Butterflies! And Other Dreary Day Adventures

It's a dreary, inbetween sort of day - not really freezing, but not warm enough to play outside. And so, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of 8 hours inside with no backup*, I quickly hopped on the Our Kids website to see what sort of fun, Kibi-friendly activities I could find in the DC area today.  (Those of you who are local parents are surely familiar with Our Kids; if not, be sure to check it out -- for a small subscription fee, you get access to a comprehensive listing of fun things to do for parents and kids in the Washington, DC metro area. )

At the top of their Reviews list, I found the National Museum of Natural History's live butterfly exhibit, and I thought, "Excellent!"  

I bundled Kibi up and we made the trek downtown.  I hate to advocate against public transportation, but I didn't want to take a chance on a Metro ride going horribly wrong (see my recent Terrible Twos entry), so we took the car.  And maybe it's because it's a Monday, or maybe because it's not yet Cherry Blossom season, aka CRAZYTIME, but whatever the reason, I found ample parking spaces right in front of the museum!  Hooray.  

The only drawback was what happened when we got inside.  We were told that today, of all days, was the day the butterfly exhibit was closed due to a broken door.  ARRRRRGH!

Nevertheless, we soldiered on, and I'm glad we did.  We saw some amazing sights, from a deep ocean exhibit to a room full of lifesize dinosaur bones.  

Kibi was NOT interested in the things that I thought he would be (lifesize dinosaur bones, wall-size tv screens showing schools of fish swimming, a huge room full of bugs on display) and showed interest in the things I was least expecting (an abandoned Smithsonian snack cart, public works employees sawing branches off a tree outside the museum).  

Ah, well.  As with so many things, I think he'll REALLY like this place in a year or two.  But I still give today's visit an enthusiastic thumbs up. 

And I think we're going to try and make our way back to that butterfly exhibit someday (it reopens as soon as tomorrow, for any of you who may be interested).

*"backup" = D-A-D