Mid-week Vacation to D.C.

We took Ava on her first official vacation this week to Washington, D.C. Originally we were going to take her to the Zoo so she could see the Panda's but the traffic going down was horrible so we didn't get there until after they were closed. We still had a good mini-vacation though!

The hotel room was pretty big and Ava wound up sleeping in the closet! It was a big walk-in closet and her pack-and-play fit perfectly inside so she was able to have a quiet place to sleep. It's almost St. Patrick's Day so once we were settled we went out to dinner at an Irish Pub called Murphy's. The food was excellent and Ava was enjoying all the attention she was getting from the other patrons.

Mel has never been to D.C. before so the next morning we decided to take him to see all the monuments at the Mall before heading to the Museum of Natural History. Ava's Great Grandpa on her daddy's side died fighting in Vietnam so we wanted to go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall to find his name and make a charcoal of it for Ava. Her other Great Grandpa on daddy's side also fought in Nam and he's still with us today! Being at the wall for the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking was an overwhelming feeling. The amount of names on the wall and the lives lost are endless in number and seeing them all in front of you on this 247 foot long wall. Part of Ava's lineage is forever on that wall and I hope that when she grows up she will truly understand what that means.

ALBERT FRANKLIN CALP

SFC - E7 - Army - Regular

Born on Tuesday, July 31, 1917

From DE RIDDER, LA
Length of service 26 years

His tour began on Jun 9, 1965

Casualty was on Aug 6, 1965

In , SOUTH VIETNAM

Hostile, died while missing,

GROUND CASUALTY

MISADVENTURE

Body was recovered

Located at Panel 02E - Line 48

At The Wall

In the gardens of the Hotel

Ava checking out her future home, The White House