Tourists for a Day

Today the weather was absolutely GORGEOUS. This morning was actually chilly and required light sweaters! I knew this was a not a day for us to stay indoors, but after playing in our front yard all summer, the girls have gotten a little tired of it. As I was trying to think of where to go, I remembered that I am always saying how I wish I took advantage of living so close to DC more often. We never go because it seems such a hassle to load up the kids and all the necessary "stuff" to keep them happy and transport ourselves into the city either by fighting the crazy traffic or taking the metro. But this morning I thought, why not? Let's just go. And before I could talk myself out of it, I had packed water and goldfish crackers (because, really, what else does a child need?) and loaded the girls in the car. We got to the National Mall just before noon, and the adventure began.

We started our adventure by sitting on every one of the first four or five benches we passed. This was the second such occurrence.

After the benches lost their appeal we turned to the lampposts

Mommy, get a picture of me too!

After we had walked a few yards, it was time to find a spot for our mini picnic. Not a bad backdrop ;)

Enjoying some Goldfish and water, the snack of champions (or at least young children)

Then it was time to take some fun pictures. Ava was able to get the holding-the-Washington-Monument illusion pretty well!

Jocie tried her best...

Molly didn't even try (and after using all my patience on the other two, I was fine with that)

The girls were having fun running along the grass on such a beautiful day.

Not having paid too much attention before that, I realized that we were right in front of the Natural History Museum (aka the dinosaur and other fossils museum). I asked the girls if they wanted to walk around there a little while, and they jumped at the chance. Their attention span was next to nothing, but with free admission I didn't much care if we stayed three or thirty minutes. (It did end up being closer to the latter.)

As soon as we walked in, Molly was amazed by the big elephant in the middle of the atrium

All three girls were pretty fascinated

I tried to get a picture as we were leaving - clearly we were done with taking serious pictures by this point

After the National History Museum we made a quick stop at the Smithsonian Castle. I'm not sure of the exact origins of the castle, only that now it just serves as a souvenir shop and cafe. Regardless, the girls were desperate to visit the castle so we did for about five minutes. As we left the girls were whining that they weren't ready to leave just yet. So it was off to picnic part two.

yet another pretty picture - even the monument's construction can't ruin this view

Ava found these 3 Goldfish stuck together, so of course we had to take a picture

can't take a picture of one child without taking pictures of the others

it was a struggle keeping her hair out of her face with the strong winds

I took a picture for two random women wanting a picture in front of the monument. Seconds later Molly runs to the exact same spot: "My turn, Mommy!" It's really too bad she's so shy ;)

One last fun picture for Ava

And Jocelyn

After a long day, still smiling - the ultimate sign of a successful outing

By the time we arrived home, it was a 4 1/2 hour excursion door-to-door. We were all sufficiently exhausted when all was over and done, but it was so fun. We really don't take advantage of the incredible area we live nearly often enough. Today has motivated me to make more trips like this in the future. It may take some extra effort and time, but the memories made are more than worth it.