DC part 3.

our last day in DC, we went straight to the korean war, MLK, and jefferson memorials.

the jefferson memorial is quite a walk from the national mall, and kind of isolated, but it was definitely worth it.

we went to arlington cemetery and took a tour.  i wasn't too impressed with the tour, but it was worth the $12 just to just sit on the trolley (by this point we were pretty tired, having walked over 20 miles over the past two days) as we drove through the cemetery.  it was the culminating moment of the trip.  such a beautiful place!

we met more family for dinner at ray's hellburger.  great way to end a great weekend.  i'm so glad john was able to drive with us on the way back home!

arlington cemetery from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

thanks again for such a wonderful weekend, g+l!  we had a blast!

DC part deux

after we toured the capitol and library of congress, we went to three different smithsonian museums.  the aerospace museum, the museum of natural history, and the museum of american history.  

by far one of the coolest things at the natural history museum was the skeleton exhibit.  skeletons from hundreds of animals - it was so cool! perhaps the most interesting was the sea lion - turned out hips.

hazel and john almost got eaten by a t-rex but made a narrow escape.

we also saw the hope diamond there!  apparently, it used to be much bigger and then people cut it into different shapes and settings because they are nuts.

the museum of american history was simply neat.  you can see a lego flag (pictured above), but my favorite flag was the star-spangled banner.  so stunningly beautiful and although i couldn't take a picture of it, it was probably one my of favorite things we did the entire weekend.  i had no idea it would be even 1/5 of the size it actually was.

we then kept walking down the national mall to pass the white house, washington memorial, WW2 memorial, and lincoln memorial.

just the most daunting, reverent part of the WW2 memorial:

 washington memorial at sunset:

lincoln memorial:  i am so glad that they have these wonderful memorials to commemorate brave men (and women - lets be fair), that have been a force for good in our country.  seeing them reminds us the price of freedom and makes me so grateful for those who believe in freedom so much that they are willing to fight for it.

after watching the sun set, we went to "we, the pizza" and ate the best white pizza of my life.  

we, the pizza dancing from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

more to come of our trip to DC!  

read part one, here.

our trip to DC! part one.

since john's parents needed to be in DC last weekend, we all planned a trip to go out there and be with them and explore our nation's capitol.  r+j+c were there, as well as leslie's sister jayme and her husband doug.  we had such a wonderful time with all of them!  

since john was out-of-town for a business training and had to fly straight into DC in order for us not to have to drive until 3am, i did a brave thing and decided to drive down with the girls myself!  i put a pull-up on hazel so as to not have to stop every hour to go potty, and we shoved off.  besides a couple times when cora got hungry and i couldn't find a good/safe place to stop (aka driving through baltimore and i don't know where is safe to stop) the girls were pretty much happy the entire time!  such a blessing.  i did hand hazel's half-finished squeezable pouch to cora on the last hour of the trip and somehow, she got the lid off so when i went to grab her out of her carseat at the hotel she was covered in applesauce.  sweet girl, it didn't seem to bother her!

ryan and janessa were already there so we went and walked along the national mall with them and got dinner:

that night everybody got into town, and the next morning we hit the ground running!  we rode the subway to the supreme court justice building and basically walked all the way to the lincoln memorial from there.

union station:

 supreme court justice building- basically every single building in DC is magnificent.

we then walked over to the capitol and took a tour.  i am so glad we did!  what a fascinating building, and i felt so patriotic during the tour.  democracy really is so beautiful and i am so grateful for what goes on there.  the checks and balances system was put there for a reason and i appreciate the law-makers that listen to the people they represent and try to make the country we live in a better, more moral, and more free place each day. 

serious black mail photo of me right there that john took... 

but it represents just what were we doing at the tour... 

listening to our tour guide on the headsets.

each state has donated at least two statues of important figures from that state.  two of my favorites {pictured above} were brigham young (utah) and sam houston (texas).

the lady doing capitol tours suggested we go to the library of congress next, and i'm so glad we did! it is probably the most beautiful building inside that i have ever seen.

wow will you just look at cora's face!?  she's the best.

DC is so incredibly beautiful.  thanks for inviting us, g+l!

this ends part one of our trip to DC series.  

sorry you didn't make the cut in any of these photos, john ;)