Washington DC - Part III

My Spritzin' Aint E-Z Drink

At 6 o'clock Tuesday evening, we had reservations at The Hamilton - a lively restaurant very close to The White House. We had been watching the weather and saw the following day was calling for lots of rain. We modified our itinerary and after dinner took an Uber over to the World War II Memorial. 

From there, it is only a half mile walk along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial. I had read that they are doing renovations on the undercroft of the Memorial - creating a museum space to the building of the Memorial and historic events that have occurred here. Pretty cool, but made it a little more crowded. 

Prior to our visit, the boys and I had read a book about the life of Daniel Chester French - the sculptor responsible for the Lincoln Memorial. I thought it so endearing they were looking for some of the things the book talked about - how the statue itself was made in pieces because of the weight, the way Lincoln's hands were shown, etc. 

Dusk was upon us and very cool to see all the buildings lit up! 

Wish I had snapped the picture in time - just as we were walking away, we spotted (and heard) a low flying helicopter and the coloring was quite distinguishable. Most definitely had a white top and a green bottom (Marine One??) - possibly going to pick up the President or Vice President from Andrews Air Force Base after they both had spent the day touring North Carolina! The helicopter flew just behind the Lincoln Memorial, heading southeast. 

We headed home via Uber that night as we didn't really want to ride the Metro in the evening with the boys. City living is surely different - Brock woke up the next morning asking how so many people got hurt the night before - he kept hearing ambulances out the window! 

The following day, the Eason Family started early, boarding the Metro heading for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. We arrived about 10 minutes prior to opening and that was the best call - we were able to take cover under the overhang as it had just started really raining. Also gave us time to plan our exhibit order with the map! 

First choice - straight ahead to Ocean Hall and Sea Monsters! 

The boys completed a "What's Your Ocean Animal" quiz. Brock was a Moon Jellyfish - a roamer, likes convenience food and likes being in groups. Kade was a Deep Sea Lizard Fish - stays close-to-home, likes Gourmet food and likes being alone. I thought it was so interesting how they chose to describe themselves!! Haha!

We made our way up the stairs (which looked WORN - imagine how many people have climbed those stairs since the museum opened in 1910!! This is the MOST visited Smithsonian museum!!)

Spotted Henry from the second floor - that is the 11-ton African Bush Elephant's name! 

And then made our way into the Gems and Minerals exhibit to check out the Hope Diamond! That 45.52 carat blue diamond has an estimated worth of 350 million dollars! Kade kept wanting to see if it matched his eyes. 

Lots more gems to look at and items for the kiddos to touch. 

At this point, I think the boys were having a little too much togetherness, so we opted to split up. The wings make a circle, returning back to the Rotunda. Kade and I started at the Butterfly Pavilion side (to purchase tickets) whereas Brent and Brock started at the Bones exhibit before meeting back for our 11:30AM tour. 

Here's a cute video of when we first entered the butterfly pavilion. The butterfly even landed on Brock!

One landed on my side for only a second!

One landed on Brent's shoe!

The butterflies were really attracted to the light blue color - even landing on Brent's hat!

Afterwards, we needed a break, and so headed down (with about 300 other people) to the cafeteria. I coached the boys how to spot groups nearing the end of their lunches so we could commandeer their table - then Brent and I continued to wait in line for our $90 lunch (of 2 sandwiches, 1 salad, 4 bags of chips, 1 orange, 2 cupcakes, 1 piece of cake & 4 fountain drinks). 

This model of a Megalodon is here to encourage everyone to buy/eat lots of cafeteria food. 

After lunch, we had one more exhibit to check out - the Hall of Fossils! Took this picture of a saber-toothed cat - it reminded the boys of Moose. 

Here was a Tyrannosaurus rex taking a bite out of a Triceratops!

An Irish Elk - this guy is huge!

A nice exit photo with Henry!

It was POURING when we left and there was a line of people trying to enter the building almost half a block long - people just standing in the rain with ponchos! It definitely put a damper on the rest of the day for us - skipped The Capitol tour we had tickets to (emailed them the day before and canceled) and did not even attempt walking to the Botanical Garden. Just headed back to the townhouse with our soggy shoes! 

Took it easy that night after we all changed into warm, dry clothes and ordered take-out again. Woke up early the following morning and was in the car driving home by 8:30AM, stopping for breakfast at Cracker Barrel about an hour outside of DC. 

What a whirlwind of a trip! I know there was so much more to see than the little we did see, but that gives Brock and Kade a reason to come back as adults! As it is an election year, I'm sure there will be much conversation about Washington D.C. - we thought this was a great year to go.