Rainy Day in Washington D.C. with the Kids!

So the plan this weekend was to pack an overnight bag an take the kiddos up to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and have some Cheese Steaks (and maybe even steamed cheeseburgers that I have been hearing they make- mmmm).  We were really going for the historical stuff.....

Guess I took too long to plan and Levi fell asleep

And then we checked the weather forecast.  If you didn't know, the weather on the East Coast has been in a perpetual state of stink.  It went from snow to freezing (well duh, there was snow) to a rainy miserable mess since we've been here.  Dan says it wasn't so great before either.  Anyways, we didn't want to drive that far with terrible weather so we looked for kid friendly indoor activities.  I found the Make Your Mark family day at the National Archives building where kids could learn to write with quill pens and make hats that historical figures wore.  Sounded like fun, right?  Top it off with some dinosaurs and maybe a little Native America food for lunch.  Our day was looking great.  We drove up to D.C and parked at our favorite parking garage two blocks from the White House- it's like we are locals now (except for the whole car thing).  We walked over to the Archives building and used the military entrance.  The other entrance was over an hour wait in the rain :(  Poor people.

The home of famous documents!

The rain is fun for some people

Why did I only bring one umbrella? 

We took Katie up to the hat area- went through some secret heavy doors to the research area.  Katie had several Political Science and History Majors (I mean volunteers) helping her out.  She started with Lincoln's hat, then made Jackie Kennedy's hat.  She got to pick the fabric on this one.  So many beautiful colors and she picked- the CATS!  ack!  Who even makes cat fabric?

Jackie O?

The last hat she made was a George Washington hat for Levi.  He loved it ;)  The kid isn't fond of hats, but he did model it well for the group picture.  

Washington, Lincoln, and Jackie Kennedy

 Next, it was off to make an autograph book so she could collect famous signatures.  That was the point of the whole new exhibit.  Our handy dandy history major was still with us, helping the whole way.

Decorating her book.  He did say she could use as many stickers as she wanted

See the bloody cats?

After thoroughly exhausting the National Archives sticker collection, we headed to another room to try our hand at quill pen writing.  I even got in on this one.  So much fun.  Glad I wasn't the dude who had to write the Constitution.  That's a lot of quills to go through.  Our Political Science major told us the whole story, but I forgot.  We also forgot to take them to actually see the Constitution, but oh well.  Katie has already seen it and Levi was more interested in milk and wiggling.  Maybe next time.

She really enjoyed quill writing

After the Archives, we thought we would head over to the American Indian Museum for lunch- I hear they have great food and then to the Natural History Museum.  Immediately upon exiting the Archives into a downpour, we realized that a hotdog vendor would make en excellent restaurant and that we would go straight to the Museum. I think everyone else in DC had the same idea.  It was packed.  Dan and I tried to take Katie to the dinosaurs but the massive amount of people overwhelmed us both.  We tried to find a quiet area- Q-ryus- where Katie could explore, but we only lasted about 30 minutes total.  Most of that time was spent slowly moving around.

Levi thought the Smithsonian was a snooze-fest.

We saw one dinosaur and gave up

Everyone needs a picture with this guy

 

Levi liked the rattle

And Katie found a microscope.

 Mommy and Daddy needed air (and I guess water) so we went back into the rain and headed for our car.  

On the way we passed the Old Post Office which advertised free tours.  The place looked dead so we figured we would check it out.  It was dead.  Apparently, Donal Trump bought it to make it into a hotel, so all of the restaurants and cool shops were closed.  It was like a ghost town in there.  A welcome relief after the Smithsonian. Too bad they were out of Jr. Ranger badges.

The Old Post Office- It's a hoodie kinda day

Thought I would leave you with one more image of the cat hat to burn into your mind.... ohhh, maybe she was making the cat in the hat hat! 

<3 Bonnie

Update on Katie's Snow Girl Charlie

Well, Charlie got her snowgirl dream of seeing 'summer' and did what snow does in the summer.  Only a little pile of her was left and a lot of her hair :)  (btw- if you didn't get it or I didn't reference it enough, we watched Frozen or Freeze as Katie called it)  The stuff behind her is not additional piles of snow, but trash.  There seems to be a lot of trash in this area.

Katie and her Snowgirl Charlie enjoying the warmer weather

Poor Charlie now has too much hair for her body

Dan's Post Snow Day- Live Fire Drills

Dan's post snow day began at work at 4am.  Ick.  Who has to be at work that early?  Since they didn't stay they night they had to hike out to their spot for the live fire drill.  Don't get me started on this.  Why exactly are we having them shoot real bullets at each other for fun?  (Oh yeah, I wasn't going into that)

Playing in the snow

Hiking back home

 Well, he survived the drill.  Although I didnt get many details about the exercise.  Maybe I will have to add more later.  I can't believe I gave him the camera for 5 whole days and he only took like 10 pictures.  I probably would have take 500 in that time frame :)  MEN!

The Last Virginia Snowday of 2014?

First off, to clarify, it wasn't actually a snow day in the sense that people got time off work.  Business as usual for normal people, but for a California family the snow was a blast. Katie put on layer after layer with her borrowed snowsuit on top.  Levi was horrified with everything I put on him and then even more horrified that I didnt put enough on him once we were outside.

First she had to try sitting in the snow

Then catching it.  Too bad they didn't have any real gloves for sale here.

 Playing in the snow was pretty fun. Strangely enough for me it didn't feel that bad, even though it was snowing.  I guess I did have on a thousand pieces of clothing and some very sweet Burberry earmuffs that I only get to wear once in a blue moon.  

Katie decided to walk up this hill

A ways up the hill

 Poor kid had on cotton mittens. I kept trying to dry them off and warm them up in my pockets.  I think the novelty of the snow was enough to keep her going.

This was her house :)  If you know Katie, she has a lot of houses

My sweet little cub was not too sure about the whole cold/ snow thing

 Dan was supposed to spend the whole day at the range and then hike out to a location for a live fire drill the next day.  Guess his instructors didn't want to sleep in the snow because they let them out early.  Katie was thrilled to get to go out in the snow again.  I was thrilled to have a free dryer at the hotel to get her stuff all ready to go again.  So Katie and Daddy did what they love to do in the snow- built a snowgirl.  Her name was Charlie.

Katie and her snow girl

They even found hair for their stylish snow girl

What's a snow girl that can't hold up a real girl?

 A little sledless sledding was also on the schedule!  Dan says he enjoyed this as a child.  It looked like fun, but made them both super cold, wet, and muddy.  Oh well, that's the fun of one snowy day a year that you have to fly to visit

WEEEEEEEE!

We'll see what adventure tomorrow brings!

Virginia Adventure # 2- Mount Vernon

Yesterday it was the current President's house and today it was the first President's house.  Last time we were here, Dan mentioned going to Mount Vernon, but it seemed too difficult since we didn't have a rental car.  Que current visit and a rental car- we are also closer this time.  It was a freezing day, especially compared to yesterday.  I still wore my flip flops since I can't stand my tennis shoes.  Not sure why I brought them.  I think the high was 44 degrees!  That's mighty cold for a Southern California girl!

Lax car seat laws in Virginia allow for a lot more freedom to wiggle :)

I think Katie's favorite part of the visit was seeing all of the animals.  They had cows, very noisy sheep and lambs, geese, chickens, and pigs.  Katie wanted to feed all of the animals. I think they appreciated getting access to hay that was previously out of reach

Katie made a new friend

 We also explored all of the trails and walked down to the Potomac River to try and keep warm.  Katie was throwing rocks into the river with such gusto that I was worried she might fall in.  Dan and I devised a plan in case that happened :)  Luckily we didn't have to save her, because that water looked freezing. 

Exploring George Washington's property

We made it to the River

Levi was really not sure about the cold weather.  I think he misses Escondido!

 On our walk back up to the house for our tour we walked through Washington's orchards (totally bare) and  found a huge field of sheep and baby lambs.  They were so loud.  At first I thought it was kids making the bizarre noises, but once everyone left I knew it was the lambs.  Strange little fellows.

By this point Levi was cold and crying so we asked if we could do our tour early and luckily it was okay.  It was plenty warm inside the house.

So happy to all be together again at Mount Vernon

They said the men decorated the main part of the house and that the women decorated the master bedroom.  The whole house was painted in the most expensive paint colors to show how wealthy Washington was.  His bedroom was a simple white design.  Guess Martha wasn't as interested in showing off as her husband.  On the way to the exit we watched a blacksmith making a trivet and then went to meet Martha Washington.  Katie asked her what she liked to eat :)  Guess it was lunch time or really dinner time by that point.

Virginia Adventure # 1- White House Tour and National Mall

For our anniversary we scored a White House tour from our Congressman.  After thorough security checks, we got to go inside.  Katie searched and searched for the first doggie, to no avail :)  She did however get scolded by the Secret Service for crossing the red rope and touching the official White House furniture.  Levi also got hungry during the tour and got to have his lunch in the White House- not many kids can say they have had those experiences :)  Katie also got compliments from the Secret Service for her patriotic dress!

The family in front of the White House

White House Junior Ranger

After the tour, Katie filled out her Jr Ranger packet and picked up another badge.  I think there will be a lot of opportunities for badges on this trip if she wants to do them.  We then walked around the mall from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.  There was a High School band playing in front of the Lincoln Memorial- Levi loved the music :)  One great thing about visiting DC a year and a half ago was that we didn't feel rushed to do anything.  We played on the grass and meandered through the mall.  I love not being in a rush and just getting to hang out as a family.  Katie chased a squirrel all over (he seemed to enjoy it and kept coming back for more)

She loved climbing up the poles and running along the wall by the Washington Monument

I captured her for a quick cuddle

My adventurous daughter always looking for a new challenge

Is there a better place for tummy time?

Visiting Lincoln

We finished the evening with a fabulous dinner right across the street from the White House at this little outdoor french cafe.  It was wonderful.  Katie and Levi slept through almost the entire dinner so we got to drink wine and enjoy an adult conversation.  Dan had duck and I had that huge bowl of mussels.  We also got crab cake (notice no s there) and dessert.  The weather was beautiful and warm all day too.