Washington D.C.- Alexandria and the National Mall

It's not actually Washington D.C., but it's so close! I knew we had to add Alexandria, VA to our itinerary because cute historic towns are my thing.

We walked down the cobblestones of King St. on our way to our first stop- Christ Church. 

Mt. Vernon is near Alexandria. We didn't stop at George's house on this trip because it's being renovated, so stopping by a church that he attended was the next best thing. 

David was very excited to sit in the Washington's pew. The girls were excited to choose their own pew.

Back in the day people paid to rent specific pews in order to support the church, so this really was the Washington's assigned seating.  

The tour guide was excited when we left because for some reason she didn't trust those cute little faces to not touch anything breakable.

Robert E. Lee also attended church here. And many modern presidents have visited to pay homage to Washington.

A few blocks away, Gadsby's Tavern was another George Washington hangout. David stepped inside to check out the little museum for a few minutes, while I took two happy girls to a small nearby park.

We walked down to the Potomac River waterfront to have lunch, and then spontaneously decided to jump on a boat back to D.C. instead of walking back to the train.

It was a great decision, and so fun to see the monuments from the water!

We planned to see more of the monuments and memorials on the National Mall, but were prevented by rain on the first day of our trip.

After way too long searching for the trolley stop in the pouring rain, we were extremely relieved to dry off and see the sights from behind a window. 

We only got off once and braved the rain for the Lincoln Memorial.

A group of veterans from an Honor Flight happened to be there, and many of them enjoyed Magnolia's interpretive dance.

Our trolley tour ended at Union Station, which was worth a picture.

We had a wonderful time visiting our capital. We loved all of the history and beauty and the girls loved riding the metro (they call it the "fast train") and being together as a family. We'll be back someday!