Team Robison: Vacation Part 2: Smithsonian Annex

After Cincinnati, we went up to my parents' house in Cedarville. I hadn't been home in a year and a half, so it was fun to see all the changes. The trees in the yard have gotten so big - especially the pine trees. It was also fun to see our cat Princess. Matthew really enjoyed her. She did remarkably well with my energetic little boy. She quickly reached a point where she wasn't thrilled about the baby, so she would just walk away whenever he walked toward her and she would usually ended up laying down just out of reach under the car. Next day, we drove to Washington, D.C., for Benjamin's wedding. The drive went really well. There was just one 15 minute stretch where Matthew started screaming. But he was crying with his eyes closed, so we knew that he was on the verge of sleeping. Other than that, he did fine. It helped having my Grandma Groves in the backseat to entertain him.

On Tuesday, I had arranged for everyone to go to the Smithsonian Annex for our family outing. It was only 15 minutes away and was indoor - a plus since it was really hot outside. The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is downtown, but since space is limited downtown, they have an Annex in Chantilly, Virginia. The star of the museum is the Shuttle Discovery which arrived a few months ago. It was amazing to see it. Aesthetically, I think the shuttle look great. The weird thing is that up close, the white parts of the shuttle actually have black writing all over them. Apparently all the pieces are clearly labeled. Up close, the shuttle definitely looks like its been to space and back about 30 times. The museum also housed the Enola Gay - the plane the dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan - and an SR-71, which is just an awesome plane.