It was a beautiful spring day and the kids have their first day of Spring Break. Naturally Abbey asked that I take the day off while she work doing taxes. So I decided to take them to see the Cherry Blossoms in DC. Instead of walking, why not go biking down there. This year is the first year I was brave enough to take them all three by myself, let alone go biking with them. It turned out great! FF was a trooper and didn't' complain much. Of course the older two had to bike slower to wait for their sister. But for parts, there were so many people, we had to walk our bikes. We walked our bikes from the Jefferson Memorial around the Tidal Basin, once it was cleared we biked to the Smithsonian of Natural History Museum. The kids spent the rest of the three-four hours inside the Smithsonian
Natural History Museum learning and touching everything. Clayton took a ton of photos himself, see some of his work below. We sat on the Mall grass in the shade to eat a quick Peanut Butter Lunch and other snacks, then we biked towards the Washington Monument, took a few photos there, then proceeded to the Lincoln Memorial. From there we biked to Martin Luther King Memorial, around the Tidal Basin to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial and wrap around back to Jefferson memorial to go home.
We spent a total of six hours in DC area, probably total of one to two hours biking and the rest of the time inside the Smithsonian
of Natural History Museum. It was a incredibly beautiful day with the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom, the weather was perfect around 75 degrees with a light breeze. Glad I took the day off to take the kids biking down there! (All captions below are written by Clayton :)
Gee whiz! We almost packed too much stuff.....
And sadly, mom couldn't come because of tax season.
Aren't these such pretty cherry blossoms?
We are now starting a long journey!
Traveling.... Sight seeing.....Such a nice, sunny day!
Biking on the nice, sandy gravel.....
Just look at us!!
We now arrived at the Smithsonian Museum! A long way from the car...
Finally!...
Yikes! That's a pretty big bear!
Talking with a worker, and learning about whale baleen.... Interesting.
Predator and prey.... Scary!
Look at this huge animal.... A whale in a museum! Geez!
It is truly amazing.
Now look at how big this is!
Touching different insects.... Is it really that disgusting?
My turn!!!
Look at this bug!
Ughh! A HUGE cockroach!!!
It's kinda hard....
Traveling to our next destination....
Look at us go!!!
Stopping for a little break next to the traffic light...
And safely crossing the road.
Taking a little stop next to the big pencil....
(my fancy version of calling the all famous Washington Monument)
Now, heading of to the Lincoln Memorial!
Look at her bike next to the glittering pool, with only two wheels!
Still heading down the long sidewalk.
We finally arrived, and took a picture with a beautiful background...
And now, remembering the importance of the dear Abraham Lincoln.
And of course, with our dad.
Taking pics..
YAAYYYYYY!!!!!
Trying to take perfect pictures... Again..
Close enough.
Now with both of us, making some faces of sorts...
Maybe imagining how to use the big pencil.
(like how Godzilla would use it to write..)
Now, we just biked around the whole lake, to get to the Jefferson Memorial,
(and partially because it was in the way to the car... Hahaha)
to get another shot of the big pencil in another point of view.
Now, we turn around, and take a picture of the famous Jefferson Memorial.
Ahhhhh..... The love!,,,,
And now, the three of us together,,,,, Forever.
Afterwards, we discovered that we biked for 4.5 miles, and guess what?
FF didn't even complain!
And finally, sleeping on the ride back.
Below are some examples of Clayton's work.(mine)
P.S... All of these animals are loooong dead by now, so don't get the jiggles.
Plus, if they were alive, my camera would be broken by now. (more like my brother's camera..)
A rhinoceros..
Female lion...
The all-star long neck giraffes...
Animals, and prey.... about to get killed...
The giraffe again, but drinking this time.
The big mouthed, fat, and chunky hippopotamus.
Some deer...
A seal...
A skull (hopefully not a real one...gulp)...haha just kidding
More skulls...
Something that I don't actually know what it is...
(even though I took a picture of it..)
A creep...
(a homo sapian)
Another one, but not as creepy...
THIS one looks like a orangutan. A LOT
The whale.. Again.
A looong jellyfish
A song sparrow....
(I knew this because of the sign in the background...)
Here are all the birds in that section...
This, as it says, is a Brown Thrasher. Eating a spider. Ew. Just plain ew.
A little chick.... Sooo cute!
Here is the full sight of the "mammal" first floor.
Here is a diagram of the Moon and the Earth, showing the layers inside.
Here are some amazing glow-in-the-dark rocks! Cool!
Here is a cool example of the mineral called Malachite.
And another cool mineral/structure.
Now THIS is cool. Like something from a video game.
Here is another mineral, an example of Mesolite. Pretty cool, eh?
This is the elephant in the main entrance to the museum...
Another picture at another angle... Of the same thing.
A skeleton if a bird...
And a skeleton of a fish,
Along with a mummy case,
A mummy of an ox
A looong Totem Pole,
And last of all, a beautiful picture of the big "pencil".
