a day in DC

On Tuesday we were able to meet up with Ben's sister, Terri, and her 3 kids to do a little sight seeing around Washington, DC. It was a long hot day- we left Dover at 7:30 in the morning and didn't get back until 10:30 that night. It was well worth the trip to spend a little time with family and see a bit of the nation's capitol. We met up at The Museum of Natural History. We browsed through a few of the exhibits (there are a ton!) Before we took a lunch break. Here are a few pictures from the morning.

If you didn't guess it, this is a soil monolith, straight from Idaho. How fun for me that there is currently a soil exhibit at the Smithsonian! Idaho's state soil is the Threebear. It has a layer of volcanic ash in it from the Mount Mazama (now Crater Lake) eruption.

Above an ice age animal, an ocean animal and Ben and Rhone in front of some quartz in the gems and minerals section.

After lunch Terri and company got to see the butterflies, while we moved the car and feed Rhone. Then we walked to some of the monuments. We saw the Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, and WWII Monuments.

At the WWII monument. You can tell how hot is was by the look on Rhone's face.

Reilly, Meag & Rhone, Brandalyn, and Barret taking a break by the Vietnam Memomrial.

After all the walking in the heat we were beat. Terri & company headed home, but we decided to just stay downtown longer to avoid the evening traffic. We went back to the Museum of Natural History and take a break by watching Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince on the IMAX. After it was over we only had a few minutes before the museum closed so we squeezed in the mammal exhibit. Rhone was such a great trooper- he only cried once the whole day and that was when the movie got too loud and scared him.

Rhone and I in front of a bobcat on the pounce (he's smiling, not yawning)

On the way out there was literally no traffic, so we were able to stop on the road in font of the Capitol and take this photo out of the car window.

Wow this turned into a long post, but like I said it was a long day. We'll have to head back to DC a few more times to get in all the sites while we're here. Thanks for having us Terri and kids!