Museum Day

 On Saturday we decided to culture the children and hit the National Geographic Museum for the pirate exhibit, which forbade photos so we have none. Emily was freaked out by the whole thing so I went through it quickly with her. Highlights were actual pirate treasure coins. Their other exhibit was about birds of paradise? Is that right, does anyone care/remember? These are shots from Megan:

 That's right, photo of a photo. I tried to stop her but then thought, why not? It's not real film that I have to pay to develop. I have lots more like this one...

 Some actual dead birds. Good stuff.

 This was a birds of paradise version of dance, dance revolution. Highlight of the morning.

 Anthony vs. Nicholas.  You can see Anna preparing to tap on the buttons to vote for who did the best. Apparently our group was a little too enthusiastic about this part and we were told to do it quieter. One of the kids noticed that was a polite way of kicking us out. Then we dropped some cash in the gift shop where I somehow got the member discount, no doubt because the guy felt sorry for me with all those kids in tow (and I didn't let any of them break or steal anything!).

 The Shake Shack for lunch, notice the thumbs up from Emily. It was fabulous and packed with marathoners. Do I need to run for 4+ hours to earn a fried portabella mushroom burger stuffed with cheese?  Nope. How about to get some of those Irish fries with horseradish sauce, green onions and bacon on top? Nope. I even split with Sean some custard filled with marshmallow, chocolate and peanut butter chunks. This is how I do vacation obviously.

 This was a sculpture garden on the way to the Natural History Museum. The metal tree was a favorite.

 Side angle of the shot below. Megan loved this optical illusion.

 Megan is looking so tall here. Only 2 years apart?

 Creepy turtle!

 I got this shot for one of the kids and somehow it turned out. It's easier to realize this is the biggest animal on Earth when you've walked under it, amazing.

 Thumbs up, museum! Double thumbs up!

 The Hope Diamond, Megan fought the crowds to get this shot which of course doesn't do it justice.

Hey look, kids, bloody dinosaur!

 Patrick loved the dinosaur bones of course.

There you go, all the culture we could handle, yawn.