District of Columbia

To start off our trip to Costa Rica, we stopped in D.C. to see Jon and Jaclyn for a few days (way cheaper flights through DC than to go straight down). It was incredible!! I'm not sure you could see or do more than we did in 2.5 days.  Thanks Jaclyn for being such an awesome tour guide! We had a blast seeing you guys.

First day: Saw the sites from the old Post Office building:

The Capitol:

Washington Monument:

We didn't get pictures of the following seen on Monday:

Smithsonian Natural History Museum 

Smithsonian American History Museum

National Archives (favorite)

Holocaust Museum (favorite)

Tuesday we went to Ford's Theater, which was also a favorite. Of course, we love President Lincoln and learned some fascinating things about his life and assassination.  What an incredible man of God.

The box he was shot in:

The original gun:

Some fascinating facts learned:

1) A few nights before he was killed, Lincoln had a dream of his assassination. In his dream, he got up hearing people sobbing and wandered through the house, seeing no one. He finally came upon a room where a funeral scene was taking place surrounded by armed guards. When he demanded to know what was going on, one of the guards told him that the president had been assassinated.

2) John Booth was an actor at Ford's theater. Lincoln watched his plays the play from his box. At one point during a performance, Booth was said to have shaken his finger in Lincoln's direction as he delivered a particularly threatening line of dialogue. Lincoln's sister-in-law, sitting with him in the same presidential box where he would later be slain, turned to him and said, "Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you." The President replied, "He does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?"  He later said John was one of his favorite actors.

3) Lincoln's body guard had left his post prior to Booth sneaking in. No one knows why

4) After shooting the President, Booth jumped from the box breaking his leg as he landed on the stage (people thought it was a part of the play).  He flashed his knife at the audience, yelling "Sic semper tyrannis!" Which means, "Thus to all tyrants!" in Latin before hobbling off the stage. He proceeded to his horse and rode over 60 miles with his broken bones stabbing through his flesh.

Anyway, enough of that. Then we went to the White House:

And then to the Arlington Cemetary to see the Eternal Flame, the Lee Home, and the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier (and changing of the guard):

It was so touching to see all those graves. What a sacred, amazing place.

We also got to see where Jon teaches math (with Teach for America). What a cool school. We're so proud of all he is doing for those kids!!

Thursday evening, we went to see all the monuments. Jefferson:

Washington:

and the Lincoln:

D.C. is such a cool place. There were a few things we didn't get to see (Mount Vernon and the National Gallery of Art) but overall, we did all we wanted to! We had great warm weather and even better company.

I love this country and am so thankful for our founding fathers and their amazing standards and veneration for God.

 "God who gave us life, gave us liberty.  Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?  Indeed, I tremble for my country that I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever." ~Thomas Jefferson

Now we have made it to Costa Rica and start our adventures bright and early!! We're having a blast and actually doing pretty well without our little monkey. We miss her (and I might have cried when we passed the baby aisle at the grocery store) but we'll see her in just over a week!

Here are a couple pictures from the current babysitters at home! She already looks different to me!!