Day 3

It was fairly chilly today mostly in the forties but warmed up a little in the evening. I went to 4 sessions today and not one was a disappointment. Craighton and I had lunch together again just from the exhibits and I headed out at 2:30pm when I had another problem with the shuttle bus. The front desk told me again that the shuttle bus would be there in 10 minutes, twenty minutes later I called them and they said he left the airport 4 minutes ago. There is something weird going on! Anyway I won't bore you with the entire story. I'll skip right to the best part!

Corey, Melanie and Emma drove up from Williamsburg, Virginia to visit us. They showed up at the hotel around 3:30pm and we just sat around and caught up on the latest news. Arou 4:30pm we left for Union Station. It was nice to be in a car again! Corey did a great job of getting us there. He also gave ndus a bit of a tour of downtown DC. It was a fun way to see Washington DC for the first time with such great friends! Emma was a doll as usual. It was so much fun to get to spend some time getting to know her personality. She is so easy going and go with the flow (I wonder who she gets that from!). I felt bad b/c she was starting to get a cold and would sneeze and cough every once in a while. Melanie had been up late the night before b/c she is starting to teethe. You can see where the teeth are getting close to breaking through. When we arrived at Union Station we staked out the restaurant we were supposed to meet Craighton at, the Thunder Grill. It was so much fun just relaxing and having time to talk to other doctrinal believers. We talked about what each of us is listening to currently at church. Emma ate and we finally ordered some nachos waiting for Craighton.

Around 6pm Craighton arrived and after introductions to Corey, we ordered dinner. It was a good dinner but it went by too quickly. We had to be at the Trolley booth by 7pm. Melanie and Corey considered going but finally decided it would probably be too much for Emma. I think they made a good decision. Even though I loved the tour, it got to be very long and I was very tired by the end. We quickly hugged good-bye but I was really sad. I wish we would have had more time together.

At the moonlight tour we ended up on a bus with a driver and a tour guide. According to them it was the only bus that didn't have the driver be the tour guide. Our guide was great. He was funny and not only knowledgeable but was very passionate about our American history. He lost a grandfather and uncle in WWII and his father served for 45 years. The tour was fantastic but we saw so many things and heard so many stories that I couldn't begin to tell it all! We stopped and got out at the FDR Memorial, the Marine Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. My pictures are all from inside a vehicle or at night without a tripod or monopod so they are pretty disappointing. If you would like to see them, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/asj693/WashingtonDC_Day2?authkey=o8IbeeyClbM. I will try to add captions to them tomorrow. I loved seeing the Potomac and really enjoyed how the monument and many of the large memorials could often be seen from many different places and many different angles. I was also very moved by the different war memorials. I get chills looking at them and realizing that b/c of their sacrifices I am free today. We also enjoyed the cherry blossoms which I don't think will last much longer. They smelled so beautiful.