Granger Girls on the Go

Callie and I have been on the go!  Last week she and I took a trip up north with my parents to Washington, DC and Gettysburg, PA.  The main purpose of the trip was for a Rowland Reunion in Gettysburg, but we went a couple of days early to visit the nations Capital, and boy did we pack it in!  We left Wednesday morning from Columbia at 6:20AM and arrived in Washington, DC at 7:30AM.  We immediately hit the ground walking for our DC adventure.  We planned to do the Smithsonian the entire day, and that’s exactly what we did. First stop, Air and Space… I must say, this was not my first choice in museums, but it was my dad’s, so we went and I was amazed by what he already knew!  I had no clue my dad knew so much about planes- he could have put the whole place together and I wouldn’t have been surprised…  Callie was a trooper, and she actually learned what WWII planes “did”.  By that I mean, she now when asked “What does an airplane do?” She’ll take her hand and move it like an airplane taking off and then pump her fist in the air- meaning- the airplanes would take off and then shoot at the bad guys (pumping of the fist)…  yeah, nice… We left dad at one point to see the kids hands on part of the museum which was great for Callie.  She got to touch everything- even “drive” a plane!

Next stop was the Natural History Museum.  This is where the dinosaurs are- love! We got to see the T-Rex… new dinosaur bones… and Callie’s face loving it all! In this museum is the Hope Diamond and other gems.  I took a picture of the Hope Diamond and emailed it to Vaughn and said it would be the perfect upgrade… I didn’t get a response back… worth a shot though! There was also an area that showed off some “animals”, we saw this sign- so true… hahaha One thing we did notice while we were there was the lack of easy access for strollers/wheelchairs.  Yes, they were available, but WAY out of the way.  So Callie was treaded like a princess and her “chariot” was carried up and down lots of stairs while we were there… (she’s even napping in this shot- I was totally jealous) The next and last Smithsonian stop was American history and by far my favorite, and I think Callie’s too.  She was able to run around a little more than the other two, and totally took advantage of her freedom.

We read up on railroads… Talked to some of the exhibits… Followed Papa around… And rested our feet for a bit… Some of my favorite parts were seeing the Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz… Meeting Kermit the Frog… And seeing President Lincoln’s top hat… In fact, the Abe Lincoln exhibit they had set up was amazing.  I especially loved this quote… as a parent this is so true- I would love for my girls to grow up and learn more than I ever did, but still would love for them to have some fun on the way! :) After seeing all that could be seen we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel to kick up our feet for a minute, just to then head out and eat dinner!  I’m getting exhausted again just thinking about all we did in just this one day- and their were 4 more just like it!