Maker Faire at the White House

So La Petite Maison went to the White House.

THE White House. You know, where the president lives.

We just got back from a whirlwind four days in DC, then Delaware. I am having a hard time processing in my head that the little blue house was parked under the east portico of the big White House. From the number of visitors, I would guess that many other people were having a hard time also.

Some photos.

Leaving for the White House.

Teal Brown of Wishbone Tiny Homes hauled for us, and we could not have done it without him. He took care of our house like it was his own. You should go check out his work. Gorgeous. There are some pix of the house traveling, including two awesome dudes who worked on the wiring on the house at a truck stop in North Carolina, grinning from ear to ear in front of it, but Teal has those. I will add them here later.

Secret Service, checking us out.

For obvious reasons, we didn't take a ton of pix here. I will say that the security people were awesome. They were way less intimidating than I expected, although I have no doubt they would slam you to the ground in a heartbeat if that were necessary.

Thankfully, it was not, and La Petite Maison was backed up and into the east portico.

Again, Teal was amazing. It was a very, very tight fit at places, and he did amazingly well. So well that people commented about his skill. Seriously. Cannot sing his praises enough!

Set up began. You don't really need to see the sweaty mess that was us, but when we took a break in the east reception room, we were thoroughly tickled to look out the window of the FREAKING WHITE HOUSE and see this:

Bo and Sunny came to check us out.

And we managed a somewhat less sweaty group shot on the steps at the end of set up.

And then the morning of.

Tons of different people were there, including will.i.am and Bill Nye.

We had awesome seats for the president's speech but then got moved to the back for the fancy people. Still happy to be there.

The president was talking about changing high schools to reflect the maker spirit, and I wanted to stand up and scream, "I'm right back here!! There is an example of me having done that already outside the east wing!!!"

I thought the Secret Service might be less friendly if I did that, though, so I decided not to.

And finally, leaving the White House...

...and moving La Petite Maison to Delaware.

(The site isn't done. There will be a slab and a gravel driveway. We are not in love with it, but it was a long, long day, and it will do for now. And this isn't the point of the post. So more on that later).

What an amazing day. I still cannot quite believe that 72 hours ago we were hanging in the White House. The Office of Science and Technology people were amazing; Kay (spelling of your name? I don't know, and I am sorry!!) gave us a private tour at the end of the set up day, just because we had never been, and everyone kept checking on us to make sure we hadn't melted and got everything we needed.

We didn't meet the president, and I have to say, I think it is his loss, not because we are so fabulous but because I think the tiny house movement is here to stay, and he had a prime opportunity to be out in front of that.  LPM was built as a school project (that is possible to replicate) and is a prime example of making and doing and STEAM education.

You are welcome in Delaware anytime, Mr. President. Bring bug spray.

If you want to stay local and check out an example of how tiny houses might work in a city, stop by Boneyard Studios. They would be happy to have you also.

The other exhibitors had unbelievable projects. We didn't get to see all of them, but we were able to talk to a few people. You can check them out here.

Now it is runrunrunrunrunrun for the next step of our move north, but wow. So much of the good things, as Sicily would say.

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