The Postal Museum

This past Friday was another early dismissal day for Meg. As I have mentioned before, we have designated early dismissal days as adventure days. Our last adventure on an early dismissal day was going to Tysons Corner Mall. This was not my idea of an adventure. I love the fact that we are close to so many museums and historical sites that we never need to go to the mall for fun. Well, apparently if you avoid the mall for years, your kids begin to believe it is the coolest place on earth. So a few weeks ago when I said, "Where should we go on our adventure?", my kids responded, "The mall!" (and they didn't mean that cool stretch of grass in DC where there are lots of monuments). We made the best of it. They played at the Lego Store. I let them ride the goofy little train that drives around the top floor of the mall. And they played in the play area, which had far too many kids for my comfort. Still, they had a great time--even if it wasn't my idea of fun.

I'm happy to say that this past early dismissal day was a little closer to our normal adventures.  We went to the Smithsonian Postal Museum--a place we have never been before. This Smithsonian Museum is located by Union Station. We are not often in that area, so, while I heard awhile ago that the Postal Museum was great for kids, it just somehow never made it onto our schedule...until Friday.

After picking up the girls at school, we drove straight to Union Station and parked in the parking garage there (not the cheapest option, but definitely the easiest). It had been a long time since Meg and Clare had been to Union Station (and, I believe it was a first trip for Baby Anne), so we walked around the old train station so the girls could see the beautiful architecture. We ran into the Washington Nationals' mascot Teddy. He's huge! While Teddy Roosevelt is not usually an intimidating character, my children were terrified of the giant Teddy and flat out refused to have their picture taken with him. We waved from a distance and then went to Johnny Rockets for some lunch. After lunch, we walked across the street to the Postal Museum. 

The Postal Museum is very interactive. Even the stamp collection rooms have these amazing touchscreens on which you can search for favorite stamps and create your own collection. Throughout the lower part of the museum, there are places where kids can stamp postmarks on postcards bearing stamps from various points in history. 

There is also a spot where kids can sort packages by throwing them into the big mail bags. It was a picture of this display that inspired Meg and Clare to choose the Postal Museum as our adventure. As you can see from the pictures below, even Baby Anne decided to join the fun. Seriously, how many museums encourage you to throw boxes!

The Postal Museum includes displays about transporting mail around the country. There is a mail sorting train car to explore. Kids can climb into a stagecoach and a semi. The museum includes mail planes overhead and a very standard mail truck on the floor. 

Talking about transportation, Baby Anne decided to repurpose her stroller at the museum. She's not walking yet, but she's an expert cruiser. She did not want to ride in the stroller, so instead she held on to the basket in the back of the stroller and used it to walk around the museum on her own. She's quite the resourceful girl! 

As compared to other museums, the Postal Museum is pretty small. It won't take kids long to work their way through the exhibits. That can be a plus or minus depending on what is needed at the time. What is clearly positive is that each display offered is well done and designed to be enjoyed by kids as well as adults. It really is a great little museum.