Washington DC

     We had an AMAZING time. This was our first major "just us" family vacation. (Usually our vacations are part of a family reunion or trip of some sort.) Again, we had such a great time. So without furth ado:

     We flew into DC on Thursday morning. We had flown through the night, so we were tired and hungry. As soon as we picked up all our bags, we took a taxi the short 10 minutes to Michael's Aunt's condo in Old Town Alexandria. It was so nice to have a place to stay so close to everything--for free! (Thanks Aunt Marcelle!) We dropped off our bags (turned on the AC) and then went grocery shopping just a couple of blocks away. We took a nap (for Jack's benefit of course) and then were on our way!

     Our first stop was the National Archives to visit the Rotunda to see the Founding Documents. We totally lucked out and didn't even have to wait in line! As soon as we got in the door, through security and to the back of the roped off line, a security gaurd came up to us and said that since we had a stroller we could go thorugh the exit! Awesome! As soon as we got inside, the History Teacher in me came alive. I may or may not have gotten a little teary. 

     After that we went off to my hands-down favorite experience of our trip. We biked to all the monuments and around the mall. We found a bike rental place that we could rent a bike trailer for Jack--it was the perfect way to see everything. We also lucked out and it wasn't even very hot. It was so fun!

Jack and I in front of the Capital 

All of us in front of the Capital

Jack throwing rocks into the Capital Reflecting Pool

The White House

Washinton Monument

Lincoln Memorial 

Walking to throw some more rocks

Jefferson Memorial

     On Friday we were off again early! Our first stop was the National Zoo. We really wanted to see the Pandas, since there are only four places in the United States to see them. They were asleep... but still cool and way worth it. It was a fun zoo--and Jack of course loved it.

Panda!

Jack had to see the elephants

Jack next to an elephants leg bone

      After the zoo we went to the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. It was fun. We particularly liked the exhibit on early peoples. Although as we were walking through the areas with stuffed animals, we both said that the Bean Museum is just as good.
     We also liked the gems and rocks. Jack was a little bored, but once we started asking him to find the different colors, he started looking at them and started to enjoy it.

Iron Side

     Next up was the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. We loved it! I'm really glad that we made time for this one. We were a little worried about losing Jack's interest, but he enjoyed it too! Neither of us really remembered how many really cool things were in this museum.

Spirit of St. Louis

Piloting a plane!

     We took a little longer at the zoo, which put our schedule off just a little, so by the time we were on our way to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Jack fell asleep! We knew he would love the airplanes and the rocket ships, but we also wanted him to sleep. So we went through the First Flight exhibit which included a 20 minute film about the Wright Brothers that was really interesting to us, but Jack would have never stood for--so it worked out great. By the time we were done with the exhibit, Jack was still asleep, so we decided to do our gift shopping. I wanted freeze dried ice cream and we wanted to get Jack a toy plane and figured it might be easier if we just helped him out by choosing it for him.                                                       He actually woke up as we were about to leave the gift shop, and Michael held up two planes to let him choose which one he wanted. Two points here: one, Jack is often pretty grumpy when he first wakes from a nap. Two, when he saw the plane toys, he immediately fell in love with them both. Result: Jack got two planes!

Jack with his two planes!