Attributes are not nodes, so will not be returned by the descendants axis
Imports <xmlns:aw = "http://www.domain.com">
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim xmlTree As XElement = _
<aw:Root aw:Att1="AttributeContent">
<aw:Child>Some text
<aw:GrandChild>element</aw:GrandChild>
</aw:Child>
</aw:Root>
Dim de = From el In xmlTree...<aw:Child> _
Select el
For Each el In de
Console.WriteLine(el.Name)
Next
End Sub
End Module