D.C. Week 3

We started off the week at the International Spy Museum. That would be Phoebe as a ninja.

That is Bruce escaping an aggressive shark. There was an extensive James Bond section of the museum with an exhibit for just about every Bond movie ever made. 

Since Bond has so many cliffhanging moments in his movies, there is a bar to try out the cliffhanging thing. Most kids could only hang on for 8-10 seconds, but competitive Phoebe put on her game face and hung on for 45 seconds. 

After the Spy Museum, Oliver fell asleep in the stroller and we headed across the street to the American Art Museum. It had a really nice atrium and even nicer art. We checked out portraits of all the presidents, a few celebrities, and even Joseph Smith!

When Oliver wakes up, it's time to leave the museum. 

We ended the day at the playground with new friends. We found another radiology resident family with kiddos! 

On Tuesday, we went back to the Museum of the American Indian. 

We went there last week but went again because they had a great space for kids to run and play. And we wanted to try the fry bread in the museum cafe. The kids loved it.

We ran and played in the morning to put Oliver to sleep in the stroller again. Once he ran out of steam and fell asleep, we headed to the Modern Art Museum.

Most of the art museums don't allow

photography so there's not much to show. But the kids were not

Impressed by modern art. "This is just light bulbs!" and "I don't get it." Most of the time, I didn't get it either. But we feel cultured.

We wrote a few postcards and Phoebe made one for me. 

On Wednesday we drove out to a big park and went for a hike/ scooter ride.

We played on a playground and rode on a carousel.

Then went for a train ride.

This must be a Maryland thing? There are several town-owned parks with cheap carousels, train rides, nature center, etc.

When we came home, the local fire department was flushing the hydrants outside of our building. We met some new firefighters and sat in the truck. Phoebe just happened to be wearing her Boston Fire Museum shirt and red shorts. Of course.

On Wednesday night we babysat for some new friends so they could go on a date. They have four kids and the husband is a radiology resident. We had a lot to talk about!

On Thursday we went to the WWII memorial. We thought of my grandpas that served and thought of the 450,000+ that were not so lucky and did not survive the war. There is a powerful place in the memorial that shows a huge wall of gold stars, each star representing a thousand soldiers killed. Beneath the stars it says something like, "This is the price of freedom." 

We walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial. It was hot, so the kids were not cooperative for picture-taking.

We stood on the Lincoln Memorialand looked down across the Mall. Scott had been in lectures earlier in the morning, but joined us here. 

We walked by the Vietnam memorial. Unlike the star for every thousand, the individual names are etched into the stone. So pretty and sad.

We walked by the White House. We couldn't get a tour but went to the visitor center and learned fun snippets about the house and presidents. President James A. Garfield liked to request squirrel soup for dinner. Ronald Raegan really liked jelly beans and always had some with him. 

On Friday we went to the Newseum. I had to drag the kids there but once we were there, we spent the whole day. They loved it! We checked out the Berlin Wall...

...and the funnies...

...and the not-so-funnies. There was an incredible exhibit about September 11 that showed the broadcast antenna from the top of one of the twin towers. 

There was plenty for the kids to do too. 

At least those who were awake.