Washington D.C. 2011

Post Trip Thoughts

Monica McCarson -

The whole week in D.C. was amazing!!! I had a blast! One of the best things about the trip was being able to see all the things we had learned about throughout the whole school year! It was so cool! There was a lot of walking and it was super tiring but it was all worth it! I wish we had got to spend more time there though. It was one of the best trips and weeks of my life!!! I hope I will get to back to D.C. sometime and get to experience it all again!!! :D

Taylor Benefield- DC was so much fun! Definitely one of the best trips I've ever been on!:) kennedys grave was my favorite part cause he is my favorite president:)

Day 5 – The last day

We left the hotel at 8:45 and were on our way. Bus 1 headed to see the WWII Memorial and Washington Monument. Bus 2, which was there last night, headed to Marine Corps memorial Iwo Jima. Afterwards Bus #2 went to D.C. Cupcakes and Bus #1 will get there later, no worries.

After that we headed to the Holocaust Museum and I’m pretty sure the kids all felt pretty moved by it. It is intense. They all were a little quieter back on the Bus.

We then quickly said goodbye to D.C. and hello to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. We ate there, went to the cool theater that showed a fun movie of his time as our General in the Revolution, and then toured the house and took our pictures. We said our goodbye and headed to the airport.

It was a very fun trip. It was a little more stress than usual for the teachers, and I’ll doubt I’ll bring a 107 again, but we had a great time. Hopefully it was a trip to remember.

Blog Day 4

Today was a good day. We were rested and ready to go. Boy did we!

Taylor Benefield- Today was fun! We got to go to the washington monument without bus one because they went back to the hotel! I've bought so much stuff this week! Came with 120 dollars and leaving with 2;) I'm tired and want to sleep in my own bed but i don't wanna leave DC:(

We started out our day with our photo in front of the capital. We had our purple shirts on. It is going to be great. In a weird twist of fate, my and Mrs. Hafner’s twins showed up and may have snuck into the photo.

We then walked over to the Air and Space Museum. We got to see everything from the Wright Brothers plane to the most recent space travel devices. The collection includes more than 30,000 aviation-related and more than 9,000 space related artifacts. Some of the most notable include the Wright 1903 Flyer, the first engine-powered airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane used by Charles Lindbergh on the first transatlantic flight in 1927 and the Apollo 11 Command Module which carried Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin on their mission to the moon.

Following that, we went to Lunch at the Old Post Office Building. The kids had a great time eating and walking around. We followed that by going up to the top of the bell tower there and getting a breath taking view of the city. It was the first steel-frame building constructed in Washington and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973.

Then we went to the National Achieves. We got to see many of our country’s most treasured items. The Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution. Interestingly, in 1926 Congress appropriated $6.9 million for a national archives building. Also, the doors on the National Archives Building are the largest bronze doors in the world. Finally, I didn’t know that the original plan for the National Archives Building incorporated a courtyard into the center of the building. It was quickly filled in to provide more storage space.

We then Navy memorial. Once a year then drain it and refill it with water from 4 oceans, and all the great lakes. The statue of a lone sailor is the most recognizable part of the large memorial, covering the whole plaza. The sailor stands on a large world map, dubbed the 'Granite Sea', a replication of the oceans of the world in granite. Also, two fountain pools surround the “sea” and pay tribute to not only the U.S. Navy but also the navies of the world

National Portrait Museum was a Mr. Shelton request and I think it was fun for all. I loved the President Portrait gallery and I loved this GIANT USA TV MAP.

Dinner at Hamburger Hamlet was an adventure for everyone. I think everyone had a great time. We all got our food in a timely manner, and got to chat with each other for a hour or so.

Finally, Bus #2 went to wrap up the evening, we went to the FDR, Jefferson, and WWII Memorial. We then went to the Washington Monument.

Blog 4

Kenzie Thacker

Okay so me again were on our way to take our big group picture I'm so excited!!!!:)Hopefully today will be a lippin and reackin day!!:)

Angelica Renfro- we have seen sooo much this week andbi have learned a lot. This trip has been so great and I'll will be super sad when it ends... Well off to the capital building!!!(:

Amy Woods

Okay, so this trip has been amazing so far. We have seen SO MANY amazing things!!!! By far my favorite was the Lincoln memorial, it's absolutely ginormous!!!!!! But right now, we are on our way to the US. Capital, to take our huge DC picture. :) this should definitely be fun. Even though there are definately people I don't like at all on the trip, i have enjoyed every moment of our DC trip, and I'm upset that we're Leaving tomorrow. PS. I'm sitting next to Brody..... He keeps on playing Mac Miller... Ew.

Chace Ikeda

I already wrote a blog in day 3, but I would think that a lot of stuff since yesterday morning. So the first thing we did yesterday was go to the white house, which was kinda a dissapointment but I understand the importance of security in the white house. Then we went to a museum and I bought a gigantic half dollar coin and it makes a really cool sound when you flip it. Next, we went to the train station and I got some pizza and California rolls, plus i learned that the ceiling was made out of gold and took a picture. After that we went to another meusuem and I took a bunch of pictures of butterflies. Then the bus crashed on our way to Pica Di Beca and I ate a lot. Finnaly, we went to the Korean/Vietnam/Einstein memorial and I got nighted and became Sir Paco. And now we are on our way to the air and space museum. (:

Huskies Out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex Matthews

This trip is the best trip I've ever been on im having a blast!!!!!! huskies out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I'm having the best time of my life the hotels are great bye the way and I'm loving this trip it's amazing

Ashton Fedor

Just got to touch the Washington monument! It's raining (but we don't care)! This place is awesome! I don't want to leave tomorrow.

Monica McCarson

This trip is sooo fun!!! We have done so many cool things here. I thought it was really cool to be able to see all the stuff we learned about this year!!! I am going to be sad when we leave tomorrow because this has been a blast!!!!

P.S. according to my dad and Bailey Crawford I am a fro yo lo (frozen yogurt loser)

Garvin Beltz

This has been one of my most favorite trip I have ever gone on. We have done so much fun stuff like going to the memorials or the monuments. The days have gone by so fast and I really wish it wasn't over tomorrow. I have loved what we have done and I got a lot of good pictures. This has been a great trip and I am going to really miss it!!!

Micah Healey

This trip has been very...... Interesting. First things first, YYYEEEESSSSHHHH!!!!!!!! Deep voice. Sal and sol, and hish, veronimose, CID, and the crazy lady in the car,.... You know the face. And lastly, the lady with the three dollars that had her face opened the whole time we were at union station, and when we left (with our money) she left as well :) so many good memories only between Ambriehl, hahaha yesh. You will never figure out what we mean. XD

Day 3

We had a long day with very little sleep.

Did I mention D.C. set a record HIGH for today at 99. The average temp on this day here, 82! Baltimore shut down school because it was to hot…. YUCK!

Some thoughts from our kids..

Kenzie Thacker and Angelica Renfro

Kenzie-We've seen so many things so far!The Lincoln memorial,the supreme court place(which we got kicked out of),and the pentagon.My favorite thing so far was definitely the flame of Kennedy!!:)The tombs of the unknown soldiers was cool too.Well were on our way to the white house!!!but we had to wake up about 5:45am:(And were also the pretty and best bus!!#2!:)

Angelica-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:)

Huskies Out!

Brandon Torres

We've seen bunch of cool stuff and today I was awaken by the angry nock and the screaming of coach Ketcham.

Hello my name is Chace Ikeda, I am on an adventure to an unknown land named the white house. I think it will be super duper fun and I will learn a lot of history that my teacher, mr. Shelton, teaches all year long. And also one last thing, mrs. Sandra s having a poem competition and when I find a paper and a pencil, I'm achuin to win. (:

Getting Started

We started by grabbing a breakfast to go from the hotel and loading into the car. Of course we had two rooms of 4 boys who I had to run into their room and get them to run downstairs today.

After getting all the kids ready and going to the White House, we went and took some photos in front of it. The tour was cool. We got to see the State Dining Room, Red Room, Blue Room, Green Room, East Room, Library, Vermeil Room, China Room, and the Diplomatic Reception Room. Also:

There are 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, and 6 levels to accommodate all the people who live in, work in, and visit the White House. There are also 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 7 staircases, and 3 elevators.
At various times in history, the White House has been known as the "President's Palace," the "President's House," and the "Executive Mansion." President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901.
The White House receives approximately 6,000 visitors a day.

After the White house, and taking our pictures, we went to my favorite, the American History Smithsonian. We saw all sorts of Presidential stuff, Dorthy’s Red Slippers, the Oringinal Kermit, (Which was made out of Jim Henson’s mom coat), The Star Spangled Banner, Julia Child’s kitchen, ect. The list goes on.

Lunch at Union Station – We ate at the giant food court and the kids had a fun time going around from place to place and seeing their friends. One of our students got to meet him mom who lives in Virignia, pretty cool.

Natural History Smithsonian – Fun stuff. We got to see the Hope Diamond, Tons of Animals, bones, and videos. Just like night at the Museum. We meet by Dum Dum.

Ford’s Theatre – A very cool presenter on Ford’s. The park Ranger talked about the Lincoln assassination. I love his talk, I feel like I was there. The Peterson House across the street is closed for Renovations.

The Fords Theater history began in 1863 when John Ford opened his theater. It was regarded as one of the grandest in the nation, with many decorative touches in its interior. On April 14, President and Mrs. Lincoln were coming to the theater to see a production of a popular comedy, Our American Cousin.

Lincoln was to be accompanied by General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, but the victorious general had left the capital earlier than planned. In his place were Clara Harris and her fiance, Major Henry Rathbone. Many in the sellout crowd in the theater were hoping to get a glimpse of Grant, who had accepted the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee just five days earlier.

Booth's sympathies lay with the Confederacy, and he launched a conspiracy to murder Lincoln and other top government officials, including Secretary of State William Seward. Out of his motley group of plotters, only Booth succeeded.

His single shot derringer delivered the fatal bullet behind Lincoln's left ear. He then stabbed Major Rathbone in the left arm and leaped to the stage, making his escape on horseback into southern Maryland. Booth was eventually trapped in Port Royal, Virginia on April 26, killed by a shot from a pursuing soldier.

Lincoln was rushed across the street to the house of a tailor, William Petersen, where he lay through the night, attended by Army surgeons who had been in in the Ford's audience. The president died at 7:22 a.m. the following morning.

Last year I learned that today the first floor of the Petersen House looks much as it did then, including the mantle clock in the front parlor, where the first lady and other dignitaries spent an anguished night, still set at 7:22 a.m.

Bus crash – Bus 1 made it straight to dinner, and bus two got “bumped” from a bus behind us. We didn’t feel anything, but lost about an hour for all the paperwork. The Bus that hit us, had a funny license plate. It read, 007 POO, We had a good laugh as we waited.

Buca Di Beppo –We had all sorts of food. Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti. It was so good. Then we got cheesecake for dessert. The kids had a blast.

Vietnam and Korea Memorials – I don’t think the kids fully grasp either of these war, but heck, I don’t think half of America does either. They visited them, and had a pretty good time overall I thought.

Finally, we hit the Einstein Monument, and the kids seemed to enjoy seeing and climbing on it.

Got back at 10:20, in bed by 10:30.

Ketcham Out

Day 2

2:52 AM –

We started out today on a good note. We got some sleep, some breakfast, and we went to the National Cathedral. I was worried my first year that the kids would hate it, but every year they loved it. It went over very well, and they did great. I was impressed by the behavior and how excited they were.

Some Fun facts we learned about it were…

The Space Window on the south aisle of the Cathedral contains a piece of lunar rock.
There is a sculpture of Darth Vader in the Cathedral.

The Cathedral’s central tower is the only place in North America to house both peal and carillon bells.
The Cathedral labyrinth is a medieval design based on the one in the floor of the nave at Chartres Cathedral in France.
The Great Organ was expanded multiple times during construction to serve the growing Cathedral.
The Cathedral is home to one of the few old growth forests still standing in the nation’s capital, Olmsted Woods, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
The official name of Washington National Cathedral is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Every time I go in there, it reminds me of a scene from the West Wing that was filmed there. President Barlett is upset that his secretary and good friend got killed by a drunk driver. (Tough scene, foul language, but shows how beautiful this place is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FScv89J6rro&feature=related )

After that, we went to the National Zoo. It is part of the Smithsonian. The kids enjoyed seeing some animals, eating, and getting to walk around. They had a pretty good time.

Nearly a quarter of the animals at the National Zoo are members of endangered species, and include giant pandas, Asian elephants, white-naped cranes, and western lowland gorillas.
The National Zoo has 180 species of trees, 850 species of woody shrubs and herbaceous plants, and 40 species of grasses. There are also 36 different species of bamboo.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are the National Zoo’s giant pandas, on a ten-year loan from China as part of a research, conservation, and breeding program. Mei Xiang gave birth to a male cub, Tai Shan, on July 9, 2005. He moved in China in February 2010. The pandas live at the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat, a state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor exhibit designed to mimic the pandas' natural habitat of rocky, lush terrain in China.
The National Zoo’s young male Asian elephant, Kandula, is the fifth elephant calf in the world conceived through artificial insemination. Born in 2001, Kandula represents a first step in Zoo efforts to develop a herd of breeding elephants. Currently, there are three Asian elephants at the National Zoo.

After the Zoo was a trip to Arlington National Cemetery. Once again, our kids behaved so well. They got to see the where JFK, Howard Taft, and Mary Todd Lincoln were buried. They got to go in Robert E. Lee’s house, which is in the middle of Arlington National Cemetery. Then they got to see the changing of the guard, and the flag being taken down. Some Arlington Facts we learned include…

More than 300,000 people are buried at Arlington Cemetery.
Veterans from all the nation's wars are buried in the cemetery, from the American Revolution through the Iraq and Afghanistan. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.
The flags in Arlington National Cemetery are flown at half-staff from a half hour before the first funeral until a half hour after the last funeral each day. Funerals are normally conducted five days a week, excluding weekends.
Funerals, including interments and inurnments, average 28 a day.
Three unknown servicemen are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns:

After this, we got to see the brand new 9/11 memorial. Some 9/11 Memorials include…

•Right after the 9/11 attacks, an off the cuff memorial was set up on a hill at the Navy Annex overlooking the Pentagon. This was visited by people who paid respect to the victims.

•Each bench has a name belonging to one of the victims engraved on it.

•85 paperback maple trees were also planted in the memorial site.

Then we went to the Pentagon Mall and grabbed dinner. After that, it was to the Lincoln Memorial.

Some Lincoln Fun Facts,…

•The Lincoln memorial’s construction started only on February 12, 1914.

•The memorial was one of the first buildings to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

•The exterior of Lincoln Memorial is made of Yule marble and is 57.8m long, 36.1m wide and 30 m tall.

•The structure is surrounded by 36 fluted Doric columns, representing the 36 states in U.S (prevalent at the time of Lincoln’s death). 2 more columns were added behind the colonnade at the entrance, taking total number of pillars to 38.

•On the frieze, above the colonnade, are inscribed the names of all 36 states and the dates when they joined the Union.

•The interior is divided into three chambers, using two rows of four (15m tall) Ionic columns. While north side chamber contains a carved inscription of Lincoln’s second inaugural address, the southern chamber boasts of his Gettysburg address.

•In the central hall sits the solitary figure of Lincoln on a citadel. Initially designed to be 3m tall, during the constructional phases the statue was enlarged to 5.8 m in both height and width. The statue is so huge that if it stands up it will be about 8.5 m tall.

•It took nearly four years for the statue to be completed.

•Some claims suggest that General Robert E. Lee’s face is carved onto the back of Lincoln’s head on the statue, the profile is hidden in his hair and looks back towards General’s old home “Arlington house”, now part of Arlington national cemetery. It is ironical as General Lee was a Confederate army warrior and thus an enemy to Lincoln led Union.

•Another urban legend argues that Lincoln’s hands are actually forming shapes, which represent his initials “A” and “L” in sign language. This theory is supported by the fact that French knew American Sign Language and he might be paying tribute to Lincoln signing the federal legislation, giving Gallaudet University for deaf the authority to grant college degrees.

Finally, off to bed. White House, we wake up at 6, and get there by 7:15. Should be a busy day.

Flight 2

D.C. Blog - day 1

So, we are off and on our way. Let's look over the highlights. They changed our early flight gate at midnight, and everyone got the memo.... Except the Joros's. :-)

We got everyone through and Ms. Cain is leading the pack on flight one. Flight two was pretty uneventful, until Ryan Rambo had us spend about a hour of our life looking for his "black" duffle bag, which as Norris and I were the last two loading then plane, a TSA agent brought us Ryan's BLUE duffle bag.... Otherwise, the kids are in good spirits and we our on our way to D.C.

Now a word from Micah Healey

Well not much, just that I'm sitting in a plane... And I'm very claustrophobic, so I am not liking this right now. But I'm really excited and I'm ready to see some sights.... Bring on the history. :)

So I have a window seat and as of now all I can see is some clouds a lot of clouds and the plane is really quiet. - Brody Hernandez

Ms. Hafner
3:00 came way too early this morning especially after Norris woke me up with a text about our gate at midnight. We got the first flight off easily and then we had to change terminals. Waiting for the flight wasn't very exciting. We are traveling with another group of eight grade students, so we will see how many numbers are exchanged when we get off the plane.

Brandon Torres
Umm I don't know this is awesome except that my ears feel weird this high up

Grant McCarson
It was never a good sign when I showed up at the airport for a business trip and saw a bunch of people wearing the same colored shirts... Now I have crossed to the dark side and am one of them.

Mr. Shelton
Wow it's like I'm still at school only better, going to D. C. With all my favorite students. Everything went pretty smooth at the airport, just your regular lost items. I got really lucky and got to set between Abby and Angel! Great start!

Angel Bais
Drop it like it's hot just came on my iPod! Haha this ride won't be so bad after all! I get to sit next to mr shelton! I'm just glad it's not some crazy old lady. Jk, that would be interesting. Coach Ketcham if your reading this, I want you to know I can see the top of you head. I wonder if you were an inch taller if you could touch the top of the plane. Hahaha that would be so cool. Savannah and Taylor are cracking up behind me. Oh no, that's trouble. I FREAKING LOVE THEM! ha ok, well bye:) I love you.

Taylor Benefield (and Savannah Rhea)
Hi! We were just looking at some shirtless men in my magazine:) This trip has already been fun and we aren't even in dc yet!:) i wish I had a mustache cause they are snazzy. Okay I'm done now. Ps I'm looking at the back of ketchams head;) love you too angel!:)

Savannah Rhea --> well spent half my money on candy and my phone and Ipod died. So now I'm just singing to everyone on the plane :)
Anyways I'm sitting next to Taylor and Olivia just chillin like a villain :) and I'm watching Ryan Rambo drink his water ;) anyways this trip has been so much fun so far I can't wait until we are in DC :)

Olivia Scott -> well I'm on the plane and just chillin with Taylor Benefield and Savannah Rhea! I just met Savannah Rhea she is super nice and funn!! So far I have just been watching people look out their windows. I'm just jamming out to my music and drinking my coffee! I can not wait till we land!

Ok, Coach Ketcham has napped. This should get me thru the capital... :-). It is 11:42 EST. We should be landing within the next 30 minutes. Currently playing on my iPad, John Mayer. I cannot wait to meet up with the other group. We will be a orange swarm of awesomeness. First up the U.S. Capital and then the Supreme Court, and Library of Congress. Some of my favorite things!

First up after we land…

The U.S. Capital is such a beautiful building and after a bombing suspect attempted some attack in the late 90's they spent a huge amount (500 million maybe) on building an underground tourist area. It is very cool. Each state gets to send 2 statues for inside the Capital. I believe Texas has Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, however, they should of made one for our most famous Texan... Lynn Nolan Ryan. Of course he isn’t dead yet.

Some fun things I learned today….

•Congress first met in the Capitol Building on November 17, 1800.

•No one is buried in the Capitol. A tomb area was created for George Washington's body, but Washington's will expressed his wish to be buried at Mount Vernon, and that is where he is buried.

•The custom of flying the flags 24 hours a day over the east and west fronts was begun during World War I.

•The top of the U.S. Capitol is 209 feet lower than the Washington Monument.

•The U.S. Capitol Dome is made of 8,909,200 pounds of cast iron.

•The Rotunda, used for inaugurations and distinguished individuals lying in state, is a circular room located on the second floor. It is 96 feet in diameter and rises 180 feet from the floor to the canopy.

•That statue of King Kamehameha I was once the largest statue in the Statuary Hall Collection. It has since been moved to the Capitol Visitor Center. It is prominently displayed and is part of the lore, but the Hawaiian delegation had to approve its location because it's bad luck to step over him...so he couldn't be placed underground where people would walk above.

The library of congress is awesome too. You can actually get a library card to research their if you have a reason, apply in person, and use it. Someday I'll like to have one. Maybe someday I'll write that book I want to. Also on the Library of Congress is Thomas Jefferson's private collection. T.J. (as his friends call him) had a bit of money problem at the end of his life, and sold all his books to the government for some cash.

Some fun facts we learned about the Library of Congress.

The collection of the Library of Congress contains more than 130 million items, which includes materials in over 460 languages.
In 2007, the Library of Congress registered 526,378 claims to copyright.
The Library of Congress was established in 1800 by an act of Congress, and was begun with $5,000.
In 1814, the Library, which was then located in the Capitol Building, was destroyed when British troops burned the building and ran off with a bunch of the books.
The library was re-established in 1815 when Thomas Jefferson offered his personal collection of 6,487 books to Congress for that purpose. (Congress paid him $23,950 for the books.)
The Library of Congress doesn’t just collect books, they also have a large collection of films, maps, sheet music, manuscripts, and sound recordings

Supreme Court - As everyone knows, the Judicial System Rules! (giggle, get it?) It wasn’t the best experience. More on that another time.

Finally our day took us to Camden Yards. This ballpark was opened in 1992 and CHANGED the way the baseball parks are built. They introduced the "retro" ballpark look. Every stadium since has copied parts of their design, and the teams that built stadiums right before seeing Camden (US Cellular Field, Tropicana Field, I'm looking in your directions) are kicking themselves. Babe Ruth house growing up is where 2B is and his dad's bar stood where current CF is. They have the beautiful B and O Building in right field. Little known fact, before the Orioles moved to Camden, they played in Memorial Stadium that could be used for multiple sports. The man in charge, Larry Lucchino, would fine workers every time they called it a stadium, instead of a ballpark. His reason was just for the greatest sport ever, don't call it anything but a ballpark. He was right.

The game was awesome and we cheered very loudly the whole game for our left fielder Nolan Reimold. He loved it and the kids had a blast. Mark Ellis of the A's hit a foul ball that wacked Bryce right in the head. It sounded and looked terrible, but the doctors checked him out, and he will be fine. We did get him the ball back and Mrs Janis is taking good car of him. I guess that will teach him not to cheer. ;-)

Nolan

Now a day in review from Amy Woods

Well first of all, I woke up, and checked my text messages. It was 4 am?! Who texts me that early?! Oh yeah, "Ambriehl Turpentine." well the airport was pretty cool, and the plane ride flew by!!! But i was sitting next to a lady who obviously did NOT want to sit next to a teenager that was taller than her. Well, when we left the plane, the first place we went after we left the airport was the US Capitol. I was absolutely astonished by the amazing paintings on the walls of the domes in the building. I took probably a thousand pictures of it!!!! Then we went to the Library of Congress, and I took photos of things they said "No Photography" on. Oops.. Well we also got to the Supreme Court, and we got kicked out. D: And then my phone died! But when we went to the baseball game, and my phone withdrawals completely didn't matter anymore. It was a great game, and I'm happy I got to spend it with friends, now we are on our way to the hotel and I'm rewriting this, but today was great. Hopefully tomorrow at the Zoo will be even better :D

Now a word from Turrentine

Where do I start?? Today was one of the greatest days of my life, yo! I loved the Library of Congress, and everything else we saw! Stuff here is so GORGEOUS!!! I got to take some great pictures. The bus rides are fun with Amy and the baseball game was great! I can't wait for the Zoo, Cathedral, and more tomorrow!!! Well, back to the hotel now, to get my much needed sleep and to charge my phone. :D WOOO!!!!!!

Devin t: today was legit, except for waking up at 5. Every thing here was huge. I liked the Capitol and all the different states statues. The baseball game was fun (Nolan!) cant wait till tomorrow ,

Monica McCarson and Bailey Crawford: Today was very fun and entertaining!!!! We got to go see the Capitol building, the Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court building where we had to wait outside for a very long time and then go in for like 2 minutes and then have to leave. After that we went to a Baltimore Orioles game!!! We got on the big screen and on TV!!!! We love Nolan!!! Headed to the hotel now! And Anthony is creeping on this blog and Bailey stole his pringles. We had pinky wars on the bus because we were bored and Monica demolished Bailey and her wimpy pinkies!!!! Can't wait for tomorrow!!! Bye! :)
P.S Monica did not DEMOLISH baileys pinkies, they were just... Crippled. And it's okay cuz Bailey totally won at arm wrestling >:)
<3 Bailey..... And kind of Monica.

Finally, it’s been a long day of up and down. I’m ready for bed. I wrote this twice, only to have it be deleted.

Be sure to "Like" us on facebook. Our name is Hillwood D.C. Trip.

Our itinerary

hillwood DC Itinerary.pdf

Helpful Hints

helpful hints DC Hillwood.doc

Flight List - In case you forget

Washington D.C. Flight List 2011.xls

During lunch, we will be handing out T-Shirt Order forms Wednesday 2/23/11 and will have t-shirts on site if the kids are unsure which size they are.

We will also try to handle room assignments during lunch this week, but will do it next week if needed.

Some quotes from this past year parents....

This was an amazing trip for Sydney. She has not stopped telling people about the experience. She saw so many things and learned so much history in the short time she was there. I have so enjoyed my history lessons about the Vietman Memorial, Changing of the Guards, Washington Mounument, The Eternal Flame, Lincoln Memorial, items at the Simthsonian etc. I would certainly send her all over again.

Hannah said it was the absolute highlight of her summer and she wished she could have staying in Washington D.C. with the group all summer long. Totally worth the money.

Washington D.C =Legend..wait for it..ary!!! True story

From Blake Moss

Coach Ketcham.com

We’re all in this boat together. Everybody grab an oar." - Tom Kelly