June 4 - Washington DC

Wellllllllllll, today has been a whirlwind! We spent the day in Washington, DC and Arlington, VA. It's midnight here and we're all still awake - breakfast at 6:20 tomorrow should be great!

We began with a brisk walk (led by the speedy Uncle Wayne) to the Library of Congress.

On the way there, we saw the Washington Monument (middle), which we will be visiting tomorrow. The next 2 photos are other buildings we saw along the way.

 

 We also saw the Capitol building! More on this later.

 The first big monument we saw was the Library of Congress, built in the 19th century. The general public can access this, and anyone can check books out from here with a library card. Here are some pictures of the gorgeous architecture. 

 
 

 

 

 
                                                 "Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom in the dust."

 

 The Supreme Court building - didn't go inside this though. 

 Lots of walking today.

 Entering the Capitol!

 This was the statue upon which the Statue of Liberty was based.

 Watching a very educational film.

 Guided tour of the Capitol.

 Congress has commissioned over 150 of these statues

 
 Entering the rotunda.





For 2 years, there is a safety net here as part of the restoration project. 

 Famous painting, woot

 Another famous painting - smart Seth knew all about it

 Good ol Abe Lincoln

 

 

 

 Another view of the Supreme Court. 

 Man, these are some photogenic juniors and seniors!

 
Cornerstone in a picture.

 Next, we visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery (after an interesting subway ride). 

 

The changing of the guard, which occurs every half hour. 

 

Everlasting flame.

Here, JFK gave a speech overlooking the national mall - some of the words and the Washington Monument can be found here. 

Lisa made a ham sammich!

 Ending the night with a late dinner and some singing.

-Julia

June 2-3 - Seattle, to Baltimore, to Virginia

Hey everyone! So I did a little blog post very early this morning, but here's a cumulative one from the past two days. 

We were lucky enough to fly out (from Seattle) with the sunset and arrive with the sunrise (in Newark). 

 We took a red-eye flight from Newark, New Jersey and arrived on time. However, not a lot of us slept this flight, so lots of sleep was had in the Newark airport. Our flight from Newark to Baltimore was delayed 2 1/2 hours, so we were in a small part of the airport for about 5 hours.

This time included sleeping, socializing, playing games, listening to music, eating food, and just walking around. 

 Some benches were moved around and sat on/laid on creatively :)

 This short flight was much-anticipated, crazy things started happening...

 We arrived safely in Baltimore, where we gathered our luggage and rental cars.

 "smile for your mom!"

 Lots of waiting around...

 And the first monument, in Maryland! We visited Fort McHenry - first the visitor center and then a guided tour.

 The visitor center is quite new - very interactive.

 We then went to the fort itself - here is the entrance. This was used during the War of 1812, and was the inspiration for the "Star-Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key.

 More of the entrance.

 We got to go through several of the original buildings.

 Our tour guide giving a very extensive history of the fort...

 I believe this is self-explanatory.

 Cannons overlooking the harbor.

 Leaving the memorial.

 We then went to the Baltimore inner harbor, where we had 2 hours to walk around and enjoy the sights.

 After about a two-hour drive, we arrived at the Mansours' in Fairfax, Virginia. As you can tell, we settled in quite quickly!

 You can tell these people are juniors and seniors! (note to parents: nobody was injured too badly)

Tomorrow we will be visiting Washington, DC! 

Stop 1: Newark - June 2

We have safely arrived at our first destination! The 4 1/2 hour flight went well and we are now waiting in Newark airport (New Jersey).
There has been a minor setback - our flight from Newark to Baltimore has been delayed a couple of hours, but it won't be an issue.
Everyone is tired but in good

spirits!