Washington D.C. (Day 11)

We had another long, but great day in D.C. today. We had quite a hail and thunder storm during the night, and woke up to some rain. Thankfully, we did a ton of our outside sightseeing yesterday, although we did walk a bit in the rain this morning. Our first stop was the National Archives Building.
We had arranged for a tour, which actually ended up being a private tour with just the 3 of us! Once again, no cameras were allowed in the building. I really wish I had been allowed to take a few pictures, because this was very cool. We got to see the original documents of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. We also saw many presidential letters, and U.S. historical documents.
Afterward, we made a quick stop in the Natural History Museum. We didn't stay too long since we had just been to the one in NY, and we had another tour to get to!
I couldn't leave without seeing the Hope Diamond though!

Next up was lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, then Ford's Theater, where President Lincoln was shot. Cooper was really looking forward to this. He just finished a biography of Lincoln in school, and has become quite fond of him!

The pistol that John Wilkes Booth used to shoot him...Coop couldn't believe how small it was.
It was neat, and also a little strange, to see the actual seat that the president was shot in...
By this time I was ready for a little dessert. Once again, I found a great bakery for us to stop and get some cupcakes!

We walked back to the Mall to hit a couple more museums before calling it a day. I love the open area of the mall surrounded by the beautiful trees and buildings.
The Air and Space Museum was so cool. We loved seeing and hearing about the many space shuttle missions, seeing the Wright Brothers plane, and much more!

The sun was finally shining, although the wind was pretty cool. The kids enjoyed running around for a bit before heading to the American History Museum.
I loved this museum, and seeing such a variety of things regarding the history of America. The Star Spangled Banner flag was awesome! Again, no pictures allowed, but it was really neat!
Zoe loved seeing the original ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz...

Cooper loved seeing Abraham Lincoln's hat...

I loved seeing the First Lady's Inauguration Dresses exhibit...

We stopped for a quick dinner at a food court in downtown, and finally headed back to the hotel after another long day. Cooper had bought several souvenirs today, including copies of all of the documents we had seen as well as the Emancipation Declaration. He spent about an hour laying them all out and reading (what he could) of them.