DC Day 3

After sleeping in a bit and a good ole-fashioned Residence Inn breakfast, we took the Metro to Arlington Cemetery. I wanted to visit my great uncle's grave as well as show the girls all the history there. I think the girls understood some of the gravity of the place, but it was also hot & muggy, and a lot of walking.

 Our second stop was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. There was a lot to see which got overwhelming for the girls. I really enjoyed the exhibit on the Massachusetts house in which American patriots lived in the 1770s and which patriotic Americans lived in during WW2. They brought the whole house to the Museum and covered its entire history over that period. Very cool. The girls seemed to really enjoy the exhibit on First Ladies' fashions.

Last stop for the day was the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. In hindsight, we should've spent more time here. As it was, we ate a late lunch, then were stymied by the early closing time. This is my favorite Smithsonian.

On our way out we ran into my DC-based buddy Nick and his family, who had been touring the Natural History Museum and were texting Joy about getting dinner somewhere. He couldn't go with her with his kids (they were going to an adult happy hour), so we decided to eat at Potbelly. It was nice to catch up with him and his wife.

We managed to get over to St. Dominic for confession.

Then we had our final tourist outing of the trip: a night-time bike tour of the Mall and Monuments. I figured this was the best and fastest way to see each of those, and it worked out. We all enjoyed riding around, even if it was stressful on the girls at first. (Probably didn't help that I kept yelling at them to go faster, but we had to keep up with the group.)