What Makes Me Happy - DC Edition

I was about to type, "Thanksgiving 2012," but then I thought it should be more of a tribute to one of my happiest times.  I love being with my family, and I love traveling, and when the two are combined, I am about as happy as a person can be.

So.  As Thanksgiving was approaching, I thought, "Thanksgiving is not the most fun holiday.  It is only special because you get together with family.  And we have no family here."  The ward had a Thanksgiving dinner the week before, and it was great, but too early.  Since John had a couple of days off, I thought that the best way to celebrate would be to go on a trip.  We have so many wonderful destinations within five to six hours from here, but DC was at the top of my list.  (Partially because everything we would go to there is free!)  I was so excited as we planned our trip.  The kids and I looked online at sites that talked about the most kid-friendly places in DC.  We looked at pictures, and talked about which things we were most looking forward to - even though we didn't actually decide we were going to go until the last minute.  (I love planning trips, even if they don't pan out.  Like our ill-fated trip to Philadelphia over President's Day.)

We left Wed. night and arrived at a great hotel.  It was a Hilton, or something.  I can't remember.  But it had free parking, free breakfast, and was very close to a metro station. It also had a pool, which was the kids favorite part of the trip. :)

Waiting for the train.

Jonah's too old to be in a stroller, and he did mostly walk.  But it felt safer to keep more kids a bit contained sometimes.  And Jonah is the pokiest, most ambling sort of walker ever.

A nice jogger stopped and offered to take our picture.  Unfortunately that is the closest we got to the monuments.  We were supposed to do that the last day, but it suddenly got very cold, and the kids were grumpy.  Next time.

The first day, we went to the Museum of Natural History.  We loved it!  Best museum for kids.  There is so much to see, that we just had everyone pick an area that sounded interesting, and that was all we had time for.  (If you ever go, take food.  The food court meal cost a fortune.)

Maggie at the entrance.

These pictures were in the bug area.  We saw some of the coolest camouflaged bugs I've ever seen.

The gem and crystal area.  Wouldn't have picked it myself, but the kids love that kind of thing.

They are touching a piece of rock from Mars.

The Hope Diamond.  I kept thinking the security guard was giving us the eye.

This was an IMAX 3D film called "Flight of the Monarch."  At the beginning, all of the kids were reaching up and trying to touch the butterflies.  That was a favorite moment.

After the first ride or two, the kids never wanted to sit down on the subway.

We can never get a hotel without a pool.  The kids would be devastated.

The next day, we went to the National Zoo.  I hadn't anticipated enjoying this so much.  We spent most of the time in the buildings with amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates.  Here's the thing:  my kids (especially Eli) have always loved non-fiction books about these things.  When Eli and Tori were little, we had a reptile and amphibian book that I read to them more times that I could count.  So at this zoo, they had all of the rare things that we'd read about but never seen.  It was like meeting the rock stars of the reptile world.  The kids would go ahead and then yell, "Mom! Mom!  It's a blue-tongued skink!" or "It's a basilisk!"  (A basilisk is the lizard that runs on water.)  There was a Komodo dragon and a nautilus. And we watched them training a baby crocodile.  The pandas were cool, but they were surrounded by a huge mass of people.  We all shuffled past very slowly.  I thought we'd never get out of there.

These were turtles, I think.

There was a butterfly room in the Natural Hist. Museum but it cost a fair amount, and there was a long line, so we didn't do it. But I kind of regretted it.  Luckily, there was a room at the zoo with butterflies, too.  (Free!)

There were some amazing things at the Air and Space Museum.  I wish we'd had more time there.  We tried to squeeze in the History Museum for a little while too, which wasn't as exciting for the kids.  There was a great interactive area for kids in the Space Museum, but it was too crowded.  (The Sat. after Thanksgiving.) But still, there were amazing things to see.  We also went to a planetarium show here.

The Spirit of St. Louis.  It's so cool to be standing near to something so important and famous!

The Wright Flyer.  Again - Wow!

Very nice area for kids.  Someday we'll go back when it's not so crowded.

The kids touching....well.....a rock from the moon.

Some of the coolest things in the History Museum were the original seats and lunch counter from the Greensboro Woolworth sit-in, the original Kermit, and the Nauvoo Temple sunstone.  We also enjoyed a demonstration about the Whitney cotton gin.

First Kermit made out of the fabric of his mom's coat.

The longest escalator ride ever - from the metro platform to the stop by our hotel.

On the way home, we stopped at the visitor's center at the DC temple.  Gorgeous!  Some of the kids said they want to  get married there.