Richard Nixon Library

Happy President's Day!

We spent the holiday at the Richard Nixon Library, meeting dead presidents. I thought Abe Lincoln was spot on, but George Washington...not so much. Katelyn's 8-yr-old friend was with us. (She had all my favorite quotes of the day.) I told her "Look, it's George Washington!" She said, "No it's not. He's too fat. That must be Ben Franklin!"

George

Outside in the courtyard was this reflection pool. Kate's friend wanted to know why they would have this "swimming pool" in the courtyard. She figured it out on her own: "Oh! I know why this is here! Ben Franklin LOVED to swim. He would swim anywhere! Lakes...rivers...streams. This was HIS pool!" I laughed as I tried to picture "fat" Ben Franklin swimming laps in a one foot reflection pool.

To the left of the pool you can see kumquat trees and white orbs covering the lightbulbs along the walkway. Just as the girls began picking kumquats off the trees, Zach discovered that he could punch the orbs off their posts and they would go bouncing along the walkway. I decided that the kumquats were the lesser of two evils, so I went chasing after Zach. As soon as I got one orb back on it's post, he was already on to the next and it would go bouncing along the path. People were gasping, thinking the bulbs would shatter. Oh, the joys of motherhood!

Nixon was born in this small house and lived there until he was 10. We even saw the bed where he was born in 1913. Kate's friend was awed to learn that a president could be born in a home like this. She thought they came from castles.

O, how I love America!

Here is Kate waiting to talk with Honest Abe.
Usually she's too scared, but she thought he would give her a penny.
He didn't...but he had a lot of good stories to tell.