IT Part 3

Friday January, 16, 2009.
We made it to Northern Virginia yesterday afternoon. The flight up was pretty uneventful. the kids did great and we had a great time catching up with our friends Ronald and Erin and their kids (whom we are staying with). Last night was a bit long as Cade decided to stay up most of the night. We think he is just getting over a cold. Parker is doing great.

It is cool being back up in an area we enjoyed the past few years. Most of the locals here think we are crazy for going to the Inauguration. The security is going to be crazy. They are closing all the bridges in and out of DC. The Metro (subway system) is running or 24 hours starting at 5 am on Tuesday. They are expecting millions to be downtown. And there are approximately 10,000 charter buses coming to DC for the festivities. On top of that, Martin Luther King, Jr. day is Monday and there are several events planned for that day as well. We go down on Monday to pick up our tickets and get the low down on where we will be standing and how to go through security and what we can bring in etc. Our understanding so far is we can NOT bring in any bags, backpacks, purses, etc at all. We are going to bring our small digital camera for pictures. Hopefully that will make it through. Oh and the temperature this morning was 8 degrees. It is now a balmy 12!! How I have missed NOVA winters.

More later...

Inauguration Trip Part 2

Hey there gang. We are taking a break from packing and beginning to realize we are heading to the Inauguration. Tonight I talked with Erin (one of friends in Northern VA, we are staying with her and her family). We are excited to be able to visit with some friends while on this trip. There are so many people we want to visit with. We had a great time while living there.

We actually went to President Bush's first Inauguration. The weather was typical January weather. It was about 30 degrees, raining, sleeting, snowing, and yucky. Later that day we got about 5 inches of fresh snow. It was an amazing event to see so many people involved in. It hit us how cool it is to live in a country that peacefully transitions power from one person to another. Of course there were some demonstrators and those that opposed the proceedings but that is another great thing about this country. We were not very close to the actual podium but could zoom in with our camera. Not sure they are allowing those this year.

Its going to be a great time. We are looking forward to it. More to come.

Inauguration Trip Part 1

Well, it is officially official. My family and I are going to the DC area to visit some friends. But we are also going to the Inauguration. We are very excited about it. Mindy was able to get online the day after the election and put our names on several lists requesting tickets. 2 weeks ago we got a call saying we had 2. We will be in the lawn of the Capital watching one of the most historic events of our nations history. We are still a bit shocked we get the chance to be there.

I am going to spend the next few days leading up to the big event blogging about our trip and hopefully have some pics to share as well. I ask for prayers for my family as we travel as well as the other folks (estimated to be around 2 million) that make their way downtown. Please pray also for our newly elected President. Whether you like him or not, voted for him or not, he deserves our prayers as would any of our leaders.

Our first leg of the trip starts Wednesday. I can't wait!