Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC

The kids and I recently had an opportunity to spend three days in Washington DC with my mom and dad during Cherry Blossom time.  It was at the time of the kids' very long spring break, so I jumped at the chance to get out of Springfield for a few days!  We had not planned to take the kids to DC until they were teenagers, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass.  However, I would not recommend a vacation to DC with young kids - lots of walking (and trust me, we are not shy about walking) and lots of reading at the museums which loses the kids' interest quickly.  Since we only had 3 days in DC, we were not able to see the majority of sites that we would have liked to see, but we did our best with our time.  The kids did great, learned a ton, and still talk about the good time they had in DC!

 

Ethan, Olivia, and Grandma at the Washington Monument.  Unfortunately, we were not able to go into the monument due to the repair work.  Next time...  (and yes, my mom is giving Olivia bunny ears) 

 

The White House from the Washington Monument.  We were able to get much closer to the White House, but since this is one of only two pictures that I am in, this is the one I post on the blog!  We tried to get a WH tour, but the sequester has now ruined that for everyone for now.

 



The World War II Memorial.  This was a beautiful (and huge) memorial.

 



 

Our first full day of sightseeing took us to the Spy Museum (no pictures allowed there), the American History Museum, and the reflecting pool memorials.  Here are the kids with the ruby slippers.

 



 

The original Kermit the Frog.

 



 

Michelle Obama's first inauguration dress.  Ethan's expression says it all - he did not enjoy looking at the First Ladies' dresses!

 



 

The kids were most excited about two things in DC...the Spy Museum and the Lincoln Memorial.  I guess that is the Springfield side of them!

 



View of the reflecting pool from the Lincoln Memorial.  Ethan's blue lips are from a very large sucker that was a bribe for walking a long distance.

 

The kids at the Korean War Memorial.

 



 

Olivia ate mussels for dinner three nights in a row!  This is the half order - the full order is 2 pounds of mussels!

 



On our second day in DC we took a boat ride down the Potomac River to Mt. Vernon to visit where George Washington lived, died, and is buried.  Ethan's class studied Washington earlier in the year, and ever since then he had been asking to see Mt. Vernon.  It was a great day (we spend several hours here) with lots to explore.  I highly recommend this place for any age. 

 



 

The kids at the Washington museum at Mt. Vernon.

 



 

Cherry Blossoms!  Finally!  While we were in DC, the cherry blossoms were just beginning to bloom.  Probably 3 days after we left was the ideal time to view them.  We were lucky to find this tree with a great background of the Washington Monument.  The area with the most blossoms in bloom was the FDR Memorial.

 



 

Don't pick the cherry blossoms!  If you are caught picking the blossoms you will receive a stern lecture and have to wear a sticker telling people that you picked one.  Luckily, we did not find this out the hard way - the kids left them alone.

 



 

Our last day in DC was spent at the Ford's Theater/Petersen House, National Archives (no pictures allowed there), the National Air and Space Museum, and the Tidal Basin memorials.  Again, it must be the Springfield in us that had the kids excited to see the Ford's Theater and Petersen House.  The Petersen House has been expanded to include an excellent 3 story museum about the death of Lincoln and the manhunt of John Wilkes Booth. 

 



 

Inside Ford's Theater.  The park ranger talk was extremely interesting with details I had not heard before.

 



 

The National Air and Space Museum was a big hit with the kids.  I had thought that they might be tired of museums at this point and that we would only see the highlights of the museum, but we ended up seeing everything!

 



 

The kids with the Wright Brother's original plane.

 

 

Ethan on the Smithsonian carousel.  The kids compared it to the Central Park carousel and couldn't decide which they liked more.

 



 

This was as close to the Capitol building that we got.  We were unable to get tickets for a Capitol tour and we were too busy going to other DC highlights.

 



 

The kids at the Jefferson Monument.

 



 

Cherry blossoms!  The FDR memorial was the best area for the blossoms while we were in town - it was almost 100% in bloom.  Luckily we got to the memorial before it was completely dark.

 



 

Posing with FDR.  You can really tell where people pose with this statue - FDR's finger and his dog's ears/nose are perfectly shiny.

 



 

Still at FDR's memorial.  It was by far the largest memorial, and very beautiful with four waterfalls and many statues.  Here they are with the "I Hate War" statue.

 



 

So Olivia and Ethan had never heard of the Great Depression.  This became evident when Olivia posed like this and shouted "conga line!"  Sigh, if only it was a happy scene.  When I explained to them about these people waiting in line to get food, their moods quickly changed.

 



 

Our final Washington DC site - the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial.  Since this monument was dedicated one year ago, it was a new place for all of us.