Day Four: D.C. Temple, The Zoo, Arlington Cemetary, and back to the Mall

First stop of the day, the D.C. Temple.

I am holding Soren, and
Jessica is holding Asher.
Yes, they are twins. Isn't it great how different they look?

Another photo of Brent and I.
I'll take as many as I can get, Brent hates having his picture taken.
Today was not a good photo shoot day for me. My contacts and eyes were wigging out.
Hence the glasses and no make-up. Gag.

This Panda was a hoot!!!
He found his ball and played continually with it.

I was lucky enough to be standing right in front when
this Panda decided to strut his stuff.
What a poser!

I thought this contraption was one of the coolest things I've seen in a zoo.
These towers and wires were placed between two Monkey houses.
The orangutans were walk across them.
I hear you have to watch out for falling poo.

Tomb of the Unknown Solider
Arlington Cemetery, our second stop of the day.
Jessica dropped us off. Did I mention what a great host she is?

We timed it perfectly.
They had just changed the guard, it happens every 30 minutes.
We got front row, and waited for just a bit before the next change.
Sitting down was very welcome.
This was another day filled with walking, walking, walking!!!

The new guard is inspected up and down, and so is his weapon.

The new guard being escorted over.

Saluting the tomb.
The whole audience is asked to stand for the entire ceremony.
It is very reverent and sacred.

The three guards

The amphitheater back behind the tomb of the unknown soldier.

More of Arlington Cemetery.

More headstones.

This is where J.F.K. is buried.
Above him is an eternal flame.

Arlington House.
This was the home of General Lee

This is a view of the Lincoln Monument with the Washington Monument behind.
This was taken from a memorial from the people of Finland to the people of US.

This is the Iwoa Jima Memorial.
Again, it was GINORMOUS!!!
I stood at the bottom just so you could get a grasp for how big it really is.

Iwoa Jima Memorial.

Probably my favorite shot Brent took.

Our day began with a trip to the D.C. Temple. Brent and I had originally planned to go through a session. But seeing as there was so much to do and so little time, we just visited the outside. Sigh, I regret not going through. I'm glad Brent had the opportunity to experience it's beauty. Asher and Soren were so much fun. They loved climbing the stairs to get to the gigantic gold doors. They kept knocking to get in. Some day boys, some day.
Next we ventured over the the National Zoo. Which, again, is FREE!! We had a great time observing the Pandas and other animals. Brent was fascinated by the Pandas so Jessica and I went ahead and treked over to the Amazonia. Huge fish and lots of tropical plants.
After the Zoo, Jessica dropped us off at Arlington Cemetery. Where we walked and walked and walked aaannndd, waaaalllkked. Sounds like a primary song. The tourist moaned as they walked and walked and walked. At least I did. I had had it with walking. But we weren't done.Not by a long shot. Brent insisted on walking over to the Iwoa Jima memorial. Gosh, that had to be at least a mile away. Then we walked back through the cemetery to the metro where we hopped on and rode back to the Mall. For, yep, you guessed it more walking. Brent hadn't seen enough of the Mall. We went back AGAIN.
It was a great day. Again, Brent is THE HARDEST WORKING TOURIST EVER!!!!!