Washington DC - 4 museums in 5 hours!

We had a great day and it went basically as planned, which is always a bonus!  We started out early and were in DC and parked by 8:30 a.m.  The plan was to park at the Ronald Reagan Building, and through advance research, I found that they had a public parking garage and a big food court on the ground level of the building. So, we arrived early and had breakfast in the food court before heading out.

We ventured out onto the National Mall and took some pics before it got too busy - there was hardly anyone around and it was great!So....

Stop #1 - National Mall Pics

Don's sister "Aunt Chrissy" came with us!

It was 9:30ish and we headed towards the Archives....got there and sat to think about our plan - we had 10:30 timed visit tickets to get in - good thing because at 9:30 the line to enter was down and around the block!

gotta love Technology - phones were good time wasters.

my theme for the day - we had a mission to accomplish - would we be able to do it?

we wandered over towards the Natural History museum and snapped a pic

We decided to head to the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, but it didn't open till 10 either. Well, the nice security guard opened it almost 10 minutes early - and in we went - Ahead of Schedule!!

Stop #2 National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

the Archives in the distance - opening soon!

Carleigh trying to pose like the rabbit

taken very seriously until...

they were determined to sit on the works of art, but they were all wet...

Katie collects erasers.....

We walked around the Sculpture Garden and then headed back to the National Archives - with a mission to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Our tickets were for 10:30 - we got there at 10:10 and asked where to wait, the next nice security guard let us in early and also let Chrissy come in with us (even though she didn't have a ticket) - again AHEAD of SCHEDULE!!

Stop #3 - the National Archives

No pictures allowed inside, so this is it! We spent about 30 minutes inside and saw the three documents - very cool! Then we headed across the mall to the Hirshhorn.

Stop #4 Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Garden

our turn to pose

 Stop #5 Hirshhorn Museum

We had heard about this exhibit from Facebook and it was a lot of fun!

The exhibit at the Hirshhorn was fun, but a little different. Lots of playing with color and light, but because it was hands on, it didn't feel like it belonged in the museum.

After that, we headed down to the International Gallery - to see the Math Alive Exhibit

Stop #6 - S. Dillon Ripley Center - International Gallery

Katie pedaling to calculate distance

The girls standing in front of a screen and being pixelated.

The video was done with 20 different cameras to get a 360 degree movie, Katie is not moving.The video is made in the exhibit, and then they email it to you.

 Stop #7 - Picnic Lunch before the last museum

 We decided to stop and get hot dogs from a vendor before going into American History.

 After lunch, everyone was about done and a bit tired. We headed over the American History and were there for only about 45 minutes and then back to the car.

Stop #8 National Museum of American History 

the only inside picture and blurry - it's time to head home!

 While inside, we saw the Star Spangled Banner exhibit, the First Ladies gowns and the three different gift shops. So much more to see, but the girls were getting grumpy and pushing on would have been pointless at this point.  They were no longer going to appreciate anything else.

We left the museum and headed the block back to the Reagan building and found the car - got out of DC without any issues and we were home by 3:45. Mission Accomplished!

What was our mission you may ask? Really there were only two stops that the girls had requested...1-the three documents at the Archives and 2- the original flag - Star Spangled Banner. The rest just sort of happened. So we got a taste of a lot of different things in a short time and had a fun day in DC.

It's nice to take the time and appreciate how close we really live to these museums and our Nation's Capital.

So...spring break is officially over, now it's just a weekend and we return to school.  Only 9 weeks until summer and all of the adventures that lay ahead. Planning is in full swing and the countdowns have begun! 

Stay Tuned..... for the last quarter of school and summer plans!