Day 1 in Washington DC 11/15/14

We arrived in Washington DC today as Hubby has got a big conference and he invited us to tag along. We got in close to lunch time and were lucky enough to get checked in to our hotel early. We dropped off our stuff and parked our car at the Union Station garage where parking per day was $24. A lot better than $50 per day at the hotel we were staying at. 

After a quick lunch at Union Station (lots of food choices there with restaurants and a food court downstairs), we headed towards the Air and Space Museum. Btw, big thanks goes to Jenny from Run Jenny Run who gave me a list of food and place recommendations in DC to explore with the kids and also running routes! Thank you Jenny! :)

From Union Station we walked towards Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to meet a friend with her son who is also good friends of the kiddos. I Google mapped the walk and it turned out to be a 20 minute walk, which was great especially after we had just eaten lunch. I enjoyed the walk and stopped to take pics of the kiddos. Here they are by the Capitol.

And by the Capitol Reflecting pool with the Washington Monument in the background. I did not know there was a reflecting pool by the Capitol, as I always think of the one by the Lincoln Memorial.

One thing I love about the Smithsonian museums is that they are free! There is so much to do at the National Air and Space Museum. We started out late and only got to check out the First floor.

It was neat because today they had an event going on, a family day where they had special hands on activities for the kids. My 5 year old spotted the Legos immediately and went to building an airplane.

I enjoyed all of the crafts they got to make. Here they mad a tiny Biplane. In another section they made parachutes and a flower poppy.

Here is my 5 year old sporting aviator glasses he made. It was pretty cool because after visiting four stations they received a pin as a prize. 

We also ventured to other exhibits on the First floor. They enjoyed the How Things Fly section where there were a lot of "hands on" activities. They even had a Cessna plane they could sit in. Below is a pic from the Moving Beyond Earth section where they liked to watch the videos on the screens and they liked to push the buttons for the group quiz game.

We didn't even get through the whole First Floor but figured it would be a good time to stop as we wanted to get outside so the kids could play for a bit. My friend had heard there was a playground that was supposedly close by but we never found it. We just had the boys play out on the grass on the National Mall for a while. I then remembered there was a Carousel nearby and walked to it. Fare is $3.50. The kids really wanted to go on it. They loved it! I liked how the ride wasn't short, it is actually one of the longer carousel rides I've seen.

We then headed back to Union Station for dinner and to head back to our Hotel. It was a long day, but a fun one.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Zoo. :)