My Trip into DC with the girls

We took a detour in Berwyn Heights (since Kelli was crying... why not)

There's the old digs! Our first home together. Wow what a change. There were about 10 cars lined up in the driveway and in front of the house and the backyard was trashed with toys and ...just STUFF.

After a rest in our old neighborhood, we made our final "connection" into DC. Sydney said "these cars aren't sharing! why arent they sharing!?" and I said "people in DC don't share". I forgot how rude they were here. And how awful the drivers were. And how expensive parking was!! ($20!!!???) But we made it to the museum of natural history.

Sydney wanted to go to the top of the monument.

This photo wasn't as easy as it appears to get. It took a threat and a dirty look for her to sit down and smile like that. But the end result was awesome! I love this picture!

She recognized this right off the bat! It's the "face rock from Easter Island where Toot & Puddle go sometimes!". Well... part of that is true!

An elephant. So what. Where are the dinosaurs?

This is where it got interesting. Sydney spent about an hour of our 2.5 hours here in this room alone. She kept snapping pictures of EVERYTHING and asking "what's that" and squealing for me to "come see this!"

This was the fossil lab where the scientists worked and you could watch them, and Syd thought that was VERY cool. She said "when I grow up I want to be a fossil lab"... (don't worry, I corrected her... "you mean, be a scientist who WORKS IN a fossil lab" ~~ "yep". Her list is growing. She also wants to be a firefighter, a mom, a doctor and a princess)

The mammal room. Was not a good idea. There were about 500 different mammals on display, and she wanted to know how each and every one of them died.

She's taking pictures with my phone for her class. (she wants to show her school class all about her trip)

The walk from the national mall to the whitehouse is alot longer when you're pushing a double stroller on cobble stone. But I HAD to get this picture before we left DC. HAD to. Even if it meant putting us another 6 blocks further from our car, therefore 11 blocks total of a walk back to the car.

We walked passed the Washingtonian Hotel, which has a funny story. When I was 7yo we moved to Fredericksburg, VA and my family came up to DC to visit the whitehouse. We stayed in this hotel (my dad liked to treat us fancy now and then). We were on the 15th floor or something and I went out on the balcony and looked down to the park below (where the trees are). I saw a homeless person and inquired about him to which my brother explained to me for the first time what a bum is. I was absolutely horrified and couldn't believe there were people who didn't have homes or anything to eat. So I ordered room service (sandwhich) and when it arrived I promptly left our room with it in a bag and took it down to the park to feed the homeless guy. My mother came looking for me and my brother didn't know where I was and for about 45 minutes I was missing! Then I bounced back into the hotel where the doorman recognized me from the description, called our room and my mom raced down to get me, and asked where the heck I was... and I explained, innocently, that I went to the park to feed the homeless. =) (by the way, yes, she did eventually recover)

Here we are still walking. I was so tired at this point. And Kelli was OVER the ride. She cried alot this day. Luckily, the sounds outside drowned out her crying for the most part because there wasn't anything I could do until we got to the car. She really just wanted to be picked UP.

Despite threats, she refused to smile for this one. She really wanted to see China Town bc she thought Kai Lan lived there.

Ford Theatre (where Lincoln was shot) Obviously a field trip of some sorts was arriving.

Directly across the street from the theatre is the Petersen House, where he was carried over to, nursed and eventually died. Its now a museum. It's free to go in but I couldn't get the stroller in. Bugger. Syd was ready to go anyway.

We headed out of there after finally reaching our parking garage. I was so mad about paying that $20 and the people were so rude. And who ever heard of a convenient store that only took cash???? Well the one next to the garage did and I didn't know this, and had already taken several sips out of my water (hello, I just walked like 25 blocks all day with two kids, I NEEDED WATER) and the lady almost called the police on me for the $1.75 (yep). I had animal crackers, 2 bottles of water, milk & a pack of gum (ready to pay with my visa)... and "cash only". No signs about this anywhere! I missed my friendly folks in Texas at that point.

Got home, had an hour to let the kids decompress (and me). Gave Syd a bath, let Kelli play and I changed. Andy went to pick up his mom and we all went to eat at Midievil Times. So funny. Didn't get any pictures but Sydney declared herself the Pink Knight. (she had the opportunity to, but refused to get any princess hats... and instead opted for the sword- so she could slay a dragon). Down side: you have to eat with your hands. Not cool when you're trying to feed a baby at the same time. But kinda fun. The show was really long and Syd was ready to go 3/4 through it.

We are on our way to Baltimore inner harbor today to go to the aquarium, then on to Ocean City for the weeken! Fischer's Popcorn here I come!