Ducks and Pucks and Museum too

Thursday

Jo and Tristram and kids headed off to do their thing today. They will update you shortly.

Philip and I left a while after them, planning to have an easy day. Oh well not all plans go to plan!!!!!

We walked around the capital building enjoying the warmer weather, many layers less today. This is a beautiful building and few people about so we got some good views. The Cherry Blossom Festival is over Easter but the blossoms are only just breaking bud so not very pretty yet. The Magnolias are in full bloom and look great. We decided P- yep we decided as we walked past the hire bike stand!!! Typical Dobson Impulse!) to hire two bikes for the day. Makes a change from walking and we can cover more area. Cycling is pretty easy as we head down the Mall from the Capitol Building towards the Lincoln Monument. Made a slight detour off the mall to view the White House (P- I am pretty sure Donald asked us to say hi to all and sent his regards???). We made a stop at the WW2, Korean War memorial and the Vietnam Vets Memorial and a quick stop to visit Abraham Lincoln. We cycled across to the River cycle path and down towards the Jefferson Memorial. More Cherry blossoms are out here but in a weeks time they will be beautiful. We have thoroughly enjoyed cycling around the area, as we have both been here before and spent time exploring the mall. We cycled up past Union Station before leaving our bikes at the docking station and then walking back to the Supermarket and catching a Uber back to our house. A great LAZY day!!! (P- 18,000 steps and a 7 mile bike ride and no siesta makes it a tough “Lazy” day)

Good Friday

Philip and I decided to take the kids to the Natural History Museum for the morning so Jo and Tristram could go for a bike ride. We caught an Uber ride down to the museum and lined up to get in. At 9.40 there were probably two hundred people in line at our entrance and it doesn’t open for another 20 min. There is a second entrance on the opposite side that had just as many people lined up at. Once inside we decide to start in the Ocean Display, great little movie about Alvin the deep sea exploration submersible. We follow the displays round seeing a all sorts of underwater creatures, playing on some interactive displays. We also found the mammal exhibit and the butterfly and insect displays. The butterfly house was great. Lots of beautiful specimens flying about and landing on us. It’s amazing how quickly the morning went by. We met up with Jo and Tristram out the front about 1.30 and after a quick snack (P- I am unsure now what the word “snack” means — I am sure if I ate the wrappers the food came in rather than the “food” it would have, looked, tasted, and had more nutritional value than the “food” itself! ) walked up to the White House for the inevitable tourist shots. We then all headed back to our accommodation for a very quiet, lazy afternoon.

Jo here…

Tristram and the kids and I headed off Thursday morning for a DC Duck amphibious vehicle tour of Washington, including the Potomac River and Tidal Basin. Hugh was super excited because the water based part of the tour took us out under the end of the runway for the Washington airport and he was allowed to drive the duck. While we were driving to the river we were lucky to see Marine One, President Trump’s helicopter, fly over after it took off from the White House lawns. After this we boarded the Old Town Trolley Tour of Washington DC. Hugh liked the tour guides’ joke: what do u call a DC Duck carrying the President? Donald Duck (insert eye roll here). The tour took us tracking down through the Washington Mall (a large grassed avenue that goes for 2.5 Miles) looking at the Capitol Building, many of the Smithsonian museums, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and out to Arlington National Cemetery where we did a brief tour of the grounds. We headed back with three very tired kids to find a huge pizza ready and waiting for them for tea… needless to say they took no time devouring the entire pizza!

Friday morning, and Tristram and I headed off for a leisurely bike ride around the mall, (T – Jo thought she was in the Tour de France and as per normal was way in front ) monuments and memorials. I particularly wanted to see the White House and have a closer look at the World War 2, Korean and Vietnam memorials. The two of us then wandered through the Smithsonian Information Centre which is located inside a castle opposite the natural history museum. Dad brought us lunch, which was truly one of the most awful things I’ve ever eaten! Street food over here is absolutely disgusting, and way overpriced! (T – pretty sure I’ll go hungry next time ).

We are ready for a girls night in tonight as the boys prepare for an evening at the ice hockey. (P- why would one go outta the warmer weather we finally have into a freezer for the evening to watch some oversized ice skaters hitting a tennis ball around? I think that’s what they do??? Stay tuned for the report!!)

(T I hope to see the little thing that you hit. Hugh and Philip went to study the rules this arvo, mmmm not sure how that went 😴😴😴😴)

Lillian

I went on a trolly and a duck boat ride. We went up to a big cemetery and saw the capital building. We all got quackery on the boat ride. Today we went with pa and ma to the Natural History Museum. We saw butterfly’s and a tarantula and lots of mammals. I enjoyed looking at the crystals and the insects. We went to see the White House where Donald Trump lives. We have had a good day today.

Claire

Yesterday we went on a Duck Tour. It went down the river (Potomac) and up the road. I liked the Capital hill Building.

Today at the museum I had a butterfly land on my head. We saw lots of different crystals, all different colours and shapes. I really liked the museum. I saw the White House today. Ma is taking me to have a manicure tomorrow because I have grown my fingernails.

Hugh

We went on the Duck on land and then on water. I got to have a drive when we were on the river. It was fun. At the museum I saw a big grizzly bear and a lion jumping over us. We saw lots of butterflies, some of them landed on me. I am going to see a ice hockey game with daddy and pa tonight.