National Geographic Museum: Indiana Jones + the Adventure of Archaeology

With two archaeologically-obsessed children in our home, I knew that we had to make our way to the National Geographic Museum to catch the Indiana Jones exhibit this summer. I hemmed and hawed beforehand whether to let them watch the first Indiana Jones movie, but decided I'd better err on the side of avoiding sleepless nights and wait. And since our kids are also totally obsessed with history and ancient cultures, they were perfectly fine not knowing the first thing about the actual movies -- they were able to pick up on things right away. The exhibit is enormous (which is unusual for that museum), largely due to the fact that so, so much of it is done via "personal video companion." But there are also a ton of historical and cultural artifacts to view. So, be prepared to spend a lot of time in there!!

Keep It Local: 1001 Inventions Family Festival at the National Geographic Museum

We needed a low-key out of the house activity last weekend and, because the National Geographic Museum is relatively small scale for a D.C. museum, mom thought the 1001 Inventions Family Festival would be a good fit.  It was, but there was nothing low-key about it.

There was free admission that day and there was no chance of getting in to see the actual 1001 Inventions exhibit -- there was a line wrapped around the museum for that.  Fortunately, it will be there until February 2013.  AND the museum had all kinds of free activities for kids to do instead -- we made mosaic tiles, built tall spires, painted incense burners and ate our fair share of hummus.  It was crowded, but the staff handled all the people well and took a lot of time with each of the individual children and their crafts.  We were super impressed and, although the family festival is over, we plan to attend one of the remaining FREE family workshops the museum is hosting on October 27, November 24, December 22, and January 19.  And hopefully we'll get in to the actual exhibit soon, too!

Near, Far, Wherever You Are: Titanic Exhibit at the National Geographic Museum

When mom and I headed down to Farragut Square last week to check out some street art, we had planned on breaking dad out of his office for a bit and so we showed up a little early.  Only to find that he was stuck on an endless string of conference calls.  We had about an hour and a half to kill and there's not much right around the square for kids to do (unless, you know, you want to like go to the White House).  But thanks to our good buds over at Kaleidoscoping Chaos, we remembered that Nat Geo had an exhibit honoring the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic's demise.  We didn't know much about it and our last trip to the museum wasn't a huge success, but we decided to give it a whirl.

And although a lot of the exhibit's features would better suit older children, I still had a blast.  The exhibit incorporates a lot of technology, which is fitting given how the exploration of the wreck has evolved with the leaps and bounds of technology development (and James Cameron's obsession with both).  And even though I didn't "get" all of the technology, it was fun and interesting for me.  I was enthralled by what was essentially a gigantic iPad (there are also real iPads in the exhibit) that had some "games" to play -- we spent a lot of time searching an image of the real wreck and looking for treasure (and finding it where it would really be found on the ocean floor).  I also loved the projected image of the wrecked deck that morphed into what it looked like pre-crash when you stepped on (or RAN across) it.  I ran back and forth for a good 15 minutes on that thing.  So cool.

And we spent some quality time in the gift store (which has TONS of cool gifts for kids if you are ever in need of a different idea), but shockingly no money.  Our powers of persuasion in gift shops seem to be waning -- mom is now well past caring what others think when we throw ourselves on the floor claiming we are unloved because she won't buy us whatever object is firmly grasped in our hands (and which we likely cannot explain for what we'd even use it).  She may have won that battle, but I'm sure we'll win the war.

The Nat Geo Museum is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.  Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, and free for kids under 5.  The Titanic exhibit is there through July 8th.

searching for treasure

treasure found! 

i tried to convince mom that we needed these hats by insisting we put them on, take a picture, and send it to daddy.  alas, we have no lion hats.  

Great Green Globs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts: Animal Grossology at Nat Geo

We've been wanting to check out the National Geographic "Museum" for a while now.  After hearing so many good things about the current Animal Grossology exhibit, we decided it would be a good time.  The museum is small -- just a few exhibits and it's located in the bottom of Nat Geo's headquarters.  Truthfully, we found it a little irritating that NG would charge people to essentially come check out displays they've put in their lobby.  But, the exhibits we saw were pretty cool and there is no charge for kids under 5.  I was not a fan of the electronically animated animals flanking the exhibit's entrance and I used that as an opportunity to loudly practice my "no. No. NO." skillz.  I am really into owls right now, though, so I dug spending a bit of time checking out owl poop.  Our collective favorite by far was the submarine and attached slide.

Mom spent some time checking out the accompanying Weird But True exhibit -- mostly to figure out if NG was pulling our leg with its series of "what do you get when you cross X and X animals?"  Prime suspect numero uno?  Well everyone knows what is bred for its skills in magic, people.  That's right.  When you cross a lion and a tiger, you get a LIGER.  Apparently it's a real thing.

We were also fans of the museum's proximity to one of our favorite D.C. brunch spots -- Daily Grill.  Gone are the days of free kids brunch on Sunday (and way way gone is the extended day drinking for mom and dad), but the kids menu is only $5 and the portions are huge, delish, and come with ice cream.  Plus you can color on the table, which is really why it was mom and dad's favorite back in the day anyway.

it's pretty much my favorite animal.  true story.

woop woop.  daily grill mac n' cheese is da bomb, yo.

strategic seating.  just like daddy.

a nice florist gave us pumpkins on our walk back to the car.  made our day.