Washington DC: Week 2

Week 2:

More Zoo.

This was a presentation on the naked mole rat. Mason loved it and cited the naked mole rat as his new favorite zoo animal.

In front of our apartment.

Museum of American History

Sage is obsessed with shoes. This obsession has led to her Halloween costume. Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. These are the original shoes.

Mason loved the transportation part of the museum. He seriously had me take his picture in front of every single thing with wheels. Don't worry. I didn't put them all in this post.

Both kids very concerned with an old silent film involving a car rolling down a hill.

A subway train. Did I mention he LOVES the subway?

In the basement of the Museum of American History is the Sparks Lab. Its a fun kids area where they do all kinds of experiments and hands on stuff for different ages. Really cool.

We rented a car and took a 4 day trip to Hershey. This is where we spent 4 years in medical school and it holds our hearts in many ways. Our dear friends Dave and Deb allowed us to stay at their house and the kids loved having pseudo-grandparents to spoil them. We were able to visit lots of friends from work and school and church (none of which I got pictures of). We visited the hospital where both Nic and I went to school and worked. We showed the kids all the Hershey highlights. And finally, I got to eat some stuffed french toast from the Hershey Pantry. It was excellent. 

Dave and Deb's. They gave Mason this awesome firetruck/book/road. We left it there, and we were sad.

Ah Chocolate World. Mason loved it here and begged to go back all weekend long (we gave in and ended up going on the ride a total of 3 times). I can't say I blame him. Before we had kids I used to make Nic go here with me on Friday nights. I'd say it was for the free chocolate, but really it was because, once there, he would buy me whatever candy I wanted.

Utter joy.

And fascination.

 The hospital. Since we left they have added an entire cancer center and they are currently building a children's hospital. It was interesting to see that some things were completely different, but somethings were exactly the same. Very nostalgic for us both.

Nic stripped down everyday next to these lockers for anatomy lab.

Cocoa Castle=the awesomest playground ever.

We decided to damn the torpedoes and tried to go to Lake Tobias despite the rain. We got wet. And cold. But the clothing eating goats provided some good entertainment.

And Mason got to pet a crocodile. 

 I am very upset that didn't take pictures of all our visits. Deb was so nice and hosted a "brunch" where I was able to see most of my friends from the NICU. (And I got to meet their cute kids!) We were able to visit the Biggers and the Woods. We even were able to stop by the Milton Hershey School and visit the houseparents at the student home we worked. It was so good to see so many awesome friends. I struggled a bit because I know that these visits will be few and far between. We had such a wonderful experience in Hershey. It is a place we will never forget, and that is largely because of the people we met there. These people were our family in so many ways and I am proud to call them such. Now our med school friends are spread out all over the country, and my work friends are all thousands of miles away. So I am grateful for the opportunities I have to reconnect with them.

Next up: Week 3-more Washington sites, A Taste of DC,