Washington D.C.

We spent an amazing day in D.C. yesterday! Nicholas loved the museums, the weather varied between tolerable and delightful, and some friends of mine from high school met up with us for a couple hours. And so we each had a ton of fun.

They studied dinosaurs at Nicholas' school a couple weeks ago, so we took him into the Museum of Natural History this time around. He was excited as soon as we walked in because there is a giant elephant in the lobby:

From 2011 March

It was hard to get a picture because he just wanted to turn around and point to the elephant.

I wasn't sure whether he would understand the dinosaur skeletons, but as soon as we walked in that room he shouted "dinosaurs!"

From 2011 March

And although he did not want to pose for a picture with them, he thought it was cool that they were there. He then moved on pretty quickly, soon discovering a fun marble staircase to climb. But apparently they really did make an impression because when we left he had to go say "bye-bye dinosaurs" and later in the day we walked past the museum and he recognized it from 100 yards away and started begging for "more-more dinosaurs." When we stopped in there for a pit stop an hour later on our way to the car and he begged again (even though we went in the entrance on the other side and I didn't think he would recognize where we were) we caved and took him upstairs for another quick look.

We also went back to air and space, which in typical Nicholas fashion, he loved even more the second time. We weren't sure if he remembered being there or not until he saw the escalator up to the planetarium and started asking for Elmo and Big Bird. There was a major meltdown in the hands-on section when a man started talking to him in Chinese (I think) with great animation. I think he thought he was in trouble because he isn't used to the sharper sounds of Chinese. It took chicken nuggets, french fries, and an ice cream cone to bring him back after that incident.

In addition to dinosaurs and airplanes, this lucky little boy also got to go on a carousel--on the national Mall. And it was FAST!

From 2011 March

He thinks carousels are in malls, but they are apparently on malls, too. :)

Nicholas absolutely refused to stand still to take pictures with the monuments, so I was forced to try to snap them while he was running around playing.

Nicholas checking out a nearby puddle:

From 2011 March

Nicholas running, running, running:

From 2011 March

Nicholas literally running in circles:

From 2011 March

And a few attempts at more standard pictures, with varying success:
Washington Monument:

From 2011 March

Lincoln Memorial/WWII Memorial

From 2011 March

White House Take 1:

From 2011 March

White House Take 2:

From 2011 March

And, believe it or not, there are even more pictures in the Gallery.