Downtown DC

Today we headed downtown. They finished preserving the "Star Spangled Banner" (the flag Francis Scott Keys saw while writing the Star Spangled Banner) in the Museum of American History (Smithsonian) and decided that now the building wasn't safe enough for it to hang in, so they are renovating the Museum of American History on Sept. 5 and it won't be finished until 2008, so we wanted to head down there and see it. It was amazingly easy to drive downtown, and free parking! Can't beat that! We parked between the White House and the Washington Monument and went and saw the white house. Here is a picture where you will see the photography talent of some Americans...ridiculous! If we just wanted a photo of the White House, we could have taken it ourselves...oh well...MORON!

In order to tour the White House now, it has to be set up through your Congressman. CRAZY! We then walked over to the Museum of American History. We saw the Star Spangled Banner in the preservation room (not allowed to take pics) and then they had this Science Center. Inside, they had a Kids Hands On. The kids had to be over 5 to even enter the room, so Troy took Kyle, and me and the other kids went walking around! I took Kristin and Jake down to the Cafe where we ate grapes and cheetos. They loved it! Then we went up a few floors to try to find the mormon sundial. I couldn't find it, but we found a buffalo. Jake and Kristin were too scared to turn their backs on it, so this was the only picture I could get of them! It was so easy going downtown, we decided we'll go down every week (about a 20 minute drive) and see something new. The kids really want to see the Dinosaur Museum. (Museum of Natural History). There was also this CRAZY water fountain. I took a picture of it, but blogger isn't letting me upload it for some reason. I will keep trying, but keep in mind, it is less than 1 block from the White House. I told Troy you would have to pay me a million dollars to take a drink from it! That, or I would have to literally be so thirsty I was close to death! YEA! I got it. Dumb thing...I've been trying all night! Isn't it gross?