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| Full day in D.C. |
We briefly woke up around 3 this morning and I was relieved that this time when I woke up in the middle of the night, we still had plenty of hours left to sleep. Around 7:30, we started stirring an Robby got in the shower and I tried to wake everyone up. I opened all of the windows and pulled pillows out from under heads and snatched blankets. When Robby had finished getting ready, I still didn’t have anyone awake.
Once Robby started telling everyone that the first folks ready would go to breakfast with him, then everyone started moving a little quicker. Everyone, except Reagan, was almost ready when Robby decided that it was time to leave. I just had to do her hair but I don’t think that she minded waiting a few more minutes on me since I was still getting ready myself. It was a win-win for me-I didn’t have to rush getting ready and he already had breakfast for everyone.
After we ate, we ran back to the room to gather everything and then right down to the van. Unfortunately, we had to leave our wonderful parking spot this morning but luckily for us, we found another perfect spot right in front of the Natural History museum. It helped that today was Saturday and the museums didn’t open for another hour. The kids and I jumped out and took a picture of the capitol. Graham wanted to take a tour of the capitol building again but we had to explain that we did last year and the last time that we were here. You really could stay in D.C. for a week and not see everything.
We then sat in the shade and waited for the archives to open. Once it did, we walked right on in and saw all of the famous documents. It has been a while but the kids and I read a book about the Declaration of Independence-he was carried in a horse and buggy, stored under a church, hung in a smoky room and I don’t remember what else before it made it’s way to the National Archives. The Declaration is so faded that you can barely see John Hancock’s John Hancock.
We walked on through the museum and then to the gift shop. I know that I have said this before but I really, really love gift shops. I never buy anything but Christmas ornaments but I just love them and could spend lots of money. Reagan bought 2 pencils and Keaton bought a necklace at this stop-they have a bit of money and everyone is anxious to spend it. After the Archives, we walked through the National Sculpture Gallery. On the way there, Graham found himself a hat to buy-he looks like a gangster but he is a happy looking gangster. While sitting by the sculptures, I grabbed us a snack from the car and we rested for a bit.
Then we headed over to the Natural History. It was pretty crowded and we are just not a big fan of crowds. We saw quite a few dinosaur bones, some butterflies and even the Hope Diamond. The kids were probably more interested in the gems and jewels area than most anything else. I would point out the different shapes of jewels and gems to Whitman and he would tell me that his favorite shape was a cube. I finally found him a cube and he said, “it is not an orange cube and I just like orange cubes.” I never found him an orange cube!
When we left that Smithsonian, we left town for a picnic. We found a little marina on the Potomic and sat eating on a shady picnic bench watching the boats and seeing the planes land at Reagan National. It was a perfect spot and Whitman finished his nap while the boys played football. We stayed there for a good while enjoying the nice afternoon.
Then it was back into the city for cupcakes. We bought a dozen cupcakes at Red Velvet cucpakes and went next door to eat them. I will not even tell you how much the a dozen cupcakes cost but let’s just say we could have probably rented one of those boats we saw today. The cupcakes were good and quickly devoured. Then it was just a short walk to Ford’s Theatre. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see inside of the theater since they were rehearsing in there today. But we did take in all of the exhibits and went across the street to see the house that Lincoln died in.
Robby had to move the car since his meter was out and we met him at the National Portrait Gallery. It was row after row of pictures and was pretty interesting. Pictures of presidents, pictures of National Parks and even some pictures of some naked people! In the courtyard, they had a fountain that the kids could walk in. Of course they loved this and splashed and splashed until Graham and Whitman were both soaked. When I called the kids in, everyone came...except Whitman. Nothing like chasing him around in front of a few dozen people watching you!
After we had finished that Smithsonian, we headed to Georgetown. Robby had found a neat BBQ joint but the traffic was crazy. Apparently, everyone left in D.C. on a Saturday goes to Georgetown. So we just called in an order, I jumped out of the car to pick it up and was able to get back into the car before Robby had even driven a block. It couldn’t have worked out better. Then we headed back to the hotel. Robby dropped us off since all of the good parking spots were gone. He circled and circled looking for a spot while we went upstairs. I ran everyone through the showers and gathered the laundry while Robby finished parking and picked up some mac and cheese and drinks from downstairs.
The BBQ was excellent and we ate most of it up. After we had finished our ice cream, Robby started the movie National Treasure and everyone has been watching it. The laundry finished and we folded it as we finished the movie. I am not sure that I ever remember watching that movie but it was full of places that we will see on this trip. Pretty good movie and a pretty good way to end our D.C. part of the trip.
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