A Fun Week With The Cunninghams

It was so great having another great family visit us in DC.  This time it was Doug, Laurel, Ethan, and Maddie.

Wednesday morning, we put on our tourist hats and took off.  First stop: the Capitol Building.  Doug had previously sent for and received  tickets for all of us.

This is the mold of Lady Freedom.  The bronze version is perched on top op the Capitol Building.

Eagle talons hang down both sides of her head. Poor thing!

I should have known the Capitol Building would be beautiful.  Here are pictures that show its grandeur.

I asked Ethan what his favorite part of the Capitol Building was.  It was these gorgeous inlaid tile floors. He has a good eye for beauty.

Apparently this wasn't Ethan's favorite part of the tour.

But this could have been, if sliding down the banister had been allowed.

The below picture shows where it was planned that George Washington was to be buried.  But he opted to be buried on the grounds in Mt. Vernon.

There is an empty room under the star where Washington was to be buried

The painting below is situated in the top of the Capitol dome.  

It depicts thirteen angels taking George Washington to Heaven. I LOVE this painting. In fact, I bought a Christmas-ornament replica of it.  It is so beautiful.

But it was kind of a neck kinker to look at it.

More loveliness. 

And even more.

Laurel was explaining to Maddie why they had spittoons in this chamber.

I'll give you one guess as to how Maddie feels about spittoons.

This is called Statuary Hall, or something like that.

Brigham Young is in good company. What a cute family picture.

Next: The Museum of Natural History.

Maddie is so strong!

I didn't realize this was the home of the Hope Diamond.

Time for some R & R. It was a long walk down the Mall!

Ethan soon disappeared.  He had fun making friends with the squirrels that were running around in the bushes.

On to the night bus tour of the monuments.

Another cute family portrait.

"Sad to be all alone in the world."  Quote from "Thoroughly Modern Millie", in case you didn't know.

Lincoln Memorial.

The Capitol Building bathed in lights.

We got back to our apartment around 11:30 pm, very much wiped out.  We could only muster enough energy to throw breakfast cereal on the table, and call it dinner.

Next day: Mount Vernon reincarnate.

 I snitched this picture from the Brock trip. Don't judge me.

 A now-traditional photo opp.  Very cute. (See the Brock blog post.)

Ethan and Maddie loved the animals.

This horse was Ethan's favorite part of Mt. Vernon

The sheep were Maddie's favorite part of Mt. Vernon

Another, "Sad-to-be-all-alone-in-the-world" scene.

But not for long. Now it's a, "Happy-to-be-in-the-world-with-grandchildren" scene.

Good-bye, Mount Vernon.

Hello, C & O Canal.  We barely made the last barge run of the day, but jumped on board as it had stopped to go through a lock.

Rehitching the mules after having gone through a lock.

The mules knew what to do.  Very experienced creatures.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal parallels the Potomac River and was used to haul goods, mostly coal. It went out of business when the railroad became the transportation of choice.

Our guide was very educational, as well as entertaining. Some of the interesting things we learned:

Families lived on their barges in little hut-like shelters built on one end of the barge. The small children wore mule harnesses attached to ropes. In case they fell in the canal, they could be pulled to safety.

The families couldn't afford shoes for their children. The canal trail was lined with mule manure so the barefoot children had something soft to walk on.

Our trusty "rudder man"

Saturday was the day planned to visit to the Manassas Battle Grounds.  Not much that I was interested in, except taking pictures of cute Maddie.  Everyone else was off exploring the battle field. Maddie and I stayed behind in the shade.

Very photogenic

That evening Doug, Laurel, and your dad went to the Temple and attended an endowment session.  I stayed behind to spend time with  Ethan and Maddie.

I enjoyed every minute being with Ethan and Maddie.  We explored the trails in the woods surrounding the Temple.  We watched a video in the Visitor's Center.  We listened to the sister missionaries talk about Christ as we sat next to the Christus. We searched for the croaking frogs that were surrounding the pond outside the Visitor's Center. It was twilight when we played in the park across the street from our apartment. The fireflies were out and fun to see.  We played "Uno" and ate pizza in the apartment.

What a fun week.  Unlike me, neither Maddie nor Ethan ever complained about being tired, bored, or hungry. In fact, late one evening on our way back to our apartment, Ethan very politely asked, "I hate to say anything, but are we ever going to have dinner?"  We miss you and love you!  Come back soon!