Washington DC

We've got a lot to discover today in DC, and we are going to have to do it in record heat.

We started the day catching the tram from H Street to Union Station.  At 10am it's already hot.  Hope the boys are up for this (actually, hope I'm up for it).  We walked down to the Capitol Building to take a look first.  Things have changed since I came through in 2000.  Then we took pictures on the the steps at the back of the building.  Now you can't get near them.  We got a good look around and did all the touristy pictures (see below) before heading down to the National Mall and finding as much shade as possible to continue our walk.

 Capitol Hill, DC

Our first museum was the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum, which walked to via a beautiful sculpture garden.  As much as I'd rather be in other museums this was the place to be with a couple of 6 year olds.  The museum is fantastic and it was wonderful to show the boys everything and see the things that peaked their interest (or completely dismiss).  We reached a hangry point and decided to eat as soon as possible, which meant eating in the museum's large cafeteria area.  I the end it was into vacation mode with a much needed ice cream on the Mall before we made the long walk doown to the Washington Monument.  The boys are at a good age where they are learning so much and most information they just soak in.  They were bummed that the Monument was closed and we couldn't get to the top.  But they were feeding off the energy of everyone around, loving all the flags and being able to see other landmarks from this central spot.

B&L, Washington Monument, DC

 L, Me & B @ Washington Monument, DC

Because they could see the White House from the Washington Monument, the boys (and mum....and us for that fact) wanted to get a closer look.  Not unlike the Capitol we could not get really close to the White House.  We could see an event was taking place on the front lawn, but we were so far away you couldn't distinguish who was there or what was being said.  We couldn't even get around to Pennsylvania Avenue.  In the end we decided to finish the day, and grabbed an Uber back home.

Mum gave us the option to go out and have dinner and a drink, so we took up the free babysitter option and walked over to Granville Moore's on H Street and sat at the bar and had an awesome meal.  I had some incredible mussels while Amy had a beautiful salad.  Really nice meal.  We were exhausted after dinner and opted not to go for a drink afterwards, only to be heckled by mum for having a free babysitter and being home before 9pm.  I know - We're old....and lame.

We covered 7 miles today (Fitbit says 14489 steps), which is a lot for me, let alone two 6 year olds and their grandmother.  And in the heat, everyone handled it like champions.  Now to do it all again tomorrow.