Three Museums in One Day!

Sunday dawned and just as we had hoped, Day 2 was waaaaay better than Day 1. Because of the increase in tourism traffic during the summer months, the museums had extended hours. We started off at the National Museum of Natural History: Smiling faces, happy kids, delighted parents... all good!

Outside the National Museum of Natural History

 The elephant in the entrance (I kept thinking of Night at the Museum 2).

 Henry didn't stay asleep for long.

 I'm not sure if Chloe was pretending to be afraid of her sisters or the dinosaurs.

 There were a lot of neat exhibits.

 Not sure what this was about...

 It must have been Sophie's turn to be scared.

 Finally a nice, normal picture (too bad we're not - heehee).

 There was a live butterfly exhibit in the museum. It was the only thing Charlotte asked to see. She wanted to "hold" a butterfly, but every time we tried to place one on her she would freak out and back away!

 Sophie and Chloe really enjoyed it though, and I think Charlotte liked looking at them. One landed in my hair!

See? Smiling face. Happy kids. Therefore, delighted parents.

Our next stop was the National Museum of American History. My favorite parts of this museum were getting to see the actual flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner (no cameras aloud), Dorothy's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz, and the “First Ladies at the Smithsonian” exhibition (check it our here). It was a collection of dresses worn by some of the First Ladies, different White House china patterns, and other personal possessions (Jay loved that exhibit).

 Charlotte was not impressed that this engine shared her name.

 There was an exhibit about travel across the United States though the years.

 Poor Charlotte had fallen asleep while we were out the night before too.

 Riding a California Transit Authority bus in the travel exhibit.

 Getting on the L in Chicago.

 This dress belonged to Grace Coolidge.

 For Jason

The last place we visited was the National Archives. It was awesome to see the actual Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. There was no photography or video allowed (so that scene in National Treasure 2 where Riley uses the laser on the video camera to trip the heat sensor couldn't happen! A Hollywood fabrication! Shocking, I know).

Since we couldn't take pictures, I bought a postcard. This is The Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom, otherwise known as the room housing the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

Someone offered to take a family photo of us. Thank you, kind stranger!

After leaving the National Archives, we did a little sightseeing on the way to the metro stop:

 This is Ford's Theatre where President Lincoln was shot.

 And this is "The House Where Lincoln Died" (that's what the plaque says). It's directly across the street from the theatre. We aren't happy that Lincoln was shot, I just asked them to smile for the picture.

 This is just because there are hardly any vacation photos of Henry! I like to snap one every now and then so he knows he was there. :-)

So, there you have it: Day 2 (or 3 if you count the first day of travel) was a wonderful success!