Washington DC (Day 3)

Today was another jam-packed, long day.

We had a bit of a rough night.  Alison slept in a bed with Ada, I slept in a bed with Kate and Lyla slept in a pack and play.  Sometime between 2 and 3 in the morning, Kate started moaning and groaning while she was sleeping as well as moving all over restlessly.

Eventually she said that she needed to go to the bathroom, so I grabbed her and took her into our hotel room bathroom.  As soon as I stepped into the bathroom she puked and it landed on top of the toilet seat and splattered all over.  Dang. I hate cleaning up throw up, but I seem to have had plenty of opportunities.  This one was particularly bad, because I didn't have proper cleaning equipment.  I feel for the poor maid who had to deal with the pile of puked covered towels (I made sure to leave a bigger tip for this).  My bet is that if you stop by room 321 at the Renaissance Marriott and look under the bathroom vanity, you'll see the puke stains from the splatter...

Anyway, we were worried about how Kate would hold up the next day, but she seemed to be just fine, with no other complaints for the rest of the trip.

I ran to a nearby grocery store and picked up cereal, milk, bowls, etc. to allow us to eat breakfast while Alison was getting ready (and to eat more economically).  After we ate, we gathered our gear and walked down 9th St NW towards the National Mall.  We passed by the gate to China Town on the way.

We again took the metro a couple of stops to the Capitol Building stop.

In line at the Capitol Visitor Center, waiting for our tour to start.

More funny faces.

The Capitol Rotunda is under construction.  It looks like they've stuffed a donut up into the rotunda.

During the tour, we all had to wear headsets in order to listen to our tour guide. This is Ada in the rotunda.

Lyla wasn't too interested in listening (or in keeping her headset on).  The tour got a little boring for her.

Ada and Kate. Once again in the rotunda.

Another view of the rotunda.

Alison listening intently.

This is the Statuary Hall.  I think Brother Brigham is standing back there in the corner.

Here's a better view of Brother Brigham.

This is in the Capitol basement, directly under the center of the rotunda.

The view of the dome from inside the new Capitol Visitor Center.

This is Philo T. Farnsworth.  The girls love their tellie so much they wanted a picture with him.

A replica of the Statue of Freedom that sits on top of the Capitol.

We went through the Capitol Museum (no cameras!), then we made our way through the tunnel between the Capitol, the Capitol Visitor Center and the Library of Congress.  We made our way over to the Young Readers Center (i.e. children's area) where they had a small puppet theater with lots of puppets.

The girls were thrilled to be able to put on a couple of puppet shows.  Ada and Kate were also given t-shirts with the preamble to the Constitution printed on them.

Lyla waiting her turn to put on a puppet show.

The girls were sad to leave, but there's just so much to see and do in this city that we had to keep moving.

Looking out over the Great Hall.

The view of the US Capitol from the front of the Library of Congress.

Another view in the Great Hall.

This is as close as we got to the Supreme Court.

We walked between the Capitol and one of the House Office Buildings just when they were getting out for lunch.  We crossed right through a crowd of Representatives leaving the Capitol.  I was looking for Jim Matheson, but the only Representative I recognized from Utah was Jason Chaffetz.

Yet another picture in front of the Capitol.

We walked past the Capitol Reflecting Pool, US Botanic Garden and the National Museum of the American Indian while making our way over to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where we met Emily and her kids.

I think the kids had fun. I did as well. It's a pretty cool museum.

In front of the Amelia Earhart exhibit.  Ada and Kate and I had just finished reading a biography of her together.

One of the moon landing crafts.

"How do they go to the bathroom in space?"

Rockets.

5 kids. Not pictured Micah (2) and Ivy (6 weeks).  One of the highlights was while eating lunch at the McDonald's on-site there was a guy who couldn't stop staring at us and then whispering to his SO. I was getting the feeling that he was trying to figure out how the 7 kids, 1 dad and 2 moms all fit together.

Waiting to walk through the space station replica.

Kate touching a moon rock.

A few photos from the museum that were on Alison's phone.

There was lots of hand-holding going on.  Austin wouldn't let go of Ada's hand.

And Kate and Sally didn't want to be left out.

Lyla and Micah.

Sally and Kate at lunch.

Lyla flying a plane.

Another picture in front of the Capitol. Kate was mad about something.

Now it's Ada's turn.

Kate's turn, this time looking west towards the Washington Monument.

We were making our way from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to the National Archives.  On our way we walked through one of the National Sculpture Gardens.  We had a deal with the girls that I would take a picture of them in front of anything they wanted.  After a dozen or so pictures, I had to rescind the offer...

Sitting by the fountain in the Sculpture Garden.

Last one.

As I mentioned, we stopped by the National Archives to admire the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and other artifacts.  We were on the lookout for Nicolas Cage (Al's boyfriend), but the fellow was nowhere to be found.

We walked back to our hotel and jumped in our car and took a drive up to Bethesda, MD to visit Georgetown Cupcakes.  This was high on Alison's list of "important things to do," so I'm glad that we were able to make it happen.

We asked at the cupcake place for recommendations for dinner and ended up at Uncle Julio's, a Tex Mex place nearby.  It was great.

Georgetown Cupcake and Uncle Julio's were near the temple, so we stopped by there as well.  It's in a beautiful area, we saw a few deer wandering the woods nearby.

The temple was closed, but somebody was kind enough to take a picture of us.  However, it would have been cool if they had included the whole temple in the picture... :)

I don't remember the story behind this picture. But sometimes it's hard to fall asleep in your bed.

Tomorrow: the National Zoo and Arlington Cemetery.