Field Trip!

Friday was a "professional development" day, so the kids were out of school. Seriously, between snow days and holidays and professional development days, the kids haven't had many actual school days the past two weeks!  But they aren't complaining.  Friday was a beautiful sunshiny day perfect for a field trip, so I wasn't complaining either. 

We'd arranged to meet friends in at the American Indian Smithsonian.  We missed our first subway by about 10 seconds (little did we know that would be the theme for the day . . .) so we got to hang out with all the serious commuters heading into DC.

The train was totally packed and I had the only kids in sight.  We stood out from the commuters like the thing in the picture that doesn't belong. It was a pretty long ride standing, but despite quite a bit of sibling jostling and a few dirty looks from business suit clad, coffee drinking professionals, we made it through the morning rush hour crowd and to the museum, even a few minutes early.  (It was only about two blocks from the Federal Center orange metro stop; turn left after you come out to the street.)  Both friends who drove had trouble finding parking so I was glad we used the metro.

The American Indian Smithsonian a beautiful museum (architecturally) and filled with wonderful exhibits.  There is a great kids area on the third floor called "ImagiNation" with lots of hands-on exhibits, including basket weaving, kayaking, a skateboarding video game, an art center, and more.  It was geared toward kids a bit younger than Young Man, but Funny Guy and Darling Daughter absolutely loved it (probably best for kids ages 3-8).

After that we enjoyed wandering through more exhibits of beautiful artifacts, pottery, masks, etc.  On the fourth floor, there is a beautiful exhibit that is dark with stars all over the ceiling and several movies about Native American life.  It was great.

After that, we said goodbye to our friends and had a picnic lunch (we brought our own, but I've heard that the cafeteria there is really great) before heading over to the Air & Space Smithsonian.

There we were excited to touch an actual moon rock.  Some of our favorite displays included the Wright Brothers exhibit (where the original Wright Flyer 1 is on display), the Apollo exhibit, and the observatory where scientists showed the kids actual equipment they are using to study the sun.  It was especially interesting to see how different filters affected the sun's image.

We didn't have time Friday, but there are also IMAX shows, a planetarium, and flight simulators.  When we were finally done exploring all the exhibits, the kids headed to the gift shop where they had trouble deciding what to spend their money on.  Funny Guy found a Boxcar Children Mystery set in Washington, DC, which we read all the way home on the metro (and while we were waiting for the next subway after we got there in time to watch ours pull away).  Every mention of something we've seen here sends him into exultant enthusiastic exclamations:  "I'VE BEEN THERE!!!"  "WE JUST SAW THAT!!!!!!!" etc. It's great.

We got home just before My Man returned from his three-day offsite team building exercise in West Virginia.  It was fun to hear about all his adventures and to have him back.  He's halfway through orientation now and we're less than two weeks from Flag Day!  Amazingly the kids weren't too tired, so we went outside and played baseball, then hide-and-go seek in the dark until bedtime, taking full advantage of the unseasonably warm weather.

It's a good thing we did because it's already raining and sleeting again today. :-)