Day at the Museum (Full Screen Edition)

This past weekend we, as a family went downtown to the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC.  It was a blessing for the hubs to be with us because usually our museum type trips are during the week when he is working. 

Checkin' out the butterflies.

Hey Dum-Dum, we got gum-gum!

We had up finished our MFW curriculum a few weeks ago so I let each of the kids pick a topic to study for the next 3 weeks as we finished up our core stuff (reading, riting and rithmetic).   My 3 year old, of course chose dinosaurs!  So, after our week long study I thought it would be appropriate to go see some dinosaur bones.  The kids really enjoyed the 'hall of dinosaurs."  Beings that we had just studied dinos, I was able to discuss facts and falsehoods with them and see how much they had really learned.  I have to say it was a blessing to hear how much they had retained.  They remembered alot of the different dino's names, they of course know that dino's were part of God's Creation and they didn't evolve over millions of years.

My son love the T Rex!

The Triceratops is my favorite dino!

I was kind of concerned about taking the kids into a secular museum that does not value the truth of God's word even a little bit, but it was a good opportunity to discuss what God's word says.  We skipped the evolution halls because quite frankly I don't think I could have stomached all the pictures of apes turning into men.  Umm, Excuse me Mr. Scientist, but if we evolved from apes, why are there still apes???

Anyway, on to the rest of our day.  We got to see oodles and oodles of birds, which we all loved.  We saw lots of butterflies, sea creatures, a coral reef and the mammals hall which had a newer modern style.  Personally, I liked the good old animals in their natural habitats better, the hubs always says that I am old before my time, I guess he is right.  We were there for a little less than two hours because we had to rush back to the van to pay the meter, they only give you 2 hours and the last time I was in DC to do the museums I got 2, yes 2, $50 parking tickets.  The hubs was adamant that we not let that happen again.

The Hall of Birds was neat, we all really enjoyed this exhibit.

These were TV screens in the floor, which was part of the mammals exhibit.

The cheetah and his lunch.

They did have some pretty cool interactive stuff that the kids really enjoyed.

Checkin' out the mama Kangaroo's pouch.  They remembered what a marsupial was, yay!

A mini coral reef.

No thanks!

The butterfly hatchery.  They have a really cool butterfly garden which we did last Spring. 

                                              

We decided that it was to far to walk back so we decided that we would pack it up and drive over to the Air and Space Museum.  Well, as we were driving we decided to go to the Lincoln Memorial, none of us had ever been.  Honest Abe is my oldest daughter's FAVORITE President, she is like a walking Lincoln Fact Book.  So, she was super excited to say the least.   After circling around 3 times we finally found a parking spot and off we went. 

Like little ducks following their paw. 

This was taken with the Lincoln Memorial behind me looking out at the Washington Monument.

We got to hear a recording of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, I Have A Dream speech.

The Lincoln Memorial was very cool, to stand there and read "Four Score and Seven Years Ago..." was a WOW!  The statue is huge!  After, watching the Night at the Museum II, I couldn't help but think he might hop up and start chatting it up with us : )

The Gettysburg Address.  This picture doesn't do it justice, this wall is HUGE!

Honest Abe.  My daughter reminded me at this point that he was the tallest President ever.  : )

This was inside the Lincoln Memorial.

Close to where we had parked, there was a very large statue of Albert Einstein.  The kids of course wanted so badly to climb all over it but instead I made them smile purdy for the camera!

Hey Einstein! 

If ever in DC, definitely check out the Smithsonian Museums, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument.  I think next time we are going to check out the Spy Museum.