Going History

On Wednesday Lisa wanted to go see as many of the monuments as she could. She mapped out a course, and we did a lot of walking.

We started with the Washington Monument, which is pretty impressive. When it was built, it was the tallest manmade structure in the world (and in history up to that point), and it was quite a while after before it was finally surpassed. It's still the tallest stone structure in the world.






Then we headed down past the World War II monument (it was raining, so we didn't take time to look at it really) and along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Monument. Lisa was fascinated by the baby ducks swimming in the reflecting pool.

The Lincoln Monument was really neat. It's an amazing experience to stand there beneath the solemn stare of President Lincoln and read the words of the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address carved into the marble walls.

They don't make presidents like that any more.

Jet Airliner

Tuesday morning we went with Debbie and Greg and kids to the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.



The boys enjoyed the tower that overlooks Dulles airport.



Most of the center is basically just a huge hanger crammed with all kinds of airplanes. They've got something like 150 - 200 planes on display. I won't bore you with all the photos, but it was really, really cool.

Natural Science

After the NHD presentations on Monday we took the Metro into D.C. It's cool to just be crossing the street and all of a sudden, wow, there's the Capital building!



Lisa's first D.C. destination was the Museum of Natural History.



Of course, you can't miss the elephant in the lobby.




Lisa mostly wanted to look at the jewels and rocks. They have a lot of really cool ones!



By the time we finished with those, she was pretty tired, so we headed back.



Goodbye for today, D.C.

You can make history (young again)

Here are a few photos from Lisa's National History Day experience. Way too much happened in five days to fit in one post, so this will probably end up as three or for entries. If I get around to it.

For the competition, kids can enter exhibits, papers, Web sites, documentaries, or performances that have to do with a particular historical theme. This year, the theme was Innovations in History. Each state can send up to two entries for each of the five categories, individual or group, in junior and senior divisions. So, there are up to 20 entries from each state (plus some other regions like Guam and Samoa), for a potential total of over 1000 entries. They said that including participants, parents, teachers, and judges, there were about 8000 people in attendance. It was pretty crazy.

Lisa and her partner Sarah did a group performance in the Junior division, and were one of 79 entries. They didn't make the cut as one of the 14 finalists, but I thought they did a great job in their performance.

Anyway, here are some photos from the NHD-related parts of the trip.

In the airport -- Lisa's trademark cool look.



The student union building at the University of Maryland. This building was kind of the NHD headquarters. Registration was here, as well as all the exhibits and some of the performances. It was always packed.



The building where Lisa and Sarah did their presentation.



Hanging out with Kermit and Jim Henson in front of the student union building.



Lisa and Sarah with the Idaho banner at the opening ceremony.



Lisa looking cool in front of the student union building.



One of the 25 existing copies of the original Declaration of Independence, printed the evening of July 4, 1776, on display at UM as part of NHD.



One NHD tradition is for the kids to bring pins that represent their home state, and then trade them with other kids. Here is Lisa's hat after trading pins with kids from several dozen states.



The crowd at the closing awards ceremony. They gave awards for the top two places in each category, plus some special sponsored award (like "best exhibit related to naval history"). Some of the special awards were pretty hefty -- the History Channel sponsored five $5000 awards, some universities gave full four-year tuition scholarships, and two teachers (including one from Idaho) won $10000 grants.



Back to Aunt Debbie's house, tired but happy!


And some bonus photos of the Maryland cousins that we don't get to see so often.

Graduation

Here are some photos of Rachel's big day.

It was a good ceremony. It wasn't too long, and the talks were all good and interesting. It was very nice.

A couple of things I noticed that were different from the last time I remember actually paying much attention at a graduation (which has been a while...) -- there was no mention of valedictorians etc. either in the ceremony or printed in the program. Also, there was no opening or closing prayers. I wonder when they stopped doing that?

Anyway, on with the photos...

The candidates march in.


Rachel in the crowd.

Heading toward the stand, pausing for an official photo.

Rachel's moment in the spotlight. Her shoes kind of stand out, don't they?

Going across the stand, take two. This time she's escorting a friend who needed some extra support.

It's official! Time to toss the caps...



Afterwards, with friends.



With grandparents.

Planting one on Daniel...

...who is not really into that sort of thing. :)

With the siblings.

With the family.

Extended family.



Just goofing around.





Congratulations!!!!!