Category: Washington DC

Pretty adorable!!

I’m pretty sure my current nose still has some serious evolving to do HA 🙂

I think these are absolutely hilarious!! But really can anyone tell the difference? HA 🙂

We stayed in Maryland and drove into DC. I sure love to color in our states. After Maryland we are headed to an RV park in Virginia. We’ll take a small break in the busyness before our Williamsburg Christmas. DC is quite exhausting, super fun but tiring 🙂 We have some rainy weather headed our way so it seems like a good time to kick back, have some long school days and play games. Loving the life!!

This was really fun. There was a big subway set up and really felt like you were riding down the rail.

The museum had a beautiful display of the first ladies gowns. This was one of my favorite parts, the undergarments. All I could think was Spanx has come a long way 🙂

With the new found transit system, trains, this woman felt it necessary to promote good traveling etiquette. Good manners included not grooming yourself in public areas, wearing the appropriate clothing, speaking in a respectful manner, limiting your luggage to a couple of small bags, and definitely do not bring on paper packages. It was pretty funny listening to the tapes but I couldn’t help but think society could sure use this ladies classes 🙂

This 24 pound shot is what sank the Gunboat. It caused rapid flooding and the abandonment of the ship shortly after nightfall.

Shown is the Gun Boat Philadelphia. Recovered from the bottom of Lake Champlain in 1935. This vessel was home to a 44 man crew. What seemed off was how shallow the deck was. There seemed to be only a couple of feet from the deck floor to the top of the boat. I have no idea how they fit so many men on this boat.

The Gun Boat Philadelphia sank to the bottom of Lake Champlain in October 1776 during the Revolutionary War. This model shows what the boat looked like at its finest.

We didn’t actually go in but with so many things we had to pick and choose. We did do a quick peek inside. So much history here.

Abe at night. Very cool. This was definitely on my list of things to see at night. And it was so worth it 🙂

We made another go of it the next day and succeeded! The famous black wall had an abundant list of names, the names of the soldiers who gave their lives for this “conflict”.

Each sate decorates their own tree. California’s was full of peace signs. Funny.

So glad we made the visit at night. Ryder was so excited to see all the little villages and trains running through them. After our visit to the White House it was time to head back to the truck and make our way to the memorial. We did a pretty good job navigating DC on foot. Driving in the giant truck is a little more challenging. I still don’t know how hubby does it, I would have smashed a zillion cars by now, we’re talking about some teeny tiny streets here. Although DC was not nearly as bad as San Francisco. Anyways, we made our way down by the memorial and got stuck in a round about over a bridge. After the long day and the driving confusion we postponed the visit and headed back home. It was pretty hilarious though 🙂

So we had a heck of a time finding the White House, we began to think it was just a figment of the imagination but we finally found it 🙂 We knew we had been right next to it several times. But still we could not actually see the White House. Finally after a long trek on foot and a few encounters with the DC rats we got a view of the infamous White House.

After a long day we sat for a quick dinner before heading off in search of the mysterious White House (we really had a hard time finding this ) and the Vietnam War Memorial.

Now don’t ask me why I wanted to see this because I wouldn’t have any better of an answer than I am a girl and it is a diamond hahaha But, Olivia and I can now say we have seen the Hope Diamond. Our female lives are complete 🙂

Beautiful Canopic Jars.

It still amazes me how well preserved these bodies are.

I was so excited to see the After Life Exhibition. I think I was spoiled by our Museum of Man in San Diego. Pretty cool though, and it was good to have a little refresher for the kids. Although Ryder was pretty thorough with his detailed explanation on the preparation of the body. An awesome teacher moment !!

In the Insect zoo. This cute little grasshopper seemed to pose just for me 🙂

Titanaboa. This giant snake was found somewhere in Columbia. The biggest snake of all time.

The end of the Ice Age.

OK, now we are moving out of the Dinosaurs and into these Massive Mammals. If I remember correctly this was one of the first rodent type of mammal. And yes it really is as big as it looks. Personally I think the DC squirrels are bigger 🙂

Fossilized fishy.

I really should have taken better notes as to what these things actually are HA 🙂

Fossilized Dino eggs.

Very few of the displays are casts however this Big T-Rex is. But it still made for an awesome pic 🙂 He made his debut in the Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian.

A Sea Cow from millions of years ago. Looks just like our Manatee of today.

So cool!

The sheer size of the ancient animals is extraordinary. And then to see the similarities between these creatures millions and millions of years old to modern day. It’s truly amazing.

They have everything set up really neat. We started at the beginning of time and made our way through ancient oceans, dinosaurs, the first mammals, the ice age and then of course moving into modern man.

A giant Sea Turtle. We read that some of our ancient Sea Turtles had shells as big as a pool table.

More Trilobites. It’s pretty mind blowing to think how much these little guys impacted our history.

Dad and kiddos mixing up our day with some silliness 🙂

The Castle. We didn’t actually make it over there but it was quite an impressive view while we picnicked 🙂

Exactly what I pictured when I thought of the Smithsonian 🙂 Although I had no idea the Smithsonian encompasses 19 museums. Amazing!

This whale was hanging high above us. Totally massive!

They have an extensive collection of Trilobites. We read up on the mass extinctions of our time and really had a good picture of evolution.

First up we have an ancient Great White Shark Mouth….I could very easily walk right on in

Visiting this museum has definitely been a lifelong dream come true. It was incredible.

This city has such a different feel to it. I felt a surge of emotion today. I couldn’t help but think of all the great moments that have occurred right here in this city. And all the disappointments that have come because of this city. Still, I can’t wait to see and do more. On to another day…

A very unique experience. It’s hard to put into words but it is really a special place. They did a great job with the space.

My beautiful family.

Ryder thought Mr.Lincoln was very cool.

He’s pretty spectacular!

This was my favorite spot of the day. It was the picturesque Lincoln Memorial with the oh so common back drop of the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. So cool!

Another tidbit in history. Apparently this memorial was constructed overseas in China. It seems a bit odd to me that a piece of American History needs to be shipped overseas to complete. And not only that but let’s look at the content we’re dealing with, Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader for Equal Rights. Not exactly what I picture when I think of Communist China. The whole memorial just felt a little off.