Day Three

Day Three: The Smithsonian

Curtis was flying in from his business trip, so the first place we went was to pick him up from the airport. Then he dropped us off at the metro stop and we rode in to the Smithsonian Metro Station.

I knew Cameron would love the Air & Space Museum and that was the first place we went, and arrived right as it was opening. Cameron did the flight simulator right away, which he loved. He went upside down a couple times. I was video-taping him until one of the employees made me go in a "safe zone." Then we all 3 went in a different flight simulator for the "roller coaster ride" through the planets. That was fun, although Elizabeth wanted to move around and play with things so she wasn't happy to just sit still on the ride.

Cameron had fun looking at all the planes and space things, and he went in the gift shop and bought lots of souvenirs. Then he kept begging me the rest of the day to let him play with his souvenirs, but I told him he had to wait to set them up until we got back to Curtis & Lindsay's house.

We ate lunch in what I'm sure is the biggest McDonald's in the world, inside the Air & Space museum. It was only a couple dollars more expensive than a regular McD's would have been, so I was grateful for that. It was gigantic. Actually, the whole museum was enormous. It was a very nice museum and was one of the few places that I found a room for "baby care" and was able to sit down on a bench to nurse Lizzie. We got a shake on the way out of the museum and ate it as we walked past the other Smithsonian museums. We took some photos with the view of the Capitol Building on one side and the Washington Monument on the other. You can see we took some "Chris/Britt" style photos, with us "holding" the Washington Monument. :) That's just for you, Britt. :)

After that we stood in line at the National Archives to see the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. They didn't allow any flash photography inside, but I did get video of the documents. The sun had faded the Declaration so much that you can barely see the writing anymore. I guess they used to have it displayed where it was in the sun and that caused it to fade, so they moved it to the National Archives and have all the lights very dim in the room where it is displayed with the Constitution & Bill of Rights. It is a beautiful place & I highly recommend everyone going there when they visit DC. It was about a 45 minute wait to see the documents.

After that we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was very crowded and like a maze. I wasn't nearly as impressed with it as with the Air & Space museum, which is much more modern and easy to navigate. It did have cool things in it, though. Cameron went in the live butterflies exhibit and got to have butterflies flying all around him. I waited outside with Lizzie. The museum had lots of animals, a sea area, ice age, and of course, dinosaurs. The thing Cameron really wanted to see was the blue Hope Diamond, which was on the 3rd floor. We waited in line to see that and he also took video of all the other expensive jewelry, like necklaces worn by Marie Antoinette and etc.

We went to the Ronald Reagen building and ate dinner at one of the restaurants in the basement. That was one thing our Tourmobile guide recommended and said that it was one of the few places we could find something to eat that was not outrageously priced. Actually, I didn't find the food prices to be too crazy - they were about like eating at Lagoon, or maybe cheaper. We each had a slice of pizza and a drink from Sbarro's. Then we went to Metro Center Station and rode the metro back to Vienna Station, where Curtis picked us up and drove us back to his house.

We babysat their 3 girls while Curtis & Lindsay went on a date. They don't get to go on dates very often because there aren't many youth that they trust to tend their kids. And since Curtis had been out of town for a few days, I figured they needed a night out by themselves. I hope they had fun. We had fun with the girls. Lizzie wasn't as jealous of Gwen as I thought she might be. Gwen is just a sweetheart -- very easy-going and good. Lizzie and Gwen are exactly the same spacing that Cameron & Micah are, so it was fun to see Lizzie looking at Gwen and remember how Cameron used to poke Micah and steal his binkey, etc., when Micah was born.

I did some of their laundry and held Gwen until she fell asleep, then held Lizzie. Lizzie was very insecure the whole trip, and cried every time I left her sight. I think since she was in places she had never been before she was very nervous about me leaving her. Cameron played with the girls. It had been a good & full day.