Washington, DC 2016

I dragged my family around the National Mall because I love DC so hard. They don't share these feelings, but too bad!

If you look carefully the Washington Monument is behind us!

Smithsonian Castle. See you later, Miranda.

We figured the National Museum of Natural History was the most kid-friendly, though we took them to the Air and Space Museum and the Portrait Gallery before. There was the most exciting development! After years of the dinosaur exhibit being closed- there were two dinosaurs on display again! There were also some other smaller fossils.

National Museum of Natural History NMNH

Whale!

Creatures camouflaged in coral

James looking a little worried about Tyrannosaurus

Three Irish peeps with Triceratops

Looking at mummies

Playing the bug information game

Holding a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach!

Fountain at National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

Moondog, by Tony Smith1964, 1998 – 1999, painted aluminum

St. Patrick's Day in Washington, DC 2015

This was Miranda's first trip to DC! We spent St. Patrick's Day afternoon in DC on our way to Charlottesville. I love DC, and one of my favorite parts of the city is still the National Mall with all the free Smithsonian museums. We met up with Cory and took the kids to the National Air and Space Museum to see what James called "rocket ships." I also took James into the one space ship you can enter while Kevin fed Miranda.

At the National Air and Space Museum

Studying buoyancy.

Generating energy.

Checking out the equipment

After that, we got overly-ambitious, and decided to go to the Museum of Natural History to see dinosaurs. Yeah, apparently the dinosaur exhibit has been closed for ages. Sad! James enjoyed the marine exhibit instead. When we showed him a big gross dead squid he said, "whales eat them!" So true. Calamari is yummy.

On the way to our next museum, the guys kept calling me "the nanny."

Who has fingers and is at the Museum of Natural History?

Showing Miranda the big whale

Hanging out with our mammal friends.

We met Robin for dinner at 100 Montaditos, a Spanish tapas place that serves tons of delicious little sandwiches.

Miranda likes Robin

James had so many cute poses here, I could barely decide, but this one won.

You might be thinking that James appreciated all these great things we did for his benefit. If so, you probably don't have kids. Later that night Cory introduced James to some real video games including Ms. Pac Man and a racing game. After that, James only talked about that, and told us he wanted to live with Cory forever. Thanks buddy!

 

Miranda has a video controller too. She uses it for teething.

• James was about the same age (not yet 1) the first time we took him to DC in 2012.
• Eastern Market and Yards Park in August 2012
• National Portrait Gallery in March 2013
• National Zoo in May 2013
• Girls' Weekend in DC 2014

James's first trip to DC and to visit Cory and Robin 2012

We had a few extra days to travel since Kevin is on Spring Break from teaching classes, so we decided to visit Cory and Robin in DC.  Kevin's visited Cory a few times in the past, but I've never stayed with them in DC before.  They have a lovely condo in an up-and-coming neighborhood.  Their furniture and decorations speak of the international travel they've done together and everything feels very new and homey. James loved their floor-to-ceiling windows, and spent a lot of time looking out and planting his lips on the glass.

James first trip to DC- what a great photo! Thanks Cory!

Cory took Monday off, so after we used his guestroom for a ridiculously long family nap (all three of us in a row passed out with our mouths open), Cory took us to the Hill for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery. I cannot express how much I enjoyed my cheeseburger there. I felt like I had been craving that exact burger for months.

The boys at lunch on the Hill

The cherry blossoms bloomed early this year, so we skipped the Tidal Basin, but there were still cherry blossoms here and there on the Hill so we got a photo near the Capitol and then headed over to the National Mall to meet Robin.

DC cherry blossoms in front of the Capitol

Cory and Robin on the National Mall

Since we were close to the Hirshorn sculpture garden, I took everyone to see my favorite sculpture in DC, "Needle Tower" made by Kenneth Snelson in 1968. The picture below is what it looks like when you approach it, and I'm not terribly impressed by the side view.  For me, the magic happens when you step up on the lawn and stand under the sculpture. Something about the set up vaguely discourages standing under the statue, but if you look carefully there's a depression in the grass right under it, so obviously a lot of people know.  If you live in or visit DC regularly you should go look for yourself.  If you never go, I'm including a link to what it looks like from below.

Needle Tower (see from below here- don't click if you live in DC!)

Then we went over to the grassy area of the National Mall so that I could get a picture of all of us in front of the Washington Monument.  Cory took the photo while Robin made James smile- best. photo. ever. Thank you guys!  James had a little playtime in the grass, which was interrupted by a poop and a very public and messy changing.  Five seconds after we let him go back to playing he fell down and busted his lip on his teeth. Lots of blood and crying.  So with that, we head back to Cory and Robin's.

James running around having fun

Loves his daddy, and DC

Yay!

We took advantage of being in DC and ordered Turkish food for delivery. Really. Amazing isn't it? Robin's sister actually lives in Turkey, so she even had Raki, a Turkish liquor similar to Greek ouzo, but better. Yum. Then newlyweds Roger and Lina came over and we all watched the NCAA Men's National Championship basketball game together. Fun times!