D.C.--Day 2

Day 2 began with a tour of the Capitol Building. Kris' friend Julie Blackorby so generously opened her home to this whole gang of 7 Hobbits. Another neat thing is that Julie works on "the Hill" as a staffer for Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina. Wait. I think I already mentioned that in the last post. Oh well. 

Julie took us on a tour of the Senate building where she works, and then underground to the Capitol. But quite possibly the most incredible part of the entire tour (which I still am convinced the children never really "got") was when Julie introduced us to a friend of hers who took us into the Senators cloak room where we left all our cameras. And then from there we went directly onto the Senate Floor. 

What an amazing feeling. There are all those desks of the men and women who represent us in Congress. They'd just begun their Memorial Day recess, so the place was pretty empty. But to stand there and realize that not many are allowed that privilege. Pretty special.  

Here are the kids behind Senator DeMint's desk. 

This picture still gives me chills when I look at it. I don't even know if I realized the lighting when I took this shot. I think this is quite possibly my favorite picture from the whole weekend. 

"THE" rotunda.

In the rotunda there are brass plates on the floor marking the original places of the desks from long ago. We found Representative James Buchanan from Pennsylvania.

Elsa and Julie, our most helpful guide of the day!!

Then a most memorable picnic on the Hill before we made our way to Union Station and the Metro, en route to. . . the ZOO!!!

Ah. The beautiful Union Station!

And whom should we see getting on Amtrak but the very band, Dr. Magpie, we'd seen the night before at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts. They kindly allowed a quick pic before they departed. 

Yes, I know it's blurry. But that's how the Metro feels. 

The National Zoo. 

Auntie Kris treated us all to freshly squeezed lemonade or cherry lemonade. Mmm. It did wonders on that hot day!!

We were dragging at the end of the day. 

But since our Metro passes were still good we stopped off to get a glimpse of the White House.

And we found the doorbell. Long since disconnected. We really wanted to have tea with Laura on the lawn, but it didn't work out. Maybe another time?

Five Hobb(it)s peering through the gate. . . 

And the last laugh of the day was to find this stone. Kris was born in 1980 as was a friend of hers who told her to look for this stone in a park. Kris and I looked and looked and looked and couldn't locate it. Even after a phone call. Finally, we found it. We didn't realize it was the address for the place. Oh well. 

Then we all headed back to Julie's house where the supper I'd made ahead of time was awaiting us in the crock pot. Then Daniel took some time with the kiddos so Kris and I could have a couple of hours to just be sisters. So, we went to Starbucks and sat and talked for several hours.

 Ahh. How thankful I am for my sister. I love you, girl!!