April 15, Washington, D.C.

So this marks the first day that we will be entirely dependent on public transportation. Caleb was fascinated with the metro system. He loved to feed his pass to the turnstile and go through. He took this very seriously. We took the blue line to the Smithsonian stop and went to the Air and Space Museum. The weather was beautiful and warmer than it was the day before. Conditions are ideal for a lot of walking. Emma doesn't like to walk, she says it makes her tired. I don't get it since she's at gymnastics for 12 hours a week working out really hard. I think its her curmudgeonly attitude showing up again. In reality, she did great, all the kids did, I'm very proud of them.

We watched a documentary last night called "In the Shadow Of the Moon." It is about all the Apollo astronauts and they're missions. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in that era. It was really fascinating and surprisingly moving stuff. I wished we would have watched it before we went to Washington because I think it would be more meaningful for everyone. They loved the museum but I got the impression that near the end, the kids were thinking, "Oh great, another rocket and another airplane." Did you know that the Air and Space Museum is the most visited museum in the world? I didn't either.

After eating lunch in the insanely large and noisy food court of the museum. We headed toward the National Archives via the NGA Sculpture garden. Beautiful place to relax.

Brad offered anyone a dollar if they would run around the fountain without stopping. Emma and Caleb took him up on the offer. Way to go kids!

When we got to the National Archives, we walked right up to the door. For some reason, they wouldn't let anyone in for about a half hour. We looked back to see the line behind us was stretched around the block! To keep the time, I tried to play I Spy with the kids. After awhile I could tell Caleb was getting impatient so I said, "I spy a grumpy, sad boy." Caleb just looked at me and said, "I don't think that's very funny, Mom!" The museum at the Archives was really interesting and interactive. We spent some time in there and then to the crown jewels of the Archive-The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I loved the fact that Rachel, Emma and Caleb seemed to be in awe of actually being in the same room as these important documents. Caleb told me things about he Declaration of Independence that I didn't think he would know. I am so proud (sniff)!

Things we learned at the National Archives:

1. National Treasure (or "that movie" as the guard called it) was not filmed here.
   
2. It takes a lot to preserve documents.
   
3. They really, really don't like it when it appears like someone is jumping in line (Sorry about that, Ed).

After we were done with the Archives, we walked to the Museum of Natural History. Thank the lucky stars that Mom and me had granola bars in our purses. Brad's back was bothering him and he didn't want to walk around the museum so we went in without him. He just wanted to sit in a garden somewhere. As you know, this was the 15th and taxes were due. I had been telling Brad that he should send in the taxes but he always just kind of brushed me off. Well, the reason for him carrying the letters to the IRS in his back pocket was this; he wanted to mail his taxes from within a mile of IRS headquarters. He was really proud of that fact. I think he actually called his brother Sam as soon as he dropped the taxes in the mailbox to tell him.

The Museum of Natural History had so much stuff! Of course going through this meant that we probably weren't going to the Museum of Natural History in New York where "Night at the Museum"was set, but we'll survive. Here are some pictures that Rachel took with her camera.

Yup, the Hope Diamond, some huge gem and creepy crawlies. With Rachel, it's all about the bling and bugs.

The museum closed and we met up with Brad and we had dinner. No, we didn't have Chinese food. We found this pub on Pennsylvania Avenue that had great food. After dinner we walked in front of the White House, saw the grandstands in the East Lawn for the Pope. Did you know that they have sharp shooters on the roof of the White House when the President's home? I tried not to make any sudden and suspicious moves. We walked back to the metro station and made our way back to the hotel for another good night's rest.