The Day of The Squirrels

Squirrels, literal and figurative, defined our outing today in Washington DC.

We started our day as planned, with a quiet morning at Aunt Cindy's house, doing nothing and going nowhere.  Then in the early afternoon, the "Slacker Van" finally headed toward DC.

Just to get into DC, I had to squeeze between the middle row seats.  Just to clarify, there is not actual seat there.  It's a walkway.  My booty is wide enough to make it work though.

Bethany used her scarf under my armpits "to keep me safe." Glad we didn't crash.  

Our first stop was the the National Archives, where we waited in line for over an hour just to get in.   During the wait, we bought our little squirrels some ice cream.

Even baby Norah squirrel had some.

Then the squirrels, with their stomachs happy, really became active. 

It took more than an hour to get into the building so the squirrels enjoyed a heyday during the wait.

We showed the kids the original Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  And one of the original copies of the Bill of Rights.  Then we took our squirrely kids through some of the rooms of the archives...highlights: The Emancipation Proclamation, and archived video clips of the test atomic bomb and the Challenger explosion.  We couldn't take pictures inside so we stopped for a photo shoot on the Archives steps.

Then we headed to the Sculpture Garden for dinner, and to let the "squirrels" run wild and free.

We picked a bench by the fountain for dinner so that our little squirrels (figurative) could continue to romp.  But as soon as our food arrived the other squirrels (literal) came out to investigate.  

 

First of all, these squirrels were unlike any I had ever met before.  We think they might have been radio-active, atomic squirrels.  They were about the size of small cats.

Isaac tried using the umbrella to keep them from jumping from the top of the bench onto his plate.

But they were not to be deterred. 

These squirrels were not scared off by any of our shows of aggression.  Yelling and charging at them did not phase them one bit.

This is one on top of the bench.  While this picture is being taken, there is a lot of background screaming, scrambling to get food out of the way, and laughing.  We think a video of our hysteria might end up on youtube, as there was a man recording our hilarity for posterity.

Finally Paul, our representative male, took matters into his own hands and whacked the largest squirrel with an umbrella.  

And the atomic squirrels finally got the hint and left us alone.  But we were still on guard.

The ladies ate standing up.

I asked Abby how she felt about the squirrels. 

After dinner, Norah entertained us with a dance.

Then back on the metro for the ride back to Aunt Cindy's.  Ahhh, for a moment the kids are plugged in, still, and quiet.

Even Norah.

And Charlie.

But the squirrels (figurative) came back out to play.

And make noise.

Finally, back to the car for the short ride home (notice I'm carrying Abby...the usual).

At 10:30pm, Paul is asleep exhausted in a chair, while Robin, from the "Nerd Van," is finally getting some dinner after their long and tiring day (separate from our little adventure).  Corralling squirrels all day long sure can be tiring.