One of the things we are so excited about with this move, is living so close to Washington DC, and so we planned a day trip there right away.  We really wanted to go to the temple, and so we woke up early and drove to the DC Temple.  I love how the temple looks like it is just floating there in the clouds above the city.

We love going to the temple, and we love taking our kids to the temple, even if they are too young to go inside.

I stayed outside with the boys, while Lily and Kevin went in to do baptisms.  

The Washington DC Temple is so beautiful, and it is gigantic!  (I seriously got lost inside and had to ask for directions a bunch of times.)

While Kevin and Lily were doing baptisms, I had planned on taking the boys into the visitor’s center.  Unfortunately, it didn’t open until ten, and so we sat outside for over an hour while we waited for it to open.  Oh well.

Once we got inside, it was great.  There were cool things for the kids to do, and lots of neat things to see.  Arthur loved the display that had a woman leading and singing primary songs.

After Lily and Kevin were done, Kevin and I traded places.  It was so wonderful to get to be in the temple.  Once I was done, we headed to the train station to head into downtown DC.  The kids loved the metro station, and I have to admit, it was pretty cool looking.

They loved getting to ride on the train – especially Arthur.

The metro dropped us off right at the National Mall, and we started things off at Museum of American History.  My favorite part of the museum was the sunstone from the Nauvoo Temple – so cool!  Arthur’s favorite part was children’s area where he was able to run and play :).

Next, we went to my favorite Smithsonian, the Museum of Natural History.  Lily was pretty excited too.

Arthur really liked this museum as well, but he wanted to touch everything, and he really didn’t want to hold our hand.  (If only we had brought our monkey leash – oh well.)  It made it tricky, and made it so we went through the museum much faster than Lily and Derek wanted to do.

We still saw a ton of awesome things though.  I loved the geology and gemstone display – especially the jewelry.  I mean, who doesn’t want to see the Hope Diamond ;).

The dinosaur exhibit was also awesome, and all three of the kids loved it

The we crossed over to the other side of the Mall to go to the Air and Space Museum, which is where Derek wanted to go most.  Arthur was getting super tired from all the walking (we were also wishing we had a stroller), and so Kevin gave him a ride on his shoulders.  Well, Arthur had a panic attack – terrified of being up so high.  It was crazy, because he had never acted that way before.

The Air and Space Museum was so cool, and the kids loved it.  Well, Lily and Derek loved it – Arthur was finished and completely worn out.  Kevin’s favorite thing was the model of the Starship Enterprise, which I have to say, was super cool :).

Derek was in heaven.  He loved getting to see all the rockets and spacecraft.

And the airplanes were pretty awesome.  I did promise the two older kids that we would come back another time, because Arthur was being such a pill, that we had to rush through everything.  We still had a great time, in spite of it though.

Once we left the museum, Arthur lost it completely.  He was so tired, he just started to scream, and so I carried him to the train station, where he screamed on the train (the very full commuter train), until he finally gave in and fell asleep.  Once the majority of the commuters got off the train, I was able to sit down with him.  Poor little guy.

While I was sitting there, I looked at my fitbit and saw that we had walked almost 7 1/2 miles.  No wonder our sweet little guy was so exhausted.  And good job to Lily and Derek for being such troopers and never complaining.

Once we got back to our car, we still needed dinner, and it was the middle of rush hour traffic in DC, so we found a mall and ate at the food court.  Our favorite part of the mall, was that it had a Costco in the mall!  Not only that, but the Costco was on the second floor – so strange and cool.  By the time we were finished there, the traffic had calmed down a bit, and so it wasn’t too bad getting home.  It was an action packed and exhausting day, but it was so much fun, and I am so glad we had the chance to do it.