First trip to the Smithsonian

Here are pictures from our excursion to the Smithsonian on June 11th. Al had to go into work for a picture with the White House Military Office PPR (Policy, Plans and Requirements) Section, so we decided to make a day of it. We rode the Metro to D.C. (Gavin's and my first time on the Metro), and then Gavin and I got off at the Smithsonian Station while Al went on to work to have his picture taken on the North Portico of the White House. When Al was finished, he changed out of his Blue's and called me on my cell phone and we met-up at the National Museum of Natural History.

Gavin and I had lunch at the museum's Atrium Cafe while we were
waiting for Al and then we looked around a little -- mainly at part of the dinosaur exhibit (see Gavin in front of the giant skeleton) and then we went to see the butterfly exhibit. Gavin wanted to go into the live butterfly house, but as that costs $, we decided to wait until another time. Actually, I wanted to wait until we became Smithsonian members because then it is less expensive. So...as soon as Al arrived (he found us upstairs still looking at the butterfly exhibit), we went to the information desk and became members of the Smithsonian. It was only $19, and since we decided to take Gavin to see the IMAX film, "Dinosaurs in 3D", we saved $4.50 on those tickets as members. I'm sure the membership will pay off as we continue to visit the Smithsonian museums over the course of the next year. We did not go back to the butterflies that day, but don't worry...we will.

Following our time at the museum, we got back on the Metro and headed for home, but we were all tired and hungry (and I knew it would be a long time before dinner if I waited till we got home and then tried to prepare something), so we decided to go on an adventure in China Town. We made a last-minute decision to hop off Metro at the China Town stop and then we went looking for a place to eat. A nice lady in the elevator, as we were leaving the station, (she happened to be an officer in the Coast Guard who lived in that area) was more than happy to suggest some restaurants. We, of course, thought of China Town and Chinese food, but the first one she suggested was Mexican, and the next one was a Greek restaurant. When we asked about a good place to have Chinese food, she told us to try one called, "Burma." Well, as you can probably imagine, "Burma" was not exactly Chinese, it was Burmese food, but it was VERY good, and we love to try new things, so it was perfect! Gavin loved the rice noodles, as you can see in the pictures.

We finished off our meal with a "coconut" cake made of baked cream-of-wheat with coconut milk and palm sugar and topped with ice cream. It was very yummy, but Gavin wanted to eat all the ice cream and leave us with very little ice cream for the cake. I guess we should have ordered him a dish of just ice cream! Oh well -- live and learn!

For those who have been dying to see my "baby belly" -- I had Al take a side-view picture of me standing on the steps in front of the museum. I'll take more "baby-belly" pictures later. Hope this will suffice for now.