Put Him in Coach, He's Ready to Play!

The day started with a rather quiet and reverent visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

Our first stop was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The precision with which the sentinels "walk the mat" is mesmerizing.  They seem to glide over the walkway as they take exactly 21 steps with each pass and click their shoes at every turn.

The tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  At the changing of the guard ceremony, which happens every 30 minutes during summer months, a new solider is brought out to repeat the exact ritual.  It is considered one of the highest honors to serve in this capacity and very few soldiers successfully complete the rigorous requirements of earning the Tomb Guard Identification Badge.

Here are the Kennedy's graves, marked by an eternal flame:

The Arlington House, the house once owned by Robert E. Lee:

We stopped by the  Iwo Jima Marine Corps War Memorial before returning to hotel to drop off our rental car for the rest of the day.

Our hotel was about a quarter mile from a metro station.  We walked there and rode the metro train into DC to see the Air and Space Museum.  Natalie, who'd not been crazy about all of the museums we'd been visiting, was thrilled with this one.  The kids were interested in finding the Amelia Earhart plane that is featured in the movie, "Night of the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian."

Then Caleb, Alyssa and I walked across the mall to the Natural History Museum since we hadn't seen enough of it when we'd been there a couple of days prior.  Natalie and Jon took a museum break for a bit.

I thought the ban on selfie-sticks was hilarious:

 The Smithsonian museums really are remarkable and it simply amazes me that they are free!

After a quick stop at the Smithsonian Castle, we got on a metro train headed for Nationals Park.

If the day before had been my favorite day in DC, this evening held my favorite moment.

Though Natalie was not amused, the rest of us thought it was great that the team's nickname is the "Nats."  

N-A-T-S, let's go Nats!  We loved chanting this cheer--it was even posted on a permanent sign in the stadium--in Natalie's direction, which she found quite annoying.

I'll tell you what I thought was annoying: VERY long and inefficient lines.  I left the game in the second inning to go get food for my two older kids and me.  (Jon took care of himself and Natalie before the game started which proved to be a very wise decision.) By the time I had gotten what everyone wanted, it was the 7th inning!

They did have a gluten free grill, however, which I've never seen at a sporting venue before.  That was cool.  It had the shortest line.  But Lys also had her heart set on a Shake Shack shake.  That line was ridiculously long!  If it weren't for the fact that it was lightly raining and standing in line meant I had cover overhead, I probably wouldn't have agreed to wait in it.

In between lines I walked near the field to watch the presidents run.  So clever!  There's George, Abe, Tom and Teddy (Calvin was also just introduced to the crew):

It was fun to be in a new major league stadium, but by the time I got back to my seat and the rain had just stopped, I was adamant that this experience was just not comparing to my familiar Safeco.

Within moments of sitting down, there was a massive crack of the bat and thunderous roar of the hometown crowd rising to their feet.

Once I caught sight of the trajectory of the ball, I could swear it was soaring straight for my head.  Jon tells a different story.  He saw it coming directly toward him, two seats over.  My natural instincts kicked in: I ducked and covered my head with my hands!  Jon's natural instincts lead him to reach out his massive man hands and nab that ball bare-handed.

The crowd went wild!

Section 142 celebrated their new hero with high fives all around!

Once I realized I was still alive and my head in tact, I joined the celebration too.

And our family was displayed all over jumbotrons and national TV.

It was a big moment.  A surreal moment.  A hurry-up-and-post-this-on-Instagram moment!

My heart was still pounding when I took this picture with shaky hands:

But before I could post the above picture, I received a text from a friend who lives in Utah.  It said, "Um...I just saw you guys on TV!!!!!"  And she sent this picture she'd taken of her TV screen:

This game was the featured game on ESPN that night and my friend's husband had been watching it from Utah.  He first noticed the Y on Jon's hat and then noticed who we were.  He called to his wife to come and see who had just caught the home run ball.  She said she watched the footage and "started screaming and jumping up and down" along with us.

The celebration went on stadium-wide for quite some time.  The hitter, Clint Robinson, had just recently started emerging as the Nationals' new star.  His two-run home run put the Nationals in the lead.  The cheering continued until Robinson came out of the dugout for a curtain call tip of the hat. And the replay, with Jon's catch, was shown multiple times.

The strangers around us continued to congratulate Jon throughout the rest of the game and expressed concerns for his hand while passing around the ball, inspecting his new souvenir.  While he said it did sting when he caught it, Jon insisted his hand was totally fine.  Many of our newfound friends wanted a copy of the above picture, so I was texting it all around.

Here's the mlb.com footage of that exciting moment:

And the ESPN footage my friend videoed off of her TV:

They each show slightly different perspectives and are so fun to watch!

When I texted my sister to tell her we had just been on TV, she went online searching for the footage. She took this picture of her TV screen.  It's blurry, but shows the moment Jon caught the ball.  Look at Alyssa!  I was not the only one to duck and cover.  She's still holding her hands over her head!  It appears I was still awakening from my terrified shock and hadn't yet made it to my feet to join the party.  Natalie and Caleb on the other hand are elated!  I think this proves that that ball must've been coming towards Jon, yes, but on the side of Alyssa and me.  (Directly at my head!) Natalie and Caleb clearly never felt any danger.

Such an incredible moment, such a fun night.

It was topped off with with a patriotic fireworks display.

And we rode the metro back to our hotel flying higher than a kite.  

George and Abe

Visiting George Washington's Mt. Vernon was easily a D.C. highlight for all of us.  We learned so much about the Father of Our Country.

We started with a tour of his mansion.  We saw the bedroom where he died rather suddenly of a throat infection and in his study was the very chest he used to carry his belongings throughout the Revolutionary War.  We even saw his dentures.

No photography is allowed in the mansion, but this internet picture shows the "new room", which the Washington's used to entertain.  Mt. Vernon underwent many expansions during Washington's life and he called this the "new room" because it was one such addition.  It makes up the left wing of the house.  Green paint, we learned, was exceptionally expensive in those days, so these brightly colored walls are a sign of his wealth.  

The back side of the house has a stunning view of the Potomac River.

Washington had over 300 slaves.  I thought it quite sobering to view their living quarters.  We saw Washington's vast farmland and gardens and outbuildings where his slaves would've labored from sunup to sundown. Also on the estate is a slave cemetery.

One of Washington's carriage houses:

Lush green grass in every direction:

We paid our respects at the tomb of George and Martha:

Included in the Mount Vernon experience is an outstanding museum and educational center.  It's exceptionally well done, with forensically reconstructed wax figures depicting Washington at three stages of his life.  The center also shows three fantastic movies, one of which was a multimedia experience; two screens, one smaller and circular in shape, are used to tell the story of the Revolutionary War.  Fog surrounds the screens when Washington and his Continental Army cross the Delaware River in the middle of the night, and snow falls inside the theater when they are at Valley Forge.

When all was said and done, we'd spent four hours exploring George's estate.

Just up the way a few miles, toward Washington D.C., is Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.  This would've been the nearest town to Washington's home and it was here that he attended church regularly.  It's a beautiful, historic place with lots of modern shops.

We're used to seeing Starbucks on every corner, but they don't usually have such a colonial flair.

We planned to stop at Pops Old Fashioned Ice Cream Company for a treat.

When we saw a free trolley come by, we decided to hop on.

We rode the trolley several blocks and got off at Christ Church, where George Washington's box pew is still marked by a metal plate with his signature.

A sweet older lady had us sit in his pew while she shared facts of the church.  I assumed the doors on the box pews were used to keep children from running around the chapel and thought that we in our church should adopt that practice.  We learned, however, that these box pews were used to give families privacy to worship "according to the dictates of their own conscience."  People had come to America for religious freedom and there were differences in how they each worshipped.  So interesting!

Then it was time to turn our attention to our 16th president.

First we visited the Peterson House, across the street from Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was taken after he was shot by John Wilkes Booth.  We saw the room where he died and then made our way through exhibits also in the building.

We then were admitted to the Lincoln museum that is in the basement of the theatre before seeing a short two-man play about the events of that fateful day.  The picture below shows the stage and the box seats on the right, where Lincoln was sitting.  The play, told from the perspective of the theatre owner and lead actor of the play Lincoln had been viewing that day, was very well done.

Our next stop was the National Museum of American History.  It was near closing time, so we didn't get to see nearly as much as we would've liked, but we found the sunstone from the Nauvoo temple and the museum's most significant artifact, the original Star-spangled Banner.

Of course no photography is allowed, but it looks like this:

It is said that General George Armistead ordered a flag so large "that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance."  Mary Pickersgill (not Besty Ross) sewed the enormous 42' x 30' flag. Though it has deteriorated over the years, the flag has been painstakingly preserved.  What a special experience to visit Ft. McHenry and then view the very flag that flew there and inspired our national anthem!

When we were kicked out of the museum at closing we decided to walk to the Washington Monument for a close-up look.

It had been an overcast day, but just as the sun was setting, the clouds parted on the horizon and cast an exquisite golden light on the National Mall.

We had to walk the long way to visit Abe.  The area nearest the reflection pool was fenced off in preparation of Independence Day.

Look at this gorgeous sunset:

On our way to the Lincoln Memorial, we snapped this picture of the White House.  It would be as close as we would get to it during our D.C. stay.  More on that later.

It's hard to really appreciate the grandeur of this memorial until you are standing before it.

One of the president's hands is clenched to symbolize his strength and determination, the other relaxed hand is representative of his warm, compassionate nature.  

Lys and I decided to break out the selfie stick.  Everyone else was doing it.  But then this best-ever photo bomb happened:

I mean, really.  We were trying to get the Washington Monument in the background, but at the last second, this boy who even appears to be mimicking the shape of the very object we were trying to capture, popped up in its place.  

So we tried again.

Though it was probably too juvenile and slightly disrespectful to Abraham Lincoln, I actually smiled when I saw Caleb sliding down this marble incline:

The sun was setting and we were famished, having not eaten a meal since breakfast.  We made the long walk back to our car by way of the Vietnam Memorial.  By the time we were seated at District of Pi Pizzeria (voted by the family as our favorite meal of the week) is was 10:00 p.m.

 Though I hate to pick favorites, of all our days in D.C. this one was it.