Day 7 - The Museum of Natural History & The National Archives

The temperature today was well over 100 degrees. According to the heat index that includes the level of humidity and so we reached about 110 degrees. Needless to say we spent most of our time indoors. After sleeping in from a busy day yesterday we had a quick bite to eat and then caught a cab to the Natural History Museum. (It was 100 degrees at 10 AM!) Again we had an interesting conversation with our cab driver who was from India (Kumar) who asked if we wanted him to take us to the airport. He claimed that he could give us a better deal than the blue van service we had booked, so we took his card with his phone number on it and were planning on looking into canceling our reservation and going out to the airport with him. Well, it is amazing how God works, because as we were entering the museum, we were suppose to have our bags checked, yet the backpack with five cameras and all of the kids and our cash (about 400$)was left in the taxi. I quickly called him and he returned and gave us our bag. Without the phone number we would have been in serious trouble!! Thank you LORD! (And grace for the one who forgot the backpack ~ who will remain nameless for this blog!) Later at lunch Wendy was going to look for a phone booth to call the van service for the airport when her phone rang. Yes, it was the van company confirming our reservation for tomorrow which Wendy was able to cancel and we secured the same Taxi driver to take us to the airport. God provides, protects and appears in the details of a day. "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

The Natural History Museum was a hit for the kids--we saw the Hall of mammals (this covered all of the continents of the world), dinosaur exhibit, the live butterflies, ancient cultural artifacts, an insect zoo, ocean exhibit, precious gems and stones (including the hope diamond--Wendy really liked it!) and Native American exhibit. My favorite overall was the White Rhinoceros in the hall of mammals that was donated by Teddy Roosevelt who shot the Rhino on his safari to Africa following his Presidency. The kids enjoyed it all, especially the t-rex and elephant from Night At the Museum. When Campbell was little he used to size people up and then tell them what animal they were as an animal. He was an elephant, I was a hippo, Wendy a giraffe, Daniel a fish and Erin a giraffe. So we tried to get a picture with each person and their animal as well as many other pictures. We had a small lunch at the Smithsonian and then made our way over to the National Archives were there was a line out the building and around the corner--mostly Boy Scouts who are having a jamboree to commemorate 100 years for the organization. They are expecting over 45,000 boy scouts on the mall tomorrow. As we approached the front of the line, to investigate, we were grumbled at by the Boy Scouts! They thought we were "cutting." There was no way Wendy and Erin, at least, were going to stand out in the heat for 45 minutes to get in the building. (The air felt like we were on the outside of a giant oven when you just open it and all of the hot air blows out on you) We thankfully had prepaid tickets and Wendy approached a kindly custodian who helped us find the alternate entrance where there was literally NO line. Made us think of Grandpa Don! Custodians and office secretaries know EVERYTHING!!! We entered (well ahead of the Boy Scouts and the heat) and were able to see the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights as well as other documents like the Louisiana Purchase the executive order from WWII interning Japanese. There were many other exhibits which we dabbled in--a Civil War special exhibit and a "Provide for the Common Defense" exhibit that investigated the archives material on all things tied to American war. We didn't stay long but instead returned to the Natural History Museum. I think that Campbell and Dennis could have stayed there ALL day. For dinner we walked a short distance then caught a taxi to a very fancy(Way More Than We Thought) Greek restaurant and had an amazing dinner with an equally amazing tab. We were able to pick out our own fish from a fish counter! Our appetizer was goat cheese with honey drizzled on it ~ sooo good. Our waiter, Eliso from Peru, was delightful. The kids really enjoyed talking to him about soccer, especially. He gave us extra appetizers and free desserts - I think that he realized we were in over our heads at this place :). (Glad that this was a receipt to submit), we began to leave when Eliso followed us out with a bottle of Olive Oil from Crete. It was a wonderful evening. Again, the kids were super! Then back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our return flight to Spokane leaving from Dulles at 7:40am. We will include another post wrapping up the trip and having the kids detail their highlights for the week. We are all so excited to see to Stephen who will be at the airport with Uncle Kevin. Off to sleep now!!

Day 6 - Whitehouse & Air and Space Museum

Friday, July 23, 2010

Daniel’s diary: Today, we went to the White House, and the Air and Space Museum and a brief visit to the American History Museum. At the White House we waited a little while until we got in and then we saw: lots of pictures of Presidents and their animals, ha ha ha ha. Being in the White House made me feel cool to be in the house of the President. I got to see all the interesting pictures and to see the green room, the blue room, the red room and the State Dining Room. After the White House, we took a brief little detour at the American History Museum. We saw the original C3PO and the original Star Spangled Banner. I was surprised that we couldn’t take pictures of it because it was our first flag. It was interesting to see that one of the stars was taken off. Next, we went to the Air and Space Museum, it was so cool to see all of the planes and equipment and satellites, like Sputnik 1, the first Russian satellite, and it was really cool to see all of the space equipment and rockets and stuff like that. There were lots of videos about the first fliers, for example, Orville and Wilbur Wright in their first plane. What was even more cool was they had the original plane called the Kitty Hawk! But what was the funniest and strangest part was when I to had slide through the elevator door because I had to catch up with my family…I wasn’t paying attention! Ha ha ha ha. And it was cool to see the planes that they used in war because the machine guns were in the front of the ship pointing forward and that only the German planes were able to shoot through the propeller while it was shooting or else they would have to put the pilot in the very front of the plane and the engine in the back of the plane, because the machine gunners wouldn’t be able to shoot unless they wanted to destroy their own plane by shooting up their propeller.

Erin’s entire entry: Today we went to the White House it was really fun. There was a lot of cool things. Did you know that there are three kinds of rooms? They have funny names like red room, green room, blue room and very pretty ballrooms. Did you know that they can fit bleachers in the White House? The White House was really cool. Then we walked to the American History Museum. There was the original flag in it. It had 15 stripes. And it had 15 stars, but one was ripped off. Isn’t that a really young flag? Then we went to the Air and Space Museum. It was also really cool. Then we went on a ride. It was really crazy! You had to shoot airplanes in this machine (a simulator) and there was one pilot and one gunner. The gunner had to shoot down planes from the inside, and the pilot was steering it. There was a screen where you could see what to do. It felt like you were in an airplane, but you really weren’t. And our crazy pilot (aka Mom) made me go upside down in circles. It was such a fun day! Love, Erin Shea Dougherty

Campbell’s commentary: We got up at about 9:30 today! We then went to the White House. It was very hot! We toured the White House. I liked all of the pictures of the Presidents and the First Ladies. We then went to the White House Gift Shop and the White House visitors Center. Afterward, we went to the American History Museum. We stayed there for about an hour. While we were there, we saw the original Star Spangled Banner which flew over Ft. McHenry. We also went to the Air and Space Museum. I saw the Kitty Hawk which was the first airplane. Afterward the family came home and went to a great dinner at the Iron Gate. Then we came home and after reading and watching some TV we went to bed.

Wendy: First off, the kids are real troopers! They have done a ton of walking these past two days in quite hot temperatures and have chugged along spectacularly! We are so thankful. So now you know that we were at the White House, the American History Museum (only stopped in there to get things out of a locker since you couldn’t have anything with you in the White House) We did see a few neat things though. Of course the boys were excited about C3PO and the Star Spangled Banner. My favorite thing actually, began with a man in a suit holding a sign that said “Desegregate Woolworths.” We followed him in to a recreation of the Greensboro, Alabama Woolworths fountain counter. He described the scene of the 4 young men who, in 1960, non violently protested the segregation of the store and were arrested. The purpose of our gathering was to learn how to non-violently protest: no talking, no physical contact, you can protect your head, etc. He then called up 4 people to be 4 non violent resisters. Dennis was one of them. The rest of us circled around them while the man described what we would be doing to these 4 if we were really the prejudice people (yelling at them, pouring condiments on their heads, burning them with cigarettes,etc.)- we didn't do anything but get close At the end he asked the volunteers how they felt. Dennis said, “unsafe.” Even though it was a role play, it was powerful. I just can’t believe this happened in our parents lifetime…and I am sure still today in some places. I felt like it was the most valuable thing for our children to see in the whole museum. It got me thinking about our friends and family who have adopted non white children…and there are a lot of them by Spokane’s standards, and how our lives, and obviously theirs wouldn’t be the same without those kids in them. I am so thankful for Lukey, Quinn, Eamon, the Sanchez’, the Bade kids, etc…and glad that times aren’t perfect, but have changed…not enough yet. “…If you really keep the royal law found in scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers…” James 2:8-9

Obviously, this was the highlight of my day, I could ramble on and on, but will spare you all. We had an excellent dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant! Erin ate salmon, the boys and I tried lamb shanks...all I can say is "wow!" This was not your run of the mill lamb chop, it was the size of a turkey leg and just fell off the bone. It came with orzo and feta, as well as broccoli. Campbell LOVED the broccoli ~ seriously. He also loved the lamb shank. It has been fun to try some varied fare. Erin especially liked that the French waiter called us Madam and Mademoiselle! Tres bon!

We have been having fun, since the spy museum, looking for all of the surveillance cameras around and found one in the elevator. Soooo, now every time we get in the elevator in the hotel, we dance as soon as the doors close. The kids love it!