Our DC trip came about when Jimmy's sister Kelly invited him to come for his nephew Patrick's Officer Candidate School graduation. With all of our American history studies over the past few years, we thought it would be the perfect time to get to see Patrick, show the kids around one of our many homes in the early days of our family, and spend some time in DC while we were just right down the road in Quantico.
Today was Family Day at OCS, where the families of the candidates would be shown around the school and given a brief overview of what their sons and daughters had accomplished. Before we went to meet up with Patrick we decided to get the kids all pumped up by visiting the Marine Corps Museum, which is right outside the gate of the base. What we didn't expect was that it would turn out to be the favorite museum for all of us. It was really quite impressive and made me remember how proud I have always been of my own Marine and how much we really did love those years of our lives.
The museum was very hands-on and interactive, which was great because so are our kids. : ) There was a booth that you entered and experienced the sound of drill instructors loudly calling you a lazy mama's boy, a pull up bar and an accurately weighted pack that you could attempt to hoist onto your back in order to see if your muscles were up to the task of boot camp, and a model of an obstacle course with a video of how the teams worked together to complete what appeared to be impossible tasks.
There were life sized dioramas depicting famous battles and wars, complete with temperature control in the rooms (cold inside the Korean War diorama, hot and steamy inside the Vietnam War one). There was a display of the actual flag that was raised at the battle of Iwo Jima, stories of countless men who won Medals of Honor for their incredibly selfless bravery, and pictures of Navy Chaplains baptizing Marines in the middle of battle.
Travis and Sam were glad they had not yet spent their souvenir money when they found a replica of Jimmy's Mameluke Sword for sale in the gift shop. Ben and Jack came away with a set of war figures from the battle of Iwo Jima, complete with a flag raising figure. They have been taking turns being the green ones, the Marines, because neither of them wants to be the Japanese (since Ben told Jack that the Marines always win).
Oh, and since I mentioned earlier that the sharing of one hotel room was going so swimmingly since everyone was so tired out from all the walking in the heat, I might as well say that I jinxed myself by thinking that. While Kelly was in Quantico for the graduation events we had the luxury of adjoining hotel rooms. Those are especially awesome with small children because it means that you can put them to bed at a decent hour and not have to lie still and quiet in the dark room while they fall asleep. So, we put the three little ones to bed and went into the adjacent room, completely assuming they would all be asleep before their sweet little heads hit their pillows. Ahem. Ben and Eli by themselves? Would have been asleep in a flash. Throw Jack into the mix and it's a full blown party. When I heard rumblings going on and poked my head into our room, Ben quickly announced that Jack was feeding Eli blueberries from our snack bag. When I asked Jack about that he staunchly denied it. Deciding to let it go with a warning and a reminder to lay down and go to sleep, I went over the Eli's bed to get him settled back in and smelled.... salt and vinegar chips on his breath. My baby had his first chips tonight and he's a fan. And I suppose Jack wasn't lying after all since he most certainly was not feeding Eli blueberries.
Today was Family Day at OCS, where the families of the candidates would be shown around the school and given a brief overview of what their sons and daughters had accomplished. Before we went to meet up with Patrick we decided to get the kids all pumped up by visiting the Marine Corps Museum, which is right outside the gate of the base. What we didn't expect was that it would turn out to be the favorite museum for all of us. It was really quite impressive and made me remember how proud I have always been of my own Marine and how much we really did love those years of our lives.
The museum was very hands-on and interactive, which was great because so are our kids. : ) There was a booth that you entered and experienced the sound of drill instructors loudly calling you a lazy mama's boy, a pull up bar and an accurately weighted pack that you could attempt to hoist onto your back in order to see if your muscles were up to the task of boot camp, and a model of an obstacle course with a video of how the teams worked together to complete what appeared to be impossible tasks.
There were life sized dioramas depicting famous battles and wars, complete with temperature control in the rooms (cold inside the Korean War diorama, hot and steamy inside the Vietnam War one). There was a display of the actual flag that was raised at the battle of Iwo Jima, stories of countless men who won Medals of Honor for their incredibly selfless bravery, and pictures of Navy Chaplains baptizing Marines in the middle of battle.
Travis and Sam were glad they had not yet spent their souvenir money when they found a replica of Jimmy's Mameluke Sword for sale in the gift shop. Ben and Jack came away with a set of war figures from the battle of Iwo Jima, complete with a flag raising figure. They have been taking turns being the green ones, the Marines, because neither of them wants to be the Japanese (since Ben told Jack that the Marines always win).
Oh, and since I mentioned earlier that the sharing of one hotel room was going so swimmingly since everyone was so tired out from all the walking in the heat, I might as well say that I jinxed myself by thinking that. While Kelly was in Quantico for the graduation events we had the luxury of adjoining hotel rooms. Those are especially awesome with small children because it means that you can put them to bed at a decent hour and not have to lie still and quiet in the dark room while they fall asleep. So, we put the three little ones to bed and went into the adjacent room, completely assuming they would all be asleep before their sweet little heads hit their pillows. Ahem. Ben and Eli by themselves? Would have been asleep in a flash. Throw Jack into the mix and it's a full blown party. When I heard rumblings going on and poked my head into our room, Ben quickly announced that Jack was feeding Eli blueberries from our snack bag. When I asked Jack about that he staunchly denied it. Deciding to let it go with a warning and a reminder to lay down and go to sleep, I went over the Eli's bed to get him settled back in and smelled.... salt and vinegar chips on his breath. My baby had his first chips tonight and he's a fan. And I suppose Jack wasn't lying after all since he most certainly was not feeding Eli blueberries.