We woke up late on Monday morning with the whole day stretching before us and plans to head into D.C. for a day of educational fun. Our oldest was only four when we moved away from the area 7 years ago, and even though we’ve been back for 3 years we haven’t actually managed a trip into the city except for one nightmare trip to the National Zoo and a fun Air Force Band Christmas concert. Clara barely remembers any of our previous visits before we moved, and Jonathan did not remember any at all. We decided it was time to seal a few things in their memories forever. First, we had to decide which Smithsonian to see. Once we all agreed on the Museum of American History, we were ready to tackle the breakfast buffet and start our day.
Once in the American History Museum by way of a “train ride” and the Federal Triangle metro stop, we immediately headed for the Invention At Play section thinking all of the kids could get some wiggles out. It was not as baby friendly as the flier in the lobby seemed to imply, so we ended up skipping that and heading for the General Motors Hall of Motion. Here we found trains, cars, wagons, and even a few buses on display. Caleb enjoyed climbing on board one metro bus and kept asking if he could get into every single vehicle. We finished this section with a quick trip through the On the Water display and headed upstairs for a peak at the Philadelphia boat that was pulled out of Lake Champlain and reassmebled here. After this, we decided it was time for lunch.
After lunch, we split up and the girls headed upstairs to check out the First Lady Gown collection while the boys went to check out The Star Spangled Banner display. Finally tired of museums, we headed outside for a hot and tiring tour of the monuments. We walked about 8 miles from the Smithsonian past all of the monuments to the Lincoln Memorial and across the Memorial Bridge to the Arlington Metro stop; which we boarded and took one stop to Rosslyn. Here, we disembarked and waited in the Metromall for Dan to pick us up because only Clara was willing to brave the Wilson Blvd Hill again after Sunday night’s mad dash.
I think that last metro ride was Caleb’s favorite part of the whole day. My favorite part of the whole day was watching Clara stop and read all of the displays. This is the first time she has been interested in reading about what she was seeing in a museum! We are looking forward to returning so that we can take in the military history display and the baseball in america display and then maybe spend the rest of the day in the Natural History Museum next door.
Recent Comments