Self Portrait of me at the postal museum today

The real history of Good Mail

Ok, so if after reading my crazy pink blog you are not sold on visiting D.C. with your family after hearing about being able to:

• roll Easter Eggs on the White House lawn while dancing 3 feet from Hannah Montana and waving to the first lady from the balcony for free
  
• the cheapest ribbon you will ever find at the ribbon outlet
• being on the same grounds as George Washington at Mt. Vernon
• Ben's Chili bowl
• seeing the Hope diamond at the Natural History Musem (read on for my good mail giveaway)
• trick or treating at the Air and Space Museum

Then today is your day to plan a trip to Washington D.C.!

Today Jeff and the two littles and I went to The Smithsonian National Postal Museum. It has just gone to the top of my favorite Smithsonian Museums. (Jill you are going to go crazy!) I have wanted to go since our first visit to Union Station when we first moved here. It is right across the street from Union Station.
It is one of the most interactive museums for kids. Annie Kate was in school and I can not wait to take her back. They had small magnifying glasses to look up close at stamp collections. These stamps were amazing.

this was one room where the wall just had at least a hundred of doors that slid out full of stamps from all over the world. They were beautiful.this was a panel from Russia.

Currently there is an exhibit there (it will be gone by the end of the summer - don't miss if if you are close!) that talks about the artwork that gets chosen for stamps. They had about 50 stamps that showed the original artwork that was painted for stamps over the years. It was wonderful. I took this picture for my friend Emily G. as I thought she would appreciate the stamp made of Emily Dickinson. This is the print.

This is the 8 cent stamp that came out the year her and I were both born.

There was a stamp store where you could buy retired stamps at face value. I was going crazy asking the lady how many I could buy, what ones she had in etc. I was just excited buying the stamps as I was buying ribbon by the bolt for $5.00. I thought this lamp was cool that was covered with stamps galore - Jill you should do something like this with all your good mail stamps.
I bought the Happy Birthday Stamps (inspired by Liz who had them all over my birthday package) and some of the Olivia and children books stamps. Even though they are $.39 cent stamps I buy the Tiffany lamp one cent stamps because I like the look of them better than the two cent stamps -
Pony Express exhibit.
The pony express was only running for 19 1/2 months. It was not until today that Jeff informed me that his great, great, great relative was a pony Express rider. I googled him and he came up all over the place and have been reading about him all night. I married into a family of Good Mail originators - who knew?
They had awesome old mailboxes all over the museum.
They had two awesome interactive exhibits.One was where you could punch in someones address and it would print their name on a souvenir postcardwe only did one, but next time I am bringing my good mail list with me. Caroline loved it. So one of my blog readers is getting a post card soon.
then the other awesome part of the museum was learning how custom mail is sent out. You punch in your name, the screen takes a photo of you and gives you a plastic credit card. You take the card through the museum and at the end it prints you a letter and envelope and shoots out of a machine for you to take home as a souvenir. It is awesome!

The girls were hungry and our time became quit limited once Caroline started checking out as we walked through the many stamp collections. I thought about Jill the whole time, the Queen of good mail. Did you know my friend Jill has compiled a list of 100 bloggers address to encourage good mail, she knows all their birthdays and reminds everyone of their special day (birthday post coming soon, i promise)
So I only had 30 seconds in the gift shop to get something for the Good Mail Queen. I can't show the item here as it would ruin her surprise. We ran across the street to Union Station to get some lunch. I was thrilled to add another photo to my "me in D.C." gallery. You can't tell by the photo but the arches as you walk in are eye catching. The amazing thing about Union Station is it has some of the busiest people in the world along side some who have nothing to do. There are men running around in suits everywhere as there are men asking for change. It seems like such an extreme. I watched two men in suits going down to the metro who looked like the veins were going to pop out of their head with stress and excitement. They could have come out of the Capitol trying to get a new law in motion. So many people around there with so many stories to tell.

This was a quote on the wall at the museum

"The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities."

some recent library books.

I had checked out a slew of books at the library for my D.C. class and was thrilled to flip through them all this past week. I know there are some of you coming to D.C. this summer and these would be great ones to pick up.
this is a great kids book that talks about the Vietnam memorial. Really great.
this is the second time I have checked out this book and I love it. Before going to any art museum I suggest getting a book on the museum and looking at what you will be looking at. It makes the adventure much more enjoyable. This one is about the Natioal Portrait Gallery.
I am hoping to get to the Hirshorn Museum this summer and have been looking through a great book on that this week.
This book is from the same author as my Benjamin Franklin book. I am amazed at how much you can learn from this author's children books. I like the Ben Franklin one more but still picked up a few trivia facts about the great President Lincoln.
The FDR memorial is full of symbolism! chuck full! I had not read anything about it before going and now after reading this I can't wait to go back. If you only get to go once read as much as you can before you go. There are 4 sections representing his 4 terms. This man was amazing. Reading this was like a mini history lesson on WWII, something I know so little about.

So I will be adding these to my "So you want to teach your kids about D.C." gallery.

Argentine Embassy

As I get ready to type about our night, I still can not even believe how blessed we were to do what we did tonight. It was truly a tender mercy to have this experience.

We had been invited to come to a reception at the Argentine Embassy because my husband has served a two year mission for our church there. We had recently had dinner with a diplomat from Argentina and met him and his family and were thrilled to be invited. The way this all came together is to me is as well amazing.
Another missionary from Argentina, who is much younger than my husband works on Capitol Hill and had met this diplomat. During a conversation this young man asked what he thought about bringing as many past missionaries from their country together for a reception at the Embassy. This diplomat was more than thrilled to host this event.

We took the metro to DuPont Circle. I still am so amazed when I am on the Metro and feel like such a small town girl. I love looking at everyone and wondering where they are going, how their day was, are they excited or sad to get home. (this is always tough for Jeff because my mind is racing and it is hard to have a conversation with me)

When we came out of the escalators coming out of the Metro it was POURING rain. This photo does not even do justice to how cool it was to just riding up waiting to get hit by all the water.
We got off at DuPont and luckily only had to run in a down pour for two blocks to New Hampshire Ave.

The Argentine Embassy is not on Embassy row but in a neighborhood right off DuPont Circle. The home was built in 1901. In 1916 the home was purchased by Argentina.
It is exquisite! This is an OVAL (I have never seen an oval room like this before) reception room full of art. There was stain glass everywhere with the RA monogram on it (Republic of Argentina) All of the door knobs and window knobs were just beautiful. I had asked the diplomats wife if it was OK to take photos and she said yes, but still I didn't want to go camera happy, so I didn't take that many. I just felt so honored to be there, I didn't want to ruin the chance to get invited back.

There was a small reception and then the young man who organized it spoke and introduced President Hammond (The Washington D.C. Temple President) who spoke and then introduced the Argentine Ambassador.
The young man who spoke did an incredible job. The one thing that really touched me was when he said,
"As missionaries I know we all made one promise as we flew home, that we would some day return to Argentina. Today you have come true to your promise, because right now in this home your are on Argentine soil. You have returned."
President Hammond spoke to the Ambassador and told him,
"In this room sits some of your best ambassador's. They come home and share their love of Argentina, they tell their families. They get married and tell their spouses of their love for Argentina. Then they have children and what is their favorite stories to tell their children? The stories from Argentina! Then their children become Ambassador's for Argentina." I of course was crying!
The Ambassador is an amazing man and had even run for president of his country. He spoke of his love for our church and what changes it has brought to his country. He said he loves how our church teaches the people to work through example. It was truly an amazing night.

They then brought out empanadas, fresh mango slices and Dulce de leche cookies( i don't remember the actual name). Those empanadas were as amazing as Jeff has always described them to me. If I would have had pockets I would have filled them full to take home.
I am hoping to get together with the diplomats wife sometime as she said she would be happy to teach me how to make them. Nothing would make Jeff happier then for me to know how to make those.


Before we got back on the Metro to go home we stopped off at Krispy Kreme at DuPont circle and had a yummy lemonade slushy and looked over the map of Argentina and it is probably the first time Jeff has shown me on a map all the places he lived and holds so dear to his heart!

Discovering D.C.

Tonight was my Discovering D.C. class at my Church. It was kind of fun to go through this past year and get things ready for it. It also is the reason why I have not posted or done my SPT this week. I had two tables set up with ideas, books galore (I think I checked out 20 library books) I gave little goodies to the person who has lived in the area the longest and the one who have lived here the shortest. I also gave away something to who could name the monument that has replaced the President in one of the Presidential monuments.
I made a Family Home Eventing Quiz to take home and get everyone excited about diving into the city. I am happy to email that to anyone along with the answers. Each answer gives a little bit of a history lesson and is kind of fun.

I tried to make a list of some of the this we did this year.

• tour of the White House (call your congressman 6 weeks in advance to get tickets)
  
• Mt. Vernon 18th Century Craft Fair (this is in mid September)
• National Christmas Tree lighting Ceremony (camped out for Tickets)
• Baltimore Aquarium
• Cherry Blossom Festival (March 29 - April 13, 2008)
  
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Old Town Alexandria
• Antietam
• Harper's Ferry
• Roosevelt Island
• Fords Theatre (closed until Nov. 2008) seeing A Christmas Carol is a must see in December
• Glen Echo Park
• Great Falls MD
• Annapolis
• Bowling in China Town
• Union Station
• The Awakening
• National Cathedral (go to the top and get great photos)
  
• Embassy Row
• FDR Memorial (don't go here without reading the history of this memorial, it is AMAZING!)
  
• General Mead Memorial
• First Infantry Division Memorial (this is in front of the White house, the big red 1)
• Navy Memorial (the charging of the fountains is in the Spring, it is the only time the water is stopped and they bring in water from all 7 seas)
• top of the Washington Monument (get tickets online in advance only $1.50 charge)
• World War II Memorial
  
• Lincoln Memorial
• Korean Memorial
• Vietnam War Memorial on Memorial Day
• Textile Museum
• African American Civil War Museum
• National Museum of Health & Medicine (on Walter Reed Campus, see Dan Sickles leg)
• National Zoo
• National Portrait Museum (this book is a must read before you go)
  
• Museum of the American Indian (eat here!!)
• National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden
• Renwick Art Gallery (one of my favorites)
• National Archives
• Woodrow Wilson House
  
• American History Museum (will reopen Summer 2008, many items are at Air and Space)
• Air & Space on the National Mall (the McDonald's there has cool Air & Space happy meal toys)
• Air & Space , Udvar-Hazy Center by Dulles airport (Sat before Halloween they have a great scare in the Air event)
• Bureau of Engraving and Printing (loved this too went with David and Lenessa, ticket information here. )
• The beach at Ocean City
• Assaeague State Park and saw wild horses running along the beach
• Library of Congress National Book festival (Sept. 29, 2007) a must!
• renaissance Festival (would not do again)
• Whites Ferry
• Historic Leesburg
• Gettysburg
• Lucketts
• Easter Egg Roll at the White House (tickets are very hard to get for this!)
  
• National Art Museum
  
• Smithsonian Castle information center (a great place to start, even though this is one of the last things we have done) you can send mail here that get's hand cancelled with a smithsonian stamp
  
• Spy Museum
• Smithsonian Carousel (every kid needs to rid it once)

My Favorite Finds are:

Ribbon Outlet 857 Willow Circle, Hagerstown, MD 301.745.4714
Value Village 227 University blvd. E Hyattsville MD 301.4222406
Great Stuff by Paul 10 North Carrol Street, Frederick MD 21701
Homestead Farms 156000 Sugarland Road, Poolseville, MD 20837
Barbara Fritchie Candy Stick Resturant W US 40 Frederick, MD 301.662.2500

Favorite place to eat - is Ben's Chili Bowl 1213 U Street NW Washington D.C.

White Events Anyone can go to!

1. Garden Tour Summer July 21 & August 11th. Fall is sometime in October and Spring is sometime in March. Tickets are so easy to get to this and you can get them the day of.
2. Christmas Tree lighting Ceremony (must sleep out for tickets)
3. Easter Egg roll (also camp out for tickets, I think military might get in with ID)
4. Tours (call your congressman, give it 6 weeks to process your social security number)

Some of my other tips.

• Get large magnifying glasses for your kids to take to museums and nature centers. It keeps them really quite in Art Museums. It is the ultimate art of distraction. I bought mine from this seller on Ebay.
• Get a National Parks Passport only $7.00. makes a great wedding gift.
• The more you read and study about each place you visit the more you will get out of it. I try to find any children's book on each monument or Smithsonian before we go. Children's books are a fast read and give you the highlights.
  

It was a fun night and great for me to get together what we did this year. I missed Annie Kate's swim meet and was kind of sad. She finished first in the back stroke and knocked 5 seconds off her time from last week. This girl is a FISH!

So I will send 11.5 yards of patriotic themed ribbon to the first person who can answer my question that I asked the class.

Which Presidential Monument has replaced the current statue
of the President and why? (no googling)

** and it still amazes me a year ago I did not know ANY of this!**

bird hat

running in the door from a great day walking down the George Washington Parkway to old town Alexandria and running out the door. I just had to post one photo from a beautiful spring day here. Sally Jane got to wear a bird for a hat. She stood perfectly still with the bird man put it on her head.

the rest of the day...

Easter Egg Roll

When leaving the White House Lawn today, I wished I could have called everyone I know and done a large group call and shared my excitement for the great day I had with my girls.

Very last minute I got tickets to the Annual(since 1872) Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn. read history here.

Tickets are really hard to get and the story on how I got them is a post within itself, but I am not sure if I want to reveal my sources in case it could keep me from getting them again next year. If you see me, ask me in person, let's just say that I need to add, "resourceful" to my 100 list. (and I didn't even use any of Jeff's connections)

It was freezing outside and up until 10 minutes before I considered staying home and meeting my sister in law at Mt. Vernon. Jeff went back to work today after a fun Spring Break and I thought "do I want to do this with just me and the girls?" So glad I did! It was really hard to take photos and push the double stroller over the grass and chasing Caroline, but so worth it.

the girls each got a poster in our amazing goody bags

For you graphics people the tickets and logo were just amazing! the signage was just beautiful to look at.

Each child has the chance to roll a real hard boiled egg on the lawn just yards away from the front doors of the white house. The White House volunteer said they were boiled 5 weeks ago.Sally Jane and Annie Kate getting ready to roll.
Thanks Mimi for the new birthday dress for her to wear.

Caroline rolling away!

Now you Very Bradley fans, notice the QUILTED tablecloths... they are actual Very Bradley quits with her newest print Capri Melon. It was everywhere! Even on the face painting tables. Seriously they decorated with Vera Bradley quilts in my favorite print... I am playing with my girls on the White House lawn singing to Johnnie and the Sprites, The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana, photo ops everywhere...does it get better than this?
This was Annie Kate with one of the MANY characters walking around the south lawn. Notice the fabric on her sleeves... yes Vera Bradley

Every PBS character was there. They even had a great Amelia Bedilia. I was tempted to ask her if I could take a self portrait of my in her cool hat, but didn't have enough arms to do so.

When we walked in we saw Denise Austin on stage 1, working out with Shrek. Funny combo huh?
They had a reading corner with famous people reading children books. We had missed Mary Pope Osborne, darn. But saw Kasey Kahne (some Nascar guy)

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We then went over to one of the two performing stages and hit perfect timing for a mini concert, 5 feet from the stage of the Jonas Brothers. Annie Kate rushed the stage and her fingers in the air to try to touch them. I had both little girls in each arm and was singing every word and dancing like a kid.

We then went to the next stage and hit it perfect for Johnny and the Sprites. Jeff imitates him all the time and I was laughing the whole time. We love this show! Caroline and Sally Jane were jumping out of their skin they were so excited.

We had missed Hannah Montana the first time she performed, as it took a long time to get through security. We then overheard that she was going to perform again, we went back to the stage and waited out the next performance for Annie Kate to get as close as possible. Me and the little ones stayed in the back. I don't know if there would be anyone that I would be more excited to see than these kids stars. I was like all the 10 year olds around me, screaming and dancing. This was the best photo I could get.


As we left all the kids got a goodie bag from President Bush. A box of peeps, crayons, coloring book, book mark, the book "Guess How Much I Love You?" and a wooden egg with the year and his signature. (they are already selling them on eBay)

President Bush was in Arizona working on Border Patrol but we saw Laura Bush just before she went into the White House and she waved goodbye to everyone.

This was the sign on the way off the lawn, "See you next year"
You better believe it!

The photos from the day.

day on the water.

Today we spent the day in Baltimore at the Aquarium which is right on the water and then drove down to Annapolis to finish off the day.
We are exhausted, full of yummy food and giddy from the fun we had.

This picture was taken of Jeff and his Sister and it was by far my favorite photo of the day!

My email box and mail box are overflowing and I can't wait till things slow down so I can actually write some thank you notes and answer some emails.