Kettle Cove

Eve

Jack

Grace

After several days of rain we were very excited to see the sunshine return yesterday. I took Grace, Jack and Eve to Kettle Cove, which is a relatively unknown beach near our home, to have some fun in the sun! We had so much fun there yesterday that we went back today too. Kettle Cove is one of the best beaches for swimming, building sand castles, having a picnic, and exploring. Kettle Cove is both sandy and rocky, has grassy areas that overlook the ocean, a walking trail along the beach and a fisherman's cove. This place is just one of the many reasons we love Maine so much.

Eve, Grace & Jack

The Flight to Washington D.C.

Here are some pictures of Grace at the airport and on the airplane the morning we left for our trip to Washington D.C..

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from our trip to Washington D.C.. I will be back to posting pictures of our everyday adventures after a few posts about some of our family summer weekend events!

The National Zoo

Grace and I spent a day at the National Zoo while we were in Washington D.C.. We had the best time getting there (we took the subway) and the most wonderful day together!

Grace has always loved elephants. She has a lovey named Ella, which is a small pink elephant that she has loved & loved since she was a baby!

It was so exciting for Grace to see the elephants at the zoo! She stood and watched the elephants for a long time. Grace laughed when one of the elephants picked up a tire with its trunk.

Grace and I loved watching this panda bear. If you look closely, you can see some of Grace's reflection in the lower left of this picture as she watched the panda eat some bamboo.

For those of you who know Grace....this was a very big moment for her! :)

There were cool mist stations throughout the zoo. It was the perfect way to cool off on this very hot day!

The White House

We visited the White House on our first afternoon in Washington D.C.. It was our only opportunity to site-see with Bob since he was attending a conference while we were there. We had such a nice time exploring the area together. Grace loved the White House but she is not sure at this time whether she wants to live there when she becomes president!!!

Viewing the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial

The reflecting pool was under construction while we were visiting Washington D.C. but the view of the Washington Monument and Capitol Hill was still so beautiful!

Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial

The Library of Congress

Our U.S. Capitol Tour

Our first stop off of our double decker tour bus was at the Capitol building. Grace and I couldn't wait to see it together for the first time! After walking around the outside, we went inside for a tour.

Grace stood for a moment to look at all of the statues and people inside of the Capitol's Visitor Center.

We wore headphones during our tour of the Capitol, which Grace loved! We had a fantastic tour guide who was so well versed in the interesting historical and architectural information of the building.

Grace studied John Trumbull's famous Declaration of Independence for quite some time. It was amazing to see it up close!

The Rotunda canopy with the fresco painting The Apotheosis of Washington was so beautiful.

Grace and I enjoyed the National Statuary Hall. I had not realized before our tour that in 1864, in accordance with legislation sponsored by Justin Morrill, Congress invited each state to contribute two statues of prominent citizens for permanent display in the room.

Grace and I found Vermont's statue of Ethan Allen in the Statuary Hall. When we returned home from our trip I did some research and learned that Maine has statues of William King and Hannibal Hamlin. I thought my Dad might be interested to know that one of the statues from Delaware is of Caesar Rodney. :)

More From Outside of Our Nation's Capitol

Go Gracie go!