Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian

Today I took the kids to the American Indian Museum in DC.   We were pretty excited to go since I had heard that there was a great area for kids.  It turned out to be not quite as great as we had expected.  The art areas were actually more interesting that the kids area!  We did get parking right out front of the museum which was awesome!  After about an hour in the museum, we decided to walk across the street and spend a little time at the Botanical Gardens.  It's always nice in there and it's great for a long or short visit!  The kids got some pretzels from the street vendor outside of the museum and Declan got his own pretzel since the vendor didn't think he should share.  That made for a VERY happy Declan.  Unfortunately - but in typical fashion - Declan fell really hard right onto his face as we were leaving the botanical garden and got the fattest swollen lip ever!  It's a good thing that we hard parked right outside - I didn't have to carry a screaming and kicking 40 pound preschooler too far!!

 Getting some pretzels!!

Declan after the epic face plant. :(

The Air Force Memorial

 Since it's starting to get a little warmer, the boys and I have been going on little field trips while the girls are at dance class on Monday afternoons.  The Air Force Memorial is right down the road from dance and we had never been there before.  It was really nice and had a great view of the Pentagon. We'll have to go back once it starts really warming up and the trees have leaves on them!

Iwo Jima Memorial and the Netherlands Carillon

 On Mondays the girls have ballet and we are usually rushing from school to get there but since we didn't have school today, we could be a little more leisurely.  We dropped them off and dance and went over to the Iwo Jima memorial.  It's on our side of the Potomac and we've never even been there! Pitiful!!  It was rainy but not cold so we got a little wet but who cares - the fog over the snow definitely made up for any discomfort!!

 We also walked over to the Netherlands Carillon - thought we might be able to climb up but I guess they don't want random people falling off!

 Aidan grabbed the camera for a little bit!

 The view across the river!!

It was beautiful - even in the rain - and there's lots of room to run around.  We'll head back in the Spring for sure!!

The United States Botanic Garden

 Declan and I went to the US Botanic Garden today with some other moms and kids from Stroller Strong.  It was a HOT and HUMID September day and there was no relief inside the garden!!  It was still really fun and we had a great time with all of the other mamas.  The gardens are beautiful but very different from when we went at Christmas, although it was empty and we got to enjoy the gardens without a lot of other people there!!