DC Day 4

DC day 4 took us to Chinatown where we made our way through the crime and punishment museum.

        
 While at the Crime and Punishment Museum, we ran into a few criminals...

had to identify a couple of criminals from this motley crew...

and because of this stunt...
landed our group in jail.

After the C&P Museum, we ate lunch, ran through the sculpture garden, rushed through Museum of Natural History, sent half of our group home, and spent the rest of our day in the National Museum of Art, which was only 20 minutes thanks to our arrival right before the museum closed. Thankfully we had a very helpful guide who directed us to see a DaVinci, and the Impressionists section. I wish we would have had more time to gaze at the beautiful works, but my feet said otherwise.

xo

nessa dee

art assistant

He's not the most helpful assistant, and he tends to make a bigger mess than I do, but he sure can charm me with his smile.

xo

nessa dee

butcher paper + table top =

This isn't a new idea. We've eaten at a number of restaurants that have implemented this clever trick to keep their patrons occupied while waiting for food. But a light bulb went off in my head the other day when we were expecting friends for dinner. I decided that our table needed a table cloth so I could clean up the mess easily. Then, the thought of having to shake out, spot treat, and wash my sunny yellow table cloth seemed to be more work than just wiping down the table itself. And that's when I remembered our huge roll of drawing paper just sitting, unused in our easel upstairs. And since we always have a can of colored pencils at the ready in the middle of our table, it just made sense.

   

And the result?

Practically perfect children.

This paper-on-the table idea is a keeper. We had more fun adding pictures to our tabletop mural. Each day there was a new little surprise in the form of a picture, and I looked forward to seeing what cropped up next. I left the paper on for more than a week before I decided it had done its job [catching spills], and finally removed it, much to the dismay of my little artists. We had to say good-bye to a few of our tabletop friends, but I'll be adding another pristine paper surface today and will await the new surprises.

so

nessa dee

DC day 3

   

Day 3 in DC took us to the National Aquarium. Basically it was a long hallway in a basement with some fish tanks, but it was on the kids ' list of to-do's, so we obliged.  We saw some interesting fish and had a couple of very happy children. After that, we went to the American History Museum which seemed like three museums on three floors, in one building, The kids had a blast touring the history of transportation on the first floor, and by the time we got to the third floor, we were spent. After visiting the gift shop, we made our way to the National Mall for, you guessed it...ice cream.  A quick ride back on the Metro, some fabulous take out from a place called The Diner, and we called it a day.

Don't worry...only two more days to go. :)

xo

nessa dee

DC Days 1 and 2

 Day one in DC was a short one. We arrived in the afternoon, and didn't make it to my brother's place [our
 five star accommodations], until late afternoon. He wasn't there to greet us [the jerk] , but he left us a bunch of souvenirs labeled with our names, internet access codes, and a map labeled with every place we might need to go within walking distance. We decided to make a visit to the grocery store [for ice cream and cookies, of course], and then take the Metro to see the Lincoln Memorial at night. It was a bit scary walking through DC at night, but once we got around the monuments, they were packed with tourists and prom goers, which eased our fears. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm was blowing in, and we had about five minutes with Lincoln before my brother picked us up.

Day 2 meant a Capitol tour, a visit to the Library of Congress, an evacuation of the Library of Congress thanks to a suspicious package left out front, a late lunch on the mall, and the Air and Space Museum.
We weren't sure if the kids would be up for so much. They were pretty tired of walking after the Library of Congress, and almost lost all hope when they saw how far away the food trucks sat, but, again, ice cream promises and sugar highs can fix a good case of the grumpies. The kids were ready to visit five more museums after Oreo coffee in a cone. After I got peed on by the youngest of my brood, though, I did good to make through the first floor of the Air and Space Museum. It was here that the kids finally got to see something they had been begging for all day...the gift shop. Exhausted, we headed back to Le Hotel de Jacques, and ate our weight in delicious cake from a bakery called Cake Love that just happened to be on our route. The cake in a jar was superb!

xo

nessa dee