So Saturday was my birthday! I’m not sure why, but even after my hubby teased me for how old I was getting (he has to because he’s 2 years old than me), I agreed to go to the Arlington cemetery for our Saturday outing. :)
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| These pics don't do it justice. The cemetery is truly beautiful with all of the light headstones and dark green grass. We can't imagine the amount of work that goes in to maintaining the grass and trimming around each headstone! |
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A lovely bird posing for the camera. I don’t know why, but I loved this dark bird
against the backdrop of white head stones, resting for a minute.
It has been fun to see new varieties of birds since we moved here.
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| When Savvy saw this fire hydrant, she said, “I bet they polish that once a month so it looks nice.” |
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It was fun to see the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier with the kids for their first time and be in such a reverent atmosphere in a large city of hustle and bustle.
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| Memorial Amphitheater. About 5,000 visitors attend each of the three major annual memorial services in the Amphitheater to honor all American service members who serve to keep the United States free. They take place Easter, Memorial Day and Veterans Day. |
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| The words engraved say, "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain." (A quote from the Gettysburg Address). |
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| President John F. Kennedy's "Eternal Flame." |
I forgot to get a picture of it, but on the way to see the home of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate
general from the Civil War, there was a large coffin that held the bones of a few thousand soldiers
that died in the Civil War. The bodies could not be identified, so they put them together in the same
coffin. Talking about this with the kids was actually meaningful since we had studied the Civil
War this year in homeschooling and they could remember what they learned. We were not able
to do the inside tour of lee’s home because of the long wait and our kids were pooping out.
Speaking of homeschooling, because we drove to Arlington cemetery instead of taking the metro,
we decided to quickly drive around the Lincoln memorial which was just across the bridge over
the Potomac river. as we drove around, I asked Rhea if she remembered who the person was that
delivered a speech in front of the memorial to thousands of people (we had talked about Martin
Luther King and the civil rights movement in homeschooling as well). She said, “Oh, I know!
I know! He said, ‘I have a dream that little black boys and little white girls will one day play
together.’” Briant and I were impressed that as a 5 year old, she could recall something so similar
to the original speech, at least 8 months after hearing it. And she was so cute saying it in her 5
year old voice. :)
After we got home, we all had some down time recovering from all the walking and heat and
humidity. The kids cut up an orange into slices and drew lines on them to look like teeth. they
put them in their mouths. But every time they laughed, the orange peels would fall out of their
mouths. They said that this was like my teeth because I’m getting so old! Again, more teasing
for my birthday. :)
They started talking about their memories of Brother Cosper from our ward in Alpine. He would take his
dentures out and show the kids. The first time he did it, they were terrified, especially Savvy who was very disturbed by the fact that they were fake and that the teeth could be removed from one’s mouth. But of course the next time they saw him, they asked him to do it again...and again...and again. It’s fascinating now!
We had a fun dinner at Red Robin that night to continue the celebrating.
I think we left before we caused too much disruption in the restaurant. We had cake and ice cream when we got home. Thomas successfully baked me a gluten free cake from a box so I wouldn’t feel deprived of the real birthday experience. :) A good birthday!
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