Guess who I saw at the Capitol?

Today was Home School Day at the Capitol, so I loaded up the girls yesterday afternoon (after taking Jessica & Mikayla to the eye doctor--no glasses yet, PTL!) and we headed north. First we went to my brother Mark's house in Mayflower. Sally wasn't there (had a class) but Mark and the 2 girls fixed us hamburgers and cupcakes, and took good care of us. I left the girls there to take baths and go to bed :) and I went to a birthday party for my mom and 2 of her friends! I think I've said it before, but I love my Mom's friends. They are an answer to prayer, and a lot of fun. And it was fun to get to see my Mom for a couple of hours before I went back to Mark & Sally's house to spend the night. We got up early this morning and drove to the State Capitol (yay GPS). I had a hard time figuring out where to park, but ended up getting a pretty good place. I was pleased with the girls' excitement when they saw the building,

and when we were inside they kept oohing and aahing about the marble stairs and columns and domes and chandeliers and stained glass, and saying it was like a palace.

On our way up the big marble steps to register, Jessica asked, "Where are the desserts?" We had made desserts for 2 representatives, and then left them in the van!!! Doh. But when I signed in they said not to worry about it, so we'll get to eat the cookie bars ourselves. We saw one home school family we knew as soon as we got there, but that's not who I was talking about in the title. At registration the lady behind the table and I both looked at each other and said, "I know you..." and then figured out her husband used to be the BCM director at UAPB, which was so much fun, but that's not it either. I'll give you a hint. They live in Northwest Arkansas and home school, and have 18 children. You can read about them here. Yep, they were there! I had joked about wondering if we'd see them, and when I did I wanted to take a picture, but we introduced ourselves instead, and Mrs. was very gracious and friendly. And then I didn't want to look like a groupie, so we wandered off again. After that I found a senator we used to go to church with, and said hello, and we walked around a bit until our tour of the Capitol Building. It's a beautiful building, which was started in 1899 and finished in 1915. I was taking this picture of the girls

when the head dude of the Family Council, whom I admire a great deal, offered to take a picture of all of us. See?

Then we were peeking at the Senate chamber and the sergeant at arms let us in and took our picture there!

I was amazed at the feeling of respect you automatically feel in there. Made me look forward to taking the girls to D.C. some day. It was a good day. The girls got bored and tired and hungry before the tour was over, so we snuck away and came on home, but it was still a good day.