Thursday March 15, 2012



We started Thursday off at the Library of Congress.  I love how ornate the building is, the tall columns, the molding and each little detail.   There are now interactive computers that tell about the building and all those cool things.  I loved reading about those details.

These two boys represent North America and Africa.

And these two little boys represent Asia and Europe.

I was able to see President Jefferson's library...just couldn't take a photo of the books.  It was a very cool library.  Jefferson sold it to the government after their library was burnt down.  In 1851 there was another fire and two-thirds of his library was burned.  Slowly they have been replacing those books when possible.  His library was very diverse and had a wide variety of topics.  It was neat to learn about it.

SM and his brother and wife took a tour of the US Capitol Building.

The ceiling in one area of the Capitol Building.  So beautiful.  SM has a book about all the paintings and decorations in the Capitol and I love looking at it.

Here's a photo of the statue of Brigham Young...and a random person.

After a quick lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, we went to the National Botanical Gardens.  They were having an orchid festival and I was in heaven.  I love orchids and these were so awesome!

And then we went to the National Gallery of Art.

And I found this painting.  Can you believe it's a painting with an orchid in it?  So pretty...

I had to get a picture of the azaleas.

Look at this awesome tree...a metal tree!

We then went to the Natural History Museum where we saw dinosaur bones, jewels, and butterflies!

SM got a photo of the Hope Diamond...large, huh?

Then we went to the American History Museum.  We saw the American flag that Francis Scott Key wrote about when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

SM took the camera while my sister-in-law and I went to see the display on the Dresses of the President's Wives.  Here's a mask from the Lion King...that's one of the things SM went to see.

And then after the Smithsonian's were closed, we walked to see the Washington Memorial.

And then we walked to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

And that was just another day...another busy day.  But we are still smiling!