When Reese was 6 years old (in 2000), he was visiting with my grandmother.  She was asking him some questions:

My Gram: "Reese?  Who lives in Texas?"
Reese: "Daniel and Julianne."  (his cousins)
Gram: "That's right!!  And who else?" (meaning, his aunt and uncle)
Reese, with enthusiasm, "GEORGE W. BUSH!!"

My poor Gram!!  She looked at me and said, "Did he just say, 'George W. Bush'??"

LOL!!  It was then that I knew that my son was going to be interested in politics.  Boy, did I underestimate him!!  Not only did he know who George W. Bush was before he was even named the candidate for president, but he listened closely to BOTH the Democratic and the Republican Conventions that year!  He followed the election with MUCH interest, and filled out his little US map all evening with the votes each candidate got, per state.

Since then, he has remained interested in politics, but he also developed a keen interest in presidential history and early American history.  The boy proved to be a whiz at presidential trivia and used this skill several times in talent shows!  LOL

So it didn't take me long to develop the desire to get him to Washington, D.C. for a visit.  Year after year I tried to get him there, but something always stopped me: time, money, opportunity.  Each year I mourned the efforts lost in getting him to the place that he must, at all costs, visit, before he graduated.

FINALLY, this year, the Lord paved the way for us to go!!  He provided the money in giving me tons of extra visits at work and the start of my Visalus business (which has paid out handsomely so far for the tiny bit of work I've actually done with it!), He gave me the time in that I was able to afford the time off work, and He gave me the opportunity in that my mom sooooooo generously donated her time to come from Seattle to stay with Erik while we went!!!!  Everything lined up beautifully and we knew his time had come.

SOOOOOO... early this afternoon, we packed our gear and set off!!  Tonight we are staying in a hotel in Fayetteville, NC, about 1/2 way to D.C. from our house - we are so excited and so pumped up for this trip that has been 11 years in coming.  :o)  God's timing is perfect, and I feel that this is the perfect time for us to go - right before the start of his senior year in high school.  :o)

I will try to update my blog each night after our big day and hopefully upload some photos!!  (If I can figure it out - I left my cord at home and this laptop doesn't have a memory stick gizmo like my desktop at home does...!!  Can you buy cords for cameras like that easily?  Like at W*l-Mart??)

So I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!  We hope to arrive at D.C. early afternoon and will scope it out briefly before hitting the pavement hard Monday morning!