Tonight's blog will be short and sweet. We meet at 6:45 am tomorrow morning, that would be 5:45 am central time and for our mountain timers that is 4:45 am! i hope you can feel our pain! Tomorrow night I will enlist guest bloggers--any of the kids that would like to post about their experience on Youth Tour.
I know I mentioned this before, but this group of kids is amazing. Everybody genuinely likes each other and they are acting like the young adults they are. Although, I did need to confiscate one cell phone...
Today we went to Mount Vernon...this is personally one of my favorite place
s to be. Congressman Smith gave me a great tip on saving time. Mt. Vernon will now let you pay a little extra to reserve a time to tour the mansion. It was worth every penny to save about a 45 minute wait in line. The kids put that extra time to good use touring the grounds and spending time in the museum.
I know I mentioned this before, but this group of kids is amazing. Everybody genuinely likes each other and they are acting like the young adults they are. Although, I did need to confiscate one cell phone...
Today we went to Mount Vernon...this is personally one of my favorite place
s to be. Congressman Smith gave me a great tip on saving time. Mt. Vernon will now let you pay a little extra to reserve a time to tour the mansion. It was worth every penny to save about a 45 minute wait in line. The kids put that extra time to good use touring the grounds and spending time in the museum. We ate lunch in Old Town Alexandria at the Fish Market and, believe it or not, everyone tried something new. I think Calamari is a new favorite for many of the kids. Did you 
think your kid would ever actually eat squid? No one ordered a hamburger and everyone had some form of seafood. I was so proud! It was great fun watching them share the snow crab legs. Ali wins the award for being the most adept at breaking legs and getting every last bite out! Mmmm the crab cakes were so good.
We were able to visit Christ Church--A church built in 1773 that was George Washington's church. The kids were able to actually sit in George Washington's pew. This is a small church that looks much the way it did when George Washington worshipped there. Thankfully now it does have air conditioning.
We then headed to Arlington National Cemetery. This is where we parted ways with our shuttle driver "G". The kids absolutely had to have a picture with her and they all signed a card thanking her for making this an even better trip. Marshall and G are planning a future "cupcake date".
At Arlington we were able to visit the Kennedy Family grave site as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We arrived in the middle of the changing of the guard so the group opted to stay a little longer so they could watch the ceremony in it's entirety. I'm so glad they did it is not something you want to miss!
We capped our evening at the US Marine Corps Memorial--Iwo Jima to watch the Sunset Parade. We watched the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corp peform with extreme precision. We heard music from Sousa marches to songs from "Hair" the musical. The Marine Silent Drill Team gave an amazing demonstration of skill- Marching, twirling their guns and tossing them in the air...keep in mind these are military issue rifles with polished, sharp bayonets on the end of their guns!
Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor was an honored guest at tonight's Sunset Parade. Following the parade, the Marines stay around to pose for photographs with anyone that would like. We had many take advantage of that opportunity
After the parade we headed to the METRO. We gave the group the option of heading directly back to the hotel or going to see the Pentagon Memorial. While I would have preferred they all chose to go to the Memorial, I know some of the kids were just exhausted and needed a little break!
I think I said this would be short post...well so much for that. Too much to talk about. Do you realize tomorrow
think your kid would ever actually eat squid? No one ordered a hamburger and everyone had some form of seafood. I was so proud! It was great fun watching them share the snow crab legs. Ali wins the award for being the most adept at breaking legs and getting every last bite out! Mmmm the crab cakes were so good.We were able to visit Christ Church--A church built in 1773 that was George Washington's church. The kids were able to actually sit in George Washington's pew. This is a small church that looks much the way it did when George Washington worshipped there. Thankfully now it does have air conditioning.
We then headed to Arlington National Cemetery. This is where we parted ways with our shuttle driver "G". The kids absolutely had to have a picture with her and they all signed a card thanking her for making this an even better trip. Marshall and G are planning a future "cupcake date".
At Arlington we were able to visit the Kennedy Family grave site as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We arrived in the middle of the changing of the guard so the group opted to stay a little longer so they could watch the ceremony in it's entirety. I'm so glad they did it is not something you want to miss!
We capped our evening at the US Marine Corps Memorial--Iwo Jima to watch the Sunset Parade. We watched the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corp peform with extreme precision. We heard music from Sousa marches to songs from "Hair" the musical. The Marine Silent Drill Team gave an amazing demonstration of skill- Marching, twirling their guns and tossing them in the air...keep in mind these are military issue rifles with polished, sharp bayonets on the end of their guns!
Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor was an honored guest at tonight's Sunset Parade. Following the parade, the Marines stay around to pose for photographs with anyone that would like. We had many take advantage of that opportunity
After the parade we headed to the METRO. We gave the group the option of heading directly back to the hotel or going to see the Pentagon Memorial. While I would have preferred they all chose to go to the Memorial, I know some of the kids were just exhausted and needed a little break!
I think I said this would be short post...well so much for that. Too much to talk about. Do you realize tomorrow
is our last full day in Washington DC?
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