Washington DC Day 1

We had to get up at 3 am to catch our flight to San Francisco. That's right, San Francisco, which is exactly the opposite direction from Virginia. But that seemed reasonable for $120 roundtrip ticket to Washington, DC. After a short layover in San Francisco, at which we saw two families we knew including friends from our ward, we got on the longer cross country flight. The boys were great, even though we didn't get to sit together. Mom sat with Seth, Mark sat with Dax, and Dad was by himself, but all in the same area. We arrived at Dulles at around 4 o'clock. It didn't take long to rent a car and grab a quick bite at Wendy's. In fact, we spent more time trying to find change for all the toll roads on the east coast!

Mom forgot to take any pictures on the plane or in the airport, so here we are on the shuttle leaving Dulles.

We had just one simple plan for this evening: See all the monuments on the National Mall. Though it was insanely busy, we managed to find cheap parking on the Potomac River just south of the Lincoln Memorial. We made Lincoln our first stop. Though this memorial is iconic, there were so many people, mostly irreverant youth groups, that it was hard to call Lincoln Memorial our favorite. Still, it is so beautiful to look back over the Washington Monument and the Capital. Seth declared the Washington Monument his favorite even though we only saw it from a distance.

There were so many people. I think they were all waiting for sunset to see everything lit up. 

The Lincoln Memorial is impressive.

We enjoyed the memorial even among the crowds. 

It is an amazing sight to see the capitol behind the Washington Monument.

We continued on to the Vietnam Memorial, trying to tell the kids a little bit about it and why it is important. Seth is so small, and the only way he'll remember any of this trip is if some of it makes sense to him. We stared at our reflection in the monument for a bit before heading south to the Korean War Monument. Everyone liked this one much better. Dax said it was his favorite because he "felt like he was marching in the War." All three boys enjoyed working on their National Mall Junior Ranger booklets as we moved along. We cut through the dark park and found ourselves at the DC War Memorial. It looked pretty cool all lit up.

The boys were so good as we honored those who served our country at these memorials.  

They liked looking in the reflection at the Vietnam Memorial.

No one else made the walk over to see the DC War Memorial. 

After crossing the road we came to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. This was built after Dad's visit, so he'd never seen it. Both he and Mom said it was their favorite. The quotes on the wall were so amazing and seeing Doctor King carved out of the mountain was very moving. We went on south to the Roosevelt Memorial. We couldn't believe how massive and sprawling it was. We went through several different sections reading quotes and posing with statues. It was getting late, and Seth was really dragging after the long day, but we wanted to get over to see the Jefferson Memorial. We crossed the bridge and approached it from the rear. It was so beautiful and Mark said that it was his favorite due to the high dome and bright lights. Since we saw all these memorials lit up at night we didn't get very good pictures, but seeing them at night was even better than in the day.

Seth also liked the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

Mark did a big report on FDR last year so he liked this memorial a lot.

Someone was nice enough to take a family picture for us! 

Dax hopped right into the Great Depression food line. With his hoodie on, he looks like he belongs there.

The Jefferson Memorial was pretty all lit up across the river.

Dax was our best picture taker this time.

We were tired, but we had a great night!

We didn't get to Mom's cousin's house until after 9 pm. We stayed with Jessica across the river in Falls Church, and they were so sweet. Their house was beautiful and there seemed to be plenty of room. They fed the boys cereal, and we chatted with Jessica and the girls until well after 10 pm. It was too late when we got to bed, but it was a great day to be in Washington, DC.