A couple days after we arrived in the District, I got a text from a local friend of mine (who is also Ukrainian...that we know because of Boston...and because they lived in North Carolina for a year...it's a long story). She asked if we wanted to go on a tour of the White House.
Um...? Don't you have to write to your congresspeople for that?
She had connections.
Ok...Sure. Here's our info for all the background check stuff. We love the The West Wing, so why not?
And with that, we woke up bright and early the day after returning from Minnesota, met up with Oksana and her mom, and took the Metro two stops down for a short walk to the Treasury (the entry point for tours). At that point, we met up with Oksana's mil and learned that Oksana's connections were due to the fact that her fil is a U.S. representative.
On our way!
Apparently, as adults, you don't tend to ask what your friends' fathers do. We've been friends with them for three years and didn't know this little detail until Mark's mom showed her spouse card to the security guys.
In case anyone doesn't know what my dad's job is: he's a pediatrician. Can't get you into the White House, but he can give you a strep test, if necessary. ALSO VALUABLE.
Waiting in line. Lily was still a rather grumpy little gal, so we were singing and dancing to keep her from melting down.
Anyway, after waiting in a rather long line, we went through three security check points (including sniffing dogs) on our way into the White House. Side note: you can take almost nothing with you into the White House. Which is tricky when you have little people. I couldn't actually get a straight answer on whether or not I could wear Brynna in an Ergo carrier (you can't take strollers, so I decided to risk it. I had to take it off for it to go through the scanner, but no one said a word about it.). We took our i.d.'s, keys, and phones. I doubled Brynna's diaper situation and prayed for the best. It was rather trying not to have snacks at the ready, but alas.
Claire's favorite president, right inside the door
We'd been reading a book about the First Ladies, which included a little background on the White House china collection, so it was fun to see these on display.
The Vermeil Room. Anyone remember the West Wing episode where CJ spends the episode trying to figure out vermeil?
Claire was quite taken with this portrait of Grace Coolidge.
We were also rather impressed with all the chandeliers.
Green room. Can you see the security guard smiling for the picture?
Blue room. Claire was really into this couch.
Red room. OBVS.
This magnolia was planted by Andrew Jackson.
The State Dining Room
Accurate representation of her general mood.
Ronnie. Interesting fact: the current president is the one who decided which portraits are on display around the White House.
This turned out better than I could have hoped, honestly.
Our tour was only of the East Wing, so we didn't get to see everything (i.e. West Wing), but we really enjoyed getting to see so many of the historic rooms. We also saw the in-house movie theater, but somehow, I came out without a photo of it...
With Oksana and her mamichka
At the corner of Pennsylvania and Executive
The Treasury is right next door.
On the walk home, I actually carried the 3-year-old in the Ergo (you do what you gotta do, guys). She was much happier this way.
And Brynnie roamed free. You can see how happy she was about it.
And we were coming out of our metro stop before 10:00. All in a day's (morning's) work!
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