Easter Trip to DC

I really need to catch up!

We took the boys for a long weekend in Washington D.C. over Easter. We had such a good time! It was a bit chilly, and a little rainy, but we still had fun. Brendan was so excited to see the Capital, the White House and the Washington Monument. We didn't go inside any of them, but he was excited just the same.



Jeff had some sunflower seeds and found a squirrel that looked hungry. The boys were amazed at how close this little guy would get to them. I was just hoping we wouldn't have to all go get rabies shots later.

We checked out the Air & Space Museum.

We also went to the Museum of Natural History.

We did a LOT of walking!! On our first day, we happened upon this guy:

I wasn't sure if he was breathing at first, but we checked. He was. The next day, Brendan decided he needed to become an impersonator:

On Sunday morning, we decided to go visit the Newseum. Jeff and I had gone there the last time we were there (2001 I think?). It was a pretty neat place all about the history of news media - papers, TV, internet. We thought Brendan would enjoy it, so we took the Metro to the Rosslyn station and walked 2-3 blocks to the museum.

The building had no sign, and the doors were locked. What was going on? Jeff was concerned that it was closed since it was Easter. He called Scott, who checked on the internet for us. It turns out that they have moved! Crap! So, we walked back to get back on the train. We walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the new location. The doors were locked here too! What's going on here? They are supposed to open at 10:00am, and it's 11:30... And then I saw it. A big banner above the doors that says "Grand Opening - April 11"!! Yep, it's only March 23rd. Dang. Maybe we'll be able to visit it next time we visit...

As we were walking that morning, we see this:

It says:

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

Organized at Decatur, Illinois April 6, 1866

by Benjamin Franklin Stephenson MD

Pretty cool - since that's my hometown! I am embarrassed to say that I know nothing about this statue/monument though. History was never my strong suit.

We also drove around to see Jeff's old neighborhoods. It was pretty cool to see the houses that he grew up in as well as his old schools.

On Monday, we went to the Air & Space Museum out by Dulles Airport.

I liked this one a lot better than the on on the mall. It is only a few years old, and has hundreds of airplanes on display. Jeff and Brendan did a simulator which they both agreed was WAY COOL.

We saw the IMAX movie - Forces of Nature. Very interesting. They also have a "control tower" that you can go and check out. You can watch planes take off and land from there.

We spent a few hours at the museum, and then it was time to head over to the airport to fly home. Unfortunately, there had been a delay on one of the DFW flights, so we had to sit and wait. And wait. And wait. We arrived at the airport at about 3:30 and had planned to take a 5:30pm flight home, but ended up on that delayed flight that left at 9:45pm. Luckily, Jake wore himself out in the waiting area during the 6 hours we waited. He fell asleep at 8:15 and slept until we touched down at DFW at 11:45 that night. The plane was empty, so it was a nice peaceful trip home.