Gonna See It In Color: Memorial Day Weekend :)

The weekend began with my and Kassey's trip to NYC (see previous blog post for that trip), and then Saturday we didn't do a whole lot, although in the evening Kassey and I went out to eat and met Lauren at the restaurant and too her to the MLK memorial. I think we all enjoyed a fairly leisurely walk downtown all while on a mission. It was a night of firsts for all of us: mine was seeing fireflies because we don't have them in WA; Kassey's was walking across the Tidal Basin bridge; and Lauren's was seeing the MLK Memorial :)

At the restaurant, Oodles of Noodles, there was an electronic drink machine!! I chose lemonade, and then it gave me flavor options! Strawberry of course is what I had :)

Capitol down the mall from 15th street close to the Washington Monument.

Washington Monument with pretty sky in the background.

Lauren and me after our walk. We remembered to take a picture of both of us when we got back to Warren Hall....oops!

Sunday was filled with more laying around, getting things crossed off the to-do list little by little. The PBS concert was scheduled for that night, and I really, REALLY wanted to go. None of my PA friends were available (Megan in NYC, Kassey and Amber went to Udvar-Hazy), so I went with the CWF PAs. They planned a picnic of PB&J sandwiches, lots of fruits and chips. I was graciously invited to join in, and had a great time. I managed to stay out of the majority of the sun, and by the time the concert started the sun was hiding behind a tree. It started out great, with performances from Jessica from American Idol, Daughtry (have no idea but some of the other kids were excited), and Trace Adkins. An actress did a phenomenal job in portraying one widow's story, and everyone was emotional. Soon enough the clouds got incredibly dark and Gary Sinise announced there was a storm warning almost in effect, but no need to worry about anything yet. Next thing we know the Capitol police are announcing that eventually everyone is going to be evacuated because of major thunderstorms coming in...we packed up the food and were ready to go but kept listening because things were still happening on stage. Then, here's the real kicker, about 15 minutes later we get the order to evacuate and everyone is taken off stage, all performances post-poned, and the hosts are welcoming viewers to enjoy last year's show. We made our way down to the metro and headed home a little early that night....

John and Johanna with traveling soup!

John, Quenisha, Johanna and Dani with Wilbur.

Stage

Little girl was twirling around flags and I was very tempted to get the perfect shot...this is as close as I got.

Stage again, with hosts on the tv screen.

Daughtry

Trace Adkins, he wasn't standing in a place where I could get a good picture.

Colin Powell...he was hidden from our sight.

Natalie Cole singing along with a track of her dad's.

Today, Monday, was the annual Arlington celebration where the President speaks. We made the early trek, Kassey, Amber, Jared and Quenisha (both CWF PAs), and then met one of Lauren's friends that I met earlier this week, Angela. By the time we got to Arlington it was 8:30ish, and had to go up to the Ampitheater via tram. So, the six of us got in line for the tram and made our way up the hill and through security. At the visitor's center we were each given two roses, and instructed to place one on a grave and take the other home. We placed each of our roses on graves, and then took strategically awesome pictures :) Our seats were about ten rows back, and we had an awesome view! The six of us baked in the sun like no other, and I pulled my trusty umbrella out for a little while so that I wouldn't be quite as red as I would have been otherwise. We all had a great time, and it was a great experience I won't forget! The rest of the day we've just been hanging out, taking naps, packing, eating and laughing with each other, having a great last day with all four of us WOW PAs. Tomorrow Kassey leaves in the afternoon, then Megan and I leave Saturday, and then Amber has a couple more Nightviews and leaves a week from Wednesday.

Here's pictures from today!

Us girls and roses....Kassey, Quenisha, me, Angela and Amber

All PAs with roses....Kassey, Quenisha, Jared, me and Amber

Roses and the explanation sheet

Shot of headstones on one of the hills on our way up...the original shot was pretty dark and grainy because I was zoomed out so far, but when I edited it, it looks incredibly awesome :)

Headstones on the hillside, they're closer together than regulation gravesites because bodies can't actually be buried on the hillside, but they put just headstones there for the soldiers whose bodies cannot be retrieved.