An Outing.

Last week the girls and I met our pals Wendi and Carter in DC for a little day trip out on the town. We'd been wanting to see the Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, and since admission is free on Tuesdays, we were totally there. (Hint: Um... if you go, go on a Tuesday. I wouldn't really pay $6 a person for this!) The kids (and adults) were thrilled to step into a room filled with butterflies fluttering around everywhere. However, I think the girls were confused by the museum guide who carefully warned us not to touch the butterflies since it could hurt them. I think they thought the butterflies would hurt them! Because suddenly they were terrified if one got too close. Sorry, pretty much all the pictures I took are blurry. I will work on my basic photography skills.

Toward the end Brookie got brave and wanted to hold one.

Can you see it???

There really were hundreds of butterflies everywhere, but it was hard to get an idea of the effect on camera. I think I took a video. Hm I'll look into that.

After our butterfly encounter, we stopped at the water fountain by the National Museum of Art for a picnic lunch. The kids LOVED the water - Carter and Brooklyn dove right in! (Um literally.) They were both soaked from the waist down and we ended up stripping them to dry. Then Kate felt left out and tried to take her pants off too. I told her she was getting a little too old for it to be appropriate.

Next we made our way to the Botanical Gardens by the Capitol, which I'd never seen before. Wendi and her fam are real adventurers and have already seen EVE-RY-THING in DC, so I felt bad dragging her through the same old stuff. Well maybe just a little okay not really.
As soon as we walked in, the lady at the front desk directed us to the children's garden, which was filled with hardier (read: Brooklyn-proof) flowers and things for kids to explore. Again they went straight for the water fountains.
And they had this little bamboo... what was it? Grove? Hiding place? A little cluster of bamboo for playing in.

And at the exit, birds of paradise! Here we are giving them kisses.

This was right before a BIRD flew into Wendi right outside the door! It was totally random.

Anyway, it was a perfect day, and we certainly picked the right one since it rained all day the next day! We all certainly needed a fun little outing.