DC IN THE SUMMERTIME

     Art has a conference in Washington DC every June. Since #2 lives there now we took advantage of his stay there and used it as a family vacation.

     Before hitting the road that Saturday morning Brittany had a little business to attend to. She was running in her first half marathon in Raleigh. We went to see her cross the finish line and then went home to let her  shower.

DC is a about a four hour drive from Raleigh.  

Guess who took a little nap in the car!

Our first night there we went to Georgetown to walk around and have dinner. 

It was sooooo nice to see my girls together!

Mr. E joined us.

While Art was in his meetings the girls and I wandered around the DC area, ate lunch and shopped.

We finally got to try Le Diplomate.

So what does a University of North Carolina grad purchase at TJ Maxx?

A ram's head!

We met with Art in the evenings for more eating dinner

and one night we had ice cream in the hotel room. 

Another evening we went to a rooftop reception with Art . 

Art had a special role at the conference and introduced Dr. Ben Carson.

 We got to meet Dr. Carson and spend some time talking to him in a smaller reception later. 

Barrett and I went to the National Zoo to see the pandas.  

It was feeding time for them when we got there and we got a very good long look. 

Very cute!

The morning before we left we went to take a peak at the White House.

Our hotel was only a block and half from it and we hadn't seen it the entire time we were there. 

          I love spending time in Washington especially now since Brooke is there. There is so much to do even outside of all the typical tourist things. We discover something new every time we go. 

     We are packing up this morning and getting ready to head to the beach for the Fourth - maybe next year we can spend it in DC! I bet the fireworks are spectacular!