Next stop - our nation's capital. 
Taking in all the sights!
We went to the Museum of the Native American. They had a hands on children's section where she got to basket weave and 
listen to animal sounds. They have a cafeteria with all kinds of traditional native foods which were very delicious. 
We went to the Museum of Natural History which is what she was looking forward to most in our pre-trip discussions - "The Dinosaur Museum" was good and has a very kid-friendly cafe. We rode the metro train each day and that itself was a lot of fun for her. I did gain a whole new understanding of the difficultly of getting around a subway with handicapped or stroller access - it's long and time consuming but possible. 
We stayed at The Mayflower Renaissance Hotel on Constitution Avenue - a very historic site as several inaugural balls have been hosted there as well as allied force meetings in WWII, long-term housing for several members of Congress. We pricelined it and got a great deal. At check-in when the desk worker realized there were four of us, she quickly started scrambling. She started apologizing because there were no rooms with two beds available. Once I explained that all we needed was one bed because we had brought two pack and plays with us, I could see the relief come over her face. I off handedly said, "As long as we have space enough to put up two pack and plays, we are great." Next thing I know we were in a gigantic hospitality suite - complete with dining table for 12, kitchen/bar area, living room and LOTS of open floor space. It was the perfect room for us as the girls had room to stretch out and play.
After two full days of going to museums, we woke up on day 3 and I asked Nad, "Would you like to go to another museum today?" She quickly said, "No museums, please!" So dispite it being 40 degrees, we headed to the National Zoo! A GREAT choice! She had a ball, didn't have to be told to "Stop, Don't, Wait, Stay with us, etc" and got to go and see all the animals she wanted. She walked/ran a million miles and it was our best day in DC for sure. 
She would tell us "This is not a real panda, it is a statue!" But then she'd talk to it and play with it as if it were real. 
The "real" panda bear! The National Zoo (which is free) is one of only three zoos in the nation with pandas. 
It was a COLD, WINDY day, so Lydi stayed covered up while she was sleeping, but she was snuggly warm and quite happy the whole time. We promised to take her back to a zoo when its not so cold this spring! We met with ministers at VBC Alexandria, attended the National Community Church for worship and had a great stay in DC.
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