Museums, Museums, Museums, OR Day 2

On our 2nd day in D.C., we hit the Ntl. Museum of Natural History and saw the dinosaur that inspired scenes from Night at the Museum (the Movies). But being the good parents that we are, we lied and said that the dinosaur on display was THE dinosaur. The real one. The star/celebrity.

After that (photos in no order at all to follow) we hit the museum of American History. We missed the 1st ladies inaugural ball gown exhibit thingy because we spent almost TWO hours in a War exhibit. My really good friend went to that exhibit also last November, but being that she has big girls and not big boys, she said they were through the exhibit in about 45 seconds. We spent nearly 2 hours exploring America's Wars...all of them. Revolutionary, 1812, Spanish/American, Mexican,WWI, II, etc...all the way throught Afghanistan. It was exhausting, but really interesting.

There were also really cool science labs for kids in the American History Museum. Here are my kids showing their good sides.

Maddie liked to have us take her picture while she was doing things, like snapping, zipping her shirt, and dancing.

Nate was really excited to take his picture with "The Little Averham Lincoln".

Jack with a Revolutionary War weapon.

This is either George Washington's sword or Cornwallis' Sword of Surrender. I forget which. Either way, coolest thing ever for a boy to see.

Yes, that is a real unsharpened hatchet from the Revolutionary war.

Emphasis on Unsharpened.

If this ever comes to pass in American Politics, we are all very much in trouble.

Jack really wanted a photo of himself next to this canon on a floating gun boat sunk during Washington's time and then somehow found. Apparently the cold water of whatever River it was in preserved it quite well. It looked like a tetanus nightmare if you ask me.

We were on the lookout for Mr. Garfield the entire trip. President for less than a year and shot by Charlie Gitow (spelling?). Thanks Johnny Cash for the history lesson. "Mr. Garfield been shot down low!"

This is one of the millions of things I wanted to see in D.C. that I actually got to see. John had the camera, so the angle is shoddy. But I saw Dorothy's slippers. There really is no place like home.

This was supposed to teach the kids about centrifugal force or something like that. The boys thought it was a spinning gun thingy.

I don't really need to explain this, do I?

AT the museum of Natural History, there is a kids exploration room. Maddie enjoyed looking at the dead bugs, not so much the live ones in the butterfly atrium.

That's about right.

Using kitchen utensils, you had to make the ball go into the hole. It's all physics. That's why John was in charge.

Jack wanted a photo with this peculiar specimen.

There was a lot of walking that day, but it was so worth it. So fun. And we didn't even put a dent into either museum. Sigh....maybe next time?