Our trip to The Mall. The National Mall.

While most people were out hitting their local shopping malls, trolling for deals, we hit the National Mall in search of a little post-Thanksgiving family outing. We almost had to bail. Traffic was HORRENDOUS as soon as we got close. And just as we broke free of the traffic I spied a parking space, located on a one way street, that I swore to Noah was a "dream spot!!" It turned out to be a permit spot. And since we had turned on to that one way street to get to the DREAM. SPOT. we had to retrace our steps. Back in to the traffic. I think that the makers of Excedrin had a spy-cam in our car, because just as we hit the traffic, for the second time, Lily started to whine that she was bored. And had to pee. And, to add to the chorus, Anna started to cry.

But we didn't bail. We kept going. And we found another dream spot. This time a real one. Right in front of the Sculpture Garden. So we stopped there for a mediocre, but expensive, lunch. OK, it was pretty bad. But with the fountain converted to a skating rink for the winter, at least the ambiance was fantastic!

We then went to see the Sant Ocean Hall at the Natural History Museum; our real destination. I have colleagues who worked on the grand opening of this exhibit, so I've been hearing about how awesome the exhibit is going on two months now. It IS awesome. Totally awesome. But also, perhaps, a bit too awesome for a four year old. Although Lily loved seeing all the fish -- she even found "Nemo" in one of the live tanks -- I think that we'll have to wait another year before she'll really be able to "get it."


So to finish out our adventure on a high note, we hit the National Carousel. And it was a huge hit with Lily. Even though she's ridden on approximately one thousand other carousels, riding up and down around in a circle always makes her smile.


Anna and I watched from the sidelines. We watched Lily and Noah on the ride, and we watched from afar the grand stand being built for THE. GRAND. OCCASION. The one that had workmen out on November 29th even though it's not happening until January 20th. THE SWEARING IN of President Barack H. Obama.


And as busy as the Mall appeared today, it's nothing compared to the sea of people that'll brave below freezing weather to witness that moment in history.

If you stretch your eyes, you can see the structure being built just to the left of center, no pun intended, of the Capitol.

I'm looking forward to seeing the 1.20.09 photos from space. I'd bet money that the crowd of people between the Capitol and the Washington Monument actually shows up on pictures taken from satellites!