D.C.

Last week Lindsay had a few days off school, so we planned a mini-vacation to Washington D.C. It's a favorite get-away with us because of all the history, museums, and free activities available. Spring is especially a beautiful time to visit, while they have ga-zillions of flowers blooming. But there is also ga-zillions of people there as well, visiting the free museums and doing the exact same things as us.

Our first stop was the National Zoo. We always enjoy taking the girls to see animals of any kind, and this zoo is free, so it was a must-see. Unfortunately, there was no parking available anywhere near the zoo, so Tim dropped Lindsay and I off while he continued to search for a parking spot. I caught some pictures of our favorite animals.

The Panda Bears were so much fun to watch while they played in the yard. We decided to take two home with us (the little stuffed kind).

Tim and Emma finally caught up with us an hour later and we continued to enjoy the zoo and the beautiful weather.

We had a wonderful time at the zoo, until we returned to the car. There we found a $100 parking ticket for parking on the street past 4 pm. I guess it was in the small print on the parking signs. Well, at least the zoo was "free!" From there, we thought we'd get to our hotel in 20-30 minutes. Guess we don't know DC as well as we thought... it took us 2 hours to make our way across the city to our hotel. The lesson to learn is take the Metro whenever possible in DC!

The next day we continued to enjoy the gorgeous weather and beautiful sights. Our first stop was the White House.

A view of the South Lawn. The girls thought they saw President Obama,

but I'm sure it was just a security guard!

Beautiful tulips were everywhere.

Lindsay took this picture, she's pretty good with the camera!

From there, we visited a museum and did some other sight-seeing. It's fun to see our girls start to learn and appreciate so much about our amazing country. Lindsay really took it all in and really enjoyed the museums and sights.

We truly enjoyed all we did and hope to go back soon!