Hi ya'll, it's Abby, and apparently I am supposed to write the blog for DC! So first we had to wake up at like four thirty am! Once we were ready, Mrs. Parks drove me and my mom to this creepy looking parking lot. A couple buses were there and TONS of kids. After we made sure everyone was on the bus, we did a "count", which basically all like forty-nine of us said a number, then once we all did it correctly, we headed to DC! { it took us around ten tries } So for the next like twelve hours, I went on the Ipad, talked and texted my friends, took way to many bathroom breaks, we also took a lunch break, me and my mom and a lot of other kids shared a really big bag of Sour Patch Kids. Finally at around five pm, we made it to our dinner stop, which was at Golden Corral. If you don't know what Golden Corral is, it's basically like a giant restaurant with a really big buffet. It was really good! I even got steak! that's five stars for me! After dinner, we only had a little bit left to go till we got to our hotel! Finally, we made it! We checked into a Best Western, figured out our roommates, then we got our room numbers and headed in. In case you were wondering who my roommates were, I got, Virginia Parks, Landis Kuder, and Mahalia Emilcent. We all set up our stuff in our room, took showers, unpacked. And I turned on the TV and found out that Masha and The Bear was on! So let's just say that that night was also five stars! So the next morning we all woke up, went downstairs for breakfast and headed to the Capitol to take pictures around it and at all the statues! We also met our tour guide who told us all about DC as we toured that, too! We toured the Washington National Cathedral, which is a really large castle with stained glass windows, and one of them has an animal that looks like a Capybara. Next up, we went to lunch at the International Trade Center. I got Subway! Very good. Ten out of ten! Then we went to a museum called The National Museum of African American History and Culture. A very long name, but a very fun place! The bottom floor was low key really sad. But the higher the floor the happier it got. Also ten out of ten, loved all the activities. After that, we went to the FDR memorial. If you look at my moms Tiktok and Instagram stuff you'll see tons of these pictures! But that was pretty fun too. I posed in front of all the random soldier dudes! Lastly we went to dinner at Primo Restaurant. Then we finally returned back to the hotel, ready for day three. OK! so day three, AKA, Tuesday. Breakfast at Ihop, I don't really like Ihop in general, but it was ok. I do remember being really full. Today we toured the Arlington National Cemetery. Kinda sad, but we toured important peoples graves, such as RBG. We also watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. The soldier did twenty one of everything, the steps he took, and when he stopped, he stopped and held very still for exactly twenty one seconds. Next, we toured the Army Museum. It was really cool I took tons of photos because I knew that my brother, Voss would like it a lot. We also had a bagged lunch there too. very good. I liked it a lot. Also there were these cool Ipad war simulator things. Really cool.
Next we toured the Lincoln, Vietnam, and Korean Memorials. They were pretty cool to look at but my legs were really sore and tired from walking. Eventually, we had dinner at Pentagon City Mall. Very tasty. Lastly, we went to the USMC Sunset Review at the Iwo Jima Memorial. More guards, but super cool. But, all got tired, so we returned to the hotel. Bedtime!!! Next morning rolls around. AKA. Wednesday! Today we went downstairs for breakfast. We were late though. Then we toured the National Law Enforcement Memorial with some lion cubs. After that, we toured the Eisenhower Memorial. We got to go inside the Capitol for a tour. We watched a movie and then saw lots of statues. We wore ear phones to hear the guide on the microphone. (And this is when Abby got tired of blogging and mom took over). I loved the capitol tour! After lunch in the food court (again, I love that tuna poke bowl) we had a few hours to check out the Smithsonians. The Parks teamed up with us and raced between Natural History, American History, sculpture garden and National Art Gallery. We got in a lot! We rode the bus to Williamsburg and stopped at another Golden Corral for dinner. I was very grateful for my roomate, Liz to have great nightcaps to maintain our sanity. We really had a wonderful time! We took all the kids to the park to run it out before bed. Thursday morning we got to sleep in and not even board the bus until 10am! The hotel was nicer. The following morning we went to Busch Gardens. I had a roller coaster group and we hit the ground running to the a coaster way in the back to get in the fun before the crowds. I was so busy running that I failed to read all the signage telling me not to bring my phone. I didn't even notice losing it until I got off the ride. Epic fail. I felt like such a moron all day. I filed an official lost item report and tried to keep the day normal. Abby and I went off on our own to ride a bunch of roller coasters. At one point I wasn't feeling so hot. I nibbled on Abby's leftovers and had a sprite. We met back up with the group to ride more rides. Endless material for jokes on me. Back on the bus, I used the Find My Phone app on the ipad to track my phone (it made the fall from the Pantheon and was underneath somewhere!). I pinged it before closing in case a maintenance guy was doing a walk through, to no avail. I tried again the next morning and the following evening at closing. It was a long bus ride home with no phone. I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Good, yet depressing. Talked to friends and teachers and took a nap. We bummed a ride home from Mr. Handy. Phil took us out for a sushi dinner (Ellie was babysitting). We had an early morning swim meet in Palatka. The kids killed it with heat ribbons! We all took Ellie to her SAT prep class and went out to lunch. We dropped Marly with the Hayes for a sleepover. At this point, I had no luck with my phone. Phil canceled all the cards in the back and I ordered a new drivers license (because yes, all that was in the back of my phone!) While Ellie was in class we went to the Verizon store to get a new phone. I'm in line for my turn with an agent and was playing on an ipad in the store. I thought I'd check on my phone one last time and saw that it had moved! I started pinging it and Phil got a call! I had turned the lost phone feature on and it had Phil's number in the lock screen. I talked to the maintenance guy and my phone was okay! What a miracle! He said it would be mailed back to me on Wednesday when the mailer guy came in. I'm still in shock! So, we left the apple store. Yay! Phil got some Father's Day shoes and we picked up Ellie. We went to the pool for dinner at the Grove then Phil and I met the Hogans and Strassers for a band at Lillians. The music was so good but I drank too much red wine. Sunday was rough. We slept in and took Phil to First Watch for Father's Day. Ellie drove me out to the beach to pick up Marly. We had a low key afternoon and went to 5pm mass. Steaks for dinner and an early bedtime. Here are the pics of the week (now that my phone is recovered!)
Next we toured the Lincoln, Vietnam, and Korean Memorials. They were pretty cool to look at but my legs were really sore and tired from walking. Eventually, we had dinner at Pentagon City Mall. Very tasty. Lastly, we went to the USMC Sunset Review at the Iwo Jima Memorial. More guards, but super cool. But, all got tired, so we returned to the hotel. Bedtime!!! Next morning rolls around. AKA. Wednesday! Today we went downstairs for breakfast. We were late though. Then we toured the National Law Enforcement Memorial with some lion cubs. After that, we toured the Eisenhower Memorial. We got to go inside the Capitol for a tour. We watched a movie and then saw lots of statues. We wore ear phones to hear the guide on the microphone. (And this is when Abby got tired of blogging and mom took over). I loved the capitol tour! After lunch in the food court (again, I love that tuna poke bowl) we had a few hours to check out the Smithsonians. The Parks teamed up with us and raced between Natural History, American History, sculpture garden and National Art Gallery. We got in a lot! We rode the bus to Williamsburg and stopped at another Golden Corral for dinner. I was very grateful for my roomate, Liz to have great nightcaps to maintain our sanity. We really had a wonderful time! We took all the kids to the park to run it out before bed. Thursday morning we got to sleep in and not even board the bus until 10am! The hotel was nicer. The following morning we went to Busch Gardens. I had a roller coaster group and we hit the ground running to the a coaster way in the back to get in the fun before the crowds. I was so busy running that I failed to read all the signage telling me not to bring my phone. I didn't even notice losing it until I got off the ride. Epic fail. I felt like such a moron all day. I filed an official lost item report and tried to keep the day normal. Abby and I went off on our own to ride a bunch of roller coasters. At one point I wasn't feeling so hot. I nibbled on Abby's leftovers and had a sprite. We met back up with the group to ride more rides. Endless material for jokes on me. Back on the bus, I used the Find My Phone app on the ipad to track my phone (it made the fall from the Pantheon and was underneath somewhere!). I pinged it before closing in case a maintenance guy was doing a walk through, to no avail. I tried again the next morning and the following evening at closing. It was a long bus ride home with no phone. I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Good, yet depressing. Talked to friends and teachers and took a nap. We bummed a ride home from Mr. Handy. Phil took us out for a sushi dinner (Ellie was babysitting). We had an early morning swim meet in Palatka. The kids killed it with heat ribbons! We all took Ellie to her SAT prep class and went out to lunch. We dropped Marly with the Hayes for a sleepover. At this point, I had no luck with my phone. Phil canceled all the cards in the back and I ordered a new drivers license (because yes, all that was in the back of my phone!) While Ellie was in class we went to the Verizon store to get a new phone. I'm in line for my turn with an agent and was playing on an ipad in the store. I thought I'd check on my phone one last time and saw that it had moved! I started pinging it and Phil got a call! I had turned the lost phone feature on and it had Phil's number in the lock screen. I talked to the maintenance guy and my phone was okay! What a miracle! He said it would be mailed back to me on Wednesday when the mailer guy came in. I'm still in shock! So, we left the apple store. Yay! Phil got some Father's Day shoes and we picked up Ellie. We went to the pool for dinner at the Grove then Phil and I met the Hogans and Strassers for a band at Lillians. The music was so good but I drank too much red wine. Sunday was rough. We slept in and took Phil to First Watch for Father's Day. Ellie drove me out to the beach to pick up Marly. We had a low key afternoon and went to 5pm mass. Steaks for dinner and an early bedtime. Here are the pics of the week (now that my phone is recovered!)