Almost Walking

Hadley is so close to walking all by herself, and I remembered when Allie was at this point, her favorite thing was to push around the laundry basket.  Hadley loved it and would push around until she got stuck, then screech until we turned her around.  She kept going all around the house this way until we got tired of turning around the basket.  

DC Amateur Photography

While we were in Washington DC we had a chance to go to many of the nation's oldest museums and other buildings. One great aspect is all the neat architecture of all the buildings. Since we have a pretty good camera, and since it was kind of fun, I took a bunch of pictures. I think some of them even turned out okay. It was lots of fun. Hope you all enjoy them.

These pictures come from the National Postal Museum. The building is an old post office, and the rest of the museum is in the basement. 

This was outside of Union Station just north of the Capital. I saw a bunch of other people taking pictures from this spot, so I thought I would try the same thing. Not too shabby.

This is from the National Cathedral. 

There were some great stained glass windows in the church, and some great vaulted ceilings.

 



All of these photos are from the Library of Congress. This was one of the neatest buildings inside. There was great tile work and painting on the ceilings. I really enjoyed the sculptures, stained glass, and marble too.

 

I hope you all enjoyed the photos from DC!

Museum of Natural History

One day after Mike got off work, he walked over and met us at the Museum of Natural Science.  Mike's office was across the street from the White House so he was within walking distance from the apartment and the mall.  Allie and Hadley both loved this smithsonian because of all the animals, and it is a favorite of mine too.  Hadley was quite happy after her marathon nap in the stroller so she had fun looking around.

Watch out Hadley!  Mike tried to get a picture of the tiger leaping towards Hadley's head and this was the best one we got.

Hadley likes to sit on our shoulders, but we might all go bald if we do it constantly.  Ouch!

We watched a nature film by this handsome monkey which Allie loved.  We also attempted to make his same face, just in case our chubby cheeks are not enough. :)

This was our suburban of a stroller that we lived in for 10 days, we were also quite the sight I am sure.

The sun setting on the National Archives as we walked to the metro, which was also a daily activity.

Allie loved riding the metro and always wanted to get out of the stroller and sit in the chairs.  She also loved talking to whomever was next to us, which most people liked.  

Hadley, on the other hand, was not a big fan of the metro, but she liked it better than walking out in the cold!

Happy Birthday Dad!

While we were in DC, Mike had his big 3-0 birthday, so the day could no go unnoticed even if we were away from home.  The day before, Allie and I picked out some birthday doughnuts at the Safeway grocery store that we would walk to from our apartment.  We also got some cool candles and had to buy a lighter (which they ID for) to have the full experience!  Nothing like starting off your cold birthday morning with some hot chocolate and chocolate doughnuts!  

On his birthday we also went and toured the White House with the girls.  The girls did not do so well, Hadley just wanted to get down and crawl around (which I am sure is not condoned in the White House) and Allie wanted to touch everything.  It was cool to see, although I thought that we would get to see more than just a couple of rooms.  They would not let you bring any camera so we just had to take mental pictures :).  It was also a FREEZING day and we had quite the adventure walking around looking for the big red bus to tour the city, having a bus start on fire and staying inside a Barnes and Noble while waiting for a new bus and having it snow big beautiful snowflakes, going onward to the National Cathedral and waiting FOREVER for our bus outside with frozen girls only to take the city bus to the nearest metro stop as everyone was frozen solid.  Poor girls, we didn't pack enough warm clothes and they froze just a bit.  It was all fun and we ended the night warming up at home.  Mike is not such a fan of cold, but it was sure fun to be able to spend his birthday with him in DC!

Bugs, Native Americans and Space!

On Friday, we hit a lot of different museums earlier in the day before Mike joined us for the Air and Space museum.  The Natural History museum has a great kid-centered area where the girls could get down and play, which was much needed after a lot of "no touching" places for the past couple of days.  

 Here is Hadley crawling through the termite tree and enjoying being out of the stroller.

 Allie was braver than most of the other adults and teenagers around her and was excited to hold the massive grasshopper and caterpillar.  She also pet the hissing cockroach and the tarantula, brave little girl!  

After the Natural History museum, we went over to the new Native American Smithsonian which was pretty cool!  We watched a couple of videos, saw some cool artifacts and then headed over to the children's area where they have basket weaving, coloring, a teepee and canoes to play in.  The girls also loved this area and we spent a lot of time there, waiting for Mike to finish so we could meet him next door at the Air and Space Museum.

 This is the view of the White House from the Native American Museum, which is now the closest one at the end of the mall.  It was quite the dreary day.

 At the Air and Space Museum, we especially enjoyed anything that we could climb into and play around.  Here Allie is piloting a helicopter.

 Here we are inside an early jetliner 

At the end of the day, we were walking towards the metro and Mike bought Allie and I some beautiful roses.  I had texted Mike earlier in the day when we were walking on a trail in the mall and Allie said, "Quick Mom, I need something in my hands."  I asked her what and she said that she needed some roses.  I guess I have taught this girl pretty well in life if she needs some roses quickly.

Post Office and Library

After a few days exploring all the Smithsonians, we decided to try a few less visited places. One that we had never been to before was the post office museum (which the girls liked a lot), and the other was the library of Congress (which the girls liked a little less). I probably should have known that before we even went, but you live and learn.

In the post office museum, we had a chance to drive the USPS semi-truck. 

Allie got to drive for the first time! 

Hadley enjoyed the ride too. 

Don't worry, all the mail got delivered on time (no matter rain, snow, sleet, hail, [or crazy drivers] the mail will get there on time).

The girls got to ride in the old pony express wagon to see how the mail used to get delivered. Hadley just wanted to crawl all over the place, so this was a good chance to keep her contained.

Later we got to make a postcard and see how to sort and send the mail! 

It was cold in DC for our Texas family. Allie got a new hat, and she even kept it on some of the time. She used it more for a little purse to carry her toys.

We also went to the old post office. 

We got to ride all the way up to the top of the tower and look out over the city. 

Hadley liked the wind blowing through all the windows. It was a great view of the city.

I like this picture with Hadley, she looks super cute. 

(Her cheeks are red from wind burn, but it makes for a nice rosey appearance!)

 We tried to get a good picture with all three of us, but it always seems that at least one person looks silly. More often than not Allie gives the funny look for the pictures. We all had fun up in the tower looking at DC from above.

We also decided to visit the Library of Congress. 

It sounded like a good idea at the time (after getting two little girls into a library after keeping them corralled in a stroller for most of the day it was noted to be a not so good idea) and was a really neat building inside.

Lucky for us, there were not many people there so we could goof off a little bit and take lots of fun pictures.

Hadley wanted to crawl everywhere again. 

She just wants to be free to roam around all the time.

Hadley got pooped out and took a rest in the middle of the floor, but she was happy about it!

Allie decided to join her on the floor so they could giggle and laugh. 

It made a great soft echo off all the marble surfaces.

After lots of fun adventures, I have learned that little girls need lots of play time, even in the middle of the library (sorry to anyone who wanted a quiet visit).