Funny story: Darah was very upset yesterday that she was going to have to go to the doctor. She said over and over again, “Mommy I don’t want to go to the doctor and get a boo boo.” After a while Patty told her that she would get her some ice cream after the surgery. Suddenly Darah said, “I want to go to the doctor and get a boo boo now.”

The weather was absolutely perfect and you could see for miles and miles in every direction. From over 500 feet up we could look down on the White House, Capitol Hill (with FedEx Field in Maryland in the background), the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial (with Reagan airport in the background), and tons more. I took a bunch of shots on the north side and stitched them together to make this giant panorama.

On the elevator ride back down, the glass doors changed from opaque to translucent and we were able  to see the inside of the monument. We had no idea, but the inside is filled with 192 engraved commemorative stones.  All of these stones were completely different like a haphazardly mismatched collage. They were donated from different cities, states, territories, and foreign nations. Many were just local lodges and even individuals. And there are even a few stones that they don’t have any idea of where they came from or why.

Then on Sunday we all went for a private tour of the west wing of the White House. Amy’s good friend was able to take us on a private tour. I’ve been on a private tour of the White House before in 1987 during a family reunion, thanks to my cousin who was a U.S. Representative from the state of Washington at the time. This time I had a full understanding of everything around me and could really appreciate where I was.

We were just outside the Oval Office but the door was closed because Obama was inside (possibly working on the debt ceiling). Then a few minutes later Obama walked out of the Oval Office (outside) and past the windows of the adjacent Cabinet Room. Unfortunately at that moment we were all looking at the Roosevelt Room across the hall so most of us had our backs turned and we just missed him. This photo was taken the same day so this was perhaps the very moment that he walked by the window.

After Obama left the Oval Office the door was opened so we got to see it. (We didn’t get to walk in.) I couldn’t see it from my angle but it was pretty cool to know that the actual Emancipation Proclamation was just inches away, hanging next to the door on the inside.

On our way out we were appreciating a Norman Rockwell painting, “The Problem We All Live With“, hanging in the hallway. Little did we know that the little girl in the painting, Ruby Bridges Hall, was standing right there in that spot just two days earlier.

I went to work on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday Patty, Maegan, and Darah took the Metro into the city with me and continued past my stop to go to the National Zoo. (Sorry, Idon’t have any of the photos taken at the zoo.) Thursday night we all went to Rockville Town Center, and Friday night we went to Downtown Silver Spring. Each place was really nice with live music.

Bigger activities are planned for the weekend.

When I dropped her off the kids were just on their way out for their first outside play session and Darah just jumped right in running and playing with all her new friends. We picked her up “early” but it was much later than she was used to. At her previous child care we picked her up at 1:00pm and she never slept there, so this was her first time taking a nap with other kids at school. She did absolutely fine with the different schedule. When we picked her up in the afternoon she happened to be playing on the playground again.

P.S. It was kind of odd that many of the other kids came up and gave us hugs while we were talking to her teacher about Darah’s first day. A lovey bunch of kids.

Darah absolutely adored her teachers, Miss Susan and Miss Joyce so I took this picture when I picked her up yesterday. (Darah’s lips are green because it was St. Patrick’s Day and they celebrated with green-icing cupcakes.)

It reminds me of the classic Canadian cartoon “The Cat Came Back”.  Living near the border for most of the 1990s, I saw it many times on Canadian television.  I also studied the animated short in my Canadian Films class in college.  If you’ve never seen it, watch this and you’ll know what I mean.