After we left Annapolis, we drove in to Washington, DC.
In keeping with tradition, we got mildly lost trying to find our hotel.
The morning of our first full day, we got up and headed out to the Mall. I really love the Mall...it provides an amazing amount of green space, and it was so fun to see hundreds of people out on it in the evenings playing softball and kickball games. It distracted me momentarily from the sheer amount of filth and stinky that comes with city life. David and I occasionally dream of retiring to a big city someday, putting our car into hibernation in a parking deck and hoofing it around to great restaurants, coffee shops, and performances. But with kids? NO freaking way. Give me a kid covered in mud and grass stains any day over a kid who has touched every.single.handrail in metro DC. Gag.
Anyways, after a 2 block walk from our wonderfully close-to-everything hotel, we were greeted by this grand sight of the Capital.
And, we had to stop and turn around to capture cheesy Washington Monument shots, of course.
My kids' favorite part of the morning so far? Chasing pigeons. So easily amused, they are.
We also briefly went into the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. It was a beautiful building with gorgeous exhibits, but it didn't capture the boys the way some of the other museums do. It could have had something to do with the ice cream truck distracting them outside...
...or maybe the carousel ride we had promised them...
...or just their desire to get back onto the Mall and chase squirrels and pigeons again.
No trip to the city is complete without a ride on the subway. In retrospect, it was rather lame - we only went about 2 city blocks, and it was rush hour and crowded. Sorry kids, mom and dad are walkers. They found this out later when we went out after dinner to 'walk around a bit.' 2 hours and the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the White House, the reflecting pool, and the Lincoln Memorial later, and we had 3 exhausted children. We fondly refer to our evening of sightseeing as the 'death march' around the Mall. At one point, Ian mumbled, "My feet are angry!" Merritt actually fell asleep standing up in the elevator on our way back to the room.
Time for a dip in the rooftop pool!
On Tuesday, we spent over 6 hours in the Museum of Natural History. What an awesome collection!
What's better than a cheesy museum pic? A classic photobomb in a cheesy museum pic.
There is an amazing live butterfly exhibit that is LOADED with butterflies. I told Ian if he sat very still he might get a butterfly on his head. He took this task very seriously...
...and his perseverance paid off!
David also had a hitchhiker.
The insect zoo portion of the museum had live bugs out for handling. This didn't phase me one bit. But those germy handrails? Don't get me started again.
Just before I snapped this pic, a little girl standing next to Ian said, "Oh, that's the bug that bit my brother." I love his little unsure reaction. (FYI - it didn't bite Ian)
We rarely use the ipad so we can...rarely use the ipad. Genius.
Our beautiful view out the hotel window, on the 14th floor. It was captivating to stare at, no matter what time of day. And as much as I love NOT living in the city, I do LOVE the sound of traffic at night when I am staying in the city. Pretty funny, since I grew up in the country.
Turns out we are only 4 hours from the door of our house to the door of our hotel, so we hope to have many more DC adventures as the boys grow older (and gain stamina!).
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