Live Life with Hope: September 2008

The Wilhite's Go To D.C.-Part 4

PART 4...

FRIDAY, SEPT. 19-ANNAPOLIS AND THE NAVAL ACADEMY

Friday,, Barrett and Suzann (and Hannah!) took us to Annapolis and the Naval Academy. It was a beautiful, quaint little city with lots of cool history. The Naval Academy was having parents' weekend, so we got to see a fly-over and we got to see the cadets marching into lunch. It was really neat and a beautiful campus!

Walking down the streets of Annapolis. Lots of cute little shops lined the streets. You could spend forever here just perusing the shops. The Chesapeake Bay was down at the end of the street and you could see the boats in the harbor. Such a serene and tranquil view.

Eating crab at a local restaurant. Yummy!

The Chapel at the Naval Academy

The view of the Bay. It was so cool-in the low 70's with a nice breeze blowing. Perfect weather!

In front of the oldest State House still in use. It was closed for renovation but we still got to take a picture.

Well, that was it! Yesterday, Saturday the 20th, we got up at 6:00 am to catch our 9:00 flight out of Baltimore. From there we headed to Philly for our 3 hour trip back to DFW. Hope was SOOO tired and it was NOT a fun flight. She screamed at least a few times. Luckily there were other kids on that flight too, so we all just screamed together! Our friends Seth and Becca who lived in Plano picked us up (thanks guys!) and we got home at about 3:00 yesterday. We are SO tired! It's amazing how much all that takes out of you! I went to bed at 9:00 last night, I was so tired. Hope took a nap yesterday when we got home, then slept for 12 hours last night and then took a 4 hour nap when we got home from church today! She is just tuckered out! It was so worth it though, and we made lots of good memories!!! Now to start planning our next vacation... ;)

The Wilhite's Go To D.C.-Part 3

Part 3...

TUESDAY, SEPT. 16-MT. VERNON

Hope and I in front of George Washington's house.

View of the Potomac from his house. So beautiful!

George Washington's tomb

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 17-CAPITOL TOUR AND PENTAGON TOUR

Hope and I in the rotunda of the Capitol Building

Hope in the very center of the Capitol Building (where the star is)

View of the Capitol from the outside

Hope and I outside of the Pentagon

The Memorial to the 9/11 victims of the Pentagon. It was so sad.

Another Memorial to the 9/11 Pentagon victims in the distance and the Air Force Memorial in the background.

9/11 Memorial closer up-They have one for each of the 184 victims. 3 were children.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 18-WHITE HOUSE TOUR AND BASEBALL GAME

Stephen and I got to take a tour of the White House. Here it is from the front.

Stephen and I in front of the White House

The White House from on top of a hill. The Washington Monument behind it.

The Jefferson Monument

Inside the Jefferson Monument

Stephen at the Washington Nationals vs. Mets game. Barrett got tickets and they got to have some "brotherly" time.

The Watergate Building

The National Cathedral at night

Part 4 coming soon...

The Wilhite's Go To D.C.-Part II

PART II...

MONDAY-SEPT. 15th-THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN, ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, ROBERT E LEE'S HOUSE, ETC.

Robert E Lee's House in the background

JFK's grave

Stephen and I in front of JFK's grave

Stephen, Barrett, and Suzann in front of Robert E Lee's house

Tomb of the Unknown. We got to see the changing of the guard. It was really cool.

The tomb says, "Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier. Known but to God."

The changing of the guard

Some of the graves...It was so sad to see all of the infants and children

After the Cemetery, Barrett and Suzann took Hope home and let us roam around D.C ourselves. Thanks guys!! So, we headed over to Iwo Jima and then back down to the Washington Monument and other things before we headed home that evening.

Iwo Jima...the Marines Memorial

Looking down from Iwo Jima at the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. A great view!

On the bridge to Teddy Roosevelt Island-he was a conservationist, so this entire island is dedicated to him

Headed down the Mall towards the Washington Monument

World War II Memorial-This one was just dedicated and is right next to the Washington Monument. The Lincoln Memorial is right across the Reflection Pool from it. It was really cool.

WWII Memorial cont...

Across the Reflection Pool-Washington Monument behind us

Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

We had SO much fun, but by this time we were sunburned and completely exhausted, so we headed home. Part III coming soon...

The Wilhite's Go To D.C.-Part 1

Well, we are back and are really tired, but so happy! We survived Washington D.C. and had so much fun!! We got flew US Airways out of DFW on Friday, the 12th. It was a 3 hour flight and Hope did GREAT! I was really nervous about how she would do, but we kept her entertained and she actually slept in my arms for about 30 minutes. So, all in all, a good flight. Suzann picked us up and the excitement began! We got to meet our newest little neice, Hannah. She's so cute! We of course, were so excited to see Barrett, Suzann, Hollyann, and Andrew as well! We stayed at their house the whole time and we just want to say how thankful we are to them for letting us take over their basement for a little over a week and for showing us around D.C. Thanks again guys! We had so much fun and miss you already!

Okay, I have tons of pics, so I'm going to do this in parts. They are in order by day. And oh yeah...I did a kind of "Flat Stanley" thing with some of my friends, so if you see some weird laminated dude in some of the pictures, you know what it is. Okay, on with the pics...

FRIDAY, SEPT. 12

Holding baby Hannah

SATURDAY, SEPT. 13-THE ZOO

Hope is ready for her day at the zoo! It's a great zoo and free to the public!

This is a bird we saw at the zoo. We thought it was dead, but it just turned out it was "sunning" itself! Pretty crazy huh???
Hope and Mommy at the zoo
Hope and Daddy seeing the hippos

SUNDAY-SEPTEMBER 14th-THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, NAVY MEMORIAL AND WASHINGTON MONUMENT

At the National Archives, which houses almost every important document in our nation's history. It was SOOOO cool to see all of those documents in one location.
The Declaration of Independence