First lady Jill Biden visits Washington military bases

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden arrived in Washington on Monday afternoon ahead of her visit to several military installations in Washington and California.

Biden visited Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island on Tuesday. She’ll head to California on Wednesday.

She met with military families at the bases to hear about ongoing challenges they are facing during the pandemic.

During her visit at JBLM, Biden got a sneak peek at the first-ever children’s museum on an American military base.

Before she walked into the newly-built sensory space, you could hear her laugh echo through the building.

With Governor Jay Inslee and Washington’s First Lady Trudi Inslee in tow, Biden perused various play areas.

She spent about an hour in total, listening and learning about how the new space can help children on the spectrum who are living on the base.

At one point in the tour, Biden turned her back to the cameras, ensuring the cause took the spotlight.

Later on, while addressing local military families and base leadership, she shared that one of her missions as first lady is to improve the quality of life for service members and their children.

She said the new museum has inspired her.

“As an educator myself, I’m especially grateful to see the care and consideration that’s gone into empowering children with disabilities,” Biden said.

The visits are part of ongoing efforts to relaunch Joining Forces, an initiative founded in 2011 with former first lady Michelle Obama to support service members, veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.