When the kids were young we filled every weekend with outings whether to a museum or a farm, hands-on indoors or climbing outdoors. We packed the snacks, packed it all in in the hopes these memories would be indelible and if not, we’d remember for them with the hundreds of photos I’d capture chasing them around. In all our outings we never went to National Children’s Museum. This past weekend I explored this small gem of an experience with my soon to be 11 and 12 year olds. The bubble machine worked easily for us, knowing to raise the bar quickly before it could pop. We knew to stack the cars with weights to make them go faster and we hit home runs in the baseball simulator, we were able to make the basket with the air propelled basketball game and set records on the speed reaction game. They hit their heads multiple times climbing through the Dream Machine and came speeding down the slide, their weight propelling them. They were by far the oldest and biggest kids in the museum and they had the most fun. They understood the special, they marveled when they should and they simply loved playing. While I loved our outings when they were little I was equally exhausted. But this day we all got to be kids again.
Tagged: National Children's Museum, photography, play, Washington DC