Absence Definitely Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

I have had the very fortunate experience of being in Washington, D.C. since Sunday. I have been the VFW's National Citizenship Teacher of the Year's biggest fan and tag-a-long. I have never been to Washington, so this has been an amazing experience. On Sunday, we ventured out to Georgetown which I have to admit was a little disappointing. The shopping downtown was way out of our league. We also learned a valuable lesson- - - NEVER eat at a restaurant where you can't read the menu! My salad tasted fishy, but of course it was caesar. When our pizza came out, it also tasted quite FISHY! We opted to send it back to the kitchen and try something a little safer. On Monday, Carolyn had her big presentation, and we spent the evening with a family member of hers eating at a French bistro. We played it very safe with steak and french fries. I would have to say today was probably the best! We began our day with a fantastic breakfast at a small restaurant around the corner from our hotel. We then had back-to-back appointments and photo shoots with our senators. We concluded our visit with a tour of the Capitol building in which Ted Kennedy entered an elevator that we exited- - - very exciting. My favorite part of this tour was being able to sit in on a few minutes of the Senate. Jim Demint was actually proposing an admendment to a bill that centered around consumer safety of products, especially products for children. This definitely is something that I feel very strongly about. I vowed NOT to purchase toys made in China for Ella. But sadly, after much research there were virtually NO products made in the USA available! Anyway, I hope that our senators can work together, so that we can begin to see changes in the safety of products being placed in the hands and MOUTHS of our children very soon. Speaking of safety, the security in Washington is fierce. Police are everywhere, on every set of steps, behind bushes, on top of buildings, on every street corner, virtually everywhere. We actually were standing on a street corner waiting to cross when a motorcade came zooming right in front of us. We're not sure who was traveling in the motorcade, but we just tell ourselves it was probably the President or Vice-President. Several vehicles in the motorcade had their windows down and men were pointing guns (large guns) out the window. Wow!! On a much lighter note, our night concluded with a FABULOUS banquet dinner. Carolyn stood in front of literally thousands of veterans and delivered a fabulous acceptance speech. I sat back very relaxed and proud and enjoyed grand conversation with some pretty amazing veterans myself! Tomorrow, we begin our day with a tour of the White House. We hope to fit in much more tomorrow before we journey back to the "real world", or at least "our world"!

I can't wait to hug, kiss, and snuggle with my family!!!