Still, there was trouble just around the corner.
What does that tiny sign say? Metro station closed.
We were told to go up some steps and catch the shuttle to the next station. Really, I saw it as a better adventure than we would have had...the kids were thrilled to get to ride the Subway...and now they got to take a bus, too!
We passed Great Waves water park on the way. Watched its cool water slides slip out of view of the bus window and filed that trip away for another hot day. It was museums for us.
Oh. And did I mention Diego only likes me to hold him? That why I have such great arm muscles, not that BodyCombat class I've been taking.
The subway really is cool. Joaquin practiced gymnastics by climbing the pole to the one on the ceiling. Isabela twirled around them. It definitely reminded me of my college days in DC.
I was a little self-concious with the camera...looking like a giant tourist...but then I realized, I was a tourist, and there's lots of them there, so it really didn't make a difference.
The Smithsonian stop lets you out right smack in the middle of the mall. I LOVE those views. And did I mention it was hot? That's not a dirty lens in the Capitol picture...just plain hot air.
At this point, ice cream was way more important than the Washington monument.
Another of Diego's favorites...birds. And they were approachable...only flew off at the last minute. Letting them chase pigeons brought a smile to everyone's face.
Definitely, the museum of natural history has got to be one of the best ever. All those stuffed animals.
My kids loved each and every one and actually read some of the information about them! We tried to name a lot of them in Spanish for Diego...we all got stuck on 'walrus'...even JP. He had to look it up on his phone. Turns out it's 'morsa' if you ever need to know.
I got excited about the possibility of walking through the live butterfly exhibit...but it turned out it cost money. Except on Tuesdays...so if you're up there on a Tuesday....
Our favorite place of the day turned out to be the sculpture garden of the National Gallery of Art. Isn't this tree amazing?
And the police were letting everyone stick their feet in the fountain to cool off. THANK GOD. We hadn't stepped outside two seconds before the kids were complaining about the heat. And it wasn't even that hot. Diego got so wet he had to walk around in just a diaper for the rest of the day.
So everyone was really ready to leave after that...but I dragged them all to one more stop. I've been wanting to go to this 'secret' tunnel ever since I read about it on latinaish.com. It connects the east and west wing of the National Galleries of Art.
So I did the smart mom thing...we charged through the museum like speed walkers, bypassing all of the most famous paintings in the world to get here.
Definitely worth it. Mesmerizing. We went around a couple of times and under disapproving looks from a guard, we fussed at the kids for having too much fun on the sidewalks.
Very hard to capture on film, but still beautiful.
All in all, day two went well. Diego fell asleep on the Metro ride home...so I had to CARRY his limp body upstairs, downstairs, across streets....I locked my hands together under his weight and just kept walking, the sweat dripping off my forehead. A small sacrifice for a day of fun, right?
