DC in Three

We just got back from a whirlwind staycation in DC.  It was one of my summer goals to get there and do some of the things I'd been meaning to do all school year, but hadn't.  So, Ken took three days off work and we committed to getting some serious activities in with the girls.  It was so much fun, but also exhausting for someone not used to doing the tourist thing!  It was completely worth it, though, to see the girls get excited about some of the things we've learned this year, particularly at the Air and Space Museum.  (And admittedly, it was much easier for Caeley to appreciate stuff than for Meara, who was coming off a stomach bug and just wasn't as excited to be walking SO far in the heat.)  We had a fantastic three days, which I will briefly chronicle below, but think that a new personal resolution is to start making MORE use of the wonderful stuff that is so close to us!  It could take a lifetime to see all that is in DC, and trying to pack it all into three days was a super huge tease.  (Don't get me started about being rushed through the NGA's PICASSO exhibit by a cranky someone who demanded I think more about the children than about the fact that there was a room full of Picasso paintings.  Geez, who does he think I am?  A mother? ;-)

Day 1:  Morning
Glen Echo Park's Adventure Theater showing of "AYear with Frog and Toad" (I have to insert here that if you've never been to a Glen Echo Adventure Theater performance, please put it on your bucket list, if nothing else.  I really think that their shows come close to being Broadway wonderful, but they're for kids, which is even cooler.  They are super top-notch performances geared towards little kids, who might not even appreciate all the wonderfulness.  All the attention to detail is there anyway, which makes it so fun for the adults who go too!  These are not dumbed-down performances, second rate actors and thrown-together sets.  I'm talking amazingly inventive sets, really creative costumes, catchy songs, cute choreography, and some of the best play adaptations you could hope to see.  In fact, I'm sometimes so overwhelmed by how great it is that I get a little choked up.  Don't laugh.  I really do.  Really talented people and art forms make me cry.  Like Olympians.  Like Picasso paintings.  Like classical music performances.  Like the Adventure Theater shows.)  The next show coming is Charlotte's Web, which I can't wait to see.  As a poignant story anyway, it's bound to be a three-pack-of-tissues affair for me.  After the show the girls had their 2011 inaugural ride on the Dentzel Carousel.  No words to describe how cool this 1920s restored carousel is!  The pics and website will speak for me!

Carousel Detail

Beautifully restored horse!

Baby A on her first ride!

 Day 1: Afternoon
Pool time!!  First dip of the season was surprisingly refreshing.  The water was not half as freezing as it has been this early in years past.  Caeley's first jump off the diving board always makes me smile!

Day 2: ALL DAY at the DC museums
First stop: Old Post Office Pavilion.  Best view of DC.  Little known secret.  Thank you to my DC scouring husband for that experience.  The girls thought that was so cool!

Second Stop: National Gallery of Art.  Hugely poor planning on my part.  I was only looking for the artwork of the artists we studied this year: Delacroix, Durer, and Caravaggio.  If I had been smart, and not in total brain-numb since we've finished school, I would've remembered to look up the locations of the paintings on the wonderful NGA website before we got there.  Instead, I resorted to asking a security guard (posing as the information desk person) and that was the beginning of the end.  He directed me to Caravaggio paintings that weren't there.  We found a couple from Durer's school, and one actually by him, but by the time we started looking for the Delacroix, a certain person, who shall remain nameless, was getting cranky about the aimless wandering and the distractedness of the brain-numb tour guide, who shall also remain nameless.  I will eat crow on this one.  Next time I want to go to the NGA, I'll do the footwork myself beforehand, or go with an adults-only party so that I can sit and drool out of my eyes over all the amazing talent housed in one building.  Oh Picasso.

Stop Three: Air and Space Museum.  Another bunch of overwhelming wonderfulness.  I ended up actually being glad that we finished our astronomy curriculum before going.  Caeley kept yanking my arm, pulling me toward yet another thing we "read about in our book!"  It was super cool that A.) she remembered a LOT of the details of the stuff we learned and B.) was super excited to learn even more.  Next visit we will devote a whole day to the museum.  It was so big, and we saw such a little portion.  And I really wanted to see one of the Imax movies, but again, just didn't have my act together to research show times before we went.  Yet another note to self.

Getting to look AT the sun through a special telescope outside the Air and Space Museum.  Even saw some Solar Prominences and Sun Spots!

Stop Four: McDonald's in the Air and Space for lunch.  This was probably Baby A's highlight of the day.  She can, after all, recognize the golden arches.  She calls it "Don-dols" and horribly embarrasses me in front of people who think I'm crunchy and care about what my kids eat.  Alas, my weakness for McDonald's will not remain secret forever, and is a whole separate post.  (Included in that post is sure to be details on how hypocritical it is for me to even think about eating there, much less to do it every week when pregnant.  Ouch.)

Stop Five:  Museum of Natural History.  Meara desperately wanted to see the dinosaurs.  So we did a whirlwind tour as we were all losing steam.  Another place that you could really spend all day, especially in the super-neat kids room where they can touch, feel, open, close, dress up, explore, compare, inspect, etc.  Just think of all those silly "benchmark" things we could do that every elementary school kid is expected to do...and all in one little room!  After this, we were completely beat and headed home.  I look forward to many more visits to the DC museums!  (Not going to lie, though, I kinda want to take a chartered bus that will drop me right at the door to each place I want to go.  And pick me up when I'm done.  And maybe offer pedicures on-board for the ride home.  A girl can dream, can't she?)

Day 3: Morning
National Zoo.  Just fun!  Baby A loves animals, so this was a special trip for her.  She's particularly obsessed with owls (taking after her father and his affection for large birds with big claws) and so the best-spent time was in the bird house.  I tried so desperately to catch her smiling face, but didn't come close to the joy she radiated!  Lots of school groups were there, too.  Another note to self: do all touristy things on the first day of school in the fall.

Day 3: Afternoon
Mommy and Daddy headed home with Baby A.  Big girls got to spend another day at grandparent's house.  Tennis lessons and more pool time ensued.  No pictures of that, obviously, as my camera was back home, collapsed on the couch, having a beer.  And the camera wasn't the only tired one!