President Donald Trump’s grandchildren have left their mark at the White House. Ivanka Trump revealed on Sunday that her stepmother First Lady Melania Trump added the handprints of the commander-in-chief’s ten grandchildren to the White House Children’s Garden. Alongside photos of her daughter Arabella, nine, and sons Joseph, seven, and Theodore, four, casting their handprints, she wrote: “The Children’s Garden was a gift from President and Mrs. Johnson to the White House in 1968. The garden features a goldfish pond, an apple tree, tulips and grape hyacinth.”
“Footprints and handprints of Presidents’ children and grandchildren are embedded in the garden’s paved pathway,” Ivanka added. “10 more bronze pavers were added by @FLOTUS, handprints of each of President Trump’s grandchildren. ❤️.”
The first daughter also shared a picture of her kids posing with the president. In addition to Ivanka’s children, the president is also a grandfather to son Donald Trump Jr.’s five kids—Kai, 13, Donald III, 11, Tristan, nine, Spencer, eight, and Chloe, six—and son Eric Trump’s kids—Carolina, one, and Eric, three.
The garden, which includes the handprints of Jenna and Barbara Bush , is “a symbol of the connectivity of presidential families to the home they once occupied,” according to the White House Historical Association. The garden’s first prints were made by President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson’s grandchildren, Patrick Lyndon Nugent and Lucinda Robb.
Reflecting on the garden’s 1969 opening, President Johnson’s wife wrote in her diary: “Sunday, January 19 [1969]. Today dawned gray and dreary with a light rain falling . . . Carrying an umbrella, I went down to the Children’s Garden, which will be our departing gift to the White House . . . Even in the gray day, the garden was a charming little spot . . . a very secret, quiet place.”
