Cute Kid Pix June 2025

More photos that didn't make their own post...

My wife's cousin came to visit with her 17-month old son. They were both a lot of fun to hang around with (and they came to our summer showcase dance!).

Feeding the baby

More feeding!

At the dance

Trying out glasses

They wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial at sunset which we did the day before they left. The view of the Washington Monument was pretty cool.

Whoops, forgot to get them in the photo!

Could use it as to track time?

My youngest finally had his Blue and Gold dinner where he bridged from the Cub Scout Pack to a Scouting USA Troop. The theme was Marvel and they have a cake sale. We made Spidey-pops as our contribution.

Not a cake but still dessert

The "bridge" part of the bridging

Getting a new kerchief

Adjusting the slide

Scout handshake

Proud poppas

Proud scouts

He also finished 5th grade, which had a ceremony that was happily much shorter than other graduations I have been to.

Walking in for the ceremony

The whole fifth grade

Getting the certificate

With his teacher

We had an unexpected visitor in our back yard...

Who's that?

GQ pose?

I tried to get a picture of the jump over the fence by the phone is too slow

We went out to lunch and discovered our daughter's drinking problem.

The wrong amount of label hidden!

Random DC Stuff May 2025

I went on a fifth-grade field trip with my son to see the famous monuments in DC, starting at the Lincoln Memorial. They enjoyed the views of the president and the reflecting pool.

Another monument in the distance

Needed for a virtual geocache

The planned itinerary was to walk up to the Washington Monument, have lunch there, and walk back to Lincoln down the other side of the Mall. We started by visiting the Vietnam Memorial.

The statue at Vietnam Memorial

Further down the Mall is 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial, a small island in an artificial pond. The island also has a lot of ducks on it.

On the island

Bottom feeding?

Pursuing the ducks

The World War II Memorial was the favorite of the boys. It has plenty of space to explore and a nice fountain where visitors can stick their legs in. We did not do that, though other 5th graders did.

WWII Memorial

Atlantic theater

We made it to the Washington Monument, which seems even taller when you are standing right underneath it.

Washington Monument

We ate lunch there and discussed our next plans. We could see the White House and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial from there and opted to go to Jefferson. That was a deviation from the planned itinerary but we had enough time to make it.

I guess I avoided taking pictures of other people's kids

We continued around the Tidal Basin to the FDR Memorial, a sprawling display of the years of his presidency. I was amazed to find a small copy of a sculpture of FDR on one of the information signs.

Mini-he

Not far away is the dramatic Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Another school group was there at the base of the statue. 

MLK Memorial

My son looking over the Tidal Basin back to the Jefferson Memorial

We made it back to the bus in plenty of time, with a quick walk through of the Korean War Memorial. We were impressed with the Washington Monument's reflection in the reflecting pool (go figure!). 

Another view from Lincoln

Walking around with the boys was a lot of fun.

More Random Bits of Washington, DC

Some stuff from our travels to DC that weren't part of another blog post..

Near Virginia Avenue and C Street is a bronze sculpture by John Dreyfuss (B. 1949) called "Full Count." It's a fun, baseball-themed work that Dreyfuss completed between 1988 and 1990.

Full Count, bronze sculpture 1988-90

The pitcher

A fan at home plate

Side view of home plate

We visited the Lincoln Memorial again (see our earlier visit here) and took one or two extra pictures.

View of the Reflecting Pool

View from the Reflecting Pool

Behind the Lincoln Memorial, two neighboring bridges lead off to Virginia and to Rock Creek Park. The Rock Creek Park bridge is flanked by two sculptures called The Arts of Peace. We parked near the bridge and saw them close as we walked back from the Lincoln Memorial. The statues were designed by James Earl Fraser and erected in 1951. 

Arts of Peace

Music and Harvest sculpture

The bridge to Arlington was under repair, with some impressive floating platforms in the Potomac.

This work might be done by now

Lincoln Memorial, Washington

The Lincoln Memorial is one of the iconic locations in Washington, D. C. The monument was authorized in 1867. Construction began in 1914 under the guidance of architect Henry Bacon; it was completed and dedicated in 1922. The memorial is built from granite and marble from various states (Massachusetts, Colorado, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia) to symbolize the reunification of the country. The building is patterned after the Parthenon in Athens.

The Lincoln Memorial

It honors the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. He was president during the American Civil War and was the key figure in keeping the Union together. The statue of him inside the memorial was original to be ten feet tall but once construction began, they decided to double the size lest he be dwarfed by his own monument. The current statue's height is nineteen feet; if that Lincoln stood up he'd be twenty-eight feet tall!

The statue of Lincoln

Lincoln is depicted as a weary but strong man. His clenched left fist represents his determination; his open right hand represents his compassionate nature. Above his head is engraved "In this temple as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever."

The north and south side of the chamber have murals of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and the Gettysburg Address. Above them are murals symbolically depicting Unity (on the north above the Second Inaugural) and Emancipation (on the south above the Gettysburg Address).

Second Inaugural Address

Hard to get a good picture of the mural, go and see it for yourself!

Gettysburg Address

Click to enlarge

From Lincoln's vantage point, the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument are easily visible.

Not quite from Lincoln's view

It's possible to and I recommend walking around the memorial at Lincoln's level. Most visitors don't realize they can go all the way around the memorial and enjoy some nice views. Behind the memorial is the Potomac River with Virginia on the far side.

View into Arlington

More Virginia

Memorial Bridge leading to Arlington National Cemetery

A more Lincolnish view

Us at the memorial