Daddy Joins Us in DC (or, Vacation Part 2)

Josh joined us in DC on Friday morning after taking the train down from New York. Ridley was happy to see his daddy! After having some lunch and letting Josh rest a little bit we left Robin's apartment to go into the city.

My pictures posted in the reverse order that I wanted them to, so here's our afternoon in reverse :)

After lots of walking in the warm weather, we ended the afternoon hanging out by a fountain in the Smithsonian Art Museum's Sculpture Garden. It was dirctly across the street from the National Archives (pictured below).

You could sit on the edge of the fountain and dip your feet in, so I took advantage of that, and it was an exellent way to cool off a little bit. Ridley cooled off by dumping his water cup over his head (accidentally).

We spent a good part of the afternoon wandering through the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (the one on the Mall, not the one near Dulles Airport). After much searching, we found the Enterprise! (It's in the lower level of the giftshop).

This is the Van Ness-UDC Metro stop. It's the closest one to Robin's apartment, so we were coming and going from here quite frequently.

A Trip to See Uncle Robin and Auntie Nora! (or, Vacation Part One)

In May, we took our first family vacation! Josh headed out to New York on May 11, and the next day, Ridley and I flew out to Washington DC (where Josh would join us two days later) to see Robin and Nora!

Tweakie-cat wanted to come with us and tried to fit in our carry-on bag. He was just a little too fluffy though!

RIdley behaved very well on both our flights (MN to Milwaukee for a brief layover, then Milwaukee to DC) - he slept most of the second flight even!

It was raining as we landed in DC, but as we flew in we saw Watergate, the Kennedy Center, the Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, as well as the Capitol. When we landed in DC, Uncle Robin came to meet us at the airport!

We took the Metro to get to Robin and Nora's apartment an spent the evening hanging out with them. Ridley and I both went to bed early - we were tired from all our travels!

The next morning, Ridley, Robin and I went in to Bethesda, MD with Uncle Robin to visit the National Institute of Health (where he works), and to check out the city a little. We checked out a toy store, and a Barnes and Noble, then had some lunch and headed back to DC for the afternoon. Ridley fell asleep on the Metro (surprising to me since they are LOUD!). Then we went to the DC Aquarium. They had alligators and an octopus. Very cool!

After the aquarium, we walked down the street to The White House. We couldn't get too close (obviously - although we were closer when we walked around to the Lafayette Park side). It was fun to see though. After the White House, we went back to Robin and Nora's place and gave Ridley a chance to run around in their building's backyard/courtyard/picnic area. An excellent day in DC!