Jedi Master Brown left us pre-wake up to fly back to Indiana. His wife wasn't due to have her baby for another week but her water broke and she delivered in the middle of the night. We were all so excited for him and little baby Cora Corrine but sad that he would miss the rest of the trip.
Sunday morning after breakfast together at the hotel and loading up the buses we set off on a new day of adventure. We hit up the WWII Monument first, one of my favorites. It was a beautiful day and not too cold yet. I just love my girl Alli Sams and it was so fun getting to hang out with her so much.
All the kids got their pictures with Indiana and ran all over the place.
It was the perfect place to get more video of all of them going crazy. I love this so much.
We drove over to the Korean War Memorial next which I'd never seen before. It was really cool and the kids loved it.
I loved getting to run around and explore with all of the kids. Maddie, Malena and Alli Sams are in my Love Does group. Kaitlyn, Anne, Genna and Ellie came to Wyld Life last summer. Many of them are now regular attenders of WL Club. Some of the kids I know well from class. Many of them I got to know a lot better this weekend and I loved it.
We walked back past the Lincoln to get to the Vietnam Memorial. As the kids walked along they were each asked to stop and memorize one of the names on the wall.
The Martin Luther King was next, one of the memorials I was most excited about. The rock he is carved from comes out the two behind it, "Out of the mountain of despair comes a stone of hope." Then the marble wall that stretches out in either direction holds MLK quotes that Maya Angelou picked for this tribute.
This picture and this moment is one of my favorites. Wouldn't MLK just love these kids having so much fun here?
We hit up the Crime Museum next, an incredibly interactive place and perfect for our group.
The kids got to do a line-up behind a one-way mirror, get locked in jail, take finger prints...
escape out of jail and runaway on a motorcycle...
report on a green screen, go through a briefing, investigate a crime scene and put the evidence together and see an autopsy.
We did a flash mob of the Leia cheer on our way to the White House. Unfortunately Obama didn't come out to say hello but we still had a good time taking more pictures.
I had such a great time this weekend with all of the chaperons. A compilation of HSJH teachers and friends, these people are hilarious and do such a great job of leading this many kids through the city.
I also love that we just continued to take pictures in front of anything that looked important. For example, I have no idea what this building is for or who that bronze man is, but doesn't it still look so historic?
We stopped at Joe's Souvenirs so all the kids could buy their FBI and DC sweatshirts. It's a tradition for all of them to wear them when we get back to school next week, so they've all seen older kids with these shirts before. I'm not actually the biggest fan of this apparel, but since the chaperons get some for free I couldn't resist getting the hot pink cheetah print DC sweatshirt and a t-shirt featuring the whole first family. White House Wednesday anyone?
I was trying on the sweatshirt when who came around the corner but Fitzie! She had just finished brunch in the area and stopped by to say hi one more time. She found a pair of American Flag aviators that I'm pretty sure she'll regret not purchasing. I'm glad that she made the time to see me one more time.
We drove out to the Walter Reed Medical Museum next. The highlights were the conjoined twins, giant ball of hair, and leg with elephantitis. So strange.
The DC Zoo was next on our itinerary. It was freezing outside so we couldn't find many animals but the animal statues were everywhere.
Two pandas were inside and I found a Wolf Shirt Wednesday Wolf outside though he wasn't feeling very photogenic. I ran around with this crew of kids looking for a sea otter and red-tail panda. We had to sprint uphill in the freezing cold to get back to the bus on the time. We made it just in time but several other kids got lost so the chaperons got to hunt them down before we headed out.
We drove back into the city for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. I love that it's set up as a maze of walls, quotes and statues that you walk through to see different parts of his life and work. Plenty of opportunities for more photographs.
These two pictures are actually taken in the exact same spot. I tried to tell the kids in the one on the left that you could no longer see FDR but they weren't too concerned.
We loved climbing on these rocks and seeing what was waiting around the next corner.
Our gal Eleanor.
I think FDR would have like hardcore parcour.
I was so excited to go to the giant bronze Einstein after looking him up before the trip.
Once again, it's kind of hard to see him behind all of our kids. Tim had the brilliant idea to film a DC Harlem Shake video in this spot. I was lucky enough to get to be the dancer at the very beginning. I can't wait to see it put together.
Some of the greatest minds you'll ever meet (and baby Brown on the ipad screen).
With a little bit of time to spare Adams and I convinced everyone to try to go to Georgetown Cupcakes. The bus drivers knew just where to go and we collected money from all the kids. When we got there I jumped off the bus to get in line, but we quickly decided the line was just too long. The dream wasn't going to come true. I took a quick picture through the window before jumping back on the bus. Maybe next year.
We played Switch on the bus while we waited for our restaurant to be ready for dinner. Adams got some driving time in behind the wheel.
Our first non-food-court, we ate dinner at the Hamburger Hamlet. Nothing like an all-you-can-eat buffet of cheeseburgers, fries, macaroni and cheese, cesar salad and cookies for over a hundred hungry kids.
We got back to the hotel early enough for the kids to swim, play cards or go to the dance party. I bet you can guess which area I picked. I'm always up for a good dance party and it was so funny to have one with all of these students.
I was so impressed with the moves of Kaylee, Brooke and Chloe. We went hard. If I had to put together a group for America's Next Best Dance Crew I'd want them on my team.
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