We waited a bit longer today, but still loaded up the truck at 9:45 a.m. to head downtown via the Metro. Everyone was in good spirits when we left for our third day in the city.
The Caterpillars are so comfortable on the Metro now, it's kind of cool to see how quickly they learned the system and rules for riding the Subways.
We rode into D.C. to the Federal Triangle and immediately ate our sandwiches in the plaza of the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, under one of the Postal Plaza Flowers.
It's a right across the street from the Smithsonian Museum of American History - our first stop today.
In the lobby the Caterpillars were drawn to the actual C3PO Costume on display (I'm not surprised).
But they eventually left the lobby to see some of the other displays - including this Dumbo Car from the first ride at Disneyland and the original flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner (which couldn't be photographed for preservation reasons).
We also enjoyed the Exhibit Hall full of the Presidential Things - including Chelsea Clinton's Ballet Shoes (she danced en'pointe) and Amy Carter's Dollhouse (her Secret Service Code Name was Dynamo). The boys stood at a Presidential Podium and delivered part of a famous speech (JFK's Inaugural Address).
I think their favorite exhibit was "invention at play" - which had many famous inventors and photos of them as children. (Plus, it was chock-ful of hands on activities.)
I thought it very cleverly tied in how allowing children the opportunity to experiment and invent led to creative-thinking adults. Plus the baby pictures of famous inventors were rather adorable.
We did head to the gift shop, where each Caterpillar purchased a bag of marbles (B10 collects them and CW just thinks marbles are cool). All the walking meant we needed to stop and rest our feet. (The building across the street is the old Postal building and currently houses the EPA.)
After another quick snack (to keep our energy up) we made our way back to the Metro station to head out to the Smithsonian National Zoo. It was QUITE a walk from the Metro to the Zoo itself, so we stopped into a local CVS to grab some chewing gum.
Once we made it to the Zoo, we met up with the Garden Girls. It's Butterfly's 5th birthday and this was her special treat.
She requested to see snakes first, which thrilled B10 to no end.
GO was wide awake and sitting upright in the sling, she seemed very interested in the goings on of the animals (and the Caterpillars).
Her last request was for giraffes, which the zoo doesn't have, but she happily settled for elephants.
By that time CW was on his last legs (literally) and we still had to walk back to the Metro Station. There was a Starbucks directly across the street from the main Zoo entrance (guarded by the famous lions) - so it was three emergency drinks later that gave us the fuel to get back to the train!
I leave you with CW's chocolate mustache as a perfect representation of our day.
A little messy, but overall delicious!
~Lone Butterfly )i(
2 comments:
I LOVE GO's expression in the picture of the two of you at the zoo. :) Too cute! sounds like another great day!
The pictures of the boys and GO is great! The zoo looks like a lot of fun. I think Little Sheep would like the zoo... I am going to have to plan a trip there when it isn't to hot outside;)
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