Bold as a Lion

On Wednesday it rained. And Rained. And Rained. Even after three very soggy walks including one that got both of us completely drenched, Reuben and I were so cooped up we were driving each other crazy. CRAZY. Reuben is a restless soul.

So when Thursday dawned clear we were out the door. We went into the city and wandered around some monuments. Then I took Reuben to the Build Museum which has the best play room in the region. It happened to be the annual Smithsonian craft show so we couldn't run around the central courtyard like usual since it was filled with very nice grandmas in quilted jackets and big bead necklaces who kept pinching Reuben's cheeks. Here's Reuben hiding out from said Grandmas and enjoying himself in the play room.

Then my camera which is also my phone died which is why there are no more pictures. I was VERY angry. I went down to the mall (the grassy lawn) hoping to find some Earth day fun but it turns out DC only celebrates on the weekends. I didn't see a single picket sign. More anger. Reuben fell asleep in the stroller so I walked over to the National Botanical Gardens and got an hour of drawing in which helped me feel better. Reuben woke and started dashing around chanting flower! Flower! Flower! and playing in the fountains. Once he was decently soaked and the pangs of guilt for Reuben's determined flower destruction overcame me we moved on.

If you are a one year old here are the highlights from the rest of the afternoon:

Museum of the American Indian Museum - Great open space to dance around in

The National Gallery - Moving Sidewalks are so exciting that even if you get a major face plant getting off, it's worth getting right back on going the opposite way despite your mother's cries of protest

The Natural History Museum - Good fish tank and lots of exciting animals to look at, especially the bugs. And the gem and mineral gift store has a giant box of rocks which you can dig through and throw all over the place

The American Art and Portrait Gallery - So boring it's great to sleep through

I was happy I got to go back through the Portrait Gallery community portrait show while Reuben slept. I also spent some time looking through the American portrait section which got me curious about Daniel Webster. He was supposed to be a brilliant orator and stood as the main opposition leader idealogically to John C Calhoun. He spoke the works "Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseperable!" As you can see from his portrait, he had some pretty serious male pattern baldness going on. According to some of the info at the museum, his contemporaries took his coronal prominence as proof of his brilliant intellect. A story that I think would make any balding man today wish for the by gone glory days of phrenology. That's a side point. I really am interested in Daniel Webster and think I'm going to try to hunt down a biography. If you know of a good one let me know.