Day 7-Arlington VA

John F Kennedy Gravesite
The boys trying to be somber and respectful at the cemetary.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Crazy man that stood in front of everyone


Our last morning in DC. The Susan Komen Race for the Cure was being held downtown. If Scott and I had been alone, we would have done it. It would have been cool to start near the Capitol, but there was no way that the boys a) would get up early b) walk/run voluntarily after our day on Friday.

I have to admit, it was pretty nice to sleep in. I'm going to miss those Tempur-pedic beds. After we got going, we headed toward Arlington National Cemetary. We drove through Georgetown on our way. That was another cool area.

We got to Arlington and stopped in the visitor's center. Scott shot down the idea of the tour-mobile. We walked into the cemetary and toward Kennedy's grave. As we walked, I noticed the time and realized that if we really hustled, we could get to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in time for the changing of the guard. The lady at the visitor's center said it was a 20 minute walk and we had 10 minutes. The only problem was it was mostly uphill. We were passing people like we were in a horse race. We made it, but we were sweaty by the time we got there. We took a seat and tried not to be disruptive. While we were waiting for it to start, the man in the photo above came and stood in front of us. What a goof.

The changing of the guard was really cool. It took about 10 minutes. After that, we went over to the memorials for the Challenger and the Columbia space shuttles. We then headed back to Kennedy's gravesite. There were so many people there that you basically looked at it and then scooted back so others could see. We walked back to the car and headed to Williamsburg.

We got to our "home" in Williamsburg. Our condo is really nice. We're on the 3rd floor (per our request). It's a 2 bedroom with a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room and dining room. There's a washer and dryer in the unit.

The activity center has an awesome gym, 2 outdoor pools, 1 indoor pool, hot tub, putt-putt, tennis courts, playground and a game room where all of the video games are FREE. Well, we have to pay a $5/day activity fee, but for anyone familiar with an arcade, that is a small price to pay. Cole staggered around for a minute in shock when we told him that he can play as many levels as he wants at no cost. There are old games (pacman, galaga, etc) new games, ping pong, air hockey, all of the game systems, etc. They are in heaven.

We ate dinner on site at the tavern. Then, Drew and Scott swam while Cole and I listened to the really bad karaoke singers at the pool. Who knew there could be that many bad singers in one place. Interestingly, the worse the singer, the louder the volume.

Drew says that this place is the best.

Day 6-DC...lots of DC

This is how we felt on Day 2 in DC...wiped out. We started off relatively early, as we had a scheduled tour at the National Archives. The National Archives were featured in the movie, "National Treasure". Since they house some of our nation's most important documents, we wanted to make sure we got to see them. Our tour time was 9:45. We got there early and had to wait outside. We either looked friendly or like we worked there, because every person walking by asked us for help. Scott normally has a great sense of direction, but since we got into DC, he's completely turned around. So, when these sweet ladies from some African nation stopped in their car to ask directions, he was happy to comply. It was only after they drove off that he realized his google maps hadn't oriented to the way we were standing and he sent the ladies in the opposite direction they were supposed to go. He still feels bad about it. We hope they found their destination. An older gentleman with a young boy asked us what time the Archives opened. We stood and visited with them for a minute. I asked him where they were from. He said that he is from a town called Lawrence and his grandson is from Overland Park, KS. We laughed and told him we are from Olathe. Since we had our tour scheduled, we offered for them to join our group. We didn't know if the museum would go for it, but we told them we would try. It was finally time for our tour. After a few moments of explaining that our group had grown, they let us in. We got to see The Bill of Rights, The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, among other things. It was a great tour. Afterwards, Dr. Campbell (the grandfather from Lawrence) said he was so grateful that he got to go on the tour that he wanted to have lunch with us and to buy our lunch. After telling him multiple times that he didn't need to do that, we finally relented. We had a nice lunch in the basement of the archives.

Cole's request, we went to the National Gallery of Art. I was not looking forward to this one, but was pleasantly surprised. I guess if it's a Smithsonian museum, it's going to be good. Did you know there are 17 different Smithsonians in DC? I think we hit five of them.

From the National Gallery of Art, we walked over to the Capitol. On our way there, we passed a woman with only one arm. As we passed her, Drew said loudly, "Did you see that?" My heart stopped as he continued. "That black bird was huge!" He never says what I expect him to.

They were not excited about going on another tour, so we were so pleased when close to the Capitol, Drew asked if we could come back the following day. "Are you enjoying it that much?" To which he replied, "I just want to come back so we can feed the ducks."

We had a tour scheduled at the Capitol as well. It's a guided tour, but they give you headphones so you can hear your guide better. I liked that you could hear, but it gave me the absolute creeps putting on headphones that tons of other people had worn. It was another great tour.

From there, we took the tunnel over to the Library of Congress. The boys wanted to see all of the books, so they were a little disappointed that they couldn't get in. We could only see it from the viewing window. The architecture of the building was beautiful.

We ran (literally)back over to the Capitol and caught the trolley. It took us over to the Lincoln Monument. We looked around there, then walked by the Vietnam Memorial Wall and over to the Washington Monument. Fortunately, there was a snack stand nearby because we were dying for a Popsicle.

We then walked over to the Museum of American History. There were so fun things to see there...Dorothy's ruby slippers, Fonzi's jacket, The original Muppets, Archie Bunker's chair, Apollo Ono's skates, etc in one area. We didn't get to see the whole museum because we were short on time by this point.

Our final stop was the Museum of Natural History made famous in "Night at the Museum". What an awesome place. We could have spent the entire day in this one museum. There were dinosaurs galore, evolution areas, deep sea area...they loved it. And in the gift shop, they had the polished rocks. We can't come home from anywhere without a bag of rocks. We stayed until they closed and then walked back toward the hotel. After a few blocks, we gave up and caught a cab. We had them drop us off at the restaurant area near our hotel. We got back to our room about 9pm...13 hours after we left.

The Hope Diamond

Drew making a new friend.

National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art- You can tell how tired I am. My arm is tired of holding up the camera, so the picture is slanted.

Drew, Scott and Cole at the national Gallery of Art

Cole wants to learn to oil paint now. He loved the paintings and studied each one as long as we would let him.

This is Drew after I told him we were going to go to 17 museums.

Feeding the Capitol ducks. I was sure that someone was going to fall in. I was not looking forward to jumping into the green duck water to pull them out.

The ceiling of the rotunda at the US Capitol.

Cole was amazed at the Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress

Cole and Drew at the Library of Congress

Library of Congress from outside

This is the Holocaust Museum. We didn't go because they say it's not appropriate for kids, but I liked the sculpture out front. It's a broken swastika.

Lincoln Memorial

I guess this one is obvious...

Vietnam Memorial Wall

fountain near the Washington Memorial

Cole was being goofy. Scott was trying to make him stop. Scott was not successful.

Drew, Scott and Cole dancing in front of the Washington Memorial. Okay, Scott wasn't dancing.

Cole holding up the Washington Memorial

This is after I told Drew that I took a picture of him in front of a doll house.

This was at the Museum of American History. There was a kid's area where Drew was learning to wind surf. I don't know what this had to do with American History, but Drew enjoyed himself and there was a bench to sit down. At this point, that's all I cared about.

Museum of Natural History---Awesome!

The T-Rex featured in Night at the Museum.

Cole almost getting eaten by a dinosaur.

Drew always living on the edge.

This was our last museum. Cole had to sit down while he read because he was so worn out.

Day 5- Washington DC

We got up early this morning for our White House tour. Our tour started at 8:30, so we got there early (shocking!). After having a bunch of people check our id, go through metal detectors and waiting in line with the other cattle, we were finally ushered into the White House. Those secret service guys are grouchy! We got to see the Hallway where Obama made the Bin Laden announcement. The hallways and rooms look so much bigger on tv. Sadly, a vacation tradition is one of our boys getting told by an authority figure not to do something. In this case, Drew decided to rest in the White House on an antique chair. The secret service man yelled across the room as soon as Drew's bottom hit the chair. Cole was horrified (it was just last year when he did something similar in Colorado) and felt the need to smack Drew. Drew was going to retaliate, but fortunately Scott had a hold of his shirt. Yep, they were probably glad when we left. I'm sure there will be little marks next to our social security numbers next time we try to visit some place.

Since I couldn't take my camera into the White House, I was without it all day. It practically killed me. We had to rely on Scott's camera phone for our pictures today. For a phone, his takes pretty good pictures. But, tomorrow I'm lugging my big Nikon around, so I can get good shots.

Afterwards, we stopped briefly at the White House visitors center. Since we got to see the real deal, we didn't stay long. We walked over to the Willard hotel (I'm going to stay there when I win the lottery) and caught our trolley. We took the trolley to Union Station. It's quite grand. The best part though for us hungry folk was the food court in the basement. Nevermind that it was 10:30, we wanted lunch. The 3 guys were all lured over by an Asian woman holding chicken out, saying "Yummy, yummy." I'm going to start trying that when I make dinner.WWaiting for the trolley

A picture of me...per my mother's request

From Union Station, we rode the trolley around and stopped at the Air and Space Museum. Boy, that place is huge! I knew I was in trouble when Cole looked at an airplane engine from all sides for the first 10 minutes we were in there. He was mesmerized. So, we split up so Drew and I could enjoy the big things without reading every bit of information in the place. We were in there for what seemed like hours. My favorite part was the Orville and Wilbur Wright section. I made my best argument about brothers working together. Cole and Drew finally agreed on something....that they wouldn't work together and their plane would have crashed into a tree.

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

We finished the museum with two of my favorite things....an ice cream cone from McDonalds and a visit to the gift shop. We jumped back on the trolley and did sight seeing from it.

At one point during the day, Drew exclaimed, "WOW! Look at that!" We turned to see what he was looking at...the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial? Nope. "Look at all those kids wearing blue shirts."

Back on the trolley to get us close to our hotel. We had to walk several blocks after we got off, but aside from our sore feet, it was okay. The weather is beautiful here.Posing like the statue in front of the Dept of Treasury

We got our "Welcome home" as we came in the hotel. Pizza in the room for dinner. We are just chilling (except Scott who appears to have passed out from exhaustion).

We are missing our dogs. Drew wants to skype with Sophie, but we told him Brittany (the girl staying with them) will think we're weirdos if we want to talk with the dog.

Oh, the boys just had some moments of kindness toward each other....there's hope.

Big day tomorrow starting early, so early to bed tonight!

Day 4- Pittsburgh to DC

I bet you've never stood in front of a giant coffee pot. Okay, you've probably never wanted to...



The morning started off well. We got room service for breakfast. Normally this would not happen with us, but we have lots of Marriott dollars (thanks to Blue Cross/Blue Shield and their reward program.) So after our big breakfast splurge, we took off. Last night we thought Pittsburgh was great. That was until the dumb gps kept routing us to the wrong place. It was quite frustrating. I got out the paper map and then did something that my husband didn't understand. I asked a lady for directions. The really crazy part...it worked. She gave me "lady directions" (go to the brown building and turn, etc. ) We finally got out of Pittsburgh but not before Scott broke out his arsenal of gps devices. We had 3 things spouting directions. (All we really needed was the lady with the flip flops and the floppy hat walking down the street.)

Drew in front of the Pittsburgh skyline

Cole giving the Steelers stadium a thumbs up.

Scott taking pictures of downtown Pittsburgh

As we drove through the PA countryside, we were amazed at how much it looks like Southwest MO with its rolling hills. We stopped by Shanksville, PA where United Flight 93 went down on 9/11. It was a sad memorial. They have a temporary memorial now, but they are working on a permanent one that will be built over the next couple of years.

Flight 93 crash site is the grassy area beyond the red tractor.
The permanent memorial will be the white concrete in the middle with the passengers and crew's names listed on them. They will also plant a row of 40 trees along the site. One for each person that was on the flight that day except for the stupid terrorists.

Lots of remembrances from people are attached to the fence.


We stopped at a nearby town and got some food to take with us. Scott was trying to eat a salad while driving with his leg. I couldn't believe he thought he was a better driver in those circumstances, so I got to drive again. I think he was actually relieved this time, as he didn't want to drive in DC. I don't care if I get lost, so that takes a lot of pressure off.


We then stopped in Bedford PA to see the giant coffee pot. It was quick, but we couldn't be that close without stopping for a picture.


We finally made it to DC. Our hotel is really cool. We're staying at the Carlyle Suites in downtown DC. The people that work here are amazing. When you come back, they say, "Welcome home." We're on the same street as an embassy...Grenada anyone? The area is busy with lots of walkers/bikers, etc. We walked a couple of blocks to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant. We had another great meal. We got some groceries at the Safeway 2 blocks away and came back to the room. Drew got a box of 100 Flavor Ice that will last him until tomorrow night. We have a small kitchen in our room, so we're able to eat here a little bit. We'll be here for 3 nights.


We have a White House tour in the morning at 8:30. I'm sure Obama is going to want to meet with us and get our ideas about how things are going. :)

Day 3- Indianapolis to Canton...I mean, Pittsburgh, Pa

We were all sad to leave the Omni in Indianapolis. It was a great place and the people were really nice. Drew said he wanted to come back for a long vacation here. It's a beautiful city. Their downtown is so clean. The stadium is right downtown, as well as the city zoo.

While we were getting ready, Scott walked downtown to visit his friend, Shawn Feindel who recently moved here from Kansas City. He was happy to see Shawn and his new office. They worked together at DFAS several years ago. We got the bags all packed and in the car while he was gone.

We left the hotel and went to see Paul at his company, Lovett Pallet. He gave us a tour to show us how things worked. We were amazed at how hard the guys there work. It was a big, loud place and really interesting to see. Of course, it's always fun to see Paul too. He let Drew keep his safety glasses, so that was a big hit with Drew.

We drove 3 hours to Columbus, OH. We have a museum pass that has a reciprical deal with other museums. For museum junkies like us, it's a great deal. We went to COSI. It's a science museum that was rated #1 by Parents Magazine. I wanted to run through it based on the reviews. We were having a great time, but our time to get to Canton before everything closed was dwindling. Scott didn't think it was worth it to drive all the way to Canton just to spend 2 hours at the Football Hall of Fame. (I don't know how long he was planning to stay there, but 2 hours seemed like plenty to me). We made the decision to change our reservations from Canton to Pittsburgh. It would also put us an hour closer to DC.

When we got to Pittsburgh about 9pm, we had to go through a long tunnel. As we came out the end of the tunnel and were across the river from downtown Pittsburgh. It was beautiful. We were so surprised. We drove through the downtown area. There were so many huge, historic buildings. The downtown had lots of bustling restaurants and shops, even in the evening. We got to the Marriott City Center and hung out in our room. I was even lucky enough to catch the new episode of "The Voice." Cole was excited to be in "Steeler Country" and to be staying across from the stadium.