24th - 30th October 2011:
Washington DC
This week was Navy Week where the families across the US come together and catch up. The serving members attend conferences and meetings and the families go out exploring. this was lour first time up to Washington DC and I have to say, the place is amazing! There are so many things to do and see and I am sure we will be up there again soon!
We were all put up in the Beacon Hotel, which was conveniently located across the road from the Australian Embassy. We had a room with 2 double beds, small kitchenette, sofa and 2 seat dining table. This was to be our 'home' for the week. The room was ok and we had taken an airbed with us for one of the boys, to save having to pull out the sofa bed each night. It was pretty warm and the air cons were not the best. We did enjoy the free cooked breakfast each day though!
That night we caught up with some great friends Greg & Joala. We had not seen them for quite some time and all ate dinner together in the restaurant attached to the hotel!
25th Oct: Walking around town!
Today Col had some official business to take care of in the Embassy, so the boys and I ventured out and about town! We took a walk down to the White House, The National Monument & the World War 2 Memorial.
The White house is really bizzare, in that it is this huge house in the middle of a huge city! There were snipers on the roof tops and quite a lot of police patrolling around the outside of the grounds. There was also some people protesting against the President all rallied around outside the the main access road to the house. There are a few statues in the gardens opposite the house and a park for people to enjoy. Although we did not see Mr Pres, it was pretty cool to be standing outside the White House!
26th Oct 2011: National Geographic Museum & Natural Museum
Today Helen from the Embassy organised a morning at the National Geographic Museum for the families, while the members attended their meetings!
The boys enjoyed the animal and insect facts but the highlight was identifying which poo belonged to what animal!!
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| Mitchell learning all about flies eating poo! |
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| Rhyce checking out the fly facts |
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| Whose poo is it! |
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| The boys playing a game about blood colour and matching it to the correct insect or animal |
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| Yep, all about burping!! |
After the Nat Geo museum and a quick bite for lunch, we headed down to the Natural Museum. This museum is famous for the big elephant and foyer used in the movie Night at the Museum. We saw so many different things here like skeletons, fish, stuffed animals and the gorgeous Hope Diamond! the Hope Diamond is 45.52 carats with more than 340 baguette diamonds surrounding it. Amazing gem!
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| Finding Nemo! |
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| The biggest elephant! |
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| Dinosaurs |
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| The boys with Dinosaur remains |
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| This is a real human skeleton! |
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| The Hope Diamond |
27th Oct 2011: Arlington Cemetery, Iwo Jima, Korean Veteran Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, Abraham Lincoln Memorial & China Town for dinner!
The Embassy had kindly organised a bus tour out to Arlington Cemetery. It was a cold, wet and miserable day, but one we were glad we ventured on. The cemetery itself is huge and the final resting place of Presidents & their families as well as fallen Defence members. It is also the final resting place for the 'Unknown Soldier'. The site is under 24 hour guard and it is quite an experience to watch the changing of the guard.
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| Final resting place of JFK & Jacqueline Kennedy |
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| Arlington Memorial Amphitheater |
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Memorials for those who lost their lives on the space shuttles Columbia & Challenger and also for the
US Armed Forces who tried to rescue hostages in Iran |
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| Changing of the guard at the site of the Unknown Soldier |
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| The tomb of the Unknown Soldier |
After a walk through the cemetery we headed over to the Iwo Jima Monument. It was something on hubby's must see list. Wow, it is HUGE! What a fantastic monument.
The next half of our day consisted of more monuments. If there is something I can tell you about Washington DC, they love their monuments are VERY impressive!
First stop was the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. Located at the far end of 'the Mall' you cannot miss it!
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| Col & I with the boys at Abraham Lincoln |
The Korean War Veterans Memorial was so unique and unexpected. A field of soldiers lined the memorial area. Just amazing.
Martin Luther King Jr was the next port of call. this was a newly opened monument and had plenty of people lining up to experience the big man himself!
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The view from MLK memorial looking over the lake to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
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We finished the night off with a trip into China Town and a huge banquet feast! The kids were keen to try their hand at chopsticks and all enjoyed the experience :)
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| The main entry into China Town |
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| Mitchell testing out the chopsticks |
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| Rhyce enjoying some sweet and sour pork! |
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Korey with a heap of food to select from!
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28th October 2011: Air & Space Museum, Capitol Hill,
Carousel & Smithsonian Castle!
This morning was spent doing school work! The boys really needed to complete the work their teachers had sent them with and Col had a final morning of Embassy/Navy work to do.
Once again the weather was not the best, so we planned to visit the Air & Space Museum. Now for someone like my husband, who HAS to read everything, you could spent hours in the place. However with 3 boys in tow, they were only interested in the fun child friendly interactive activities and taking a look at the missiles. Reading all the information was just not going to happen today. To be honest, it wasn't for me either. Whilst I did find the stuff interesting, there are only so many planes and space things one can look at! Here are some snaps of our visit :
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| Missiles and Rockets! |
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| Looking at stars and planets! |
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| The inside of an aircraft carrier |
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| It all got a little too much for Mitchell, he pulled up a bit of carpet and had a little snooze!!! |
We left the Air & Space and headed up to Capitol Hill, much like the Australian Parliament House. We were unable to do the tour as you were not allowed to take any food or drinks in. As we had a lot more walking to do that day, we opted for a wander around the grounds and will add it to our list of things to come back to! It is quite a spectacular building, gorgeous gardens and of course more statues and monuments!
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| Col I posing out the front of the Capitol Building! |
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| The boys had a great time jumping for photos! |
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the carousel so the kids could have a ride!
We also walked past the Smithsonian Castle and took a quick look inside. It has a great gift shop, so we picked up a book about DC and another Chrissy ornament to add to our now growing collection!
29th Oct 2011: Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum & The Old Post Office Pavilion
We started off the day with a quick cab ride to Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum. After a run across the street, we were out of the rain and ready to embark through waxed up history! This museum has every President in wax, along with the normal celebs and musicians! It was great for the kids as they had period costumes you could dress in and pose for photos! There was a also a replica of the Presidents desk and speech podium where you could take photos. Oh and of Mr & Mrs Obama were 'there' for photos too! Col and I had seen this waxing area where you could get your hands moulded in wax in any shape you like. We thought, hey why not! The process was pretty quick and little painful for me! Its not pleasant to have very hot wax run into unprotected areas down your arm! It was fun all the same and we walked away with our hands placed together to form a heart shape :)
The Old Post Office Building was quite run down. There were very few shops still open within the complex and it seemed on the dirty side compared to other areas we had visited. however we were there to take that magic lift up to the top of the bell towers and into the lookout! The view was not as great as we expected, but it was still worth looking at!
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| Inside the building |
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| Looking at Capitol Hill |
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| View from inside the glass lift, looking down at the shopping area |
30th Oct 2011 - National Zoo, Washington DC
Our last day in DC. We had a nice breaky (bacon & eggs) and checked out of the hotel. before heading home we decided to check out the National Zoo! Like all Smithsonian Museums, the zoo is also free to enter :) The kids enjoyed seeing different variations of squirrels, but the highlight had to be the Pandas for me! There was a very unhappy Lion who was making a lot of noise and the lion cubs were having a great time playing with a pumpkin!
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| Playing with a pumpkin! |
The Very angry Lion!!!
Despite the weather we had a really great time for our first visit to DC. I know it will not be the last! I have to say the Americans sure know how to do Memorials and Monuments. They are just amazing and HUGE!!
