Maryland Days 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12

Warning: picture overload!

Friday, August 27

Logan was being so cute that I had to take some pictures of him (he was one week away from turning 6 months old)




That night we picked up my brother, Ryan, from the airport. He's serving in the Army in Georgie and decided to fly up to hang out with us for the weekend. He served his mission in Baltimore, however he didn't get to do much sightseeing. So we decided we were going to see some of D.C. and some of Baltimore.


Saturday, August 28

Washington D.C.
We rode the Metrorail into D.C. (which is very confusing for first-timers), but we're glad we did because:

1) driving in D.C. is a nightmare anyway

2) it was a Saturday

3) it was the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death

4) there was the Restoring Honor Rally 2010 by Glen Beck at the Lincoln Memorial

I have posted a bunch of my favorite photos, so enjoy!

The Smithsonian Castle

Yes, I realize Logan is eating my cheek in this picture


Ryan gave this squirrel a chip and he took it right out of his hand and ran up the tree with it! He was facing away from us, but when Ryan went to take his picture he turned and posed.
So, then, I had to give it a try. It came right up, put it's claw on my hand and grabbed it with his mouth.

The Air & Space Museum




Area where they had Martin Luther King's speech playing over and over (lots of people).

Museum of Natural History
Fossilized tree




The Hope Diamond (Link)

Shelley P., this one's for you!
"I have the strangest feeling this cat is my mother . . . well, first of all, it climbed into my guitar case . . . which is lined with orange felt . . . my mother's favorite fish was Orange Roughy . . . Cats. Like. Fish!" ~Pheobe Buffay
Giant Squid

Museum of American History
George Washington (Greek style)

Old canning supplies (not much has changed)

There was a room of many of the First Ladies' Inaugural Ball dresses. This was one of my favorites (Laura Bush)

Part of the Berlin Wall

The largest Doll House I've ever seen
(read description below)
"The Miniature World of Faith Bradford"
"The scale of this 23-room house is one inch to one foot, accommodating the miniatures that Faith Bradford (1880–1970) played with as a girl and collected as an adult. She imagined the dwelling as the turn-of-the century household of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Doll, their ten children, two visiting grandparents, five servants, and twenty pets.
Bradford’s fascination with miniature furnishings began at age seven when she inherited her older sister’s collection and four-room dollhouse. When the dollhouse fell apart from wear and tear, her mother had shelves built into Faith’s bedroom clothes closet—a new dwelling with plenty of play space and “imagination for walls.”

In 1932, Bradford created a shelf-like model to display her “house” at a charity toy fair in Alexandria, Virginia. The same figures, fixtures, and furnishings inhabit the model (above) that Bradford created and presented as a gift to the U.S. National Museum in 1951."

Dorothy's Ruby Slippers

Now for some outdoor monument pictures

Okay, so we were walking along and noticed that the deep orange sun was going to make a beautiful sunset, and then not too far to the left we noticed the Washington Monument. Putting two and two together = awesome picture. We couldn't quite get a good pic from where we were standing and the sun was setting fast, so Ryan and I ran about 1/4 mile so that we could get this shot:

And here are just some pics we took of the monuments:

WWII Memorial







Korean War Memorial

Lincoln Memorial




So, we got the Washington Monument with the sunset, and coming back from the Lincoln Memorial there was a beautiful 3/4 moon so we had to stop and get pics of that too. They didn't turn out great, but better than I thought.


Sunday, August 29

Baltimore

For lunch we ate at The Cheesecake Factory (unfortunately we were so full that we didn't have dessert).

Submarine

The National Aquarium
Inside a shark's mouth

This is an awesome display at the entrance of the Aquarium. Trout are swimming in the pool below.

Logan looking at the waterfall:
Bats

Rock Painting

Turtle

Birds


Crocodile
Look at those teeth!
Clams

Australia Lung Fish
These fish have lung-like swim bladders that allow them to switch to air breathing so they are able to survive in low oxygen conditions.


Vertebra of a whale. If you look closely to the right you will see the vertebra of a human to compare size.

This sea turtle is missing it's front left fin so it lives here and scuba divers feed it lettuce. It was very friendly with them.

Black-eyed Tree Frog

(This one's for you, Mom)

Plant Life

Family photo


Fish



Shark

Sawfish

Stingrays
The Stingrays were surprisingly friendly. They remind me of horses--when you walk up to the fence, they all come over to say hi. Same with the stingrays, except there's glass instead of a fence. ;-)

The Dolphins


The Jellyfish



Power Plant Live! (Link)
This was the coolest Barnes & Noble I've ever been in. All four of those smokestacks run through the store. They cut into them so you can walk through and see the original brick lining them.

Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse (Link)

Monday, August 30

Lazy Day
It took us most of the day to recover from the weekend fun. Logan and I hung out in our king size bed and watched ABC Family all day, and we got some naps in too. When Kenny got home from work we went up to Bel Air to the mall and then got a "snowball" (like a snow cone except the ice is crunchier and they put marshmallow creme in the middle). We gave Logan a bath in the sink and he was just so cute that we had to take pictures.

Tuesday, August 31

I spent most of the day working on this post. However, for dinner we went up to Bel Air and ate at Five Guys and then got another one of those snowball things. This time I got . . . wait for it . . . Peanut Butter Cup. To all of you who may think it a little bit weird, well you're right, it was weird. The chocolate was a bit watery and the peanut butter a bit stiff. I'll stick to the fruity flavors from now on. Here's a picture of it though: