Post Bar Trip 1: DC and Alexandria

On Saturday, after breakfast with Hannah, we drove into DC to meet up with Chris, Kate, and Alana for the day. It was such an enjoyable day - hanging out with good company and just enjoying being done with the bar is the best feeling. :) Since it was a warm day we first walked around several of the gardens looking for different fountains. Alana was quite enamored with ALL the fountains so we visited quite a few. This one below was her favorite as you can see.

To cool off we visited the air conditioned Natural History Smithsonian. Alana was a pretty big fan of the mammals, especially the elephant and lion. Sadly we didn't get a good picture of the lion.

Some of the museum's "science" was a bit funny, but their mammal exhibit is great and we really enjoyed walking around and exploring it with Alana. We can't wait to talk our little girl back in a year or two! :)

Alana hadn't been on a big carousal so of course we had to take her on the big one on the mall. She was NOT sure what she thought of it at first, but relaxed and seemed to be enjoying it more by the end. The loud bell, music, and sudden motion I just think was a bit much at first.

Our baby enjoyed her first ride as well. :) (the sticker says "I rode the Carousel on the Mall" :))

The highlight of the day was visiting the Newseum. It's a fascinating and very well put together museum. The suggested time to allow to go through the museum was 8 hours. Thankfully none of us are *that* into museums so we managed to do it in 3+. :) Alana really enjoyed it as well, she found the information in the brochures especially fascinating.

Here's Nathan and I from the top floor observation deck. It was hot so we mostly just stayed inside. :)

9-11 exhibit…

Nathan with Elvis's guitar, of course… :)

After we were done in the Newseum we had a bit of time before dinner so we headed over to the Botanical Gardens since I had never been and we were sure Alana would love it. :)

She of course did, although I think the ducks in the pond outside were a bit more exciting to her (especially since "duck" is one of her words in her vocabulary).

Nathan and I spent the night outside the city and headed over to old town Alexandria a bit the next morning before we had to head back to W'burg for his firm's summer picnic. We really liked Alexandria and would enjoy going back sometime when we have more time. There are many quaint, beautiful streets to wander around.

AND, of course, we had to stop by Robert E. Lee's home since he is simply the best… (this is obviously not Nathan ;))

On the way home we stopped by Ikea - it was a my first visit and I'm a slightly overwhelmed and quite addicted. :) I can't wait to go back again sometime this fall!!