Wednesday.......

Fords Theater

The box where Lincoln was shot.

Treasure from the movie, Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonians.

Petersen House where Lincoln died.

The room where Lincoln died.

The original stairs that Lincoln was carried over into the Petersen House.

Museum of the Native American Indian, the building is beautiful!!

Lincoln Memorial

Toad Jacob caught at the Wojcik's house.

Jacob and sweet Harry having ice cream after swimming.

Michael swimming.

Anthony on the metro, he had to stand.

Waiting to get on the Metro.

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Didn't have time to blog on Wednesday so here it is :)

We got up and got ready to meet Charlotte and her boys at Fords Theater. We got there right at 11 which was our scheduled tour time. We took the Metro over and found it pretty easy to deal with. We decided that if we go back we will stay a little bit farther out and just take the Metro in to down town. The boys were all excited because they had never been on a subway before. Charlotte was having very bad luck and even though she left her house with a hour to spare she didn't get parked until 11. She ran all the way from the parking garage which was probably 2 miles and got there around 11:20. The nice people there let her in anyway:) We got all the boys Junior Ranger books and they worked on them. With everyone working together it didn't take very long. We went across the street to the Petersen house. It was were they took Lincoln after he had been shot, he died there.

We had lunch in a neat little restaurant Charlotte recommended called Ollies Trolley. Its really nice to have someone who knows a where things are in a strange place. We were having a hard time finding food in DC. There was a McDonalds and a Quiznos beside the hotel but how much McDonalds can a person stand!!

We separated for a bit, the Wojciks went to the air and space museum and we went to the Smithsonian Castle and the American Indian museum. We didn't get to see very much of American Indian museum because we had to have our car out of the parking garage before 5pm. Parking is very difficult and expensive in DC!!

After we got in our car and drove around the Lincoln monument we headed to the Wojcik's house. They have added an addition since the last time we were there. They have a basketball court inside the house!! Anthony really liked that. He and Casey seemed to get along really well. They also have a pool and the boys swam before and during dinner. Paul made grilled chicken and vegetables. It was so good after the "fast" food we had been eating. Harry was so sweet. The last night he just came up to me and put his arms up. Then he sat in my lap and ate for a long time. He is very cuddly and even had David awing over him.

The boys all slept in the floor in sleeping bags. Well except Harry and Jacob. Jacob didn't like the talking so he came into our room to sleep :)

We let the boys play just a little the next morning before we headed home. They love the tree house and all the nerf toys inside. They were sad to go. I was sad too, we don't get to see the Wojciks often enough.

David and I took turns driving. It rained quite hard at times and we saw 3 accidents. One happened pretty close to us and we had to wait for an hour before traffic started moving again. It was okay though because we were listening to book 7 of Harry Potter and got to finish it.

Angry feet and blisters.....

Jacob told me yesterday that his feet were angry. Well today my feet are angry!! David has blisters, Jacob and I have the start of blisters. Michael and Anthony seem okay.

We met friends at the air and space museum this morning. Jolee Faison and family came from North Carolina and Karen Dickereson and Family came from Virginia. Between us we had 10 kids to keep up with. The older kids kept up with the little kids so everything worked out well. I thought the best room there was the Wright Brothers room. They had an original plane and a bicycle built by them. We saw an IMAX movie about the sun in 3D. And took lots of pictures of the kids. We also saw an exhibit of paintings by astronaut Allen Bean. He uses things from his space mission to make his paintings. We decided we wanted to do an art project like that in the fall.

Later we all went over to the Museum of Natural History. Got to see the hope Diamond. The Hall of Bones was VERY cool. We got there 10 minutes to late to go into the forensics lab. The kids were bummed.

After all our friends left we decided to walk down to the Washington Monument again to go to the ranger station for Junior Ranger program. That was the big mistake, we were all moving very slow on the way back. Hopefully our feet will forgive us by morning :)

Woke up in Philly, going to bed in DC....

Had to pose one more time in front of Independence Hall.

The Frenchman....Lafayette. Jacob was REALLY excited to see him.

Loved the roots on this tree.

Couldn't take pictures inside the mint, this is on the outside.

Sunset in Washington DC.

The Capital Building.

Loved Anthony's rabbit ears!!!!

We spent last night in the wonderful hotel in Philly. It was really nice having a king size bed in our own room. The boys had a queen size sofa bed in the living area along with a huge table and 6 chairs. An as a bonus we got a really good deal.

We saw the US mint, which was okay but not great. The gift shop was pretty interesting though. Then we went to the Betsy Ross house. It was really small and she didn't even rent the whole house. She is buried in the courtyard of the house along with her last husband. She had 3 husbands and 7 children. The boys got to meet "Lafayette." He was the most authentic looking character there!

We had a late lunch at a great little Pizza/cheese steak place. David, Jacob and I got cheese steaks. Michael and Anthony and our friends got pizza. The Giro pizza did look really good!! After lunch we said goodbye to our friends for a day, we will be seeing them again on Wednesday. Jacob has really enjoyed spending time with Harry who is two. Anthony and Casey have gotten along well too. Nicky and Jacob really like each other but they have a hard time keeping their hands off. I do think if we lived closer they would be buddies. They would definitely keep me and Charlotte on our toes.

We got to DC around 6:30 tonight. We checked in and got settled then went out to find dinner. We ended up at Quiznos. Then we walked to the mall and down to the Washington Monument which is beautiful at night! We tried to get Junior Ranger books but they were already closed. They were playing a movie on the Mall tonight, so there were a lot of people watching but not a lot of people walking around.

Can't wait to see Jolee and Karen tomorrow!!

We joined the army.....

Ben Franklins Grave, in Christ Church Graveyard.

Signing up tp join General Washington.

Huzzah!!!!

Charging the enemy.

The very first lending library, developed by Ben Franklin at the age of 25!!!!

The platform where the Declaration was signed. Also the chair belonged to George Wahsington. It was called the chair of the rising sun.

The back of Independence Hall.

This morning we went back to the historic district of Philly with our friends the Wojciks. We got in line and got our tickets to Independence Hall. The boys turned in there books for the Junior Ranger program and got their badges. We had some time before our tour of Independence Hall so we saw the Liberty Bell again and Ben Franklins grave. We found a program for kids, re-en actors recruited people to fight for General Washington against King George. They did a really good job. Michael was singled out because of his enthusiasm. He was promoted to colonel, then at the end the commander gave him another promotion to sergeant!

We finally got to see Independence Hall. It was so cool to stand in the room were the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed. But did you know that it was signed until August 2, 1776? Did you also know that the first draft the Thomas Jefferson wrote had a statement against the slave trade. It didn't make into the final draft.

Tomorrow we will see the US Mint and hopefully Betsy Ross's house.