WASHINGTON — Every day a small group of reporters is assigned to follow around President Obama, providing a running narrative of what the president is doing so the entire White House press corps doesn’t have to traipse around with him. The reporters, called the “press pool,” file updates with White House press staff, which sends them to reporters and news organizations around the country.

Typically the pool consists of a print reporter, a few television and radio reporters and some photojournalists, with pool assignments rotating among Washington news organizations. The pool follows the president to public events he has scheduled or whatever unplanned trips away from the White House he might take. During weekdays or when there’s breaking news, there can occasionally be some pretty exciting dispatches. Weekend duty is a bit more laid back.

Yesterday, MinnPost was a member of the pool.

It was a rather lazy Sunday for Obama, a lot similar to the one MinnPost covered the first time we were in the pool, in September 2010. Obama had nothing scheduled, but he made a couple unannounced trips away from the White House during the day. In all, it was completely bereft of news.

Here are the pool reports I filed throughout the day: 

Pool Report 1

POTUS's motorcade departed the South Lawn at 1:58 en route for the Department of Interior under mostly sunny skies. It's a mild day in Washington - 45 degrees with a light breeze as the motorcade made its two-minute trip to its destination, entertaining a smattering of gawking pedestrians before arriving at 2:00 pm.

POTUS is playing basketball with daughters Malia and Sasha and friends, according to a White House staffer.

Pool is holding in vans outside.

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Pool Report 2

The motorcade departed the Interior Department at 3:12 pm. President and daughters boarded their rides in an enclosed parking garage, out of the view of the public or the pool.

Motorcade completed a short, uneventful ride back to the South Lawn at 3:15 pm.

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(At this point, I filed a report announcing a temporary “lid,” meaning the president would be staying in for a few hours. A second, final lid was called at the end of the night.)

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Pool Report 4

The President and the First Family are taking a Sunday evening excursion to the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

POTUS, FLOTUS and daughters Malia and Sasha walked to the gallery from the White House, arriving at 6:37 pm. POTUS is wearing a black jacket; FLOTUS, what looked to be a beige overcoat and orange scarf. It's a brisk night, about 44 degrees in downtown D.C.

The Corcoran's special exhibition is called 30 Americans, which runs until February 12. The gallery's website describes the exhibition as a "wide-ranging survey of work by many of the most important African-American artists of the last three decades." It's unknown whether the First Family is here specifically to see the exhibit, or if they're viewing the gallery's overall collection.

The gallery is closed to the public for the evening, so the First Family presumably has the place to themselves.

Pool is holding in an auditorium at the museum.

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Pool Report 5

The First Family left the Corcoran at 7:22 pm and walked back to the White House.

According to a White House official: "In addition to the 30 Americans exhibit, the First Family toured an exhibit on Civil War photography and the contemporary art collection."

With that, we have a travel/photo lid.