Hello everyone!  For my eleventh birthday I got to go on a trip to Washington D.C.  We had to wake up at about 5:00am and leave at 5:30. We were in the car for about 6 hours and it got really boring at times. But it was so worth it!

When we got into D.C. we went to Union Station and had some lunch there. There were lots of choices but we decided to have some conveyer belt sushi at a place called Yo Sushi. It was really fun to try and get the sushi off the conveyer belt. The spicy tuna rolls were excellent. We also got to have real Japanese soda which is awesome!

For my birthday I asked for a tour of the White House. I didn't get my tour of the White House (sequester!), but I got one of the capitol building by our guide, Kevin Mooney, who works for Congressman Tom Reed.This is Kevin.

Kevin guided us through a tunnel that took us from the House of Representatives to the Capitol. He was very good at walking backwards. When I got to the Capitol I learned that there were two statues of American people from each state. There were many references to the original 13 colonies. It was an absolutely amazing tour! 

In Washington D.C. there is a lot of walking, and I'm pretty sure Pallas barely walked any of it. Dad, Mom, and I all carried her at least once on our trip. Dad carried her a lot more and she likes to make faces at us over his shoulder. This is Dad carrying her in the tunnel between Congressman Reed's office and the Capitol.

While we were in D.C. I got to see my cousins Aidan and Deirdre and my Uncle Brendan. We all went out for thai food. It was great to see them because we only get to see them once or twice a year.

The next day we went to the American History Smithsonian.  There were lots of exhibits but my two favorites were the ones about the presidents (of course) and the first ladies. In the presidents exhibit there were presidents memorabilia and lots of facts. In the first lady exhibit there were lots of first lady dresses and tea sets.

This was a collection of street signs named after presidents.

The next day we went to the Washington D.C. zoo.  When I first got there were big letters that spelled zoo so Pallas, Trin, and I got in them and took a picture. There were lots of animals so I'll just name a few. There were elephants, pandas (they were all sleeping though), gorillas, and lions.

Once again Pallas was carried throughout the zoo. We did about a million miles of walking that day, because we had to park very far away.

For breakfast on one of our last days we went to dim sum. I love eating all of the yummy foods. Some of my favorites are chicken feet, shumai, shrimp dumplings, rice noodles, and crab lollipops. This is Trin with her favorite, sticky rice steamed in lotus leaf.

One of the best things about our hotel was the pool. It was really big! My favorite thing about it was it was nice and warm. Pallas liked the toys they kept at the pool. There were floaties that we pretended were surf boards and a dolphin inner tube. I loved being in D.C. and hope to be back real soon.

Peace and love,
Rowan

Hello! I'm going to be writing about my all time favorite president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)! I love him so much in school I did a project about him.  He was born in Hyde Park, NY. FDR was our 32nd president. FDR was democratic. His first term started in 1933 and his 4th ended in 1945. He was the only president to serve more then 2 terms--he served 4!  He married his distant cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. She is one of the most famous first ladies. She wanted everybody to be part of the New Deal. After they were married, FDR got a disease called polio and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. FDR did not want to have the United States to go into war but when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, FDR declared war on Japan. Then Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. I will always admire FDR because even though we were in war with three countries he stayed calm and led our country to defeat all three countries.

Peace and love Rowan :)

Chester A. Arthur was the 21st president. He was born October 5, 1829 in Fairfield, Vermont. He was a Republican. He was in office from September 20, 1881 to March 3, 1885. He had no vice president. He was married to nobody. I know you're thinking--who was the first lady? It was Mary Arthur McElroy, his sister. Sadly he died on November 18, 1886. He was the first president to hire a personal servant. Arthur had more than 80 pairs of pants and changed several times a day. He dedicated the Washington Monument on February 21,1885. After he took office he learned he had kidney disease but he kept it a secret. I think he was a very brave man because even though he had kidney disease he managed to survive one term as a president. He truly was an amazing president.