On To Washington . . .

We were able to take the hotel shuttle to the train station thinking we would take the train from Baltimore to DC which wasn't a bad idea.  However, we met an awesome taxi driver who had a van and we got to DC an hour and a half quicker and cheaper!!!! WHOO HOO!!!  It is a good thing we are a close family because this is what the back seat looked like on our hour long trip to DC - this picture is NOT an exaggeration of how close we were!

When we got to DC (a whole lot earlier than this OCD travel planner had realized) we really did not know what to do so we explored around our hotel for a while . . . 

Carter and the Verizon Center - we literally walked all the way around thinking we could
get in - we didn't.

We made our way to the Navy Memorial which is a special place because both my grandfathers fought in WWII for the Navy.  It was a new one to us and we enjoyed exploring it.

From there we realized we were close to the National Mall, so we headed over there via the Sculpture Gardens which the kids really enjoyed.  They had asked to go to an art museum and this was a nice one to walk through.

From there we walked out onto the mall for the kids' first view of some of our nation's biggest buildings.

The Capital Building

The Washington Monument - I was sad it looked like this the whole trip.

 We decided to give the kids their first subway ride from the mall back to the area around our hotel.

They LOVED it!!! It is actually not LB's first ride but being 11 months old the last time she was 

here, she does not remember anything!

LB and Gran on the Metro

Carter and Me on the Metro

 We went to eat at Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and enjoyed the burgers!!!

and picking out awesome ROCK music!!!!

After lunch it was time for us to go for our tour of Ford's Theatre - which President Lincoln was shot.

The Presidential Booth where Lincoln was shot from the other side of the theatre.
It is a small theatre - Hello Dolly!  was leaving that day so we were able to see the set coming down.

 Part of our tour included the Peterson House where Lincoln eventually died.  It was super interesting

to walk through. Carter did not see how Lincoln could have slept on that bed because it was so small and he was so tall. 

After our tour of Lincoln's death place, we went to the National Portrait Gallery.

This was one of our FAVORITE spots!!!  It was super close to our hotel and the kids loved seeing all 

the different portraits of famous people they have studied in school.  

None of us had ever been there and we all said it was one of our favorite places!

The ongoing joke of the trip was MY mistake in saying before the trip that we would see Amelia Earhart's airplane. I really meant the Wright Brothers' airplane but LB and I had just been discussing Amelia and that slipped out.  LB
had a HAY DAY with my mistake, but I promised her we would see something Amelia.  LO and BEHOLD look what we found!!!!  She was not thrilled!

The boys were pumped because they found Larry Bird!!!

George Washington 

Miniature version of the Statue of Liberty

And then they found Nolan Ryan!!! Damon was even wearing Nolan's jersey
that day!!!!

There were so many other pictures I could have put up on here, but these are just highlights of day 1 in DC!