Washington D.C.

We went to Washington D.C. on Monday, June 29th and then spent the 4th of July there as well. Both days we rode the Metro(subway) which was adventurous not only for the kids, especially on the 4th w/ all the crowds!

We only got to take a couple pictures in front of the White House before the police officers in the area received orders to "clear the perimeter" and we were asked to leave. Yes, they actually said it like in the movies.

Monday we we still had Monica with us and Michael came with us too. We went to 3 of the Smithsonian museums (did you know there are 19 Smithsonian museums as well as 9 research facilities?!)

We went to the building known as the Castle, the information center of the huge complex.

You can see behind us some of the props used in the new movie
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian."

We went to the Hirshorn which is the modern art museum. The building, itself, was really neat. It is a 3-story donut with a large fountain in middle. It was really quite fun and interesting despite my usual distaste for modern art.

Michael always wanted to sit on one of these benches and contemplate art!

We went to the National Museum of Natural History. I think the kids liked this best. We saw lots of animals & dinosaurs.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex

This museum also has the Hope Diamond (below)

...as well as a large collection of breathtaking gems...

(this aquamarine is 1000 carats!)

and wonderful natural crystal formations.

This is graphite which looks just like scraps of wood, not at all like crystal.

These two natural crystals look like they should be in the modern art museum.

After many "Don't touch" or "Keep hands off", the signs here said

"Please Touch" so we did.

Lots to see and do. We needed more time.