Washington D.C. Day One

Each year the Alachua County Sheriff's Dept. takes all of the fifth grade safety patrol students to Washington D.C. Each school needs chaperones, so I went as one of the "lucky" chaperones. The buses departed at 12:00 A.M. and drove all night and all day to Washington D.C. It took the buses fifteen hours to reach D.C. That was definitely one of the LONGEST nights of my life (and I have had more than my share of long nights in my 29 years here on Earth). First of all I don't sleep well sitting up, second, I don't sleep while moving, and third, the kids were not so quiet (as you could imagine an excited group of 11 year-olds cooped up in a bus together all night).

Once we arrived in D.C., the whole event was quite fast-paced with a tremendous amount of walking. Then again, these kids today needed that kind of exercise! It was great to be able to go with a tour guide. I have been to Washington D.C. a couple of times before, but I learned a lot more about the memorials, buildings and our history. This is the Jefferson Memorial below. The President of the United States can look out the window from the white house and see this memorial. Some view to behold as he enjoys his morning hot chocolate, I'm sure. Below is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. FDR is sitting in a wheelchair that he made from a kitchen chair. I had these three boys in my group (Shane M., Shane D., and Dreyton...Isn't it a good thing we didn't name our second son Shane? How confusing would THAT have been?!)

This is another statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He did not want people to know he could not walk. As most of you are aware he contacted polio at the age of 39. He could not walk for one year and still had an extremely hard time walking after that.

I took a picture of Dreyton riding on the tour bus to and from our destionations. Can you feel the enthusiasm he exuded on this beautiful morning after a "perfect" night's rest?

This is Dreyton on top standing outside of the Newseum. It overlooks Pennsylvania Ave. It is a fairly new museum displaying how the media have captured the news over the years.

The boys are waiting for the rest of the group. My group tended to be a little "rambuctious and eager" as they ran ahead of the pack (and the analogy to a group of animals was quite appropriate at times).

This picture was taken right after a group picture was taken of all twelve schools that left from Alachua County. Dreyton was able to visit with his friend Landon (a friend from our Gainesville ward from church).

I'm only posting this picture so you all can see how hidious these hats were. We all had to wear these hats each time we got off the bus. Each school had a different colored hat and each school wore the exact same shirt. These were our trucker hats. I don't like hats! They make my head hot and itchy. The hat was obviously too big for my head. Maybe someone with a big head can find a use for it....hmmmmm, Father's Day is coming up. Shhhh. Don't tell Donovan what he will be getting! It will be a surprise, and besides he loves hats anyways. :)

Other events that were not captured on film include the following: walking tour of Captiol Hill and a tour of the Buearu of Printing and Engraving which was where they make money (da bling bling). We saw a glass box containing $1 million dollars of $10 bills....and mini-me was sitting outside of it salivating at the mouth while Austin Powers ran around the place.

Days 2 and 3 of this fantastilicious trip will be forthcoming in the next blogs. Stay tuned!