Monuments, Museums, Metro, oh My

Thursday morning we walked the mile from our hotel to the Washington Monument in the hottest, wettest summer day ever. Colin was a bit nervous to go up the monument, but loved it once we got up there. I had no idea that the entire interior of the monument is full of plaques sent by each state and some countries in honor of Washington. Someday I would love to get a backstage pass to walk up the stairs and see all of that history.

We spent the rest of the day at the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. Colin was grossed out by the former, both boys LOVED the latter. We had lunch at the craziest McDonalds I have ever seen. *disclaimer* McDonalds was the only place to eat at the Air and Space Museum. When we had our fill of The Smithsonian our legs and feet were killing us. We walked out of the museum and were so lucky to come across a pedi-taxi who gave us a ride back to our hotel. I think that was the highlight for the boys!

Friday we woke up early to get to our tour of The Pentagon. It was our first try at the Metro and we learned (after Colin went through the gate) that each person needed their own card. The Pentagon was like a tour through any office building. The highlight was when we went through the courtyard and the tour guide told a story that during the Cold War the Russians had satellite photos of The Pentagon that showed a lot of activity in the building in the middle of the courtyard. They were convinced that there must be a secret bunker beneath the building. It was believed that The Russians had nukes pointed right at that hot dog stand, therefore it became known as "The Most Dangerous Hot Dog Stand in the world." Ha ha, funny enough. Then at lunch I was asking the kids about what they thought about the tour and they remembered "The Most Dangerous Hot Dog Stand in the world" but NOTHING about why! After a 20 minute discussion about why, I'm not sure they get it.

After The Pentagon we spent a couple of hours at The Spy Museum. No Photography allowed. It was fun, but the kids were distracted and bored.

The National Building Museum is having a special exhibit about an architect who has re-created amazing buildings in Legos. The buildings are not glued together and the creator "free designs" which means he doesn't even use pen and paper to figure out how to put these together, he just keeps re-building until they are right.

I was mesmerized by the professional creations. The boys loved building their own creations best.