Washington DC day 3/Lake Norman Day 1

Today we left Washington DC.  Before heading out of town, we stopped at Arlington Cemetery for the morning.  I am glad that we stopped - got another thing done this first weekend in DC, but it was HOT.  100 degree weather hot.  By the time we were finished there, we were soaked and tired.  The kids seemed to enjoy it despite the heat.

We left there around lunch time - got some food and made our way to Lake Norman North Carolina to spend a few days with Mat's family.  We head back to DC for more fun by the end of the week and we are looking forward to seeing the museums at that time.

We arrived at Lake Norman around 8:30pm, just in time to find out that we are getting a new nephew.  Our 14th niece/nephew will be arriving in December.  Congratulations to Jess and Tom.

Enjoy the pictures:

 The changing of the guard.  I felt for this guy today.  We were sweating buckets - I can't imagine how he felt.

 Being a guard in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one of the highest honors you can hold in the military:

 On the weekends the guard changes every 30 minutes.  They guard the tomb 365 days a year, 24 hours a day - no matter the weather.

 This soldier came out to tell us what would be happening and to ask everyone to remain standing and silent

 the guards change:

 Military nurses memorial

 Hot and tired kids taking a break:

 Memorial for the Challenger Astronauts:

 Some of the tomb stones in the Cemetery were really neat:

 Pan Am flight 103 memorial

 The Pentagon in the distance:

 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the Civil War:

 John F Kennedy's grave and the eternal flame:

 You could see the Washington Monument in the Distance:

 right outside the gates of the cemetery

 We had Arlington in Arlington so we had to take a picture.  But she is not named after Arlington Cemetery.

Jess, Tom and Olive announce that it is a boy: