D.C. BY VAN

Kaki rented a tour van for a dozen of us to go sight seeing in. It came with a driver and a tour guide and was a great way to see and learn a lot real easy!

 The first stop was the Korean War Memorial. It is beautiful and moving on its own, but when you have a guide to point out all the details and explain their significance, it is even more significant. 

 For instance, did you know there are 19 soldiers, so that when reflected in the marble wall, there are 38 soldiers... for the 38th parallel. 

 Madison & Austin were going to do presentations in school about there trip to D.C. so they were taking lots of pictures and pamphlets and trying to retain all this information!

 Kaki & Paka Rick's Grandbabies

 This was in front of the Lincoln Memorial with the reflecting pool, Washington Monument and Capital  visible in the background.

 Asian tourists asked Mark if it was OK to take pictures of Sammy. 

He told them sure, and that they should see his other daughter too!

 Being the history geeks and general nerds that we are, we prepped Joey for her trip to D.C. We showed her pictures and explained to her some of the things she would see and their significance. We pointed out things on dollar bills, backs of coins, and showed her the movie NATIONAL TREASURE. She was just SO EXCITED to see this stuff in real life.

They have recently marked the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did his "I have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

 Another benefit of a tour guide is getting a better explanation of these accompanying pieces to the Vietnam War Memorial. 

 Meant to represent the 3 branches of the military and (below) the aide, they were added after complaints that the Vietnam Memorial was too cold and impersonal. 

 This was my first time seeing the Irwa Jima memorial. 

 It is actually in Virginia, because they didn't want to be hindered by the height restricitions in D.C. (Nothing can be taller than the capital.)

 Thank Mark for the pretty pictures, I was in the van nursing Sammy.

 I really like the WWII memorial. 

 I like the water features and its location between the other monuments and memorials makes for a beautiful backdrop, no matter where you look!

 Can you believe that not only are they already preparing the area in front of the capital for the inauguration, but they are already behind schedule?

 Group pic in front of The White House.

(Auntie Ro, Uncle Tom, Aunt Marti, Michael, Me, Sam, Mark, Kaki, Paka Rick, 

Madison, Austin, Joey)

 Sammy, of course, was paying close attention and soaked up all this wonderful knowledge and will remember it for the rest of her life.