Day 2: We woke up early and ate yummy breakfast. Seriously Embassy Suites has the bombest breakfast. They actually make omlets right there with whatever you want! After breakfast we headed off to our own private tour of the Smithsonian Museum. My dad had some hookups so we were able to go an hour earlier than it opened! It was awesome. I did not realize just how lucky we were until the museum actually opened and thousands of people were piling in. It would have been impossible to hear or see anything.
The first part of the museum and one of the only places that we could take pictures was the automobile section. I honestly thought I was taking a lot of pictures but after looking through my camera I realized I hardly took any. But I did make sure to get one with my friend Phil. We were just laughing and talking while we were waiting for the train. He's got some good stories.
Standing on a real piece of road from the U.S. Route 66.
Justin used to be a tour guide for the Grand Canyon. He would take tourists from Las Vegas to Kingman then on to the Grand Canyon. If you look at the map that is no easy drive. He said it was about a 15 hour day for him. Pretty crazy huh? The craziest part is that he was speaking Japanese the whole time! This was his first job he got as a returned missionary from Japan.
This is how we got around town... the metro! I love these things.
After the Smithsonian we went to eat at The Press Club. This is where they hold press conferences. It was very classy. Because of the our large party, we were in our own room and had our own menus. The menu comprised of mini crab cakes with the most delicious corn salsa, a mixed green salad, and tomato gazpacho for appetizers; for entrees swordfish with pineapple salsa, avocado lobster salad with coconut dressing, and steak with blue cheese butter; and the best part of all dessert- strawberry tiramisu, apple tarts, panna cotta, and ice cream. It was delicious! I will have to get a picture to insert later on.
We then went on a tour of the Library of Congress. It was a beautiful building. One of my favorites. Of course we couldn't take pictures of my favorite room because we might distract the people doing research.
Waiting outside of the Library of Congress.
One of my favorite places that we ate at all weekend.... Bens Chili Bowl! If you go to D.C. you gots to go.
I think our faces are hilarious in this picture. I am not quite sure how to eat this and Justin I don't know what he is doing but it is funny! We ate chili cheese hot dogs, chili sausage dogs, chili cheese fries, cheese fries, and shakes.
I later found drippings of chesse down my shirt. My brother had it worse though. He had chili drippings down the backside of his pant leg. Don't ask me how it got there but it looked bad!
After dinner we went to a show called Capital Steps. It is a political comedic show. It was hilarious. They do things like change the lyrics to songs like mamma mia to obama mia. These people were talented. They did awesome impressions and accents. My favorite part was this dialogue that one guy did for about 7 minutes straight. He would mix the first letter in a word with another word in the sentence. I don't know if that makes sense but he said Mitt Romney lost the election because he was a "card more hormon." And he warned us trying to talk like that because we might "fart to stink that way!"
After a long day we went back to the hotel room to the power being turned off. This was not my favorite part of the trip. It was not fun trying to get ready for bed in the dark. They did give us a super tiny flashlight but its hard to try to brush your teeth and hold a flashlight. So I grab the travel sized toothpaste, put it on my toothbrush in the dark and started brushing..... with shaving cream!!!! not a good way to end the day..... yuck
It was amazing to see the graves of many brave soldiers who gave their lives for this country. You hear the numbers in history classes, but you don't really grasp just how many men died. It is not real until you see those graves... so so many graves that go beyond what your eye can see in all directions forever. The tour guide told us they are buried in perfect formation, just as they were, ready in attention willing to fight when the call came. I tried to capture that in these pictures, but it doesn't quite get the feeling you have when you are actually there.
We were able to see the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier. I was trying to get a good picture of what it said on the tomb because the words are beautiful. It said, " Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God." This tomb is known as the unknown soldier, but really he is known. God knows who he is and what sacrifice he has made. I love the picture of the soldier saluting to the tomb. We do not need to know this man's or any soldier's name to show gratitude for what they have done. 
After the Arlington Cemetery, we met up again to go on a tour of the Capital. My camera ran out of battery so sorry no pictures. We then had the evening to do whatever we wanted. Justin, me, Jeff, Becky, and Kendall went shopping then swimming back at the hotel. We had such a wonderful weekend in D.C. THank you THank you THank you dad and mom for all the opportunities and memories you gave to us!! and thank you Leavitt's for taking care of our little sweetie pie so we could enjoy ourselves!
Standing on a real piece of road from the U.S. Route 66. 
Justin used to be a tour guide for the Grand Canyon. He would take tourists from Las Vegas to Kingman then on to the Grand Canyon. If you look at the map that is no easy drive. He said it was about a 15 hour day for him. Pretty crazy huh? The craziest part is that he was speaking Japanese the whole time! This was his first job he got as a returned missionary from Japan.
This is how we got around town... the metro! I love these things.
After the Smithsonian we went to eat at The Press Club. This is where they hold press conferences. It was very classy. Because of the our large party, we were in our own room and had our own menus. The menu comprised of mini crab cakes with the most delicious corn salsa, a mixed green salad, and tomato gazpacho for appetizers; for entrees swordfish with pineapple salsa, avocado lobster salad with coconut dressing, and steak with blue cheese butter; and the best part of all dessert- strawberry tiramisu, apple tarts, panna cotta, and ice cream. It was delicious! I will have to get a picture to insert later on.
Waiting outside of the Library of Congress.
One of my favorite places that we ate at all weekend.... Bens Chili Bowl! If you go to D.C. you gots to go.
I think our faces are hilarious in this picture. I am not quite sure how to eat this and Justin I don't know what he is doing but it is funny! We ate chili cheese hot dogs, chili sausage dogs, chili cheese fries, cheese fries, and shakes. 
I later found drippings of chesse down my shirt. My brother had it worse though. He had chili drippings down the backside of his pant leg. Don't ask me how it got there but it looked bad!
After dinner we went to a show called Capital Steps. It is a political comedic show. It was hilarious. They do things like change the lyrics to songs like mamma mia to obama mia. These people were talented. They did awesome impressions and accents. My favorite part was this dialogue that one guy did for about 7 minutes straight. He would mix the first letter in a word with another word in the sentence. I don't know if that makes sense but he said Mitt Romney lost the election because he was a "card more hormon." And he warned us trying to talk like that because we might "fart to stink that way!"
After a long day we went back to the hotel room to the power being turned off. This was not my favorite part of the trip. It was not fun trying to get ready for bed in the dark. They did give us a super tiny flashlight but its hard to try to brush your teeth and hold a flashlight. So I grab the travel sized toothpaste, put it on my toothbrush in the dark and started brushing..... with shaving cream!!!! not a good way to end the day..... yuck
This is my brother Jeff and us on the shuttle ready to go grab some grub at union station. Once again we matched with our greens!
I had to post this picture because lets face it, I look rad! haha but seriously those glasses are.
Then after we ate dinner we took a three hour tour on a bus which ended up being three and a half hours around various monuments. It was a tour by twilight from 7 p.m to 10:30 p.m. We were exhausted by the end but it was so neat to see. 
I was trying to be artsy with this one. If you look behind and in between the trees you can see the Washington Monument. It is some ridiculous 800 steps to the top. 
Our first stop was the Jefferson memorial. Forgive me for being a dork in most of these pictures. I decided that I was sick of just smiling pictures. I guess I thought dorky poses would be better?!? 
I am saying shhh in this picture because my mom was whispering really softly and I could hardly hear her. I thought that was funny and decided to record that moment.
Next stop was the Roosevelt memorial. He has four but this is only one of them. I heard a gentlemen behind us say if you rub his finger or the dogs nose (no picture sorry) you will have good luck. If you look at his finger you can see the discoloration from everyone rubbing it. We decided to give it a try and I crossed my fingers for double luck!
On this stop there were a couple of things to see. The first is a picture of all the names from the Vietnam War. It is touching to see all those names. You can not even imagine how many names there were. A photograph would not catch the length of this monument so I took close ups. Red and white roses were left by the names. Also you can see in the one picture a thank you note left by a child who understands the sacrifice that was given for his freedom.
It was really dark, sorry for the quality of this picture. Here is the HUGE famous Abraham Lincoln monument. It was amazing. Sadly we did not make it to the Korean War Monument because we had to be back on the bus. I hope to be able to go back and see it one day when our kids are big enough to understand.
The last stop and one of the newest was the World War II memorial. Once again it was too dark so taking pictures was hopeless. This one was probably one of my favorites. It was beautiful. I don't even know how to describe it so I won't. We finally made it back to our hotel around 11 and went straight to bed, exhausted from an eventful day.
Sweet little Kate and baby Ruthie in the shopping cart at the grocery store. Since I told a story about the boys I guess I better tell one of Kate. Kate is at the age where she copies what you say, especially when you are reprimanding someone. Ruthie had taken a book from Isaiah so I told her, "Ruthie be nice." Then Kate chimed in Roofie be nice! I had to laugh at that. Kids say the cutest and funniest things. We can't wait to hear the things our little Roofie will say.
