DC Highlights

We all enjoyed our time in Washington DC together. Before this trip I thought that Amelia and John were at the perfect age(s) (Amelia, especially) to appreciate all the history and culture that DC had to offer. However, a day or two into the trip I realized that they were perhaps a bit too young to really understand DC. Don't get me wrong - Amelia and John did just fine during our time in DC and we had a lot of fun times - but I don't think they really understood just how significant some of the activities were. Below are some highlights...

Walking past the White House for the first time. ("Mom, we don't want to take our picture here!")

Letting the kids play with my camera in order to keep them entertained. I believe Amelia took this shot of me holding the Washington Monument.

The National Zoo was fun. We saw many different kinds of animals, including the infamous pandas.

A highlight was on Wednesday when we attended a reception at the Martin Luther King Library downtown in honor of elementary school-aged children who had won awards in an art competition. Amelia's bff Lydia was a winner in this competition, selected as one of 102 entries from over 3,000 entries into the competition. Months ago when Lydia's mom and I were comparing summer vacation plans we both realized that we would be in DC during the same week. Their family was in town for the award reception for Lydia's art competition - our family was there for my accounting convention - and we decided that we would surprise both girls by showing up at the awards reception.

Amelia was THRILLED to see Lydia in DC!

And even though I made him wear a polo and non-lacrosse shorts, John was happy to see LYdia's sister Caleigh too!

Below is Lydia's award-winning artwork.

We also enjoyed the Smithsonian Museum of American History. In this interactive exhibit Amelia selected the following five things to describe her: books, computer, Harry Potter, iPhone, school (apple & pencil).

John wrote that he would want to see the basketball from the Miami Heat championship 2012 displayed in the museum in a future exhibit.

Another favorite was the Museum of Natural History. This place was so much fun!

We all enjoyed the showcase of animal skeletons (seriously, this was fascinating!)

John wanted his photo taken in front of the swordfish to show his Uncle Shawn.

 We even got to touch some of the bones.

 And the mineral displays were particularly interesting.