Labor Day at the Air and Space Museum

We just started studying space travel and the planets. And here we are, living in DC, with none other than the National Air and Space Museum just down the street. Figuratively, of course.

We like to use national holidays to go visit the free museums on the Mall. Parking is free on holidays and if you get there by 9:30 or so, you can park right in front of your museum of choice.

We’d been studying the Apollo space program and the missions to the moon, so we were really happy to find the Apollo 11 command module right there in the main lobby of the museum. Boo and Pumpkin Girl were amazed at how small the space for the astronauts really was. Other exhibits showed us the development of the space program, from Mercury to Apollo 17. They enjoyed seeing the real pieces of the space suits we’d talked about and how the space shuttle crew had special contraptions to help them drink their sodas from cans. Bip enjoyed this rotating model of Mars:

“Moon! Me! More moon! Wo-ow!”

We also got a chance to see a small sampling of the National Museum of American History,which is closed for renovation. A few of the exhibits are at the Air and Space Museum, including the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz movie, Kermit the Frog, and the hat Lincolm was wearing when he was shot. The highlight of that gallery was when Bip spotted one of his favorites, R2D2. He was sitting in his stroller and couldn’t see him at first, but as soon as the crowd cleared and he spied him, he cried out, “D2!! Me!!” It really made his day.

We got off easy at the gift shop, with another key chain for Boo’s collection, another set of Presidential family paper dolls for Pumpkin Girl (she loves this series of paper dolls!), a couple of small toy planes, and of course, astronaut ice cream. Can’t forget the astronaut ice cream.