Our nation's capitol

We took advantage of the 3-day weekend and turned it into a 5-day weekend. We went down to Washington D.C. to spend time with our friends Em & Brett. Thanks guys, for such a great trip! It was our 3rd time visiting D.C., but we still found plenty of stuff we hadn't seen!

Capitol Building

We went on a tour of the Capitol Building, and it was pretty neat to see the inside. This is the hallway leading to the House of Representatives' chamber (they were in session while we were there). We even saw Nancy Pelosi, on her way to session.

Capitol Building Rotunda

Old Supreme Court offices, in the basement of the Capitol Building (they don't use the offices anymore)

Cory doing his best to look like a hoodlum in front of the FBI building

The White House

The White House

Washington Monument

Vietnam Memorial Wall (so cool to see!)

Korean Monument

We rode the elevator up the Washington Monument, and the view was awesome. This is overlooking the mall, down to the Capitol Building.

White House, as seen from the top of the Washington Monument

Monument to the Marines - better known as Iwo Jima. It was so huge! Much bigger than I was expecting...

Iwo Jima

Washington National Cathedral. Very cool inside. This is where Pres. Obama came for prayer service the day after he was sworn in.

National Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral - way cool

Monument at the Pentagon Building. Each bench is designated to a specific person.

Pentagon Memorial - such a sobering place to visit

Our romantic Valentines Dinner. It was really yummy. We made the boys' favorite - chicken cordon bleu.

Cory playing around with a bottle - I snapped the picture at the perfect moment.

It was 'Restaurant Week' in D.C. and so we took advantage of it. Really fancy places that are usually $80/plate (or more) offer a limited selection from their menus, and let people come in for much less than normal price. We paid $20/plate for lunch. We ate at Il Mulino, an Italian place. Best food I've ever had, hands down. The cheesecake was to DIE for.

Ford's Theatre, where Abe Lincoln was shot.

After he was shot, he was taken across the street to the Peterson home. He died in back room of the house.

Inside Ford's Theatre

The box where Lincoln was seated.

Ford's Theatre

Em discovered how to make the Wingers sauce (and for those of you who don't know, I loooove Wingers sauce!) So we had Wingers night at their house ... it was tasty!!

We also went to see the monuments at night. Very cool! This picture is taken at Iwo Jima, and you can see the Lincoln Monument, Washington Monument & Capitol in the distance.

Iwo Jima at night

Washington Monument at night

On our way home, we stopped and did a session at the D.C. temple.

Yeah, it's a gorgeous building, inside and out.

I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures to just these; we took so many! We had dinner with my aunt & uncle and enjoyed our time with them (though we totally forget to get a picture of the evening). We also wandered through the Museum of American History and saw the original U.S. flag; the one that hung over Ft. McHenry to signify victory and inspired The Star Spangled Banner. No pictures allowed, since it's in a climate controlled room. Still very cool. It's much larger than I expcted.

Spending time with Em, Brett & Abby was just wonderful. We miss being close to friends and family, so we're happy when we can go visit people we love. Plus the history in D.C. is fascinating. All in all, one fabulous trip!