Day at the Museum

We had an unexpected day off from school today (at least for me...I never know what things are going on around here). The kids and I decided to take a trip to Washington D.C. to visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Ethan and Tate were thrilled when we saw the big T-Rex upon entering the building exclaiming, "Hey, this is where they filmed the movie, Night at the Museum!" I think it was in NYC, but I don't think they care. The flash on my camera is minimal, hence the dark picture of the T-Rex.

Ethan is totally into rocks, jewels and gold. He went crazy happy when we saw the Minerals/Rocks section. He kept saying, "I want this one! I want that one!" They had many rocks that were "touchable" and Ethan took advantage of that bonus feature. He saw a huge piece of gold that was found in Alaska. He begged and pleaded for me to take him to visit Pop-Pop so he would take him gold mining so he too could find a giant nugget for himself!

Sommer kept taking pictures with her cell phone of the jewels (she especially loved the aquamarines...her birthstone) and sending the pictures to her friends. Her most important stops were the Hope Diamond and the Mammals section where we preceded to lose her as she read everything there was to read about each animal.

The kids finished off their trip by tormenting the pigeons by chasing them all over the place. We feel so lucky to live so close to our history. It is amazing that the things we saw today, including a mummy, were actually real! I love that.