Washington, D.C.

What a great Christmas present! Spencer and Noah were invited to go with their Grandpa Tom and Granny Paula to Washington, D.C.!

They got to miss the last week of school before the Christmas break and were in Washington from December 14-17th. Here they are in front of the White House! They really wanted to see Obama, but no such luck. He was at home, though, so they are sure they were within 100 feet of him, Spencer says.


Grandpa Tom has "connections" and was able to get them into both the White House and the Capitol Building (they had to have background checks, even!). This is in the Capitol in front of the statue of Brigham Young.

Spencer and Noah both loved the fact that they got to enter the Capitol through the underground tunnel from the congressman's office.

Looking up...

...at the gorgeous rotunda ceiling.

They had fun shopping for awesome souvenirs at Union Station.

They loved the food there, too. Noah especially liked the free samples at the Chinese food restaurant and the yummy cookies.

Grandpa Tom had to work during the day, so Granny got to do all the fun daytime sight-seeing with Spencer and Noah. They were able to visit the Air and Space Museum and loved it!

Noah took lots of pictures of all the air- and spacecraft. This is Granny in front of a giant booster engine.

Noah's favorite picture: the lunar module.

They also spent some time in the Natural History Museum. Spencer took this picture of the Hope Diamond.

Noah got some great pictures of fossil skeletons. This is an ancient sea turtle.

And this is a dinosauar. We wondered if the museum came to life at night?

The last day in Washington, D.C. It was FREEZING cold and the wind was biting but they braved the weather and visited some monuments, starting with the Lincoln Memorial.

The great president Abraham Lincoln.

Walking along the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

As they got out of the taxi to visit the Washington Monument, Spencer realized he didn't have Granny's camera. They looked and looked and think it must have fallen out of his pocket. Such a tragedy! Spencer had taken hundreds of pictures on the memory card and we mourn the loss of that documentation of their trip. We're blessed to be able to piece together most of the trip from Noah's DSi, Granny's phone, and Grandpa's camera.

Looking out from the top of the Washington Monument. Their last view of Washington, D.C., before heading to the airport to come home. We sure missed them at home. It was way too quiet around here, but what a super opportunity they had to spend time with their grandparents in our nation's capitol. Thanks Granny and Grandpa!