Washington D.C. close-up tour 2008

In Arlington...the graves all line up in straight rows. you can see them in the background of these flowers.

This is what the boys lived off of. DP and Stride! :)

Really pretty cherry blossoms

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Changing of the guards, long, silent, amazing.

more from Arlington

pretty flowers

memorial

Arlington

Yes, Yes. On Our trip, the beloved McKenna died, they had the funeral, and buried her too!! :) jk

Vietnam War Memorial

Have to have a pic of a flag!

the flame in this NEVER goes out. NEVER

more flowers

SWEET water fall thing at the WWII Memorial

Sounds wierd, but it was AWESOME!

One of the only people who was kind and showed a level of respect for his slaves

Tommy and George holding hands

George Washinton's house

Wouldn't you die to have this view from your kitchen?!?! This was their backyard. We played a joke on Rachel (that she believed) and told her it was the sea. We had her goin, then we got on the bus and the guide jumped into our conversation, and said that is wasnt! :(

pretty

Four men...as he is now named. (a.k.a. Brandon Formen)

Marlee

Joey

This was Sunday morning...rainy!! :)

George and his wife and two grandchildren

on the plane, trying to figure out Marlee's camera

We had to be at the airport by 5...a little early for some! :)

right when we got to the hotel

on the bus!

before we took off on the ride there. we were SO excited and hyper! :)

Me and Rachel watching Newsies, before her klutziness kicked in. :)

Rachel!

Derek..now known as P Derek..for reasons unknown.....with my pillow and Rachel's monkey Fred or Fergie, who had a great trip locked in the boys safe box...which they forgot the code to for a day or so.. :)

A view from the airplane.

Thanks Jaden for all the pictures! :) these are even later than the American Idol ones! :) haha. The Close Up tour was probably the funnest thing I have ever done for school! It was an AMAZING experience, and if I had a choice to go again next year, I would! It was So cool, and well planned, an we saw a lot of stuff. Jaden was the only one out of our little group of friends that took a digital camera, and returned with it. LONG story short...(and a little advise if you ever go to the Natural History Smithsonian museum....Do NOT leave your stuff unattended...even for 2 minutes.) We did a lot of cool things, and of them one that we have no pics of was the Holocaust Museum, if you ever have a chance to go to i think it was in Virgina...or D.C. I'm not sure...but go there. It is a very cool thing to see and think about what happened. There are statistics and stories in there that make you feel like your heart should be ripped in half, or right out of your body. Who could be so cruel to force people, because of religion, to work themselves to death, and be beaten, and mis-treated. I think that it is a good eye opener. sorry both of these posts are long, and late, but better late then never! :)