Monday, April 9, 2012

South Carolina: Part II

Day two in Charleston - Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began.  We've taken the trek out to the fort in the past, but it was Michal's first trip, and she had lots of fun running around, climbing on canons, and trying to jump off of high platforms - Josh and I did plenty of running around to keep up with her antics.


On the boat ride out

A cruise ship was in harbor - very big and fun looking!

A view looking back at the Battery and the Painted Ladies, some beautiful homes that line the battery area of Charleston.

Getting her sea legs

Whoa!

Love this face - not sure what she's thinking but boy is she cute!

And she's down!
Pretty sure she was doing her "sleepy" thing and didn't fall over from the rocking

Ft Sumter


Checking out the lower level from the upper level

Checking out a grassy flat area

.... aaaaaaand she decided to scale this incline

 Gave up and decided to lean against it instead.

 Decided to go for a walk with Daddy instead

It was a very windy day, but it made it easier to see each of the flags.
The blue background is the current flag of the state of South Carolina.
The white flag with the red square with blue diagonal stripes was the second flag of the confederacy - the first official flag of the Confederacy is the one in between the white and blue flags - the one with two red stripes with a white strip in between, a blue square in the left corner with stars - THIS is the flag known as Stars and Bars.
The others were flags of the United States.

Checking out a canon

 I think she's trying to maneuver the artillery all on her own. Strong baby.

Later, once we got back to land, we took a walk down to the battery, one of my favorite parts of Charleston.  Love these twisty, gnarled trees with the gazebo.

 A few of the Painted Ladies.  We've decided that when we strike it rich with the lottery, we're going to invest in one of these.  Lovely.

Walking near the Charleston City Market - one of the many women weaving beautiful works of art - sweetgrass baskets.

Another favorite part of Charleston - the pineapple fountain.

Taking a dip with Grandma - she wasn't so keen at first, but she was quickly persuaded to get her feet wet.

 Silly, pensive goose.

Goofball

Such a ham!

The 134th Annual White House Easter Egg Roll

Today was quite the day.  We were incredibly lucky and scored tickets to this year's White House Easter Egg Roll.  We first attempted through the online lottery, but with 200,000 people vying for 30,000 spots, it isn't surprising we weren't successful the first time around.  Fortunately Josh's work was given some tickets, and we scored in the office lottery.  With our tickets for the 7:30 - 9:30 AM session in hand, we woke up at 4:45 (!!!) and headed downtown.


Walking down F Street towards the Old Executive Office Building.  Love Washington DC in the spring - pretty flowers!

View of the Washington Monument

Checking out the line ahead of us to get onto the South Lawn 

Daddy and daughter 

The stage

The Egg Hunt field - very cute, although we were concerned about her reaction to the hay.

The helpers putting out eggs to be found

 Josh and Michal, diligently listening to the rules.

Looking for eggs 

Not so sure about this hay stuff 

Also not so sure about the egg - can you tell someone was a bit cranky after our early wake up call?

Checking it out

Snack!  Picked up an apple and an informational packet from the Whole Foods tent 



Big George from the Washington Nationals 

AL ROKER!  They  hustled him past us, but I was able to get the camera out to catch a shot of his... back. (third in from the right in the green jacket) 

 Family shot

Future Madame President?

 Maybe not...

 Not even Smokey got a smile :(

 Perked up slightly for the Easter Bunny - a bump up from miserable to merely indifferent

 Washington Redskin Lorenzo Alexander (#97)

 The United States Marine Band setting up

Actress Julianne Moore reading from her book Freckleface Strawberry - she was great!

Exciting day + early wake up = passed out baby