Visit to the Natural History Museum

I found out that the Museum of Natural History's dinosaur exhibit would be closing at the end of April for a 5 year renovation. Brian and I wanted to take the boys while it was still open, and this past Saturday worked best. Our plans coincided with the Cherry Blossom Festival, so I was a little nervous, but it was a beautiful day and we decided to go for it.  I think it actually turned out in our favor.  The Cherry Blossom parade was at noon, so it seemed like everyone was outside waiting for the parade or down by the waterfront at the festival, so the museum wasn't crowded at all!  We went early enough that the metro trip into the city wasn't too crowded eithr.  The boys did good, though Tyler was definitely getting a bit antsy to get off the train.  (Please note in the photo that their mouths are open, but they are not yelling.)

We got off at the Smithsonian exit and just had to cross the mall to get to the museum.  I snapped a quick shot of Brian and the boys with the Capital in the distance.

Brennan was very interested in the museum.  I'm not saying he was stopping to really take it all in, but he was excited to see fossils, dinosaur bones, and the exhibit on cave people.  In the picture below, he was telling me about how fossils form.  His interest made the day very enjoyable.

Someone was nice enough to take a family photo for us.

In the insect part of the museum, the boys got to see some living insects, including a tarantula.  Brennan even got to hold a stag beetle, but I was unfortunately not in a good position to get a photo.  Tyler liked playing in the ant hill.

Like all of the Smithsonian museums, entry is free, but certain things required paid entry, like the live buttery exhibit.  Brennan was waiting patiently for our entry at 11:45.

It was a neat exhibit, with lots of butterflies all over!  The pictures didn't really turn out well though - you couldn't really see them in flight.  However, a big blue butterfly landed right on Brennan's hat (the inside of the butterfly was a stunning blue color.)  It wouldn't leave.  A Smithsonian employee had to shoo it off with a paint brush!  Brennan enjoyed the butterfly exhibit, but Tyler was not a fan and Brian had to take him out.

After seeing the butterflies, we had lunch at the museum and Brennan mapped out the rest of our trip.  He wanted to go see the mammals, the ocean exhibit, human origins and the Korean showcase.  The boys loved the big Walrus.  We made our way through the exhibits Brennan wanted to see and then decided to head home.  It was nearly 2:30 and Tyler was hitting his limit.

Had to snap a Washington Monument picture even though we were a bit too far away.

When we got back to the metro, the police were there telling everyone that this entrance was being used as an exit only and that we would need to head a block south.  I knew we were in trouble as we followed the mob of people to the metro entrance.  There were so many people that it was back up from the train platform, through the entryway, up the escalators and onto the sidewalk.  We slowly crept along and finally made it to the platform.  Fortunately, the kids were able to get seats so the ride home wasn't bad!  We were home around 4 PM and were all exhausted!  It was a fun though - definitely a worthy trip!