Trip to Olympia

Last week, we went to "Home School Day at the Capitol"! It was on Thursday, but we left for Seattle Wednesday night after daddy got home from work. We went to my Nana's house and spent the night there and then woke up at about 7:30am and left about 8:00am. I am just going to write how the day went with each picture:
We got to the capitol at about, I think 9:00am.

This is was the first time I have seen the building in real life

This is in side looking up at the dome, it is so amazing and tall too!
The Chandelier itself is 25' long!
After the opening session, we didn't have our meeting with the senator 'till 10:00am, so we kind of gave ourselves a small tour!

We got to meet with our senator, Dale Brandland, who was very, very nice! We kept getting told that we could only have 5-15 minutes with him. We got 1/2 and hour! He kind of gave us a tour of the place were he works including the place where they vote which has this sign on the door before you enter...
(Sorry for the bad picture!)

This is the ceiling of the place where they vote on bills, it is so amazing!

This is Dale Brandland's desk where he votes!

It was really fun talking with him, as you can see we got to see him with the Jardinski's!

This is the seal of Washington, which I think is made of pure gold! It is on the floor right under the dome!

Before lunch, we got to hear some senators speak, Here are some pictures of the ones that where encouraging and for homeschooling: :-)

Of course, I do not believe in women ruling in our government, but she was very sweet and also like the idea of homeschooling.

This man is a Christian, and we did something that we didn't think was ever done before! We all held hands and sang Amazing Grace! It was so neat! Emily said that that was probably her favorite part of the whole trip!

These where all the people on the other side of the steps from where we where sitting, so there were twice this many people there!

Tight security!

So, after lunch, we got to get "The Official Tour" With a tour guide! These are the two statues that our state chose to put in a place that each state has 2 statues that best represents them. I have never actually heard of these people And sorry, I don't remember their names!

The tour guide took us into the room where the Governor signs a bill to make it a law!
This is in the same room, all the walls in it are made of Marble! The tour guide Pointed out that there are pictures in the marble, can you see what it is?

Then, she, Being the tour guide, took us outside the capitol to see the governor's mansion, where they live when the are serving as Governor!

This was at the beginning of the road leading to the governor's mansion!

Then, the tour guide took us into a court room! Where some Kids from the audience got to re-enact a case that actually happened 100 years ago! Here is where all the judges and others sit when a court is in session.

Bradley got to be a "Lawyer" for one of the people involved in the case!

Smile! :0)

The final verdict!

That was the end of our time at the capitol, it was so much fun!

Here are some pictures of the building:This is a memorial that I took a picture of right as we were leaving:

It was such a good experience for all of us and it was a lot of fun! It is such a magnificent building! I hope that we will go next year again!