Air and Space Museum

The day after we arrived in DC we went to the Air and Space Museum. It was awesome. This was a piece of rock from the Moon.

This is a picture of us in front of the Columbia Space capsule. It's amazing to think that 2 people fit in this and survived in space given the kind of technology they had at the time.

Rachel was trying to see if she measured up to the standards of the first stewardesses. They had to be between 5'2" and 5'8" and between 112 lbs. and 132 lbs. They also had to wear pressed and fitted gloves and could not be divorced or widowed. Ahh...those were the good old days.

This is us at the WWII memorial. We walked down here after going to the Lincoln Memorial. We walked passed the Reflecting Pool to get here. They had a column for each state so we found our favorite state which is, of course, UTAH!

Washington DC

We arrived in Washington DC at about 7 pm and walked down to the Lincoln Memorial. This whole trip was extremely patriotic. We learned a lot about the country. Lincoln was not liked and made a lot of mistakes at the beginning of his presidency. As soon as he was elected President several states left the Union and formed their own country. During the Civil War he went through several generals before he found someone that could get the job done. A lot of people thought he was going to be a terrible President.

This is a picture from the Lincoln Memorial looking out towards the Washington Monument.

This is the original photograph of the Marines hoisting the American flag over Iwo Jima. The pipe that the Marines used to secure the flag was a waterpipe that the Japanese used to get water around the island while they were building their caves. The Marines who put the flag up had no idea that this was going to be such a historic moment. In fact, they had no idea that everyone on the island was watching what they were doing and huge cheers came from everyone when the flag went up. All the ships surrounding the island blasted their horns to celebrate the victory.

This is the original flag from the picture. This is the actual flag that first flew over Iwo Jima and the first flag to fly on Japanese soil.

Rachel doing part of the obstacle course.

Nikki doing push ups on the obstacle course.

The kids are trying on a Marine backpack. They are about 60 lbs. This doesn't include their other gear. Meaning this doesn't include their gun, helmet or water.

Vika is trying a few pull-ups.

On June 29th I had birthday number 42. The kids bought me the whole Rocky series, so on the way to Washington DC, we watched all the Rockys, plus they got me the last Rocky (Rocky Balboa).

This is the entrance to the Marine Corps Museum near Quantico. We went on a tour and it took about 3 hours.

This is the inner lobby. All around the inside are quotes about the Marines. The quote at the top of this picture says, "The Marines will never disappoint the expectations of their country.....never!"