Washington DC day 3

 We started day 3 with a 7:30am tour of the White House.

Coop loved it.

And then to the Newseum, which maybe was my favorite stop in DC.  Coop enjoyed the exhibit on reporting during the Viet Nam war.

And then we took a bus tour of Arlington Cemetery.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Washington DC day 2

We started the day with a Duck Boat tour.  Coop was impressed that it was a real Duck boat, used in WWII.  And he got to drive.

Then we walked on the mall to see the monuments:

Dad had a name of a friend he wanted us to find on the Viet Nam wall:

"Coop, do you have a dream?"  "Yeah, once I dreamed I was being chased by a witch...."  Ok.  Not helpful.

Dum Dum, from the Night at the Museum movie:

And vacation isn't complete without a cockroach, I suppose....

Washington DC day 1

I had a work conference out in DC.  Mom and Coop flew out to meet me when it was over.

They arrived Sunday afternoon, and we hit the Spy Museum straight away:

Dinner at Shake Shack afterward:

And then we walked downtown a bit:

The FBI building where I worked during the summer of 1999:

Mini-Vacation: Hannibal and home

We stopped in Hannibal, MO on the way home to see some Mark Twain places, including a wonderful cave tour:

And the Mark Twain museum / boyhood home:

On the way back to Kansas, we stopped for lunch in Columbia, MO to eat at the Heidelberg, where the Chief Justice of the Palau Supreme Court worked when he was in grad school:

Mini-Vacation: Central Illinois

One of the reasons for the trip was so Coop could see the house where he lived as a baby.  First up, though, our starter home (303 N. Embarras) -- it looks lovely:

Coop outside the house where he lived as a baby:

Hotel:

We visited the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL:

And the Cozy Dog Drive-In, home of the one and only cozy dog (i.e. corn dog):

Memorabilia Cooper liked:

Mini-Vacation: The Arch

We stayed the night in St. Louis at a hotel very near the Arch:

 Dinner:

"If there's one thing we're good at, it's devouring chocolate cake."

The tram car to ride up the arch:

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Shadow from up top:

Mini-Vacation: St. Louis City Museum

Coop and I took a mini-vacation once school got out.  First stop, the City Museum in St. Louis.  Good for people not afraid of heights or climbing.  

Start of summer

On Coop's last day of third grade, he had all of his classmates sign his shirt:

Coop wrote a book called WWII Adventures, a fictional WWII story, and he sent it to the Wall Street Journal for their book review.  One of the book editors wrote him back:

Train tracks in the basement:

Dressed up like Death for the Art Tougeau parade in Lawrence:

With Molly, their parade entry:

With Gus and Eleanor.  Coop and Eleanor playing super heroes while Gus pulled out all of the books from Coop's shelf: