Toddler Fun in Washington, D.C.

Kaitlyn and I joined her daddy on a trip to the Washington, D.C. area and tried to explore it from a toddler's perspective. This blog will share more photos than stories, but it was a fun adventure for us to take. D.C. is a great city for people of all ages!

A few quick notes on traveling in the DC metro area...

• The Smithsonian museums and monuments are amazing for people of all ages and they are FREE. Check it out: http://www.si.edu/.
• All the monuments in the national mall are amazing. They are beautiful at night too.
• Since 2001, rules have changed regarding access to the White House and the Capitol Building for security purposes, so check on these prior to your visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ or http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/index.cfm.
• The National Cathedral (gorgeous architecture) and National Zoo are great places to visit and located close to each other - http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ and http://www.nationalcathedral.org/visit/.
• The Kennedy Center -http://www.kennedy-center.org/, is on the river and offers a variety of theatre productions - probably better for families with older children.
• Old town Alexandria is fun to walk around. If you like art - check out the torpedo factory, otherwise you can shop and find plenty of fun places to eat. Georgetown is also a great place to walk around - very upscale though.
• The metro is safe, clean, easy to use and highly recommended for getting around town instead of dealing with traffic - http://www.wmata.com/. Cabs are also available.
• Enjoy the culinary adventures - you can find any and all types of food in the DC metro area. If you are downtown, the Longworth Building and the Ronald Regan Building have food courts for a quick affordable lunch. These are just two that come to mind right now, but there are plenty more.
• Despite my familiarity with DC, this was my first visit with a toddler, so I used this web site to assist in identifying kid friendly activities: http://family.go.com/travel/vacations/district-of-columbia/washington/best-washington-dc-vacation-for-preschoolers-282112/?non-default=true
• Here is the list of places that I started with for Kaitlyn and I to visit - we didn't have time to visit them all, but it may help someone else start planning - National Zoo, Air & Space Museum (downtown and Dulles airport area), Museum of Natural History, National Aquarium, U.S. Botanic Garden, International Spy Museum, Woodmont Park (Arlington, VA), Discovery Creek Children's Museum, National Children's Museum (under construction until 2012), D.C. Duck Tours.

Since daddy had only one day to tour DC with us, we headed out towards Dulles airport to the National Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center - http://www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy/, which is well worth the trip. It houses an amazing number of planes, the shuttle Enterprise, etc. In the past, we've been told that you can take a shuttle from the downtown Air & Space museum location to this Dulles location.

This is an interactive computer that allows individuals to see inside the cockpit of the plane. Kaitlyn enjoyed this feature with daddy's help.
The shuttle Enterprise - amazing to view a shuttle in person.
The historic Enola Gay is here, but unfortunately, it is to high to see inside of it.
Kaitlyn having a good time at the Air & Space. After visiting the museum, we met friends for lunch in Leesburg, VA and went to a great little pizza place and ate outdoors. While we didn't get to walk around, Leesburg appears to have a charming downtown area.
Kaitlyn's first metro ride with mommy. This photo doesn't capture her enthusiasm - most of the ride, she was glued to the window looking outside or giving shy smiles to people on the train. It was a fascinating experience for her as we used the metro every day we were in DC.
A fountain in the park close to the National Archives building and part of the Sculpture garden, which Kaitlyn enjoyed because she could walk around and see the interesting sculptures.

Waiting for the metro to go on another adventure...
A visit to the National Aquarium - http://www.nationalaquarium.com/.
As we walked into the aquarium, Kaitlyn was welcomed by this little alligator. She didn't know what to think about it. The aquarium is small and will probably take less than an hour to visit, but it has some fun fish, sea horses and other sea animals for kids to see.

Do not expect the Shedd aquarium on this visit as it is in the basement of the Commerce Building.

The aquarium is across the street from the Ronald Regan building, so Kaitlyn and I stopped for ice cream afterwards.
After ice cream, we walked to the White House and could see some of the monuments in the distance.
"Let me in!"
Our trip to the National Zoo started a new day and was lots of fun. If you are traveling with kids, we highly recommend visiting the zoo. It is metro accessible too.
Kaitlyn looking at the animals.

It's time to meet the pandas...We got lucky when we visited the pandas as they were wrestling and playing with each other. It was great to hear all the chatter, screams and giggles from the kids watching the pandas.

Kaitlyn wanted to take this panda home. We found a little stuffed one instead.

The elephants in the distance.

A fun, red colored monkey. It was feeding time, so he turned his back to us to eat.
We saw gorillas hanging out.
Kaitlyn was exhausted after seeing all the animals and walking around the zoo.
Still tired from a long, fun day!

These photos are from our visit to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History- http://www.amnh.org/. They had a live display of soil insects, which Kaitlyn enjoyed because they squirmed, but mommy - not so much.

Kaitlyn is trying to decide which exhibits to visit at the Natural History Museum.
We had a great time in DC and were exhausted at the end of the trip. There are so many things for families, kids and adults to do that you won't have time to do it all.

Hope you enjoyed the photos and the few tips that I offered about our adventure.