Spontaneous Trip to DC

We knew we wanted to go to Washington DC before we left the East Coast and we were running out of time because we wanted to go before the baby came and not be stuck 4 hours away and go into labor. So anyway, during Shaelyn's spring break and after Walter finished all the details for graduating we thought it would be a good time to go to DC. We decided we would go early Thursday morning but I got some good advice from a great friend who advised us to go the night before to avoid traffic. So Walter quickly booked a hotel Wednesday afternoon and we drove up an hour later and stayed over night. We got up early Thursday morning(6AMish) and went and saw different monuments and sights(7:30am to 10am) before all the museums opened(10am). Above is the Washington Monument viewed from the White House. It was hard to get the kids to sit still for a picture At least we have one were they are all sort of sitting :)

Here is a view through the fence.

There was a nice jogger who offered to take our picture. In the first one, Shaelyn wasn't even in the picture so she took another one and Winston decided to make it a funny picture. Oh boy! From the White house we decided to go and see the Lincoln Memorial. This is the Washington Monument viewed from the step of the Lincoln Memorial. They just about stayed put for this picture too. The kids took turns riding in the double stroller and one would walk at a time. William would have walked the whole time but he was just too slow. This is in front of the visitor's center. They have a beautiful court yard, and it was the perfect place to hang out till the museums opened.

This is a picture of the Washington Monument behind the trees and urn thingy.

It was a great place to stop for a snack. . . . and some monkeying around time.

The visitor's center.

Here is a bad picture of the dinosaur from the Night at the Museum movie. Winston didn't want to stand in front of it because he thought it would come alive. I was really bad at taking pictures inside the museums, I was too busy making sure the kids didn't get lost among all the people! We made it to 2 museums: the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Natural History. The whole family was done by 12 noon. We walked about 5.5 miles and my feet were done. It was just the right time to head out of the city and go and get some lunch and go home. It was a great trip!