Jack's first day in DC.

This story takes place on our first day (evening, really) in Washington, DC. Please, keep in mind that it takes place the very same day Mackenzie burned her leg. Also, keep in mind that, if you know my son, Jack, at all, the following story would only happen to him.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, on our first evening in DC, we took a chauffeured tour to the most famous monuments and memorials in the capital. Jack was especially excited to see the Lincoln Memorial. He played Abe in a school play just a few weeks ago and couldn't wait to see "himself" sitting in that big chair!

We spent some time on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial and then went inside to view the statue of our 16th president. It is absolutely amazing. I could've stayed there for hours. Any words I use here to describe the memorial will not do it justice. Just know that, if you have not seen this in person, you must do it and soon!

After we were inside for a while, my mother-in-law, told us we should go to the back of the building and look at the columns. Ok, so picture the front of the memorial: many steps leading up to where Lincoln is sitting in his chair, right? Well, there is also a porch that wraps around the building (or most of it) and in the back part of the porch are many beautiful columns. Sounded great to us, so that is where we went next.

On the back porch, there is a really cool-looking ceiling. As I was taking a picture of this ceiling I see Jack out of the corner of my eye holding on to one of the columns. Scott and I both tell him to be careful and he answers that we shouldn't worry because there are steps right below the porch. Are you seeing where this is going yet??

As I was taking a picture of all of the columns lined up on the back porch, I heard a high-pitched scream. I immediately ran to the column that Jack had been near and, sure enough, he had fallen down. He had been trying to wrap his little 9 year-old leg around the first column when he slipped and fell onto the first step and then rolled backwards onto the second step. These steps are not like the one in the front of the memorial; they are much bigger. I'll have a reference picture posted on facebook after I post this for you to look at.

As soon as he fell, Jack popped right back up. He never blacked out. In fact, we are quite certain that he didn't hit his head at all, thank You, God! He was, though, immediately sore in his shoulder and lower back. He was also shaken up a bit but, he seemed to be okay. By the way, that high-pitched scream I heard did not come from Jack as he fell. It came from his sister who watched him fall. :-(

Soooo, we leave Lincoln, view the equally-amazing Korean War Veteran's Memorial, and then hop in our "limo" for a quick drive to the White House. As we are walking to the front lawn of the White House, Jack mentions to Scott that he thinks he is going to throw up. Scott immediately associates this with a possible head injury and becomes concerned that Jack might have a concussion. He pulls Jack to the side to look at his pupils and asks Jack if he really thinks he's about to be sick. Jack answers by turning and vomiting right in the grass...of the front lawn....of the WHITE HOUSE. I actually started looking around to see if the Secret Service was going to jump out at us! Did I forget to mention that it was just after 10 PM when this was going on?

After he finally stopped being sick, we called our wonderful driver to come pick us up and he took us to the nearest emergency room. There Scott, Jack and I stayed until 4 AM, when we were finally told what we expected all along: Jack was fine. The doctor didn't even want to do a CT scan because there were no signs of any head trauma and she didn't think it was worth getting zapped with radiation. The only thing we can think happened was, simply, bad timing. Or it could have been bad fish from the sushi place where we had dinner that night...

Anyway, if anyone in my family is going to fall off the Lincoln Memorial and then throw up in the White House front lawn, it will most definitely be Jack! I still can't believe that actually happened but I look forward to a lifetime of reminding him of what he put us through! Actually, I say that for Jack AND Mackenzie because, remember, they both got hurt on the same day! Yes, our first 24 hours in DC consisted of Mac getting burned and Jack....well, Jack being Jack.