Dinner at the Hotel - Mon. Feb. 16

We tried to be up and at 'em but we were just too jet lagged - 3 hours difference really takes a toll. But once we were on the move - we didn't stop - and our first Smithsonian Monday "morning" was The National Air and Space Museum.

This place is sooooo cool!!!


...all things to do with Australia...

Evan playing on a flight simulator - but he was disappointed - it wouldn't let you crash

Heat sensitive sensor picture

Claire with Orville and Wilbur Wright



Claire's favorite exhibit - the pandas in the gift shop

Yep - it's the Starship Enterprise - but it was in the basement gift shop...

Cool spire sculpture thing in front of Air and Space Museum

On to The National Gallery of Art

Such as the days when we learned our classical music from Bugs Bunny and Merri Melodies, we are now learning our art history from Food Network. Before we left on the trip we saw a Challenge where the cake builders had to incorporate a sculpture into their design - two of the sculptures used - Rodin's The Thinker and Degas' the Little Dancer. And to our pleasant surprise what did we see when we entered our first gallery -

Rodin's The Thinker

Degas' The Little Dancer (there were two!)

Seeing as we were in the sculpture galleries first, that meant Evan had to say "We're just looking at a bunch of naked people..." But we moved along... at different speeds

My family waiting patiently for me - I moved a little slower than they did in the museums



Claire and Evan took many pictures of the art - here are a couple favorites

Claire's picks - Fragonard's A Young Girl Reading

Pietro Magni's the Reading Girl

Evan's picks - Jacques-Louis David's The Emperor Napoleon

Chalice from the Middle Ages


Or as Evan would say "A Fancy Cup"

Tired people

To the Capitol! I tell ya - we had to take a picture everytime we saw it


Another sight we had to take a picture of everytime we saw it

Back of the Capitol (there was a sharp shooter walking around there, but I don't think you can see her/him)

The Library of Congress Jefferson Building

The Supreme Court Building

A pretty sunset for our walk back to the hotel

After walking all day - we were so tired. We had sweet and sour chicken for dinner provided by the hotel (they provided breakfast and dinner Mon-Wed). Then we went up to our room. It was around 6:30/7:00ish. The kids and I sat down on the couch and didn't move, watching Wrecreation Nation - and Greg rested on the bed and fell asleep! Noooooo - we're in DC - we need to be up and moving! At 9:00 Greg got his second wind and we went out for a drive - we went looking for the White House, and the free parking lots we read about in a magazine. We located the lots, and decided we'd start our day there Tuesday - close to the Jefferson Memorial.