Luckily, I only took seven of my students (though it should've been six). Here's (L-R) Luis, Darilis, Daniel, Jesslyn, Steven, Davita and Naomy in front of the White House, Day 1.
The students were much more interested in a Sri-Lakan protest than the White House.
Luis got on a Martin Luther King, Jr., kick while at the Lincoln Memorial. He pointed out to me (I wouldn't have known) where MLK gave the famous I have a dream speech, then he stood there and continued to recite the parts of the speech that he knew. He was so good that several Japanese tourists took his photo.
Reciting "I have a dream..." in front of the Reflection Pool at the Washington Monument.
Floating in outer space at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
We stopped for dinner on our way to Richmond, Virginia, at this place that let the kids get out and run around. Here are some of the girls feeding some ducks. It was quite beautiful - right on the Potomac River between DC and Virginia.
Day 2 at Colonial Williamsburg. This place ROCKED. I liked it way more than any of the kids, though, who stayed up all night in the hotel (some making calls to 911 - oye!). Needless to say, they were not happy walking around for 5 hours in the Virginian heat and humidity.
The jail at Williamsburg. 
Naomy, locked up in the prison cell (which had no air for the hot summers and no insulation for the freezing winters. quite a terrible place to end up, if you ask me)
Our tour guide taught the boys to bow and the girls to curtsy. It was kind of adorable.
After Colonial Williamsburg we stopped for lunch then headed to the Jamestown Settlement, which was totally cool. We had a very awesome tour guide who let us touch everything. Suh-weet! Here's Darilis pestling some herbs for our dinner. :o)
Some of the kid around the camp fire. Unfortunately (or fortunately) this was NOT where we had dinner.
Steven smelling some Powatan Indian leather clothing.
Some of the kids (and Mr. O) on a replica of a boat the first settlers came across in. In that tiny room, 50 men and boys lived (with no way to use the restroom other than chamber pots) for 3 whole months. And we thought our 5-hour bus ride there was long!
Mine and O'Grady's kids in a Powatan canoe at the end of the day. This place was so cool (Williamsburg, too) that Mr. O and I are planning a trip back ... without all the kids!The next day we went to Baltimore, MD, to go to the National Aquarium, which was VERY cool. I haven't uploaded my pictures of that, though. I'll try to get to it soon.
Overall, I wish I could say the trip was awesome and uneventful, but that would be a lie. It would've been a great trip under different circumstances, but as it was, it was quite exhausting and slightly annoying. There were some highlights, though, including Luis's MLK obsession, checking in on rooms in the hotel on Night 2 (one of the fifth grade teachers, Mr. Wells, made quite the ordeal of busting into kids rooms who were still awake at 1 in the morning ... I ended up rolling on the floor in the hallway laughing so hard I nearly cried) and, of course, spending time with some of my favorite kids.
What's Next: There are only four more weeks of school! I never thought the teachers looked forward to the summer as much as students, but I have NEVER been this excited for a vacation. I am also spending a lot of time reflecting on the good and bad things that happened this year, and really looking forward to starting with a clean slate next year!
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