Our good friends the Monroes told us we absolutely HAD to go see the changing of the guard. I figured we would stop in, zip over to see the ceremony, then be on our way.
A guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We loved the ceremony, even the kids sat riveted during the changing of the guard. The quiet reverence of the large crowd there surprised, pleased, and touched me. American's aren't reverent all that often these days. But I suppose some things still touch our hearts.
We ended up spending several hours there, wandering through the monuments, enjoying the lovely grounds, peaceful atmosphere, and feeling the stirrings of patriotism and love of country.
This photo is for mom. She's a nut for General Robert E. Lee and I knew she would be SO JEALOUS that I got to see his house! I had forgotten that Arlington Cemetery was once his home. Though I am sure it was meant as an insult for his treachery, I somehow feel he would be pleased that this is how his grounds have been honored, even hallowed.
One funny thing: Who knew that Arlington Cemetery was build on a hill. We brought along our humongous baby barge (So incredibly handy the whole trip. Definitely worth filling the whole trunk with it.) Michael pushed both the kids up, and up, and up, until we got to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Then I wanted to see the Civil War monument, so we went up, and up, and up. Michael started to turn rather red. Then I said "Just Robert E. Lee's house and then we can go." Much to Michael's pleasure, it turns out that the house is at the very tippy-top of the cemetery and boy was he panting by then! Pushing 90 pounds of kids and supplies up the hill gave him quite the impressive workout. What a man.Zoe tried to look sour about things...
....but her natural sunshine kept peeking through.
Yes, that is Jed hiding under the blanket in the back. We were all ready to go by then, but what a lovely time we had. After that we went to the Natural History museum, and ate polish dogs with sauerkraut from a sidewalk hot dog cart, which was one of my primary goals for the trip. Then we had the amusing incident where Michael had to go sprinting, shouting down constitution avenue and stopped the tow truck just as it was backing up to our car... but really, who wants to dwell on that? What's a few moments of horror when compared to to unadulterated joy of a polish dog? And what's with those goofy incomprehensible parking signs, anyway?
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