Family Fun Days at the National Building Museum

As part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the National Building Museum (http://www.nbm.org/) has a Family Fun Day.  The National Building Museum is normally a place you have to pay to visit, but this day it was FREE!!  Since everyone has been healthy for almost 4 WHOLE weeks, we decided to venture out into mass crowds of humanity and see what we could catch.

On the Metro.

 Heading into the National Building Museum.

First, we ate some lunch. 

Then we starting building things.  We started with a Japanese screen.

Then we checked out one of the sponsor booths: Sharp.  Here Owen got to light up bulbs and make propellers turn by making electricity.  They showed him how solar cells work too. 

Then it was off to make a pop-up card.  He chose to make the one with the Japanese fan.

They also had a station where you could make little dolls out of cloths pin and paper.  We made our family. 

The National Spy Museum had a booth too.  You had to decode a secret message.  Owen and Mommy working on figuring it out.

After seeing the answers, Chris said, "Drink your Ovaltine!  A commercial!"

Picture with the Charlie Brown Gang. 

Making Cherry Blossom trees with popcorn. Mommy sang Owen an adaptation of, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" while they made their creation.

Playing the van they had decorated with blossoms decals. 

Some of the decor. 

In order to get a decal to put on the van above, you had to answer a questionnaire for Chrysler (another sponsor).  Mommy got two decals so the boys could both make one. 

The National Building Museum currently has a gallery using LEGOS.  They had this on display on the main floor.  The boy thought it was AWESOME!!!!  It is actually a reconstruction of the building the National Building Museum is in (complete with people in offices, columns, plants, etc.)

Papa still working on his blossom.

The boy got some sunglasses from the Chrysler. 

Next, we made oragami Japanese Tea Houses.  

Then Owen made a post card to send to Grandma and Grandpa White. 

They had a dress up station too.  So Owen got to be dressed in Japanese attire and pretend to be a Ninja. 

Then Mommy got to make a blossom from tissue paper. 

More dicor (this time from the second floor). 

Chris put his decal on the windshield of the van - right in the center. 

Out side of the National Building Museum, there is a small plaza that is above the Metro station.  It turned out to be the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. 

Waiting in the Metro station, getting ready to go down and see the cherry trees. 

Walking down to the trees from the Metro stop.

At the Tidal Basin.  Owen wanted to watch the ducks in the water.  You can see the Jefferson Memorial on the other side of the Tidal Basin. 

  

Some of the blossoms.

More of the trees.  You can rent a paddle boat and take a trip around the basin.

Eating a snack. 

Mommy got popped on - ewwwwwww!!!! 

Mommy attempting to get a good picture of her and the boy - this was the best one. 

The boy was board of walking, so Papa packed him around for a while. 

The Cherry trees bloomed pretty early this year and there was a lot of wind and rain this weekend, so the majority of the blossoms are already gone.  The petals blow into the Tidal Basin and this is what it looks like. 

Checking out some of the blossoms.

We made a new discovery as well.  The National Floral Library.  They had beds of lots of beautiful flowers. 

This was just a cool picture.  It was a very cloudy, overcast day with rain and wind.  The clouds were really low and framed the Jefferson Memorial perfectly. 

The Washington Monument was also pretty cool looking. 

Back in the car ready to head home, playing on Papa's iPod. 

Picture of the the things that we made and got on our trip to Family Fun Days. 

It was a pretty fun day, and I think that boy even enjoyed it.