The Young and the Restless

The Smithsonians

7 years ago Jason and I went to DC for our 5 year anniversary and I remember wishing that Kylie could be there at the museums because I knew she would love it, so it was so fun to be able to actually take her there (I was pregnant with Jayden at the time).  I love the Smithsonians, and not just because they are free, but because they are filled with so many cool stuff.  We spent two days there and only made it to 3 museums.  The first was the Museum of Natural History (think "Night at the Museum").  The kids were fascinated by the dead animals, but Kylie was a little freaked out by the Evolution display and was convinced she would have nightmares about ape people for the next month. Yeah, how do I explain to the kids that the theory of evolution is a crock when they present it as fact, not a theory, with all this scientific evidence?

 I have high aspirations to be the next Coral Reef crochet artist. 

 The next museum was the Air and Space Museum.  Jayden of course was fascinated by all the airplanes and being able to walk inside a real space shuttle, and for Kylie it was so cool for her to see so many things that they had talked about at school.  I think atleast half of those 268 photos were from Kylie requesting pictures of everything in the museum so she could print them out and take it to her class.  Here is the uniform of Sally Ride, the first woman astronaut that she learned about, but I hesitate to send it to school with her since I'm pretty certain that is the nazi salute she's doing.

here is the actual plane that Amelia Earhardt flew across the Atlantic Ocean, another woman she had just finished learning about.  What an awesome experience to see history come to life.

My aunt Brenda recently moved to DC so it was so fun being able to meet up with her and my cousin.  We couldn't get over the fact that Breanna and Kylie are only a little over year and a half apart in age and 1 grade apart in school.  Poor Kylie, with the 80 lb & 4 ft 9 inch booster seat recommendation, I think she still may be toting that booster seat with her when she starts dating.

   

We were trying to recreate the airplane pregnancy pose from the last trip.....

The last museum that we were able to squeeze in was the Museum of American History which was filled with so many iconic pieces...Micheal Jacksons hat, Apolo Ohno's skates, and Dorothy's ruby red slippers to name a few...

When I was younger I came to DC with my family on vacation and the only thing I remember from the Smithsonians is the collection of First Lady's dresses.  I loved seeing Kylie as fascinated by the display as I was.  Here is Michelle Obama's dress.  I wonder if she was sad to say goodbye to her designer gown and Jimmy Choos.  I bet she wishes she had donated some Payless knock offs instead.

 Another of Kylie's American Heros...Clara Barton and her first ambulance that was used during the war when she started the American Red Cross.  It was kind of emberassing that my 8 year old daughter was the one teaching me, I swear that girl is a sponge and has so many facts packaged in that little brain of hers.

I didn't know that virtually every city has a chinatown, that is until I married a chinaman.  I swear Jason can smell a chinatown a mile away (literally).  So we had the pleasure of dining on delicious hand pulled noodles in our nations capital with my aunt and cousin.  After all that walking we worked up quite an appetite and it was the perfect ending to the day.