Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

Yes, more pictures. Trust me, with 456 of them, I'm trying to be choosy about which ones to put up here. Easy ones to eliminate are the pictures with Big Girl and Little Girl, obviously, but there is SO much to see there. We had planned on one day for the Air and Space Museum AND the Natural History Museum (yes, both in one day), but we quickly realized what foolishness it was to try to cram those both in together. Mount Vernon and Arlington got dropped off the list, and we made an extra trip into DC for the Archives on Sunday, as well as adding the Zoo to our list of things to see. (Baby Panda pictures are forthcoming.)







Anyway, here are some shots of the Air and Space Museum. If you get the chance, I recommend the IMAX movies (we saw Magnificent Desolation, as well as Cosmic Collisions and the traditional planetarium shows).

Did I mention that the Museum of American History is closed for renovations (due to reopen in July), but that they moved some of their things into the Air and Space Museum? This was the girls' favorite part of it. That is the world's first computer in the background. It took up 1500 square feet of space, roughly the size of our home in Florida. Amazing. iPods are more powerful than these old monsters. (And, yes, those are the actual C3PO and R2D2. The kids were MOST impressed by that!)

And how about a picture of my girls? That's Big Girl on the left, Little Girl on the right.

Oh, did I mention the exhibit on Bibles from before the year 1000? I'd like to grab some of those Fundamentalists who insist that the Catholic Church tried to keep the Bible from people and show them this exhibit. Seriously. This was my favorite part of our trip. I saw the actual handwriting of Pope St. Gregory the Great, St. Athanasius, St. Ephram, Eusubius, and a host of monks who are surely praying for us all at this moment. It was awe-inspiring to look at these ancient Bibles and notations on Scripture from so early in the Church's history. I was near tears, and it took a lot to tear me away. I couldn't take pictures inside (for obvious reasons), but you can go here and read about the display at the Smithsonian site. If you are anywhere near DC, be sure to check this exhibit out while you can. It is amazing. Do it right after you're done at the monastery and the Basilica! ;) This was actually our first stop after visiting the Castle to map out our plan of attack.