The Smithsonian Museum of American History

Right next to the Museum of Natural History is the Museum of American History.  I had heard some really fun things about the portion of this museum that had the Hollywood historical things inside it so we decided it was a must-see for my mom & I since we both adore the history of movies & Hollywood.

In front of the museum, some ladies dressed in early 19th century clothing stopped my kids & asked them if they could please help them wash their clothes.  My kids smiled & got right to work.  They thought it was really fun to learn how washing clothes has changed over the years.  We all decided that we like washing machines a whole lot more than having to do it all by hand. . . although my boys want a roller in the house now.  I could just see them getting their fingers stuck inside one.  ha ha ha.

The area with the Hollywood things also has a lot of fun historical American things as well.  I laughed when I saw a cornerstone of the Nauvoo LDS temple there.  There are only 4 of these stones in the world today & now I've seen 3 of the 4.  How cool is that?  I was just excited that something historical from my religion was in a Smithsonian.

Trek took it easy with the kids while I explored every exhibit.

Kermit the Frog

Archie Bunker's Chair 

The real reason I went to this portion of the museum was to see Judy Garland's ruby slippers worn while filming "The Wizard of Oz."  They were SPECTACULAR.

The Apple 2
My hubby is such a cute nerd.

So we originally went to the American History Museum for that exhibit (with the Hollywood things), but on our way out, we came across something that I will never in a thousand lifetimes forget.  I love it when something unexpected happens in life.

On display they had 

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER.

Yes, the actual flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem.  I can't even begin to express to you how amazing it was to stand there & behold such an important part of our history.  Trek & I just bawled as we stood & stared at it's majesty.  I had no idea it was so massively huge.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures as it's starting to fade with age & is in a light protected room behind glass . . . but it was beyond remarkable to see.  If you're ever in the DC area. . . THAT is worth seeing.

 

We only spent about an hour in this museum.  But it was enough for now.  (We're planning several trips back to DC over the next 3 years to see everything in it's entirety!)

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

After visiting the National Archives, we walked over to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  I absolutely love how close everything is in the National Mall.  You can walk from place to place & there's TONS to see.  I'm glad my 6 kids are natural travelers/walkers.  Even my 2 year old was able to walk a couple miles without complaining.

We originally didn't plan on visiting the Natural History Museum, but it was RIGHT THERE so we thought, "why not?"  We didn't see EVERYTHING (it could take days), but we skimmed through pieces we wanted to see & the kids ended up loving it.

Craiger & a Totem Pole

Craiger kept saying
"Dumb Dumb want some Gum Gum?"
(from the movie "Night at the Museum")

The kids loved all the large animals around the big open areas of the museum.  I still can't believe how massive these buildings are.  Thank heavens we didn't lose any of our kids inside.  We'd never find them.

The boys' favorite place was the dinosaurs. . . surprise, surprise.  They can never get enough dinosaurs.

Trek was particularly fascinated with this monstrous thing.  It was a giant sloth of sorts.  It was HUGE. I always pictured sloths to be small & wimpy like Sid from "Ice Age," but not this guy.  I wouldn't want to run into him in real life for sure.

Manny from "Ice Age"

As for me, I couldn't wait to get to the gemstone portion of the museum.  I love pretty & sparkly things & boy was this a treat.  They had the

HOPE DIAMOND

on display.  It's the largest blue diamond in the world.  It was GORGEOUS in person.  Pictures just don't do it justice.

One wing of the museum was dedicated to the largest gemstone collection in the world.  There were crowns, necklaces, rings, you name it.  It was spectacular to see in person.

We spent about an hour and a half in the museum & then headed on to our next Smithsonian.  It was a lot of fun.  I'm glad we decided to stop & see a little inside even though it wasn't in our original plans.

Subways, Theaters, & Archives, Oh My!

Okay, so there are SEVERAL things I miss about living in Europe, but one thing I miss terribly is using the trains, busses, & subways.  Public transportation is wonderful.  I don't know why people are so scared of it!  It's the ONLY way to go when you're in a big city & Washington DC was no exception.  We were THRILLED to be on a subway system again.

This was Craiger's first time on a subway 

(& probably the first time Bladen will ever REMEMBER being on a subway.)

& he loved it.  He was so happy to be on a REAL train.

We took the subway to the Archive stop in front of the National Archives.  The kids enjoyed running around the Navy Memorial while we waited for the Archives to open at 9 am.

Well, 9:00 came & we walked into the archives & got chased down by a security guard.  I guess we entered the normal "work" entrance which opens at 9 am, but we didn't work there so we got in trouble.  ha ha ha.  As tourists, we were supposed to enter the Archives on the opposite side of the building & that portion didn't open until 10:00.  BOO!!!  We weren't happy about that one.

So we had to find something to do for an hour while we waited.  We got lucky & happened upon Ford's Theater 

(just a few blocks from the Archives. . . just around the FBI building which we thought was pretty cool too.)

This was the actual theater that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in.  We were pretty excited to get to tour that before we hit the National Archives.  There was no line & we literally just walked right in.

The actual theater was beautiful.  It was really neat to sit there & know the history of what happened there.

Bladen was my buddy for the theater tour.

The booth that President Abraham Lincoln was shot in is still there, completely unchanged from the time he died.  Nobody has used it since he did & it stays as a memorial to him.  It's beautiful!

After exploring the theater, we headed back to the National Archives right at 10:00 so we could avoid the inevitable line that develops early on there.  This is the place everyone wants to see when visiting Washington DC so we wanted to get there first before everyone else hit it.  We got lucky & only had about 25 people before us in line.

Mimi & her little buddies.

It was amazing.  You can't take pictures inside the building for obvious reasons.  But I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was to stand in front of the most important documents in our nation's history:

The Declaration of Independence

The Constitution

The Bill of Rights

I'm SO happy I got to see them in person.  They are barely readable these days due to age.  But it was amazing looking at the signatures of our founding fathers on a single piece of paper knowing that that single piece of paper gave us the liberty & freedom we celebrate today.  It was an almost spiritual experience.  I'm SO happy I had that opportunity, & I'm happy I was able to give that opportunity to my children as well.