Sightseeing in DC

Took me awhile to get to posting about our trip. We went to Washington DC last weekend for a friend's wedding. We made the trip Wednesday night to Sunday morning so that we could have plenty of time for sightseeing. It was actually Leah's 3rd trip to DC but the first time she was old enough for much sightseeing.

We drove Wednesday night around 7 p.m. - and Leah managed to keep herself awake in the car until 10 p.m. She didn't fuss much - mostly played and sang and such. We turned the music off - didn't make a difference. We tried ignoring her...no difference. Of course once she fell asleep it was only about an hour until we arrived at Uncle Howard & Uncle Charlie's house. She fought going back to sleep in the pack n play but of course eventually she did.

Thursday morning we went to the National Zoo. She loved the lions, elephants, panda bears and gorillas.

Leah and Baba watching the mommy gorilla nurse her baby:
Leah and Mommy watching the panda bear have a snack:

Thursday afternoon we went to the National Mall - we only had time to see the Washington Monument up close. But Leah's favorite part was the flock of Canadian geese nearby.
Leah sitting on a bench in front of the Washington Monument surveying the scene:
Uncle Alan (my brother) took off Friday to hang with us. We went to the sculpture gardens at the Hirshhorn and the National Gallery of Art and also took a stroll through part of the Hirshhorn's collection.
Taking a rest in the Hirshhorn:
Leah telling Uncle Alan what she thinks of one of the sculptures:

Then we spent the afternoon at a nearby playground before having a tasty German meal at Old Europe.


Saturday morning we had a nice brunch out with Howard and Charlie and strolled around Georgetown by the water a bit. And then we went to Lisa's wedding. We all had a great time. It was a short sweet ceremony followed by a tasty BBQ meal and a fun band and dancing.

The wedding was about an hour outside of DC - beautiful surroundings:Shafi and Leah went to explore the grounds...Leah absconded with my friend Jamie's purse:
Leah got her very own dance with the bride:
And also with some of the groom's family:

Sunday Aunt Rachel and Uncle Alan joined us for a visit to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Leah enjoyed the fish and butterflies and stuffed animals. But despite being an obvious princess, she showed little interest in the hope diamond.

Leah in awe of the enormous whale on the ceiling:
Leah loved the fish...would have stayed there watching them all day:
And of course she was mesmerized by the giant butterflies:
And it seemed she didn't realize a giraffe was so big!:

Overall we had a great trip and the drive home went well. We had a nice lunch at Cracker Barrel and then Leah took a nice 90 minute nap. We're already looking forward to our Thanksgiving trip.