In the past week

For some reason, the software on my trusty little PDA decided it didn't want to connect with Blogger to post any additional information after it uploaded the Treasury Dept image.  That image was taken our first evening in Washington DC, as Sarah and I did a little walk around near our hotel.

 

Quick overview of the week:

• While we were in the Blue Room of the White House tour, Marine One landed just outside the window and we saw President Bush get on and fly away.  Just before he got on the helicopter, he stopped and waved toward the building.
• While we were on the tour of the Capital building, we ran into Senator Inhofe.  His office was responsible for arraigning our White House, Capitol, Bureau of Engraving & Printing and National Archives tours.  He was nice enough to stop and chat with our group from Oklahoma for about 25 minutes.  (Oh, John Kerry walked by when we were chatting with Inhofe)
• Met Bob Dole at the World War II memorial on Sunday.  Just as we were getting there, the nurse from the famous "sailor kissing nurse" image from WWII was being introduced to him (Sarah got a picture of them together).  Renee took a picture of the girls and I with Bob Dole with Sarah's camera, but here is one I took of the Bob Dole and the girls with my PDA:
    
• We attended the National Memorial Day Concert hosted by Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise on the Capital lawn Sunday evening.
• Watched the National Memorial Day Parade at the corner of Constitution Ave and 12th Street.
• We visited (in no particular order, not a complete list):
  The Korea War Memorial,
  The WWII memorial,
  The Lincoln Memorial,
  The Thomas Jefferson Memorial,
  The Library of Congress,
  The National Archives,
  The Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
  The Holocaust Memorial,
  Several of the Smithsonian museums,
  The Capital,
  The house where Lincoln died,
  The Ford Theater (which was closed for renovations).
  Walked past the Washington Monument several times
  Arlington Cemetery (visiting JFK's grave and eternal flame site and was
       present for the changing of the Guards at the Tomb of the Unknowns
  The Old Post Office Tower
  The Navy Memorial
  
• When we were in the Rotunda viewing the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, I took a few pictures of the murals on the walls. The mural to the right of the Constitution, name appropriately "Constitution Mural" by Barry Faulkner had one particular individual within the murals stood out from all the rest to me:
   
  The amputee depicted in the image to the left is Gouverneur Morris from Pennsylvania. 
  According to Wikipedia:
  Morris had a wooden leg as a result of an accident that occurred while he was climbing onto a carriage without anyone tending to the horses, which suddenly took off, catching his left leg in one of the carriage wheels on May 14, 1780. Physicians told Morris that they had no choice but to remove the leg below the knee
  
  

After I have a chance to go through the pictures taken by both Sarah and I, and we all have a chance to recover from the trip, I will post additional information about our fun in DC.