Day 3 proved to be something I never expected. We began the day very early in the morning, about 6:00 am, as we did every day. We met in the lobby of the hotel every morning and then boarded our coach to carry us to the White House. We stayed very close to the White House, so the bus ride was not very long at all. When entering the gates of the White House, of course the bus got checked out by security. When we got off the bus we had to go through more security checks with our Real ID and go through metal detectors. We were allowed to carry in our phones and a small purse if we wanted, however we were not allowed to take any pictures once we entered the White House and we had to leave our coats and phones in a down stairs area. When we got through the security and had to walk up the long drive to the front doors, all of us were constantly snapping pics of the grounds, taking selfies and small group photos. The grounds were sown with rye grass and was simply beautiful in November.
The next few hours that we would be there were simply some of the best moments of our lives. When we walked in we entered into the Grand Foyer, the portion of the White House my group had been assigned to and it was simply beautiful. The first thing we were instructed to do was to go into the State dining room where we would have breakfast. I really can’t remember the exact food we had that first day but I will say, every morning our breakfast was really good. The food in the White House was prepared by the White House cooks (chefs) and they served us breakfast and lunch each day that we were there. I will say one experience with the food was one morning we had something in a chafing dish which looked like oatmeal. I asked my friend, Ginny what it was and the little cook heard me and said, “Oatmeal! And you better eat some too.” Now for me Oatmeal was not my favorite and I just didn’t want to try it but I did and added some fresh fruit. Let me just say, that oatmeal was the most smooth and so good I could eat that every single day, if she would cook it for me. So so good! There was always fresh fruit and yogurt and tea, water and soda along with protein bars and other snacks available. For lunches there was sandwiches and at times we had things like tenderloins and roast beef and salads. You know, light lunches but very good. There was always very good desserts too that were made by the WH Chefs and I remember once we even had some ice cream. We were always free to take breaks and snack or get drinks and that was very nice. The 3rd day though, we all broke up into our teams and we were instructed on what we would be doing in our assigned areas. In our Grand Foyer area, we had a total of 28 trees to decorate. The trees were all live and were ranging from 6ft to like 18ft. They all had to be lit and let me just say, we were showed how to light the trees and it was nothing like I had done before.
You started at the bottom and at the trunk of the tree and every time you had to change to another branch, it should be at the trunk. We had to get this right. If they were not on right, wires hanging or showing from branch to branch they had to come back off. This to me was very slow moving and was a little frustrating because it was nothing a lot of us were used to. I will say though, it was very educational and very time consuming but lighting the trees this way made all the difference in the way the trees looked. We worked on this project all day. During the afternoon, while we were working on the trees, our team leader went around gathering all of us and saying drop what your doing and follow everyone down stairs. There, we were rushed into a long hall way where we stayed for about 30-45 minutes not knowing why we were really down there. But, it appeared that there was a shooting there in Washington a couple blocks away. We really had no clue at the time but after time had passed we were gathered back up stairs and in the west room where were were briefed on what was happening and that we were not to talk about what happened and how we were taken care of. I will say that during this whole ordeal, we were very safe and felt no tension. We later learned what had happened and that was just so sad. For safety our buses were not allowed back on the grounds so we had to walk back to our hotel. We had to go out the back of the White House and we realized that we were outside the door that the presidents come out to catch Airforce 2 helicopter. That was really beautiful back there and of course we were all waiting around outside and began taking so many pictures. We were escorted by Secret Service all the way to our block. This was a kind of stressful day. We were learning something new. Something that seemed to be taking eternity to do and here we were in the middle of a lock down with armed secret service guards. We were very safe though and it was quite an experience witnessing such skill and professionalism as was witnessed that day. I think this is a good time to maybe say “thank you” to our first responders, military and all who are always there to keep us safe all over this country. For always being willing to put yourselves on the line to keep us all safe no matter what. That evening when we got back to the hotel, it happened to be my wedding anniversary day and we decided to go out for dinner. We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory where we had a very delicious meal. The walk to and from there was very cold. Turns out it was about to be some of the coldest days we had seen since fall even started. Well that concludes the third day. I will say even though we didn’t get a lot done to the trees it surely was an eventful day and we were very exhausted from the days activities. Until next blog where I’ll continue with our trip to Washington and I’ll talk some about our hilarious Thanksgiving Day. Until next time, live life in bloom!
The next few hours that we would be there were simply some of the best moments of our lives. When we walked in we entered into the Grand Foyer, the portion of the White House my group had been assigned to and it was simply beautiful. The first thing we were instructed to do was to go into the State dining room where we would have breakfast. I really can’t remember the exact food we had that first day but I will say, every morning our breakfast was really good. The food in the White House was prepared by the White House cooks (chefs) and they served us breakfast and lunch each day that we were there. I will say one experience with the food was one morning we had something in a chafing dish which looked like oatmeal. I asked my friend, Ginny what it was and the little cook heard me and said, “Oatmeal! And you better eat some too.” Now for me Oatmeal was not my favorite and I just didn’t want to try it but I did and added some fresh fruit. Let me just say, that oatmeal was the most smooth and so good I could eat that every single day, if she would cook it for me. So so good! There was always fresh fruit and yogurt and tea, water and soda along with protein bars and other snacks available. For lunches there was sandwiches and at times we had things like tenderloins and roast beef and salads. You know, light lunches but very good. There was always very good desserts too that were made by the WH Chefs and I remember once we even had some ice cream. We were always free to take breaks and snack or get drinks and that was very nice. The 3rd day though, we all broke up into our teams and we were instructed on what we would be doing in our assigned areas. In our Grand Foyer area, we had a total of 28 trees to decorate. The trees were all live and were ranging from 6ft to like 18ft. They all had to be lit and let me just say, we were showed how to light the trees and it was nothing like I had done before.
You started at the bottom and at the trunk of the tree and every time you had to change to another branch, it should be at the trunk. We had to get this right. If they were not on right, wires hanging or showing from branch to branch they had to come back off. This to me was very slow moving and was a little frustrating because it was nothing a lot of us were used to. I will say though, it was very educational and very time consuming but lighting the trees this way made all the difference in the way the trees looked. We worked on this project all day. During the afternoon, while we were working on the trees, our team leader went around gathering all of us and saying drop what your doing and follow everyone down stairs. There, we were rushed into a long hall way where we stayed for about 30-45 minutes not knowing why we were really down there. But, it appeared that there was a shooting there in Washington a couple blocks away. We really had no clue at the time but after time had passed we were gathered back up stairs and in the west room where were were briefed on what was happening and that we were not to talk about what happened and how we were taken care of. I will say that during this whole ordeal, we were very safe and felt no tension. We later learned what had happened and that was just so sad. For safety our buses were not allowed back on the grounds so we had to walk back to our hotel. We had to go out the back of the White House and we realized that we were outside the door that the presidents come out to catch Airforce 2 helicopter. That was really beautiful back there and of course we were all waiting around outside and began taking so many pictures. We were escorted by Secret Service all the way to our block. This was a kind of stressful day. We were learning something new. Something that seemed to be taking eternity to do and here we were in the middle of a lock down with armed secret service guards. We were very safe though and it was quite an experience witnessing such skill and professionalism as was witnessed that day. I think this is a good time to maybe say “thank you” to our first responders, military and all who are always there to keep us safe all over this country. For always being willing to put yourselves on the line to keep us all safe no matter what. That evening when we got back to the hotel, it happened to be my wedding anniversary day and we decided to go out for dinner. We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory where we had a very delicious meal. The walk to and from there was very cold. Turns out it was about to be some of the coldest days we had seen since fall even started. Well that concludes the third day. I will say even though we didn’t get a lot done to the trees it surely was an eventful day and we were very exhausted from the days activities. Until next blog where I’ll continue with our trip to Washington and I’ll talk some about our hilarious Thanksgiving Day. Until next time, live life in bloom!
