National Archives and National Zoo

The day before as were walking up and down the Washington Mall we saw the National Archives building and I thought great building but why would I ever want to take my kids there, that doesn't even sound fun. I asked Ken later that night and then he reminded me about the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. As Darin would say, "Oh, Yeah!" Maybe it's just slightly a must-see for a Washington D.C. trip:-)

This is Nathan brushing Ginger's hair in the morning. This summer I had the boys get the girls ready for the day pretty frequently. They were a great help in getting us breakfast and combing the girls hair. I needed all the help I could get. It just seemed like I had to spend an hour or two on the computer every morning arranging things for Primary back home or taking care of household tasks like bills. It's amazing how those things never stop even if you leave your home for two months. On the Metro again.

Outside the National Archives. I don't know why, but it is interesting to me that all of these National buildings and museums have two entrances/fronts (it's the front and back). I guess I am just used to seeing buildings with only one spectacular entrance. It got us kind of mixed up sometimes as to where we were at. But every street was beautiful. First we saw a movie about the archives. Which was pretty awesome and entertaining for my kids. It got them excited to visit other parts of it then just the Rotunda. The Rotunda is where they house the Declaration, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta. Ken was very surprised that we had the original Magna Carta on display in the United States National Archives. It was really awesome to see all of them! They would let in about 30 of us at a time and then we had about 25 minutes to see everything. It wasn't too crowded or anything. It would have been nice to stay longer, but then again it was freezing. We also couldn't take any pictures. The guards were completely lovely. They answered my kids questions and showed them a few cool things.

After that we went the ResSource room. It was so awesome, I can't believe that with all the people in line to see the Rotunda that we were the only ones who went up to the ReSource room (there was one other family in there). They had all sorts of activities for the children.

Ginger did Puzzles of founding fathers. Rose did coloring pages.
Darin and Nathan did a scavenger hunt through actual Archive records.
They gave them clues and the boys had to learn how to look up the records and read them to find the answer.

They totally LOVED it! We stayed for about an hour and could have stayed longer it's just that we were starving and freezing. I cannot tell you how many times my crazy kids complained about being cold this summer. It was ridiculous!


The elevator was engraved with the Declaration of Independence.
This is it a little closer. Something interesting that we learned was that no one really thought the Declaration of Independence was important until 50 years later. Then they decided maybe we should preserve it.
We went to lunch at a cafe in the sculpture garden. We had a very delicious lunch in a beautiful park. I totally think D.C. is a very romantic city and would love to see it with just Ken. Too bad he wasn't with us this day, but I had Darin with me! He is a pretty good substitute.
Then we took the Metro to the National Zoo. At the stop for the National Zoo we discovered the longest, steepest escalator we have ever seen! It was so awesome, and of course I totally played it up for the kids. They were so brave while I was such a wimp. Ok, so maybe I was like half scared because that sucker was really long!
We weren't really that impressed with the National Zoo. Clearly, I am a zoo connoisseur since I take the kids to one in every city we visit:-) It wasn't the best layout, you walked forever before seeing an animal. Plus, hardly any animals were on display they had taken them in the back. We really only saw 5 animals. This was a cat of some kind.

The otters, as always, were entertaining.
Sadly, my children were more impressed with Bronze statues of animals rather then the animals themselves.

This is the closest they got to a Panda Bear. They were nowhere to be seen.

Couldn't even find them with the binoculars.
Elephants
Nathan and the girls loved their misting sprinklers. They practically showered in them. They loved making the droplets on their hair reflect different colors to us depending on how they tilted their head. That was actually kind of fun.
Anyway, so not the best in the Nation as I would kind of expect from THE National Zoo, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Besides we got to take the AWESOME escalator down to ride the Metro again. I kept teasing them about how we were going to take the elevator instead. The all lined up and "stay to the right". That was the best skill I taught my kids this vacation, I cannot believe that my 3 year old can follow that but a 50 year old seems to not know that is unwritten rule of public transportation. I am so proud of them and that they travel so well! Bonus-- Ginger knows her right and left hand now too.