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.