Washington, D.C. - DAY 3 - Monday, June 8th

So we're up to day 3 now. By this time, our feet were really hurting. My lower back hurt. James decided to add a water bottle to my bag. He never drank it. I just carried it. Full. Oh well.

By this time in the trip we realized that Parker (although a very unique individual and we really like him) is soooo much like his brother Preston. How are they alike? They both have bad gas. They both drive poor Meranda crazy. (You boys should both be very grateful for your amazing, patient sister.) They both live for food! Twice a day Parker would start to wind down. His food-o-meter would get close to empty. This occurred just before lunch and just before dinner. He would literally start to tip over while he walked. He would start to whimper. He even fell asleep on a bench. He would be near death!! It was a terrible site. Until . . . . we fed him. It took only a matter of minutes for the nourishment to get in his tummy. Bam! He's back. He's smiling. He's walking upright. He's alive!!!! What a funny kid. There should be directions pasted on his forehead: Only works when fed and watered. Parker, we love you! Thanks for being a good boy.

So back to Monday . . . .

We slept in on this day because we didn't need to be to our first stop until 10:30. Yes! We left the hotel and headed to the National Archives. In the National Archives we viewed original copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It was great! We also got to see a painting of George Washington in tights. Priceless.

In addition to the regular exhibit, there was a extra exhibit at the Archives, titled "Big." In this exhibit, there were extremely large artifacts. It was pretty cool! Shaquille O'neil's size 485 shoe was there as well as the bath tub that William Howard Taft had specially made for him after he (as legend has it) got stuck in the White House bath tub. He was a little chubby chubby.

After the Archives, we headed back to the metro (via McDonalds) and then to the Zoo.

At this point, maybe I should explain Phineas (of Finneeus). He is the well-traveled sock monkey from the Kearns Oquirrh Park Pool. Wherever his employees go, so does he. He has been photographed all over the . . . well just Las Vegas so far, but he's beginning to expand. He was stuffed in Natalie and Lauren's backpack the entire trip, except when he needed to come out for air and a photo opportunity. Thanks for being well-behaved young monkey with the do-rag.

All I can say about the zoo is that some people really enjoyed it. I, for one, am not really into animals much. I just thought is was really hot and sticky at the zoo. Oh well. The pandas are cool. The naked mole rats are really icky. Thanks to Eva (who is absolutely crazy and calls Lauren, Lara) the naked mole rats have many more family members and a whole new colony invented just for them.
Another interesting thing about Washington that we noticed at this point was the crosswalk timers. Streets that are relatively wide have timers in the 11-15 second range. Streets that are about one car-width wide and can be crossed in 3 steps have timers in the 50-67 second range. Interesting. Do you know why? I have no idea.

We left the zoo. James got a souvenir panda beanie baby and a lot of panda photos. We walked to the metro and headed to the Spy Museum/National Portrait Gallery.

I went with my mom and dad to the National Portrait Gallery. Everyone else went to the Spy Museum. At the Portrait Gallery, we saw the official portraits of all of the presidents, portraits of many significant Americans, including political leaders, entertainers, sports figures, etc. It was cool! In all of the times I've been to Washington, the Portrait Gallery has never been open. I was glad that I finally got to go!

After the Spy Museum, everyone else came over to the Portrait Gallery and I think they all were glad that they could do both!

Next, we headed to dinner at Ella's Pizza. It was kind of like California Pizza Kitchen where you order your own 10 inch wood-fired pizza. It was tasty.

We walked to Ford's Theater. It's currently closed for renovation and it and the Petersen House were closed for the day, anyway. But, we did get to see them, so that was good. Next to the Petersen House is a 3 fo $9.99 t-shirt shop. Most of the kids loaded up on cute shirts.
Next, we walked to the White House. We walked around the White House. We saw a motorcade come to the White House. We asked the security guards if it was the President and they said, "No, it's just the JV team." Huh? They said it was probably someone from the State Department or a foreign dignitary, not the President. He was at home in the White House at that point. Natalie and Lauren wanted their picture taken with a security guard, but they're not allowed to do that. Bummer.

Next, we headed back to the hotel. Half of our group went back to chill. A few of us - me, James, mama Judy, Meranda, Parker, Lauren, and Natalie - decided to go to Alexandria's King Street and walk to the river. We did. 17 blocks. The river is disgusting. We rode a cab back to the metro station. The cab driver was from Pakistan. He has been in the United States for 14 years and brought his family over here 4 years ago. He earned his citizenship by lottery. His minor children are now citizens and his oldest son and wife are still awaiting citizenship. He and his wife were both teachers in Pakistan. He children like the American school system because they don't get beat by their teachers. Interesting story!

That's the end of Day 3. One more day to go!