{The End of a Good Thing...and the White House}

There were a few more things we did while in Idaho.  One of which was visiting Silverwood while we were up in Couer d'Alene with Don and Faith.  I didn't take one picture though.  I didn't want to worry about my big camera getting wet or bumped while on the roller coasters or at the water park.  We had the best time there though.  The kids loved the water park the best and so that is where we ended up spending the majority of our day.  We did get some roller coasters in though.  Papa and Grandma took the two little ones and I took the two older kids.  We decided to meet up in an hour and a half.  In that amount of time we were only able to get two rides in.  By the time we met up it was time for lunch.  So we had lunch and then decided to head straight to the water.  We spent the rest of the afternoon there and when we were all water logged we headed out for pizza.  The kids had such a great day, thanks again Papa Don.  

We also helped celebrate my niece's wedding at the tail end of our time in Idaho.  Our time on vacation was dwindling quickly and so began the task of getting all the junk we took and all the junk we accumulated while there into the right amount of suitcases.  I had to buy another bag just so I wasn't over weight.  It took me a few tries, but I finally got it right.  The day had finally come to head back to the East coast.  We were sad to say goodbye, but really excited to see our Dad again.  Five weeks is a long time to be gone.  The flight home was uneventful, thank goodness and before we knew it we were sleeping in our beds (oh how I missed my bed :).  

One short week later Ryan's Dad and Stepmom came out to visit us.  We had a lot of fun.  The first thing we did was tour the White House.  Rewind a few months, Ryan had set up a tour for the youth in our ward.  You get in touch with you State Senator and then you basically send in a list of anyone that may want to come with your group, complete with name, age, d.o.b., ect. and then they will notify you of when your appointment is to come tour the White House.  As luck would have it, the tour for the youth ended up being when the kids and I were in Idaho.  Bummer.  But Ryan got on the ball and submitted another request for hopefully when Ryan's Dad was in town.  This time we got lucky and it was scheduled for the day after they got into town.

We rode the metro downtown and made our way over to the White House tour entrance.  We couldn't take any bags, purses, cameras, basically nothing through so all the pics I have are of the outside of the White House.  The tour was a quick one, you basically go through the main floor and see a few well known rooms.  Such as the State dinning room, the blue room, the china room (you only got to look through the door), the green room, ect.  There were Secret Service members in each room (sometimes two to a room) and they would answer any questions you had.  It was neat to be IN the White House, even though we would have loved to have seen a lot more.  A short distance from the White House is the White House gift store.  If you spend so "X" amount of money you get a chance to have pictures taken, with your own camera, in the "Oval Office".  So we had some fun with it.  The guy taking the pictures was all over it and took a lot of shots.  These are just some of what was taken.  It was a great day and if you are ever coming to D.C., get in touch with your Senator and get a tour set up, you will love it!!