Dinosaurs 'n spaceships 'n airplanes - oh my!

Sunday morning we woke up and went to get the free breakfast that the hotel offered. I was expecting some bagels and maybe an old apple, but I was genuinely surprised at the offerings! There were egg omelets, sausage, biscuits, french toast sticks, muffins, bagels, toast, cereals, pastries, yogurt, fruit, juices, coffee and more! We each could pick something different and be completely satisfied. It was nice.

 

Since we had woken up relatively early, we got a good start on the day. We were all dressed, packed up and ready to start our adventure a little early, so we left and I prayed we'd find some of the premium free parking spots. Once again, God answered our prayers! We got an EXCELLENT spot!

The first stop once we got out of the car was a really cool "butterfly garden" where they have set up everything to invite butterflies to come and sit. It had rained a little overnight (but not at all while we were out and about!), so everything looked  a little damp. I should stop here and say we had NO RAIN and instead BEAUTIFUL weather. It was upper 70s but a little overcast so not too hot and not too cold. It was PERFECT! Just like GOD! I was thrilled at His answer to prayer and must give Him praise and glory and say THANKS!

 We got to see a butterfly in the garden! And about that time, the museums were due to open.

Our first stop was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History or the "dinosaur museum" as we called it. My boys have been really into dinosaurs lately, so we thought this would be a fun stop for them! There was way more than I was expecting there.

With the lighting, I didn't get any really fantastic pictures, but you can see Daddy & the boys in the above picture underneath the HUGE t-rex, which got Joshua super excited! I was surprised that at every museum, they did a bag check and had us go through security almost like you would at an airport.

While a lot of this museum was about evolution, we skipped all the nonsense (there was even a scene there displayed with some neanderthals sacrificing their child! It was downright scary to an adult, let alone a child! And it was right next to the potties!!!). Anyway, we simply looked at the bones and dinosaur displays for awhile, and then we found a few other areas of interest.

Joshua LOVES triceratops and will tell us about their horns and frills.

Caleb was more interested in running around the building, showing his age and lack of attention span. I need to remember that he only just turned three! They did have some cool looking dinosaur exhibits, too, which the boys thought would be fun to play with (they are behind glass, of course).

I saw this cool map on the wall that showed where they've discovered fossils in this area.

Joshua had fun exploring and touching things that were allowed to be touched and looking at things that were eyes only. We ran into a (I'm guessing Chinese?) family who came up and gave our boys big hugs and were oohing and aahing at Ryan. They were a little too friendly for my liking (any other parents hate when strangers grab at their kids?), but I realize that that's part of their culture.

Eventually, we went to the area with "stuffed animals" or what they called the mammal room. We saw many of the same animals we had seen at the zoo, only this time they were a little closer but behind glass.

Caleb, of course, loved the ape or "monkeys."

After that area, we went into a room about the ocean. Joshua still talks about the HUGE whale that lined the ceiling in there. I tried to take a picture, but I couldn't get far enough back to capture all of it, so it didn't turn out all that well. They looked at the different displays of fish, and found a coral reef with "Nemo" and "Dory" in them swimming around with all sorts of other friendly fishies.

After we had seen all the displays we cared to, we pressed on. Daddy had parked in between this museum and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which was our next stop. Once again, we went through security. The boys saw all the space gear and said "wow!" But, at first I wasn't sure if this place was too old for them (I think it will be even better in a few years).

We saw the airplanes on the ceiling and eventually went upstairs for them to go through one and see into a cockpit.

We looked at all the rockets and how big they were. It's hard to capture with a camera!

And we walked through a few exhibit rooms until we found the one that was hands on. Here they are checking out the astronauts.

The room that was hands on was SO cool! I will definitely take the boys back there when they are a little older. But, they got to pull on things and see how everything worked, etc. We didn't worry too much about the educational aspect now but just let them play. But, every display had an educational purpose about how getting things air-born works. One was on friction, water, density, sound & speed, wings, wind, etc. etc. etc. I didn't take enough pictures because we were both going with each boy as they would discover something new to check out. They LOVED this room and could have stayed there all day! I decided to try and feed my little Schnook-a-lou there with a bottle of expressed milk since there were seats in certain areas where the boys were enjoying their time, but he wanted nothing to do with it. So, we just continued on. This room was quite busy with all the kids playing with the different activities, and I think for older kids, this room would be really neat to do on a science field trip.

Eventually, we decided to head out. Ryan hadn't eaten well, and we were all getting tired. We left and Joshua told us he had to go potty. So, we stopped at a fast food place on the way home and after the boys went to the bathroom, we grabbed some food for lunch and started heading home. With the detour, we ended up driving by the Nationals baseball stadium, who just happened to be playing the Braves that afternoon. All the Braves fans were heading in, and I wished we would have planned it so Shawn could have seen the game. Maybe next time when the boys are older and can enjoy such an outing with Daddy!

We made good time coming back, and the boys watched new DVDs Joshua had gotten for his birthday and we also listened to his new CDs, too. It had been a fun family weekend away!