Washington DC - Day Two

On day two we woke up nice and late and enjoyed breakfast before heading to sightsee. We had planned to do the Smithsonians. We knew Addie would enjoy the Natural History museum and we thought she'd enjoy the American History museum, then we figured we'd go from there. It was just too hot to continue to see memorials or monuments. It was hot for us and we really had to be careful with Drew. Plus, the adults hadn't been in them in forever.

The first treat for Addie was to ride the metro to the Smithsonians. She's been on a train, (Lucky girl - she's only three and has been on a plane, train, metro, and several boats! She would have gone in a hot air balloon but her daddy put a stop to that one!) but you know the metro is different. Plus, parking is SUCH a pain in DC, and the further we had to walk meant the longer we'd have to be in the heat.

Here they are waiting for it.

And this was the best shot I could get actually on the metro. Not real easy in those close quarters trying to take pictures!

 Yes, we were TOTAL tourists. Backpack and everything. The backpack was mainly the diaper bag, but still. Let me say here that AK loves this stroller. My girl is one that likes her freedom, and being able to hop on or off of this thing is perfect for her. I, on the other hand, hate it. It's TOO heavy. I will be buying another double stroller at some point.

 You can see how hot it was from the haze. Here's the capitol on one end...

And the beautiful Washington Monument on the other. That is one building that Addie can recognize anywhere now.

  My mom and AK in the American History Museum. We were trying to figure out where to start! And we were looking for the huge flag. It used to drop down from the ceiling (back when I first came to DC, as a child), and none of us knew it had been moved. Naturally, there are no pictures of it - they won't let you take pictures and it is in a very dark room with that super heavy glass over it now.

There was an exhibit of dresses worn by the First Ladies. We (Mom, AK, and I) loved it. Tommy just tolerated it! We snapped this one picture before someone told us there was no photographing the dresses. Geez, we kept getting in trouble! These dresses were absolutely gorgeous and I could have spent a lot more time in there!

 We went up a floor and it was the kid's discovery room. Naturally, Addie was happy as can be.

Here she was trying to make a "course" using kitchen utensils!

There were displays of toys and how they've evolved and when they came out. Here's my already tired girl next to the Little People display. She's always loved Little People, and they are so sweet and innocent. I hope Drew will too.

Not quite ready for rides (but we'll go to Disney anyway!).

She loved this little canoe and made me get in it with her and us sing "Row Row Row Your Boat!"

We headed up a floor to Julia Child's kitchen. That was pretty neat to look at, but the best thing was the little imagination station thing beside it for kids. And I proceeded to sit down right there and nurse Drew. Talk about something I never did with Addie! With him, it's wherever, whenever!

 

I did a sugar challenge test, and I really thought I knew my stuff! I was wrong! Tommy and I watch so closely what Addie eats and drinks, and yet, I was still wrong. Did you know raisins had such a high sugar content?

Tommy and Addie were exploring electricity - literally. They were building a circuit.

We went to another floor, trying to find some exhibit for Mom - and ran across this huge dollhouse. Addie was in love, and would like it for her birthday.

We ate lunch outside, in the awful heat, so it was very quick! We then went to the Museum of Natural History. As soon as you walk in a huge mammoth greets you. AK was automatically enthralled.

So was Little Man:

Addie really liked the dinosaurs, and knew a lot about them! I'm so surprised - I really don't know much about them at all. As soon as they walked into the first room with the dinosaurs, she looked up, saw one, and told Tommy, "That's a T-Rex!" And she was right!

It was very dark in there and Tommy wanted a picture of her under the T-Rex (I think?) - we had the big lens on the camera and I had to basically crawl up another display and hope for the best to get this picture.

We know Addie doesn't know the historical significance of much in DC, but we knew she'd still enjoy pieces and parts. People asked us why we were taking her at such a young age. The main reason is because we wanted to see Dena. The second reason is because Tommy was working up there and it was an opportunity for us to not be without him that week. The final reason is because we are not going to wait until a child can either understand and/or remember a trip to go on it. We'll go back when she and Drew can both understand it, but honestly, we'll probably go back again before they both can. I'm not going to wait my or their life away when I know she (they) can enjoy it in the moment! When she sees the capitol or something from DC on TV now though, she can tell you (sometimes) what it is and where she saw it. And I think that's pretty cool for a three year old!