Washington, D.C.

On Day 3 we hit the pavement running and didn't stop until late that night. Our first stop was the National Archives building to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. No cameras are allowed so the best we could do was a picture of the building. Luckily we had strollers and lots of kids so we didn't have to wait as long and the ushers moved us right up. We couldn't decide if the workers were being helpful or just wanted us gone.

Ready to head into the building to see the documents.

After the archives we literally ran to Ford's Theater. This is where President Lincoln was shot. It was still early in the day and it was already hot.

Under the theater is a cool museum displaying different times in Lincoln's life. For some reason the kids loved these statues and played with them while we waited to go in the theater.

This is the inside of the theater. It is still used for performances, but the box where Lincoln sat is roped off.

Tyler tried to find any shade he could.

From the theater we hoofed it over to the capitol. One of Natalie and Doug's friends works at the capitol and gave us a private tour. We got to go in the basement and then worked our way up.

This is the middle of the capitol and is supposed to give good luck if you stand on it. Poor Emily looks like she needs more than luck with Megan.

Inside the Halls of the Statues.

We had to get a picture by Brigham Young from Utah.

After our tour of the capitol, we made our way to the Library of Congress. This is probably the prettiest building we saw. The pictures we took just doesn't do it justice.

Tyler really just wanted to see some of the rooms from the National Treasure movie in the Library.

The capitol in the background.

Now off to see the White House. Tickets were non-existent so the best we could do was look on from the fences. Tyler did like seeing the snipers on top of the White House and watching the secret service patrol the area.

On the way to the Washington Memorial the kids found a pond. They started off just wading.

But in about 2 minutes, Spencer was swimming and Megan was up to her neck. It was so hot we all wanted to do the same. I'm not sure how respectful it is to swim in a monument pond, but we had to let the kids cool off somehow.

And so with sopping wet kids we headed to the elevators of the Washington Monument. From the windows at the top we could see all of Washington D.C. from every angle.

This is inside the Monument.

It really is tall.

We walked so much that day that the National Mall became familiar territory.

We were just running out of daylight. Luckily, the monuments are open late and lit up. It really was pretty seeing them at night.

Again the kids were drawn to water. This is the WWII monument. We had never seen this one before. It is really pretty with fountains and lights all around.

And finally we made it to the Lincoln Memorial. Tyler was trying his hand at picture taking. The pictures we have are a little fuzzy, but he tried really hard and by this point we had walked and walked so far we counted it as good.

This is really quite impressive in real life. And with this last memorial we did it all. It really is possible to see almost all of D.C. in a day even with kids. We didn't make it back to Natalie's until midnight and our feet felt like lead, but it was worth it.