We didn't tell the kids that DeeDee would be joining us. Hank was so excited when he saw her. He was supposed to spend last week with DeeDee at her house (to help her take care of the cows) but we had to reschedule to this week because he had a doctor's appointment last Thursday.
So we started at the bottom and worked our way up. The first floor has dinosaurs which the boys *loved*. Ella thought they were scary and gross though. What a girlie.
The second floor has a little butterfly conservatory. We just hatched our latest batch of butterflies here at home so we bought tickets to go through their display. One landed on Shane's head which freaked him out a bit. He spent the rest of the time with his hands on his head! Ella thought they were all just beautiful and wanted to spend more time looking at the flowers and watching the butterflies eat. Hank kept getting buzzed; they would fly right by his head so he was ready to leave right away. Jake and I got to go to the big butterfly conservatory in Niagra Falls. What a cool place. That was over 10 years ago so I don't know if it's even there anymore, but we really loved it.
I forget which floor houses the bug zoo. Shane held a big cockroach-looking thing. He was with daddy for that...mommy doesn't like bugs. Ella held a horned tobacco worm...or is it tobacco horned worm? Anyway, she held a big green juicy caterpillar. Hank was happy to look at the creatures that were behind glass!
The kids did an AMAZING job. They were so good. Even at the end when they were exhausted adn hungry, they hung in there.
DeeDee was extremely generous and bought them all little souveniers. When I was growing up, we always got t-shirts of the places we visited. Even if it was just Bob's Campground in Waxitoochie, MS, we got a t-shirt. I think my school wardrobe all through elementary school consisted of tourist t-shirts! So anyway, I made sure they all had t-shirts and they picked out other little goodies as well.
Then we headed out to the Mall for some much deserved running around time. Shane got lots of smiles from his very loud and friendly "HI!" to all passersby. Hank was on cloud 9 with his new dinosaurs. And Ella was helping DeeDee find all the candy in her purse. :)
Ella spotted the "big round thing" and wanted to see what it was. A ride on the carousel is pretty cheap - only $2.50 so Jake and DeeDee took the little kids on it. Shane had so much fun that they had to pry his fingers off the reigns. He kept trying to get away from Jake and run back on.
We figured we would take the risk and vist the Air and Space Museum too since it's just a little way down the Mall. We just did a leisurely walk through and let the kids do a few of the hands on things before heading back to the Metro.
They had a great time and I'm already thinking about when we can visit the zoo this summer and the American History museum when it reopens in the Fall. :)
Since Hank is five, he needed his own ticket. He was very proud of himself and even kept track of his ticket.
Daddy gets motion sickness so his eyes were closed much of the ride.
Little Hank in front of the big elephant
Shane was trying to climb over the railing to play in the sand. They had a mock dig with the tools layed out. He saw little shovels and rakes in the sand so it must have all been there for little kids to play with...right??
Ever the cutie pie
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