The second day began with breakfast at the hotel and then a tour of the Capitol. Congressman Sessions provided us with the tickets! The US Capitol Visitor Center is underground below the East Front of the Capitol building. The visitor center is very large with a plaster model of the Statue of Freedom which tops the capital dome.
This spot is the very center of Washington DC.
Standing in the center of the Rotunda looking up. It is beautiful.
The Rotunda.
I honestly don't remember much about what the tour guide said, there is just so much to see.
We were also able to tour the Small House Rotunda. We learned that the Small House Rotunda was designed in 1804 and is one of the most architecturally significant spaces in the Capitol.
Library of Congress
Leaving the Capitol I had to stop and take pictures of the trees with the Capitol in the background.
Cason waiting on the Metro
Cason with Aaron our tour guide, also know as the Professional History Nerd.
We walked past the Department of Agriculture on our way to the Holocaust Museum, so being a farmer we naturally stopped for a picture.
The Department of Agriculture Building
The Holocaust Museum was hard for two reasons, the first of course being the reason for its existence and the second it was incredibly crowded with school tours. Some kids were respectable, but many were not, which made it hard to experience or even read about what we were looking at. I would love to go back when it wasn't inundated with schools.
This is cross walk and on both sides of the cross walk are Jewish communities that were either completely or partially lost. 
This little girl and I shared a birthday, she was 11 when left the ghetto for Auschwitz. Many were killed upon arrival in the gas chamber.
After the Holocaust Museum and lunch we headed to Fords Theatre and The House where Lincoln died. I loved Ford's Theatre, which is still an active theatre today.
The Presidential Box. You can see below that the stage is set for the current play, I can't remember what the US Park Ranger said was currently playing at the theatre. The ranger spoke to us from the stage while we sat in the theatre seats. He spoke about Lincoln's last day and shared many things that I was not aware of. After the theatre we walked across the street and toured the house were President Lincoln died.
Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and the kids were able to swim!
We ate pizza at the hotel before heading out to see the White House.
They had the street in front of the White House closed and if you look closely at the corner of the roof in the group picture you can see a Sniper that came out while we were there. Also several black SUVs came out and parked on each side of the White House and then a helicopter started to circle as well as cops on bicycles.
The rest of the pictures are from the day but posted out of order.
Riding the Metro
.jpg)
