Washington DC - Natural History Museum

We accidentally read our map wrong and ended up in front of the American History Museum - so we had to take a quick rest...

Once we got to the Natural History Museum we met up with everyone else...

 

We enjoyed looking at all the different skeletons...

 

We were even able to go in the butterfly house for a bit...

 

We enjoyed the little bit of sight seeing we were able to do while in DC...hopefully next time we will be able to see more of the "usual" DC sights (Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, etc, etc...)

 

We had a nice peaceful ride home...the girls must have been exhausted!

 

 

Washington DC Zoo

The second morning in Washington DC was spent at the zoo!

The girls had a great time and really enjoyed seeing all the different animals.

Checking out the Giant Panda

 

Elephant walking on a log doing tricks....we were far away, but could still see from the bridge...

Madilynn was so excited she found a dinosaur!

They had the most spectacular lion display I've ever seen!

There was one male, 2 big females, and at least 6 cubs....they were all so active it was amazing to watch them...we could have stayed there all day!

 

Someone was getting tired...so we decided we better head back to the hotel for a bit...

 
Such a great day! Thanks Matt for taking our group photo!

Washington DC - Day 1

 

The first weekend in August we traveled to Washington DC for GiGi's memorial service at Arlington National Cemetary. After a LONG car ride we arrived and spent some great time with our family.

Madilynn and Meredith really enjoyed their time with their older cousins....

 

The first morning we spent some time exploring Old Alexandria which was near our hotel...

 

 

Then it was time for the memorial service...

 

Ann did a great job of keeping the kids occupied while we waited...

 

The service was very nice - Matt was holding Madilynn so I wasn't able to hear all of her questions. Meredith did a great job of wiping away my tears during the ceremony...

 

After the service we took a tour of the cemetery grounds and saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier....

Thanks Aunt Rose for keeping Meredith occupied during the changing of the guard...I highly doubt she would have stood still and remained quiet during the ceremony...

 

 

Despite our long days Meredith absolutely enjoyed her time in the hotel...I think she loved not being in a crib! She was up till 11pm each night...switching from one bed to another, climbing over the chairs that were supposed to keep her from falling out of the bed, and getting cheese out of the mini-fridge.

 

It was a sad reason to go to DC, yet so great to get to spend time with family that we don't see nearly enough!