ON THE LAWN WITH GEORGE W.

So while we were in Delaware Meg called us and said that Sandi's friend who works at the Whitehouse (yep, the one on Pennsylvania Ave) was going to give us a personal tour and he needed our full names, birthdays and social security numbers. That is if we didn't mind getting up at 7am on Saturday. We were very reluctant...sleep....personal whitehouse tour....?hmmmm? Yeah right! We opted for the white house tour. We got to DC pretty late, but Matt (Sandi's friend) had to work late, so the four of us got to go to Starbucks and catch up since we hadn't seen each other since training. A few hours later, we met Matt at his apartment where we would be staying and also 2 of his roommates. Upon our arrival Matt surprised us once again with the news that we were not only going to see the Whitehouse, but the President himself! We stayed up until about 2am talking and telling stories, hearing stories about their experiences at the White House and the Capital. Matt and Sandi actually grew up together in Guam and hadn't seen each other in 10yrs. The guys insisted on getting us something to eat even though we kept telling them we weren't hungry. At first we were going to order pizza, but it was going to take too long, then they wanted to go to IHOP but not everyone wanted to go because they were tired, so they scavenged up whatever they could find in the kitchen. It was funny, they made and served little triangle sandwiches, chips and salsa, pickles, and macadamia nuts. It was a lot fun and definitely cool to meet new people.

7AM came bright and early! I'm sure it was quite a sight to see all of us trying to get ourselves looking presentable in order to see the President while we were so tired. One of the perks of Matt's job is that he gets passes to go and watch the President leave and arrive on Marine One right on the back lawn of the White House. This day, was our lucky day because we got to use his passes. We walked up to a side gate and made our way through security. We then got to walk around the back side of the White House past all the press cameras, through the rose garden and then out onto the back lawn. We even caught a glimpse of the oval office! It was a foggy morning and we joined about 50 other people who were waiting for a Presidential sighting. We waited for about 30 minutes when a PR rep came out and told us that the President's flight was going to be delayed because of the fog, but he would like to invite us into the White House. Matt told us that this never happens, in all the times he's come to see Bush it's never happened. We got to walk up the back balcony where the President takes pictures with foreign leaders and then made our way into the colored rooms that you get to see while on the regular tour. The difference was that we were actually in the rooms. We were on one side of the rope and the tour was on the other! We got to get an up close look at the painting of George Washington that Dolly Madison saved during the fire, we sat on the furniture and also got to take pictures which are usually not allowed! It was amazing, even Matt was excited, because he couldn't believe they were letting us do this. After about 20 minutes, the PR woman came back and said that the Prez was about ready to leave and we could either watch from the balcony or go back down to the lawn. We opted to go down to the lawn so we could get an up close and personal view of George W. We were in the front row and could definitely feel it as Marine One flew in and landed. There was really no need for any us to fix our hair that morning, because by this time it was ALL over and totally messed up. A Marine exited the helicopter and in his military fashion saluted and marched over to open the door. At this point President Bush came out waving his signature Bush wave. We were literally like 10ft away from him! He walked up to the helicopter door, turned around and waved and then boarded. After him came the Presidents doctor and the Presidential baggage. After they were all loaded up the helicopter took off and flew away. Obviously this was an amazing experience, that we will never forget! We didn't get to meet and greet the President but we did make eye contact!!!:)