only was it a great running tour of all the landmarks, but he got to run with over 200 Marines, White House staff, interns and other government employees. He had a great time! After we ate lunch, we rode on the METRO subway to go check out the White House. Because you have to put in an application for tours of this wonderful National Landmark 3 months in advance, we didn't get to go in. So we opted to stand at the gate like all the other tourists from all over the world and get a picture by it. Not a bad shot through the fence! My superman and chillin's! After this we stopped at the White House visitor center so we could learn more about the White House. The visitor center was just a short walk away (short for D.C.) and open to the public. We had actually passed by it before seeing the White House, but decided to come back because they were having a special presentation a little later there. Everywhere we went, we seemed to run into neat things. It felt very God directed! The White House Visitor Center was celebrating Constitution Day with a reenactment of the creation of the Constitution and other hands-on activities! DS7 practicing his penmanship with a quill pen. DD9 writing fancy letters with the quill pen. DD5 thrilled to use ink and quill pen! They had a station for learning to write with the instrument of choice in those days and then a station set up for a photo op of you being one of the signers of the Constitution. Daddy getting in on the fun! After this we were all summoned for the beginning of the reenactment of the Philadelphia Convention (Constitutional Convention). They gave us tri-cornered hats to use during the program and we sat by signs of our respective states. My husband happened to be picked as one of the delegates to speak. He was handed a piece of paper with his lines. He portrayed Alexander Hamilton representing NY. Portraying Alexander Hamilton The program took us through each of the days (May 25 - September 17, 1787) the delegates discussed the Constitution. The gentleman who played George Washington did a fabulous job as did all the other participants in their respective roles. At the end we, the "delegates," had a chance to sign the Constitution. It was a great homeschool moment in the making! Infact, when they were packing everything up, they handed our son several copies of the unused Constitution posters from the program. When we got home he promptly hung them up all over his walls! Very cool! DD5 "signing" the Constitution. In front of the Visitor Center The Visitor Center is a wonderful place to learn more about the White House through all the fabulous displays. We enjoyed our time there immensely! Next on the list of things to do was going to the International Gallery of the Smithsonian to see the Jim Henson Muppet exhibit. The only photo I could take. Hubby and I were totally enthralled with this exhibit. It had some of the original Muppets under glass, original renderings/concepts by Jim Henson and even some footage of the shows we loved as kids. We own the first season of the Muppet Show and so our kids were pretty excited to see this exhibit too. It was worth the effort in getting there! After the Muppets, we walked through the original Smithsonian building and got our photo taken in the Mall. Family photo! Look, I'm in it with everyone! Next up was the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History While we enjoyed this museum, we enjoyed the Creation Museum in KY more because of its Creationist worldview. Never-the-less, there was so much to see in this museum, we couldn't have finished it before closing if we wanted to. We concentrated on the fossils and the rocks and minerals area. My son took a picture of every rock in that display! He was quite taken with the displays. I couldn't get over the creativity of our Creator with such amazing displays of color, sparkle and shape! God is so cool! The last thing I wanted to do on this day was to see the Lincoln Memorial. I knew it was far away, but it's such an amazing monument, I wanted the kids to see it on this first trip to D.C. Much to my husband's chagrin, we marched over there (it's like 2 miles or something from the Museum of History). A break infront of the Washington Monument. We took several breaks for our tired legs. This is not for the faint of heart! We breaked at the Washington Monument and at the WWII Memorial. It was an incredible journey, but we made it! View from the WWII Memorial of the Washington Monument Lincoln Memorial Looking out from Lincoln Memorial President Abraham Lincoln After seeing this amazing monument, we needed to head back to the hotel and get some food. We were hungry and tired and ready to sit down! The only option for public transportation via the subway, was walking all the way back to the Smithsonian area or walking over towards Georgetown college area, lovingly called, Foggy Bottom. It isn't a small walk either way! Good thing we had our walking shoes on! Our evening meal was at another award winning restaurant in the D.C. area called Five Guys Burger and Fries. These were some of the best burgers and fries we have had. That's a burger! Yummy! It was a fantastic end to a long, exhausting day!

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