The only thing I knew about the National Guard before this was that they're called up in times of emergency (i.e. Trump's inauguration) but the museum tracks their history in both peacetime and wartime back to before the so-called Revolutionary War. The place is a treasure trove of artifacts, including a WWI soldier's diary open on Monday July 29, 1918, that reads "Got up 10am...looked around all day...nothing interesting...went to bed about 9pm."
We admired the Christmas lights at the local Mormon Temple, because they have millions of them and it's free. Hannah is always impressed by the young Mormon missionaries manning everything, commending them on being polite and neat. Our English guests, coming from a country somewhat light on Mormonism, found it all a bit foreign.
Then we visited our nearby nature centre where, by chance, they were having an early New Year celebration that included toasting marshmallows over a fire and a six-foot owl! The owl wasn't being toasted, I mean, he was just there. A snow blizzard blew through for ten minutes, settling everywhere but then melting again when the sun came back out - the perfect way for our visitors to experience an East Coast winter.
Megan, a ballerina interested in war. A heady combination.
Oh yes, we also popped into the National Gallery of Art, which has a funky tunnel connecting its two huge buildings.
Down at the temple.
A life-size nativity, although the neat and polite attendant told us we weren't allowed to sit on the camel.
Sparkly.
American family.
Up the creek at Meadowside Nature Centre.
Snow! Get outside quick!!
Meg in Eskimo gear.
Toasting marshmallows (it was freezing).
Wild animal.
Here's that owl I was talking about.
(Tiny) snowball fight!
And in the middle of all that, Claire and Eavan drove down from Rhode Island for a couple of days in DC. We weren't cool enough for them to spend New Year's Eve with but we did get them the night before. And forced them to play board games. Who's cool now?
And some more board games.
