Day 3

"Day 3." At this rate, I'll be done with this account in 2013. Ah, well. Housewife and mommy duties have been taking up too much time! While Hamilton is watching Sesame Street (so educational, it barely counts as TV, right?), I thought I'd return to the old vaca recap.

We set the alarm early on this day, so we could get to Mount Vernon when it opened. We arrived along with a bunch of school tour groups, one of which we stood in line behind for about 15 minutes until I finally asked the chaperone, "Is this the ticket line?" "No," came the annoyed, curt reply. Thanks, lady.

I did not mean for the boys to all be in stripes today, but don't they look cute? That building contained the greenhouse and some slave quarters.



This picture is less to show the "Overseer's Quarters" as it is to show why Alex and I didn't get to do much in-depth exploration of the property. There are a lot a of "outbuildings" on the property to house different people, as well as things like the smokehouse. When Hamilton entered said "smokehouse," he said, "What do I smell? I think it's probably poop." Not quite, unless you're a strict, political vegan...then, you might have agreed.




Magnolia trees...


View from the back porch. No wonder George Washington loved it here. I wouldn't have wanted to mess with being President if I could be here and farming instead. It's interesting actually how many of our forefathers were at heart simple farmers.


Waiting in line for the house tour. No pictures allowed inside, but we saw the bed Washington died in. Crazy. The house also had a lot of bedrooms, as Washington was hoping and planning for lots of kids. One of the tour guides theorized that a case of small pox as a teenager made him sterile, and, perhaps, it was a good thing, as he had no reason to promote a "monarchy"-type inheritance system of running the country. He did have stepchildren he took care of and cared for as his own.


Really love this house. Scaffolding kind of mars the picture.


Washington's tomb.


This poor woman was shearing this sheep like in the old days. She was sweating profusely and looked so, so miserable. She was definitely not up to interacting with us in 18th century character. However, we were pleased to find the animals we'd promised the boys.


You can't really see them, but these are lambs only recently weaned. The boys could have stayed watching them forever, especially Beckett.


And back UP the hill to the main property.


Fine, Hamilton, if you won't be in the picture, I will!


The museum had a big room for JUST little kids, which felt like a VIP lounge for us. We had the place to ourselves, and all those annoying field trip kids kept getting turned away. HA! There was a Mt Vernon doll house, pictures to color, colonial games, and colonial dress-up. Alas, only Beckett agreed to dress up. And if you don't think this is the cutest thing ever, something is wrong with you.



We ate lunch at the restaurant at Mount Vernon as the food court smelled of fried...everything and was full of kids. There is also something really nice about people bringing you drinks when you are hot and tired. We took the waitress' advice and tried the famous peanut soup. It was great...just melt down some peanut butter over the stove and add some chicken stock. Throw in a few peanuts. Yum. If it existed, the previous sentences would be in sarcastic font.


After lunch, it was back to the Mall to meet up with the Lowes, our friends that moved back East 9 or so months ago. Hamilton was thrilled to see the girls, and they all enjoyed perusing the gowns of the First Ladies....


The ruby slippers...


Chairs from All in the Family, an old sitcom I watched as a little girl with my dad. What was he thinking? :)


Also seen (but not pictured)...a huge, fabulous dollhouse, Julia Child's kitchen and THE star-spangled banner.


Then it was back outside for monument time! First, though...sunscreen!!


First, the Washington Monument where we stopped to have some water and let the kids be stroller free for a bit.


The White House! When Alex and I walked past this again later, we had this conversation...
Me: "Well, there's the White House."
Alex: "Yeah."
Me: "Do you want to walk down there? It's only a few blocks away."
Alex: "Ummmm..."
Silence as both of us struggled to admit that even a 4-block detour is beyond our capabilities...even if this was THE chance to go see it closer.
Alex: "Well, actually, you probably can't see it much better than this."
Me: "Yeah, yeah, you're right. Totally."

Sidenote: it started pouring rain just as we got to the parking garage. Whew!


Jefferson Memorial. Construction and tired boys made this as close we'd get to it.


En route to the war memorials and the Lincoln Memorial. I'm holding Jenilee's Isaac.


WWII memorial in the distance. I think it's a little much, but Alex says it was an epic war, so the memorial should reflect as much.


Lincoln Memorial. Even with the crowds and crazy kids, it was still amazing and inspiring to see.


After this photo was taken Bryan RAN back from where we'd come to save his car from getting a ticket (no ticket...whew!) and bring it to pick up his family, we then stopped for a snack, walked through the Vietnam Memorial (made more meaningful by all the Vets down to visit for the Memorial Day weekend), and counted the blocks until the parking garage. The boys were both asleep by the time we made it.



My friend Jessica then saved us by getting pizza for the boys and feeding us her super yummy Moraccan chicken. Ahhhh....vegetables! I missed you!