Day 1.5

I just now learned how to blog from my phone so after tonight I will be more up to date. I have to say that we all were tottally caught off guard by our welcome that we recieved from Delta at our connecting flight in Memphis. When we got off the plane we were greeted by a Delta rep holding a sign with our name and the champion from Iowa (which we found out that only the brother and the dad made the flight, the champion and the mom missed it and was on another flight!) Anyhow, we were swept away to a place where they had a small party set up for us with balloons all over the door and inside the room - it was there that they had a HUGE gift basket for us with candy, fruit, and a bunch of cool Delta stuff - when they presented it to us they had the Delta manager and his assistant come and give it to us!!! If that wasn't enough when we landed in DC they made the whole plane wait and let all of the Champion families off, and at the end of the tunnel they had a bunch of balloons, tv cameras, and made an annoucement to the whole wing of the airport (which there was an insane amount of people) and they responded with huge cheers...when Rachel got off she smiled and waved like this always happens to her...nice!
That evening, was about eating and getting checked in.

Today our day started at 8:30 am with about a 2 block walk to ESPN Zone (where once again we were greeted by a bunch of people cheering and giving us high 5's) for breakfast, games, and a welcome from the exectutives at Childrens. Oh yeah, this is where I should mention that Miss America, Mark Wills, the mascot from the Washington Senators pro baseball team (he brought tickets for all of us to go to a game on wednesday against the Pirates), and we also learned that David Archuleta from american idol would also be there.

So, my girls and I were getting a little bit more food and I was letting them lead the way back to the table - I had no idea what way Rachel was taking us back to the table, but when we rounded the corner there was Miss America smiling at my girls and she started talking to them like they knew eachother - Madison calls her Princess Aurora - anyhow, Miss America asked them if she could have her picture taken with them...my heart was full. Shortly after that Miss America sung for everybody and then Mark Wills sang some songs too...if you don't know who he is he sang a song called 1970 something. We then played video games until we coulden't stand anymore. By the way, my girls are pretty good at air hockey!

After a short 30 minute rest it was time to take in the sights of DC via bus tour with 2 stops to see the Jefferson memorial, Lincoln memorial, and both the Korea and Vietnam walls. After those stops were free to do what we wanted - so we hit the museum of natural history - I have to tell you that wow can Rachel take pictures!!! In 2 days she has personally taken literally 400 pictures, 260 today alone!!! Some of them are quite good, I will post some soon. The highlight at the museum was all of the sweet rocks and not to mention dinosaur bones. I know I am forgetting some details, I will get them out as I remember, but wow, it has been awesome so far!

We have gotten some time so far to meet a large portion of the Champions and their families, everybody has been super sweet, there are some kids that mine are quite fond of - there is Michael and a set of twin girls from Massachsets that they have had a great time playing with. We have met a ton of the Childrens Miricle Network staff and an equal amount of Walmart staff, they all have been quite amaizing people who love children and somehow already know who they are and what state they are from. I know there is stuff I am forgetting, I will catch up more tomorow. By the way I have an interview with Miss America and I think a Fox News person tomorrom in the morning. Should be fun!

Jeff