We started off yesterday leaving the house at 5:45AM (yep o'dark thirty!) to catch an 8AM flight. The flight was an adventure as an inner-city school was taking a trip to DC and based on the reaction to a smooth takeoff, flight and landing, it was the first time in a plane for many of the students. We landed in Baltimore and there were some issues with the baggage handling, but we eventually got our stuff. We keep telling ourselves that this is a little practice run for our upcoming trip to China (minus the foreign country, time change, etc.) LOL! Those are all details - we can pretend, right? :) Luckily, the kids are very seasoned travelers so we just need to get them into the groove. Anyways, back to Baltimore, we took the train to DC and had fun watching the Acela (AMTRAK's bullet train) whizz by. Once in Union Station we worked our way to the Metro and bought passes for the four oldest - Veronica is still free! We rode the Metro and transferred to another line and came out right across the street from our hotel.
We didn't want to waste a day so set out for fun. Back on the Metro we rode it to the Smithsonian stop and came out right on the National Mall. The kids were totally digging the view of the Capital building, Washington Monument and in the far distance, Lincoln Memorial.
Julie and the kids rode the carousel in front of the Smithsonian Castle so we were off to a good start. Our goal was the Air and Space Museum - and judging by the crowds, we were not the only ones.
Julie and the kids rode the carousel in front of the Smithsonian Castle so we were off to a good start. Our goal was the Air and Space Museum - and judging by the crowds, we were not the only ones. 
Max and Sydney were having a ball looking at all of the planes, space ships and everything in between. The museum was as impressive as I remember it from our 8th grade field trip to Washington DC. We walked around for over 2 hours and then hit the gift shop. Wow, they have just about everything there! We picked out some stuff and then hit the Smithsonian Castle. It was pretty cool and seemed to have a bit of everything from all of the museums. By now, we were all slowing way down so we decided to call it a day. Back to the Metro and then microwave meals in the hotel room before bed at 7PM. (Told you we were whipped!)
Everyone started stirring around 6:30 and we were off on another day of adventure. Today's plan is to ride a double-decker bus and see Washington and then get off where we want to explore more. Back to the Metro (see a theme here yet?!) and one transfer later we're back in Union Station. We find the bus, but the driver wasn't paying attention in their team meeting and charged us for a very expensive river cruise instead of the bus tour we wanted. Long story short, 30 minutes and a few trips into Union Station we had it all sorted out - the wrong charge was voided (we'll see if our card statement agrees) and had the right tickets. We really enjoyed getting to see the city from 13 feet high and were frequently reminded that we were glad we didn't drive! Traffic was crazy!
We got off near the Lincoln Memorial and the kids enjoyed seeing the "giant man" (Lincoln). 
We then walked along the Vietnam and Korean Memorials - very sobering, especially if you people watch and hear talk of "...looking for my uncle's name...." or "...I can't remember all of the guys last names..." It really brings it home and makes it real. We then stopped for ice cream, which ended up being lunch, before we walked the length of the reflecting pool to the World War II memorial. Very, very impressive memorial. 
We then started walking towards where we thought we could get back on our bus, but we were wrong. We ended up walking all the way back to the Smithsonian Metro stop (looking back, it is a very long walk, especially with 3 little ones!). We then went back to the hotel for some swimming, always popular with the kids, before heading out to see the White House and dinner. 
Sadly, dinner plans changed from yummy Indian - the place we walked to was lunch only - to Subway. Quite a let down to go from Vindaloo dreams to Italian BMT, but c'est la vie. Dinner was in the hotel room while everyone winds down from the day.
We then walked along the Vietnam and Korean Memorials - very sobering, especially if you people watch and hear talk of "...looking for my uncle's name...." or "...I can't remember all of the guys last names..." It really brings it home and makes it real. We then stopped for ice cream, which ended up being lunch, before we walked the length of the reflecting pool to the World War II memorial. Very, very impressive memorial. 
We then started walking towards where we thought we could get back on our bus, but we were wrong. We ended up walking all the way back to the Smithsonian Metro stop (looking back, it is a very long walk, especially with 3 little ones!). We then went back to the hotel for some swimming, always popular with the kids, before heading out to see the White House and dinner. 
Sadly, dinner plans changed from yummy Indian - the place we walked to was lunch only - to Subway. Quite a let down to go from Vindaloo dreams to Italian BMT, but c'est la vie. Dinner was in the hotel room while everyone winds down from the day. Tomorrow looks like it'll be Arlington and possibly the Pentagon before we head back to the Museums and whatever else strikes our fancy. Thursday night and Friday morning are not supposed to be good weather, so who knows what we'll do?
On a blogging specific note, I've given up trying to get the pictures to show up where I want. They should be in the text where the event pictured was written about, but blogger doesn't seem to agree. ;)
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