Memorial Day 2009

Friday we had to be in Fairfax, VA for an appointment at the Office of H*omeland Security. Because my daughter is in the process of adopting internationally, and because when her paperwork was up for renewal she was temporarily living with us, DH & I had to be fingerprinted and have background checks. Well, turns out I have no fingerprints! I had two sets made at the Raleigh office, and two sets at the local police station. They finally did a state police background check and we thought that took care of it. Then Amy got a letter that we had an appointment in Fairfax on Friday. Turns out I had to be sworn in and answer some questions. Usually any trip to a government office takes hours, but yesterday went pretty fast and smoothly (she got her renewal), so since we were so close we decided to head for Washington D.C. for a few hours.

It was a beautiful day, but since it was already 1:00 or so we couldn't see much, but decided to go to the Vietnam Memorial and monuments on that end.

Obviously I can't hold the camera straight - but a beautiful view of the Washington Monument anyway!

Inside the Lincoln Memorial.

From outside. Washington has really beautiful buildings!

None of us had been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and it was very moving. They were preparing for Memorial Day events so there were flowers everywhere and apparently a biker-veteran week-end as there were many there and lots of others arriving as we left. Sorry I didn't get any of their pictures because some were quite interesting!

This is the memorial for women veterans and nurses - for my nurse friends!

When we left, everyone else that works in DC was also leaving and it took 2 hours to go 45 miles. Friday afternoon, the beginning of a holiday weekend - not the best time, but we enjoyed the day anyway.

On a different note......

This picture was taken last weekend when the family came down and we went to Festival In the Park. Our oldest granddaughter was always fearless. She loved everything and everybody, wanted to do everything, and still does. The 2 year old however is a little more timid. She wanted really badly to ride the train. She got on eagerly and was happy that another little girl rode with her, then the train started! As it went around the track away from us she was okay, but as soon as it got near us and she saw her mother she started to cry. Here she is with her hand in her mouth looking just a little scared. She made it the whole ride, but didn't want to ride anything else!