Today we had to pack our bags and move to another hotel room. Our original plan has us leaving for New York but we decided to stay another day in the D.C. area. We didn't have a hotel so Brad spent the morning scrambling to find one. Because the Pope was in town, a lot of the hotels were booked. We found a nice Holiday Inn near Old Town Alexandria. Unfortunately, it was only one room. Fortunately, it was a huge room. With the addition of a roll away, we were quite comfortable. I love Old Town Alexandria, I wish we were able to walk through it on this trip but alas, we'll have to save that for another trip. Caleb was told that he was in charge of his backpack and a suitcase for this trip. He took his responsibilities very seriously. He rarely asked for help, even when he was clearly tired. Rachel and Emma did great too. I have to admit, schlepping luggage around in the subway/train station/airports is not very high on my list of things I like to do.
After we got our hotel situated, we took the metro into town and went to the International Spy Museum. The kids loved it! When you go in, you are supposed to take a secret identity from a list of identities and remember the details. Then they would periodically check (via an interactive screen) your alibis to see if you were a suspicious character or not. I failed miserably. In my defense, I don't think that spies had to remember their seven year old's identity and mission along with their own. The seven year old however, made it through with flying colors.
When we were done with the Spy Museum, we walked back to the Smithsonian. The day before when Brad went off on his own for awhile, he went in the Sackler Gallery which has a great collection of Asian art he thought we would enjoy. Unfortunately, when we got there, the museum was due to close in 10 minutes. So we rushed us through the building with every guard that we saw giving us a countdown as to when the museum would close. I would have like to spend some more time there, it was a beautiful building. I'll add that to my list of places I will go next time I come back.
After the condensed quick tour of the gallery, we rested in the Moongate garden by the building. It's modeled after the Temple of Heaven in China (which I've been to). You can tell that we're enjoying just having to do nothing.
After that it was a lot of walking! We saw a lot of places and then we went back to the hotel, bought a roast chicken and side dishes, and ate in the room while watching a Jazz game. Go Jazz!
Jefferson Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Rachel and Emma aren't unhappy in this picture, honest. They were just trying out their "serious" pose. Hilarious! Look at Brad, all fatherly love and his daughters looking sulky.
WWII Memorial. Each one of the stars represent 100 casualties. There are over 4,000 stars.
FDR Memorial
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