It is a well established fact that a field trip to Washington D.C. is an educational experience. I have always enjoyed going down -- I am a huge museum nerd. So when labor day weekend rolled around and Tim suggested taking the kids on a museum trip, we looked into all of the local museums, and also considered D.C. Even though I though D.C. would be a little bit above the kids' heads, we decided to go for the overall fun of a road trip.
So on Saturday we packed the kids into the car and headed down. We actually left on time, stopped at Subway on the way down, and made it in really good time. We had a beautiful (but cheap) hotel, right off of the metro.Unfortunately, there was no pool. Despite the fact that Tim thought there was one when he booked.
So we whisked them out of the disappointment of the hotel to the metro. The kids got to go on their first "underground train" ride, and we went straight to the Air & Space museum. We thought there was a pretty good chance that would be a crowd pleaser. Oli was quiet, and Mac complained. Non-stop. About walking, wanting to leave, and and anything else you can think of. I may get frustrated by Mac, but very rarely am I annoyed. She was, in short, annoying.
Day 2. Actually a lot better. We relaxed in the hotel room and watched an old scooby doo cartoon movie. I had found a starbucks the night before, so I was covered for coffee. The kids played and laughed. Life was good. Fast foward to the metro (okay, except Oliver cried whenever it started to move and Mac asked at every stop if it was our stop). Day two was the American Museum of Natural History. Dinosaur bones -- a no lose exhibit, right? Mmm. sort of. Moderately entertaining. We had to fight for a table for an overpriced lunch. It was tasty, though, and I was pleased to find vegetarian fare. Next to the hall of mammals. Jackpot! Mac loved the hall of mammals, and took over 200 pictures on Tim's iPhone. Reviewing the pictures, it looks like we went on a very blurry safari. Unfortunately, Oli was not so mellow here. He wanted to get out and run around. I can't blame him, but I wasn't about to let him crawl on the floor. So I carried him a lot. It was exhausting.
We left he museum and went to the carousel on the mall. Mac and I were third in line, but we missed out on the really cool sea serpent. Why would they only put one really cool sea serpent in among about thirty plain horses. It seems like a tantrum waiting to happen. Which is was. Mac stood rooted to her spot, screaming, crying, and pointing at the serpent. Finally, she chose a horse and we rode. Again, it was exhausting.
We tried the sculpture garden. No go. We tried the art museum. No go. We tried to walk to the metro. No go. Tim wound up carrying Mac and we made a mad dash to the train, got to the car, ate dinner, and headed home.
So, as always, the trip to D.C. proved educational. Here are some lessons I learned:
1. Mac is not too big to need a stroller. We really need to get the double stroller fixed.
2. 4 1/2 and 2 are too young to appreciate the Smithsonian.
3. If there is no pool, nobody will have quite as much fun.
4. Subway (the sub shop, not the metro) was Mac's favorite part of the trip.
5. I could have saved a lot of time and money by taking the kids to a local Subway.
