The other National Aquarium

Not a lot of people know this but there is another National Aquarium...below the U.S. Commerce Building.  It's been there for decades but it's not nearly as nice, big (or above ground) as the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  Patti took the kids there with her Mom and Dad a few weeks ago.

Before going to the Aquarium, everyone collected Daddy at work and went out for lunch.

Will is going to be a Volunteer....

Our awesome waitress at Nooshi made child-friendly chopsticks for all three kids.  The girls used theirs like forks, but Will really did OK with his.

The girls slept through the place for a while and then when they woke up Patti went back through it again.  They LOVED the Aquarium.  They watched the afternoon piranha feeding, they oohed and aahed a lot (Maggie had lots of wows), and they liked the alligators.

Air & Space Museum

Bill, Bonnie and Patrick took the kids to the National Air & Space Museum in Dulles today while Patti napped off her night-shift.  We hadn't been there since the Discovery arrived in April.

Patti kissed the kids goodbye before heading to bed.

Will got to see the real version of one of his currently-favorite toys - the SR-71 Blackbird.  It's one of Patrick's favorites too.

Stella and Maggie are saying "Wow, the space shuttle is cool!"

Here's Mimi and Pop with Will and the Discovery.  It was shocking to see how space-worn it was in comparison with the Enterprise that had been here before.  The Enterprise was only used for flight-training so it was sparkling white and shiny.

Will probably doesn't quite get yet that this is the same shuttle he saw fly over DC on top of a 747, but when he does it will be pretty special.  For now, it's just fun that he really, really likes it.

Still got our hands full

The kids have given us a run for our money this week.  Patrick has been working late to bring his Peace Corps project online for staff and the public so Patti has been doing double-shifts with the kids by herself.

They haven't stopped pushing their limits...

Will still loves trucks (and his sunglasses)...

And we found out the hard way that it's hard to wrangle three wet kids when there's just two of you...

Here's the latest clip in a growing series Patrick likes to call "Why Will should nap."  Needless to say, Will went to bed very early tonight.