Today was not to be wasted as a day off from school but a perfectly good day to learn more about history and share it with the boys. Last year, we spent this weekend exploring Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington. It must be beautiful when the weather is nice and flowers are in bloom, alas, we were braving the cold but the boys LOVED it and after 4 hours there, I was the one begging to go home. This year, with it being the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, we had many events to pick from in our area. Finally, Connor spoke up and said he wanted to go the Lincoln Memorial. The others agreed and our designation was set. We got street parking fairly close and started walking. Right when we got there, we got to see the Presidential helicopter and 2 escorts fly directly over us. Then we got to the Lincoln Memorial, there were 3 Welsh Corgis sitting on the stairs - how's that!! The boys were amazed by the size of the memorial, even more so, Connor was concerned that Abraham Lincoln was actually as big as the statue in real life! He was quite relieved when I told him he wasn't. I was even more pleased when Austin immediately recognized the monument as the spot where Martin Luther King gave his speech - which all three have watched (there's a engraved marker). They were quite captivated by the idea of standing exactly where Martin Luther King stood to give his speech. We tried to imagine what it was like to look down from that point and not be able to see an inch of grass or stone because it was covered by people (I'm sure if we had gone for the inauguration, we would know exactly what it was like). We then walked all the way around the reflecting pool and headed to the Vietnam Memorial. We discussed war and what the memorials symbolized. They then helped me look through the book to find my uncle's name "Richard W. Williamson" - the location of his name on the wall. Luckily, his name is near the bottom of the panel and easy for them to see and touch. Connor kept remarking "that's just sad". Yes it was, my mother's youngest brother, the youngest of 12 children - gone before his 20th birthday. Today we spent a few moments talking about him, his honor to our country and the importance of remembering. The day turned out well, and hopefully they all took away something from this outing.
3 comments:
you are such an amazing mom. I want to be more like you!
Looked like the 3 of you had a wonderful day! Ryan has Uncle Richards middle name. Its such a beautiful part of DC, all the monuments. I can't wait to take my boys down there and talk to them about what it all means.
Keep up the good work. You are an inspiration to all us new moms. :o)
Sounds like it was a great trip and glad to hear that boys enjoyed it. It's wonderful that you did this and that they got so much out of it! Stacey and I have been talking about doing the DC thing. I think we will definitely make the trek up there when the cherry blossoms bloom.
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