Tour of DC and Capitol Hill

Todays big events were a bus tour of DC, pictures of all the champions and the entire group in front of the Capitol followed by lunch at Capitol Hill.

The girls didn't seem impressed by the tour of DC, though Jim and I enjoyed it very much. They also weren't very impressed by the stories I was trying to conjure up about the Presidents to keep them interested in the monuments they were seeing. We told them that Daddy had lived in Washington, England which is where George Washington's ancestors had come from (yawn), then we told them the famous story about George Washington cutting down the cherry tree (that one got a glimmer of interest), the Boston Tea Party and throwing the silver dollar across the Potomac River (yawn yawn). My career at conjuring up an interest in my girls around American history was capped off with Kayla saying "Momma, don't tell us those stories. Tell us the Snow White story again." Good thing I'm not a teacher, I guess!

At Capitol Hill Orrin Hatch welcomed us and kicked off lunch. There were about a dozen senators who made an appearance and greeted the Champions from their states. Several other families have meetings with their state representatives tomorrow. I'm sorry to say New York representatives were not among the present. But that's OK. It was still fun to see the other Senators and to meet and enjoy the other families and children. Kayla and Keira made a new best friend (besides Miss America). Katie D'Arcy from Michigan. You can read her story on the CMN website, but briefly, two years ago on New Years Eve Kathie's father was flying Katie and two of her friends home from a 4 day ski trip and their plane crashed. The crash unfortunately killed Katie's father and left her critically injured - with just about every bone in her body broken or fractured. Katie is a beautiful and kind young woman who is focused on becoming a pediatrician. Judging from the way she was with our girls, she will be a very successful one. My girls spoke to her a mile a minute and we had to pry them off her to get back to the buses.

Keira feel asleep in my arms on the way back to the hotel so soundly she was snoring and so we decided a nap was in order. Mommy stayed back at the hotel with the girls while Daddy went to "Newseum" and had a great time. Tonight is family free time, so we will meet our dear friend Cindy for dinner; and then to bed early as we have a morning radio show we've been asked to participate in at 7:10 am tomorrow followed by our big White House event and then a closing dinner with the families.

Wish us luck getting the twins up, ready and out the door in time...