Day two of our DC time with "Taro-yine" (what Kylie calls Caroline) and family can best be described as the walking day. I'm not sure that Cindy and Jon quite had anticipated the rigorous itinerary we devised to hit all the sights they wanted to see in the greater National Mall ~ still wish I had the camera handy to record the disappointment on Mindy's face when she found out there was no shopping there ~ area.
Seriously, if it is a monument to be found in that area ~ you name it, we saw it! It was a hot day and I'm sure we must have covered about 4 miles in all, but we really enjoyed playing tour guides! I could write and write but pictures say a thousand words...
Caroline and Kylie wanted to get in on the action of "subway surfing" that they witnessed Mindy and Abby doing. (I like to take credit for teaching the girls that skill when we were in Guangzhou, but I actually learned it from a fun professor at Elon during our History study tour...) I hate that my pictures of the older girls weren't any good, hopefully I can borrow a few from Cindy!
My beautiful (and very sweaty) girl ~ and her Barbie ~ on the steps of our nation's Capital Building.I love the cheesy cheese smile!
After hitting the Air and Space Museum, Botanical Gardens, Capital Building, Library of Congress, and the Navy Memorial, it was time for a bit of refreshment. Kylie had her own Nantucket Nectar Lemonade, but she took a few hits of my iced vanilla latte as well. Before you call the "bad mommy police," remember that we were on vacation...
From here we went to the National Archives, the gate at Chinatown and then made our way to the White House. Of course Kylie crashed on our approach, so no cute pictures of our girlies there. Then it was on to the WWII memorial. We spent a good bit of time there resting our tired feet and then caught a second (perhaps third or fourth) wind and pushed on to the Vietnam Wall, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.
The five trooper kids ~ Abby, Mindy, Caroline, Kylie and Mickey~ as we were getting ready to leave the WWII Memorial. Kylie totally was in love with Mickey and constantly wanted him to hold her hand!
While they fought like sisters, they also frequently could be found hand in hand...
I've been to the Vietnam Wall about 15 times now and each time I'm still struck by how the designers of this monument got it "just right."
At this point the girls were worn out and pretty tired of posing in front of buildings for us. We tried bribing Kylie to stand beside Caroline. First we offered gum and then jellybeans, but what finally worked was the promise of the apple I had stashed in the diaper bag. Go figure! Anyway, the pictures of them standing were good, but this one of them "sitting like a lady" cracked me up!
Uncle Adam, this one is for you! Funny how Caroline made the right face (without looking at Kylie) when I said to "make the Uncle Adam face." Maybe they had discussed funny faces earlier when I wasn't paying attention?
This picture shows Marine One just to the left of the Washington Monument. While we were making the LONG walk back to the Smithsonian Metro stop from the Korean Memorial it made four fly-bys over the general area and kept going back to the White House lawn. We couldn't figure out what was going on and decided that it was either a new pilot in training or that some foreign dignitaries were getting some joy rides.
The five trooper kids ~ Abby, Mindy, Caroline, Kylie and Mickey~ as we were getting ready to leave the WWII Memorial. Kylie totally was in love with Mickey and constantly wanted him to hold her hand!
While they fought like sisters, they also frequently could be found hand in hand...
I've been to the Vietnam Wall about 15 times now and each time I'm still struck by how the designers of this monument got it "just right."
At this point the girls were worn out and pretty tired of posing in front of buildings for us. We tried bribing Kylie to stand beside Caroline. First we offered gum and then jellybeans, but what finally worked was the promise of the apple I had stashed in the diaper bag. Go figure! Anyway, the pictures of them standing were good, but this one of them "sitting like a lady" cracked me up!
Uncle Adam, this one is for you! Funny how Caroline made the right face (without looking at Kylie) when I said to "make the Uncle Adam face." Maybe they had discussed funny faces earlier when I wasn't paying attention?
This picture shows Marine One just to the left of the Washington Monument. While we were making the LONG walk back to the Smithsonian Metro stop from the Korean Memorial it made four fly-bys over the general area and kept going back to the White House lawn. We couldn't figure out what was going on and decided that it was either a new pilot in training or that some foreign dignitaries were getting some joy rides.
We were flat exhausted by the end of the day ~ we were in downtown from 10am until 8:30pm ~ but it was so fun seeing the sights with friends! Ian was in his crowning glory as tour guide, interspersing facts about our capital city with fun urban legend (did you know about Lincoln's ashes?) to see if Mindy and Abby were paying attention.
What was priceless about the day was that when Kylie was saying her prayers she thanked Jesus for the normal folks (I'm trying to catch that on video) but then added, "and tank you Taro-yine, Taro-yine's mommy Cinny, Mr. Jon, Ab-bee, Min-Dee and Mic-Dee!" I am so grateful for our China families and the bond we have all committed to keep! What memories...
What was priceless about the day was that when Kylie was saying her prayers she thanked Jesus for the normal folks (I'm trying to catch that on video) but then added, "and tank you Taro-yine, Taro-yine's mommy Cinny, Mr. Jon, Ab-bee, Min-Dee and Mic-Dee!" I am so grateful for our China families and the bond we have all committed to keep! What memories...
2 comments:
You were in DC the exact same time my sister in law and her family were there (from Michigan)! You were at the same places too! Looks like you had a great time and I hope one day, we'll be able to meet you somewhere and Kylie, Noah and our 2 new girls from China will have a long friendship!
What a day! Too funny that Kylie had to put a finger to her cheek and think about letting you have a ride in her stroller! haha
LaoLao
Post a Comment