Washington D.C First Post

My parents are serving their second church mission doing family history preservation work in Washington D.C. (in the National Archives). I thought what they were doing was cool before but now I realize more just how cool it really is. They photograph old records that the National Archives has stored so that the information can be made available on the internet for people who are researching their family history. For example, they have photographed Civil War widow's claims to the government where their husband has died and they are requesting some financial assistance. So there are records with complete names, birth dates, death dates, etc. to help with family history research. They have also worked on homestead claims where a family writes to the government and has to sign a pledge that they are loyal to the union. They also have to prove that the Union Army used their belongings (horses, wood, etc.) so they can get reimbursement. So again, more names, dates, etc. Pretty amazing. Mom and dad live so close to the Washington D.C. temple in a 2 bedroom apartment so we could stay with them. They were also very generous and helped to make this a memorable trip. The whole reason we got to go in the first place was because we weren't able to spend last Christmas with them after the tickets had been purchased, so we were able to turn that missed visit to California into an awesome visit to D.C.!!!! Ryan loved meeting Grandma and Grandpa and Max adored every minute with them as well!

We traveled on the 9th (all day) and rested on the 10th. We hung out, took Max to the park and then did a night drive. Then on the 11th, we had planned to spend the day at the National Zoo with a former college friend of mine who lives in Pennsylvania with her family. Sarah and I haven't seen each other since 2001 and we haven't met each others kids (she has 3). Unfortunately she and her littlest came down with a bad flu and we missed our chance. Next time!!! We did love the zoo though. We also had our GPS lead us to the nearest Rita's store for a Water Ice. http://www.ritasice.com/ They are a must when visiting the east coast.

I'm including a slideshow with captions to show how much fun we had on the 11th. We also remembered the incredible tragedy that happened on that day 8 years ago and thought about all the victims and their families.