I am finally getting around to putting a post about our trip to Washington DC  on March 8-16.  Jacob and I left the house at 9:00 am to go to Burlington.  We unloaded our luggage and put it on the bus for the drive to Billings.  While everyone got there Mr George gave us all some last minute information about the trip. ( IMax theater info.  etc.)  Then at 9:30 we were on our way to Billings.  We got to the airport and they checked us in alphbetically.  Then we made it through security (although I think Jacob's belt set the alarm off and he had to be checked,  ha)  Then we had a little while till the plane took off so we ate lunch at a cafe'.  Then I went and bought a magazine to read and went and waited for the plane to be boarded.  When the plane took off from Billings some of the kids started clapping and cheering (about half of them had never flown before)  it was so funny.  Mr Olsen go a video of it.  When we landed in Minneapolis the decent into the airport was very choppy and bouncy.  Some of the kids didn't like it very much.  It was quiet a ride!  Then we also had a little bit of turbulence on the flight out of Minneapolis.  So the captain had to fly at a lower altitude to avoid this.  We landed in DC at 8:20 pm EST.  We got to our hotel at about 10:00 pm.  I roomed with Kim Cook and Marissa Cortez.  Nice girls!   The next morning (Fri. the 9th) we went to Arlington National Cemetary.  We had a shuttle come take us to the Metro (subway)  this we a fun experience, the subway.  Arlington Cemetary was good.  We walked around and looked at lots of different grave sites  ( past presidents, family members, etc.)  We watched the Changing of the Guard ceremony, this was interesting too.  To think the those men guard that tomb 24 hours a day in all kinds of weather is amazing!  Then we went to the Holocaust Museum, this was one of my favorite parts.  It was so sad, (especially the part about the children) but I really learned alot.  I came out of them being very upset with Hitler and the Nazi people at how they treated the Jews.  That afternoon and evening we had a walking tour of all of the monuments.  We were all so tired at the end of this day!  We walked almost 12 miles today!  Whew!    Good day though!!  We had pizza delivered for dinner in the parking lot of the FD Roosevelt Memorial.   The next morning we woke up bright and early,  (5:30 to be exact) so we could eat breakfast and get ready to leave the hotel by 7:00 am.  We got the shuttle to take us to the subway again and we went to see Ford's Theater.  When we got to the block that the theater was at we had a little time, so Mr George said we could wander around the shops for awhile.  I bought a sweatshirt and a cute onesie t shirt for Ian.  We went into the theater and did a self guided walking tour I learned things about Lincoln that I had never known.  We then went across the street to Lincoln's home and saw the bed in which he died.  And other memoribilla   they even had a tower of books,  thousands of books all about Lincoln.  I started on the ground floor and reach all the way up three or four floors to the ceiling.  All the books that had ever been written about Abraham Lincoln.  When it was time to leave, Jacob had to text me and tell me that they were all outside,  I keep getting left behind because I am just trying to see everything or read stuff.  Ha, ha!  Thank goodness of cell phones.  We went to eat at a subway on our way to the play at the Kennedy Center.  We had to walk a long ways and my feet were tired.  We went to see the play Shear Madness.  I personally thought it was funny,  of course I knew a little bit about it cause Darrell and the girls had gone to see it when they went to DC.  It was set in a Beauty Salon, the owner is gay and it turns out to be a Murder Mystery.  The cast gets the audience involved in solving the mystery and how every the audience picks the murderer is how they play the story out.  So it could play out differently everytime.  Mr George thought it was too crude for his tastes and he had seen it many times before.  He thought that they had different actors so it wasn't done as well.  Afterwards we walking (again) a long ways to the Subway.  Mr George had one speed (hurry, hurry, fast fast, fast)  Ha! Ha!    Feet hurt so bad, but I am having a fun time.  I slept so well tonight!!!  The next morning (Sunday) I woke up at 6:30 am. (yeah, a little longer to sleep in) We tried to get a shuttle from the hotel to the Metro, but the driver didn't show up. So we ended up having to get four taxi cabs for all of us to get to the subway. (19 kids and four adults) We had to wait awhile too for the cabs to get there.  Mr George was okay with that because we didn't really have a tight schedule that day.  We then rode the subway to the National Mall ( or where we then walked to the National Mall) I first went to the National History Museum.  THis was interesting it had lots of different animal (stuffed) and dinasaurs etc. in there.  I also went to an IMAX movie in this museum.  It was called Tornado Alley.  It was 3D and I expected it to actually feel like you were in the tornado, but needless to say it was a dissappointment.  I paid $9 for it and it was okay, but not worth that much.  Oh well, live and learn.  Next I went to the American History Museum. I liked this one a lot. They had all of the first Ladies Inaugrual Gowns and they were all so different, but all pretty!  They had stuff about the Civil War and World Wars I and II and Movie memorial stuff.  It was so neat!  Then I walked to the Air and Space Museum and ate lunch at McDonalds. I then looked around a little while in the Air and Space Museum, this was not as interesting to me and not my favorite.  I then walked to the National Art Gallery.  This was very interesting.  I especially like the paintings of the landscapes.  We then all met in the middle of the Mall and walked to another art gallery a few blocks away.  It wasn't as good as the first art gallery.  We then walked to Subway Restaurant for dinner.  We went to the Metro and came back to the hotel.  We got back to the hotel at 8:00 pm.  My feet hurt like crazy.   today I walked 10 miles.  Whew, again! Today we got a tour bus, Yeah less walking!  Which is good cause my heels really hurt, I am hobbling around like an old lady!  Ha!  I woke up at 5:30 am and turned my alarm off and laid back down and didn't wake up again until Mr George called at 6:00 am. I got up, got dressed and got ready and then went down and ate breakfast ( yummy waffles, potatoes and hot chocolate) Then I went back up to the room to get my stuff to take to the bus. Kim and Marrissa were still getting ready.  Kim has not been feeling well the whole trip, I feel so bad for her.  We left the hotel at 7:00 am and drove about and hour and a half to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This is where the battle of Gettysburg was fought in the Civil War.  We watched a short film about the battle then we went upstairs to see a cool 3D presentation about the battle. It was a cool painting 3D of the battlefield.  Then we walked around the gift shop and went and got on the bus for the tour of the actual  battlefield. It was interesting to me how the tour guide told the story from the perspective of a northerner.  Chris said this is because the South lost the war.  I know this, but I am proud to be a southerner and always will be.  I told the tour guide and Mr George that I kindof feel like an outsider, being the only Southerner in the group. He then made a point to show me the Mississippi monument.  I said "Yeah for Mississippi"  We finished the tour and went across the street to a buffet called "Pickets" for lunch.  It was okay, better then fast food anyway.  Gettysburg was very cool, though!!  Then we left there and drove aways to Mount Vernon ( home of George Washington) It was very cool and pretty!  I find it interesting that the beds that the people slept in were so short and not very wide.  The men back then were very tall too and the beds really couldn't have fit two people in them. We saw slave quarters too, it seemed to me that George Washington took very good care of his slaves.  They had a really cool barn, it was round and the horses would walk around it on the top level and tromp the grain down through the barn floor the the bottom to grind it.  Very Ingenious!  We left Mount Vernon and the bus driver drove us through a little town called Alexandria.  ( Oh, by the way our bus driver's name was Thomas Thomas but he said we could call him T squared)  Anyway, the houses in Alexandria were so small and narrow.  They were all made of brick and right beside each other.  No yard or anything! The driver told us that they ranged in price from 1/2 million to 2 million dollars each.  He said it was location, location, location!  They were original houses from the Civil War.  They had Fire Plaques which were little bronze plaques on them that told the Firemen that it was ok to save then in case of a fire.  If your house didn't have a "fire plaque" on it they were to let it burn down in a fire.  Crazy!   So you had better have a plaque.  How they kept one house from starting another fire, I don't know.  They were all so close together.  We saw the church where George Washington's funeral was held and General Lee's boyhood home.  We also saw where George and Martha Washington stayed at when they came to Alexandria.  We drove back to Washington DC and we looked at the monuments in the dark all lite up.  It was so pretty!  When we went to the Iwo Jima memorial there was a circular drive around it.  As you drive around it, it looks like those soldiers are pushing the American Flag up.  It is so neat.  We stopped and got out so we could get a better look.  I took my camera to take a picture.  I went to walk away from the momument to get a better view and didn't see three steps there and stepped from the top to the bottom in one step.  I fell to the bottom but caught myself with my hands or I would have hit my head.  It was one of those stupid things that you hope no one sees, but of course they did.  I spained my ankle and have a big bruise on my knee and my left ankle is bruised and very swollen.  Ouch!!  We stayed the night at a very nice hotel.  It had two rooms,  a living room and a bedroom.  Tomorrow we go to Virginia Beach!  So excited!!      (Tuesday, March 13) Today we woke up at 6:00am and I got up and got ready and went down and had breakfast.  Then we left and traveled to the Baltimore Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland. This was really cool,  they had so many different kinds of fish.  I never knew there were so many.  Very Pretty!!!!  They had sharks and jellyfish, coral and a rainforest with monkeys and reptiles.  THen we went to a Dolphin show.  This was way cool.  Those Dolphins are so smart!  Then we traveled to Fort McHenry.  This was about Francis Scott Key and the star spangled banner.  Then we drove about 4 hours to Virginia Beach. We drove over the Chesapeeke Bay Bridge and saw the ocean.  We got to our hotel and checked in and then we walked down the street a little ways to McDonalds. Then we came back to the hotel.  We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot on the Beach!    THe next day (Wednesday, 14) we went to Williamsburg Virginia.  We went to the College of William and Mary and then to Colonial Williamsburg.  We walked around for about two hours.  Then  we were suppose to catch a cruise ship to the Navel base in Maryland.  But we got stuck in construction and missed our ship.  We went back to the hotel and the beach instead.  The kids all went swimming at the beach.  I went and did some laundry and then went and walked down the street and the boardwalk.  Such a neat place!  That night I went and ate pizza with Jacob and Brinna.  The next day we went to Jamestown and then traveled back to DC.  When we got there we went to another Air and Space Museum.  I am not impressed by this.  I walked around a little but ended up sitting in the McDonalds most of the time and drinking a diet coke. :)  Then that night we went to our hotel.  We had to get to bed early because we were waking up early to leave for the airport in the morning.  We had to be on the bus by 5:45 am the next morning.  Our plane took off at 7:45 am from Reagan International Airport.  I was so tired that I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off.  We got to Minneapolis at 9:15 am.  We had about two hours until we took off from there so we were let lose to roam the airport.  This was a very neat airport.  Lots of shops and restaurants.  We took off for Billings at 11:30 pm.  We arrived back in Billings at 12:45 pm.  Then after a quick stop at a convenience store for a pop and snacks it was homeward bound.  We got home and it was so good to be back.  Charlene and Ian and Matthew were at our house and it was so good to see them.  Ian doesn't know me anymore or can't remember me so he won't come to me but he had gotten so big.  And it was so good to spend sometime with him and Charlene and to see Bethany and Darrell.  This was a great opportunity to get to go on with Jacob's class of their senior trip.  To get to spend some quality time with my awesome son.  I will always cherish this for the rest of my life!