a day in DC

Elizabeth, Finn and I took a road trip this weekend to visit some friends in DC. We spent most of the weekend just hanging out with our friends, although we did manage to take in the parade and some light shopping. Today, we decided to venture out to the nation's capital to take in some sights. Alas, the weather was not cooperative, so "taking in the sights" was more of a museum trip. Fortunately, we were able to meet some other friends at the museums which made the excursion more fun. I mean, what's more fun than DC in the rain with lots of littles in tow tracking through miles of museum. :)

(I just love how Finn, Judah and Charlie look like giants peering into the world of the dinosaurs as they gaze at this diorama.)

We started out at the Natural History Museum. The dinosaurs were a bit hit, as always, and the butterfly room, which I'd never visited before was a wonderful experience.

Elizabeth was even fortunate enough to have a butterfly land on her hat. You should have seen her trying to videotape the butterfly on her own hat.

We headed over to the gems and minerals room after the butterflies. Elizabeth passion, second only to art, is rocks so she was in heaven. Finn was less than impressed until he realized that they had lots of "please touch" rocks in that area.

Finn and Zach even had a great time racing their cars over the different "please touch" rocks. What better way to explore the textures and shapes of the rocks.

Upon leaving the rocks, we headed to the mammals. Finn felt sorry for the giraffe who was bent down to drink but didn't have any water in his watering hole.

I overheard a conversation between Finn and Zach after I read the placard on the anteaters. Finn said, "30,000 ants is alot of ants to eat in one day." To which Zach replied, "if 30,000 ants is how many they usually eat, I'll bet they could eat 1 MILLION on a hungry day!"

Some of the littles began to fall apart in the mammal room so we decided to break for lunch. As lunch was finishing, Elizabeth and I snuck away to visit the knitted reef that Cindy insisted I visit since we were right there. It would be impossible to take pictures to accurately reflect the craftsmanship, vibrant color and amazing cooperative effort in this project so I didn't even try. This picture only reflects one section of the knitted reef, and it's just amazingly beautiful to behold. Elizabeth and I had a wonderful time walking around the room trying to figure out some of the materials and depictions of the knitting.

After lunch, we headed next door to The National Gallery as Elizabeth never wants to miss any opportunity to take in an important art gallery.

Finn admired the orange guitar in this Picasso.

Elizabeth went back to the scene of the crime where she rubbed a quarter on a Barnett Newman painting many years ago. For some reason, I always thought it was a Rothko which bore her markings, but when we got to the spot, there hung this Newman which looks very similar to a Rothko. She always snickers when Paul or I tell her the story about how she got very indignant with the angry guard when he accused her of touching the painting. She retorted, "I did NOT touch the painting! My quarter did!"

Finn and Elizabeth both enjoyed the Matisse room.

It's not often to find so many of his large cut-out works together in one room.

And Elizabeth took several minutes to revel in the Barnett Newman Stations of the Cross room. It really is moving to see the paintings together, one after another, with simple black and white on an off-white background.

We really had a lovely time seeing all of our friends today. How lucky we are to be able to just pick up and take a road trip to see everyone and some history and art to boot!