Washington D.C. 23 part one

We arrived just south of the city on Friday night where we went to Olive Garden with the girls.  It is their favorite restaurant. Personally, I would have rather gone to a local diner of some kind, but with the kids, it is often easier to go places they know and like.  Then Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and went into the city.  We arrived just before the parking spaces started to fill up, so we were able to get a spot right along the west end of the mall not too far from the Washington Monument.  Can I say cold?  Cold would be an understatement as it was freezing and the girls really struggled to adjust their attitudes accordingly, but as the morning progressed it got warmer and by late afternoon they were begging for ice creams. Our first stop was at the Vietnam Memorial.  The volunteer at the wall talked to the girls about the architect of the wall and the design.  He did a really good job.  We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial.  I had not seen the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, so we hopped across the street to see that. The older girls are learning about some of the events in history to correlate with the monuments, so it was fun to have the squeal that they were learning about at school. I forgot that we saw the Korean War Memorial and then the WWII Memorial.  It was lunchtime by the time we moved the car and so we grabbed some hotdogs and fries at one of the many food trucks that line up the area around the White House and the American History Museum.  I had been to the American History Museum a long time ago, but so much has changed.  One of the first things we saw was Julia Child's kitchen.  The girls loved seeing the American flag though that is no longer hanging and is behind a protective glass. Then it was on to the White House where we snapped a few photos and my friend Lucy, her dad, and her boys joined us before walking over to the Jefferson Memorial. Obviously, there is so much more we could have seen, but that will have to wait for another trip.  Overall it was a good day and we were able to see a lot.  I forgot we also swung by the Capitol Building before heading out of the city.