Tag Archives: White House

White House Easter Egg Roll 2012 – Enter the Ticket Lottery

From the White House website:

“On Monday April 9, 2012, the First Family will host the134th annual White House Easter Egg Roll. This year’s theme is “Let’s Go, Let’s Play, Let’s Move” and more than 35,000 people will be joining us on the South Lawn for games, stories, cooking demonstrations and, of course, the traditional egg roll on the Lawn. Starting at 10 am EST on March 1 you can click here to enter the lottery and win a chance to join the fun (lottery opens on March 1 at 10 am EST and closes at 10 am EST on March 5, 2012).”

Enter for your chance to win a ticket to join the fun! Here is a picture of Ingrid at the Easter Egg Roll last year.

What is the White House Easter Egg Roll? (answer from recreation.gov)

“The White House Easter Egg Roll is a tradition that dates to 1878. Originally, young children in Washington, D.C. would flock to Capitol Hill every Monday after Easter for egg rolling and a day of activities. Members of Congress grew tired of the growing crowds and passed an Act of Congress which prohibited egg rolling on the Capitol grounds. The event was moved to the White House in 1878 after President Hayes was approached by young children to use his backyard to roll eggs. Nearly every Easter since, the White House has invited young children to roll eggs on the White House lawn.

Today, the Easter Egg Roll has grown from a few local children rolling eggs on the White House Lawn to become the largest event held at the White House, filled with live entertainment, sports and interactive cooking demos. And, of course, the traditional rolling of the Easter eggs.”

Ingrid at the White House Easter Egg Roll

easter egg roll2

One of our au pairs (Ingrid from Germany) was lucky enough to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll with her host family.  I asked her to share some photos and her impressions about the experience.

easter egg roll4Here is what Ingrid had to say about it:

First of all, I was so glad that my host mom took me!!! We had tickets for the first group on that day and had to be there at 7:30a.m. Consequently, Monday morning we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to wake the kids, and to get ready. Everybody was really excited to go in the garden of the White House. After almost two hours, we finally arrived in the garden.

There they had a lot of different activities for children like Easter egg hunt, egg roll, story time stage, face painting and other pretty cool stuff. So, first Sophie, my host child, went to the egg roll; she did a really good job.

 

easter egg roll1While we were there we saw funny characters from TV shows, and I was surprised how Sophie reacted, when she saw them. She gave almost every character a huge hug and I took a lot of pictures of it.  We saw Elmo from the Sesame Street, and danced to his song. That was really funny and I had Sophie on my shoulders, so she could see. After a while we went closer to the White House, hoping see the President Barack Obama. But he wasn’t there, which was really disappointing.  However, when we left the garden we got a special wood Easter egg with the signature of Barack and Michelle Obama.

easter egg roll3 

 

 

Caught a glimpse of the Obama Family dog, Bo.

White House Tour 2011

This year instead of snow, we had rain on our White House tour day.  But, it was still a great day to get a peak inside this fantastic building. In addition to the usual sights, we were able to see one of the rooms set up for a Super Bowl Party. I thought the choice of colors (a lot of pink) seemed a bit off for the Super Bowl. Maybe they just wanted to be careful not to take sides.

Since no photos are allowed inside, here are a few nice ones from outside. Not everyone from our group is pictured. This is as many as I could gather together for a group photo, standing in the cold and rain waiting outside. Special thanks to the office of Senator Ben Cardin, for assisting with our tour request and to my son, RJ for photography assistance.

Click on any of the pictures, to see it full size in our Cluster Photobucket Album.

http://gi90.photobucket.com/groups/k241/HRK5K1A3T2/WhiteHouse4.jpg

Our Snowy Day at the White House

I have heard it is not an easy road to get to the White House, but I always thought that meant to be elected president.  On Saturday, it was a difficult trip for us just to get to the White House for our tour.

Since White House tours are not easy to come by, we could not let a little thing like 6 inches of snow stop us.  Over 70 au pairs from two clusters braved the snow and had their chance to catch a glimpse of some of the famous rooms inside the White House.  And I caught a glimpse of the president’s car leaving for the Georgetown basketball game.

Here are some photos of that day.

The view from my driveway before I left for the Metro.
Here I am dressed more like I’m going skiing than to the White House. My three shirts and pair of snow pants did keep me pretty warm though.

Some of the snow covered scenery on the White House grounds.
Some of the snow covered scenery on the White House grounds.
Just as I am walking back to the Visitor Center, out comes the Presidential Motorcade!  Is the President in this one?
Just as I am walking back to the Visitor Center, out comes the Presidential Motorcade! Is the President in this one?
Or maybe in this one?
Or maybe in this one?
No, hes got to be in this one.
No, he’s got to be in this one.
The White House looks so beautiful covered with snow.
The White House looks so beautiful covered with snow.
 A closer view.

A closer view.

How is that fountain still working at 20 degrees?

How is that fountain still working at 20 degrees?

A few au pairs warming up in the White House Visitor Center after the tour.

A few au pairs warming up in the White House Visitor Center after the tour.

A snowy view of the Washington Monument.

A snowy view of the Washington Monument.

Washington Monument

Washington Monument