Repatriating Our Clan

Ever since the Olympics opening ceremony, when our kids cheered loudly and exuberantly for the South Korean team instead of the Americans, My Man and I have been looking for opportunities to remind our children that, while we loved our time in South Korea, we are proud to be Americans. 

This Saturday was the perfect opportunity.  Soon after we got here, I started looking into setting up a White House tour.  It's gotten a bit more complicated over the years!  Funny Guy and I were reading a Magic Treehouse book about Abraham Lincoln a few days ago, and it talked about how anyone could just walk into the White House and try to talk to the president.  It's definitely not that easy anymore!  You have to contact your congressman (or woman) and request a tour from them.  Then they have to get a bunch of information from you, do background checks, and set up the tour time.  All of this must be done at least 30 days prior to the date you want the tour.  Then to get in to the tour, you have to walk through several checkpoints where they check your ID against the approved guest list, have you walk through a metal detector and past a K9 unit.  Phew!  But it was fun to go inside.  The kids regaled us with interesting trivia about the White House such as, "Did you know there are 35 bathrooms?" and "Wow, the only thing that survived the fire in 1814 was the painting of George Washington that Dolly Madison saved!"  We also thought it was pretty cool that the First Lady's portrait, though hanging in the Red room several rooms away from the East room where the George Washington painting hangs, has a direct line of sight to George Washington.  There was no picture taking allowed during the tour.  I was tempted to snap one of the kids looking especially cute but Darling Daughter was shocked when  I pulled out my phone and blocked the picture, vehemently insisting I follow the rules. 

After the White House tour, we headed over to the National Archives where we got to see the original Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, among other things. 

It was really amazing to see the documents that made such an impact on our history.  Again, no pictures allowed inside.

Afterward, it was getting late and everyone was starving so we headed out to look for some lunch.  As we were walking past the Natural History Smithsonian, however, Funny Guy realized he hadn't had enough time inside last time we went.  Everyone else groaned--they were too hungry to even think about another museum!  But Funny Guy said he would rather go to the museum than eat, so we split up and I took him in while My Man took the other kids to go have lunch.  As we were walking in, Funny Guy said, "Thanks Mom!  I really love nonfiction, 'cuz it's real, and this museum is FULL of nonfiction!!"  I sure love this kid. 

We wandered through the gem stones exhibit where Funny Guy was amazed to see all the beautiful and varied minerals and crystals on display.  Then we browsed a beautiful exhibit of the 2012 winners of the Windland Smith Rice International photography awards (you can see the photographs here--they are stunning, especially in the huge printouts the Smithsonian has up!).  Then Funny Guy asked to go see the insects and mummies (his favorite from last time).  He also talked me into getting tickets to go into the butterfly room.  It was so beautiful.  The butterflies are huge and flying all around.  Not many land long enough to get good pictures, but it's so magical.  Funny Guy was hoping one would land on him but even though he was very good at pretending to be a flower, none did.

Finally, after almost two hours, Funny Guy relented and said we could go home if I promised we could come back again soon. :-)