Part of History

Today, my husband and I took our three girls up to the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. I was amazed to find out that egg-rolling in Washington has been going on since 1872. Amazing. The event was...crowded, and pretty cold for April in DC. Of course, it wasn't as cold as the ten+ hours I spent outside - in the snow - early Saturday morning so that I could get the tickets to even attend the event.

If I could figure out how to get the pictures off my phone and into my computer, I could show you what it looked like - the Night of Waiting in the Snow - but alas, I am technologically challenged in this area. But trust me, I was trying to figure out what the symptomes of frostbite were since I was losing feeling in my hands and feet. They have this system that requires you to stand in line so that you can get the tickets, which are free, but there are only so many available. Even though I arrived at 2:15 in the morning we were still pretty far back. The first people in line had been waiting since 1 am on Friday morning - 30 hours before tickets would be handed out.

And if I had understood how the event worked, I might have gone out there a lot earlier - armed of course, with a heater and tent. The line started at the visitors center, circled the entire ellipse (a huge grassy area in between the Washington Monument and the White House) then continued on down an area on the other side of the road. I was on the other side of the road. And I didn't have a tent. And it was snowing. On April 7th. I was very wet, and very cold. And being so wet and cold, I really never even thought about how tired I was. Trouble is, they gave out timed tickets, so the farther back in line, the longer you had to wait before you could go into the event.

And that's why i wish I understood how the event worked.

Our biggest disappointment with the day was that my kids missed seeing Miley Cyrus, or Hannah Montana, - by 15 minutes. We didn't get inside the gates until 1:20 and she went onstage for the last time at 1:05. Did I mention how excited my kids were to see her? They watch every one of the shows, they know the music, and they were more excited about seeing her than anything else that day. And we missed it. By 15 minutes. We could hear her. But we couldn't see her. And the security guards weren't going to let us get over there until we had been thoroughly searched.

They did get to see The Jonas Brothers, who they know from the Disney Channel as well. They had fun at the short concert and Lydia (my 8 year old) said she really enjoyed it. My four year old layed in the grass in a delirious stupor from missing her nap, so I'm not sure how she felt about the concert:-)

They had a great day, despite the cold, and missing Miley/Hannah. They did roll eggs down the lawn and we were right next to the White House (and a lot of men in black suits roaming around!) They got to pose for pictures with Curious George, and eggs and bunnies of all different kinds. They even got to roll down a steep hill over and over until they were dizzy and breathless. All in all, it was worth it. Though I learned a lot of good lessons this year. Next year, I'll be ready.

And it would be great if Hannah Montana came back and gave us another shot!