Day 2

December 01, 2009

Day 2

Another long day of chasing kids and seeing sights. Today, Granddad was able to join us (a most welcome addition-both to see him and to have another pair of eyes and hands!). The kids were really glad to see him and sitting next to him was a much coveted position. We began our day with a prearranged tour of the Capitol building. This tour was a mite boring for the boys (they did not get the nifty headsets), aggravating for the girls (the headsets did not go small enough for their heads, so Boo almost had a meltdown over it) and disappointing for me because I was dealing with the above situations. I gather, all in all the kids weren't too bad, because the tour guide gave us wonderful compliments on their behavior. Then, we had lunch at the restaurant at the Capitol and afterward, we walked over to the Library of Congress. I was a little leery at first about going. I thought, in my mind, that it was only the big reading room and I was getting sweaty palmed thinking about having all four kids in their. Turns out, I was mistaken and there was much to see and I am so glad we went. After that, we moved on to the Botanic Garden where there were some special holiday train displays. The boys both balked at going to the Botanic Garden, but once we got to the trains, all balking was forgotten and they had a blast. We took in the American Indian museum a little bit, but the day was wearing on and the kids were getting tired. Although the museum had a lot to offer, it was not much in the way of larger displays, so the kids' enthusiasm and attention were greatly waning. We opted to call it a night. After all, we had been in DC from about 10am -5pm. We had a light dinner in our room, visited a little more with Granddad and it was time for bed. Tomorrow is another busy day! I didn't end up with any noteworthy shots from the Capitol (see comments above) and I didn't have any real usable shots from the Native American (or is it really American Indian?) Museum either. The Botanic Garden afforded me the best, most comical shots of the family.

The Library of Congress

David sitting on the mosaic "flower" on the floor. The darling woman at the help desk, gave each of the kids a bookmark when we arrived. They loved those bookmarks and she loved that they loved them so much. David was so excited when he found the flower from the bookmark in real life. So, here he is posing with it.

This ceiling shot was also on his bookmark. David really wanted a picture of that, too.

The Botanic Garden

Grace was so excited that she found a miniature Capitol building

I was trying to get Chris and the kids in this shot. I laugh at the series of pictures, though. Ruth hardly moves and David is oblivious

The boys really liked the fact that there was a water area. David kept saying, "What if there was an underwater train!?"

This photo cracks me up on a number of levels; Byron's obvious disinterest in being photographed, Grace's cute little 'take my picture' pose and David...a blur as he dashes through the picture