Since the game wasn't until 1:35, we decided to hit the Museum of Natural History. When we were sharing with Cate some of the things we were going to see and do while on vacation, she asked if any of the museums had dinosaur bones. She has seen Curious George movie more than a few times and figures that if you went to a museum, then you would get to see dinosaur bones. And since she was disappointed in learning that the giraffes weren't at the zoo, we wanted to be sure that she got to see something important on her short list to things to see. Well, sweet! Not only did the Museum of Natural History have cool dinosaur bones, but they had other animal bones and a taxonomic specimens of mammals--of which were a giraffe skeleton and a giraffe speciman. Sweet! She then forgave the error on the National Zoo's part for temporarily moving the giraffes without her consent.Also in the Museum of Natural History had something just for me--the Hope Diamond and other extraordinary gem collections. Oddly enough, the Hope Diamond was a bit underwhelming for me. Perhaps it's because I don't have a gemology background, but the other colored gems were much more impressive to me.
We met up with Pat and the kids at the brand-spanking-new (and kid-friendly I might add!) stadium and climbed way, way up to the upper deck in the right field (or is it left field?) and settled in the best we could. It didn't take long before the kids were antsy to get to the play area. Unfortunately, Max was too young to play in the climbing area, so he and I made an early exit. Got some eats, watched a little bit of ballgame while shivering and barely made it to the 7th inning. Then we all got up and took the metro back to The Mall and hit the National Air and Space Museum. I think the kids were able to enjoy it somewhat. I happened to eye a small exhibit highlighting some popular items from the Museum of American History and snuck in there while all others went the other way. Little did I know then that the American History museum was closed for renovation, so at least I got to see Dorothy's Ruby Slippers and Prince's Yellow Guitar from Purple Rain, among other things. We closed the museum down for the day and parted ways.
For us, we hunted for dinner. We decided to hit Union Station and opted to walk there since finding the exact location of the elevators (because of having our stroller) for the Metros were a total pain in the ass. On our way, we passed by the Capitol. Cate really wanted to throw some pennies into the big pool. We wouldn't let her. You can see by the family photo, Max got in a bit of a snooze despite the gravel-covered terrain. Also, I caught some lovely yellow tulips in front of the Capitol--an almost artsy shot (yay me!). 
When we finally got to Union Station, I was feeling rather nostalgic from when we "discovered" it back in 2002. It's architecture is awesome, the shops were really cool and the eats were more original. Guess where we ended up eating? You guessed it--McDonald's. Oh well, we don't go on a vacation and explore new cuisine. We just eat. Besides, the kids ate all their food. Afterwards, we found some gelato at the last minute. The guy was closing up shop when I approached the counter with my order. He looked over and asked if it was for the kid (Cate) and I gave him my best flirty head turn and said, no...it was really for me. He gave me a cup of gelato and told me it was on the house. I guess that was one hell of a head turn... :)Hopped back on the metro and headed back to the hotel. The end of the third day.
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