WASHINGTON — If Malia and Sasha Obama write “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” essays as they head back to school this week, oh, the stories they can tell.
The tweens have prowled the Kremlin in trench coats, roamed a Harry Potter movie set in London and studied slave history in Africa as they racked up tens of thousands of miles crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean, time zones and international borders with their parents this summer.
Stateside, 11-year-old Malia and 8-year-old Sasha explored the American West on a family tour of Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon. They went whitewater rafting in the rain and hail in Montana, watched Old Faithful shoot steam skyward and spent time picking peaches in Colorado.
Summer ended with a week at a secluded estate on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where the girls dug their toes in the sand at the beach, rode bikes and hung out at an arcade, followed by a final getaway to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.
And they weren’t exactly stuck riding coach for all their far-flung travels. If only Air Force One gave out frequent-flier miles.
The lazy days of summer between the girls’ trips included watching Fourth of July fireworks from the White House balcony, sleepovers inside and playtime on the lawn with their furry Portuguese water dog, Bo.
Through it all, first mom Michelle Obama tried to keep the girls grounded. “We’ve instituted Camp Obama in my house, which means that the television and the computers are off all day until after dinner and right before bedtime,” she said before the girls’ summer vacation began in June.
The trips weren’t all full of fun. There were sober moments, too.
After touring Cape Coast Castle in Accra, Ghana, a holding cell for Africans shipped into slavery, President Barack Obama said he hoped that seeing the former slave fortress would help his daughters, “who are growing up in such a blessed way,” to understand their obligation to fight oppression and cruelty.
There’s a long history of White House children tagging along with their globe-trotting parents.
Susan Ford went to China with her father, Gerald. Chelsea Clinton traveled to Asia and Africa with her mother, Hillary Rodham Clinton, now the secretary of state. George W. Bush’s twins, Barbara and Jenna, accompanied their parents on multiple visits to Africa.
Anita McBride, chief of staff to Laura Bush in the second term, said she thinks the Obamas recognize their stay in the White House is limited, and they want to share the experience with their children.
“For the president, it’s going to be over real quick,” said Doug Wead, who interviewed presidential kids for his book, “All the President’s Children.”
Malia, now a sixth-grader, and Sasha, a second-grader, did plenty of close-to-home fun stuff this summer, too. They’ve had sleepovers with friends at both the White House and Camp David. They were among screaming fans at concerts by Beyonce and the Jonas Brothers. They also waited in line like any other D.C. tourists at Madame Tussauds museum, where they giggled at the wax replicas of their parents.
After all that, one question remains. What’s left to do next summer?
