It was another terrific day with stunningly blue skies. We took the George Washington Memorial Parkwayin to Washington DC and found the free parking near the Jefferson Memorial.  Yea!  We walked all over this beautiful city.  I had hoped to have lunch at Lafayette Park, but that was behind the White House and with all the fencing up, and we were starving by the time we got there, we just found a nearby spot to eat.  Another place we did not have time to go to was  Rock Creek Park and the Chesepeake and Ohio Canal in Georgetown.  After the American Revolution, George Washington gained support for a life long dream to improve access on the Potomac to open trade from the Ohio River Valley.  This eventually led to the Chesepeake and Ohio Canal.  We also ran out of time to see the National Portrait Gallery,  and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.   We were never able to get tickets for the Capitol and the White House.  I had hoped we'd have time to do a few extra things the day we arrived in Arlington, but we had had a few unforeseen adventures that day.  

So, what did we see?  Plenty!  We deliberated for months on what to prioritize, but we got to see the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument,  World War II Memorial,  Lincoln Memorial,  Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, White House, Charters of Freedom, Library of Congress, and the  Air and Space Museum.  Whew! 

The kids got to understand the lay of the city exceptionally well with all of the walking and the picture taking they did. It is extremely easy to get around because of the lay of the city.  The Washington Monument is in the center.  To the north is the White House, to the South is the Jefferson Memorial, to the West is the Lincoln Memorial and to the East is the US Capitol.  There is an e-mail running around saying that George Washington planned the city in the shape of a cross with the major monuments at the points, but that is not true.  For one thing, Abraham Lincoln wasn't even born yet!  George Washington worked with Pierre L'Enfant on the design, for the location of the Capitol and the White House and that was it.  Everything else came much later.  So if that e-mail comes around to your inbox, delete it and follow the links above, which are connected to the National Park Service.  The information will be far more accurate!  ;)

Our first stop was the Jefferson Memorial.  It was fun to watch the kids ooh and ahh over everything,  Then I told them to take a look at what Jefferson was looking at.  They looked and boy were they pleasantly surprised...the White House!  When we were at the Lincoln Memorial, they saw that Abraham Lincoln was looking at a reminder of his favorite president, the Washington Monument!

We were thrilled to find the statue of John Paul Jones.  He was one of many favorites we had studied him in school last year!  

One of our favorite stops was to see the Charters of Freedom in the National Archives building.  We had done quite a bit of study of the Magna Charta, Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights last year.  Now we got to see these original documents up close!  We were allowed to take pictures without flash, but it was so dark they did not come out. (The link above will show pictures of what we saw!) There were beautiful paintings and gorgeous architecture. But the lights had to be kept low in order to protect the documents.  The documents are kept in special cases filled with gases that preserve the documents.  Then at night the cases sink deep into the ground to protect the documents.  When I was at Montpelier the next day, I found a great book on the Bill of Rights.  It not only explained the Bill of Rights for kids, but also explained how the Charters of Freedom site was remodeled to house them.  In 1952, the documents were pulled out of storage.  Deep crease marks were embedded into the parchment.  The book explains not only how the documents were written and printed, but also how they were restored.  This book also tells about George Mason and the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was one of the models for the Bill of Rights.  This is mentioned a lot in Colonial Williamsburg, but not often elsewhere.   I bought a copy of the Virginia Declaration of Rights at the Colonial Williamsburg print shop store to use as a hands on in school.  

Another favorite stop was the Library of Congress.  There are busts of famous authors on the front of the building and we had fun trying to figure out who they were.  The inside was gorgeous!  It had been built in 1886 in Italian Renaissance style!  We had studied the Renaissance last year and it ws exciting to see the art form in person!  (And going to Italy was out of our budget!) I was excited to see this quote which matches my teaching philosophy! 

The Library of Congress was established in 1800 as a source of research for Congress.  But the British burned it down during the War of 1812.  Thomas Jefferson donated his personal collection of books.  For the previous 50 years he had been "putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science."  This collection can now be seen in the library.  We also got to see the Gutenberg Bible, which we had studied about last year!   

We finished the day with the Air and Space Museum.  The Wright Flyer  exhibit was incredible.  We got to see the actual plane and there were lots of interactives. 

The museum also had a lot of space stuff but we had been to the Johnson Space Center a few years ago, so that seemed like old hat compared to all the new stuff we wanted to see.  lol  We got see the Spirit of St. Louis, which Charles Lindberg flew over the Atlantic Ocean to Paris.  It was unbelievable how that little plane made the flight. 

Then my daughter pointed us in the direction of the very first hot air balloon!  We had studied about that last spring!  Benjamin Franklin saw this balloon make the first ever flight of a balloon in France.   Seeing this was probably the biggest thrill in the museum!

After a full day, we drove to the new Air Force Memorial.  With 24 years in the USAF, my husband felt this was the perfect ending to our exciting day!