DC Trip, Day 2–The Conference

(Day One is below this post)

*Edit: Okay, so I had a funny realization last night.  The sun didn't really rise at 4:23 like the time on my pictures says.  My camera was set to Utah time, but it was really 6:23 there!  Duh!  It did feel like 4:23 though because that's what time it was for me and I was exhausted!  Haha!*

The sun began to rise at 4:23* on Monday morning.  As I was facing east and had only the sheer curtains closed, it woke me too.  I just had to get some pictures before going back to sleep. 

In the last picture you can see a plane coming in right at the horizon line just under the sun.  That’s the Potomac River.
I was pretty tired when I woke up later and had a BIG headache, so I slept more and then got ready for the luncheon.  We as parents were all meeting together for the first time and meeting with the others from the National Birth Defects Prevention Network, the March of Dimes, the CDC and more.  We met in a private room at the hotel restaurant and further discussed ideas and started to form a plan.  This picture (while not a great one of me, thanks to my hair) is all of us together for the first time. 

After the lunch, we got our presentation set up then had a break for a couple of hours.  We were able to present about a parent’s perspective at one of the breakout sessions of the conference.  We each took about 12 minutes and discussed different topics.  I spoke about how to package information for parents and what the role of state programs should be.  Between the lunch and the session, I managed to babble a lot and make myself look completely uneducated and inexperienced.  Oh well.
It was really a great experience and a great start to the awareness campaign that we are organizing. 
After the breakout session, I walked outside for a little ways to get something to eat, went back and exercised, then took a long bath and read for awhile.  That’s a luxury I don’t often enjoy so it was wonderful.  I didn’t really get any other pictures that day but don’t worry, there are a lot more to come!