The fourth

We get up early for breakfast. Well, we get up at 9:00 every day for Riley's pills. Each of our hotels has had a little fridge to store yogurt in. As long as Riley has his yogurt and the kind he likes, Yoplay, life is easy. The boys and I have a big buffet. They have discovered the waffle iron tucked into a corner of the restaurant. I prefer the eggs and grits with brown sugar. Trevor's waffle sticks so he brings a crumpled mass back to the table and goes to make a new one, this time remembering to grease the iron.

We bring coffee up to Tom and the whole family hits the street for the Air Space museum. It opens at 10:00 am. We are one of the first through the doors. You are greeted with huge Russian and American missiles two stories tall from the cold war years. Along with the Spirit of St Louis. Another room hold the Wright Brothers plane from Kitti hawk. There are articles stating how much they credit their mother for influencing their lives and inspiring them. She was something of a mechanical engineer of her time and helped solve some of their problems when constructing their projects. Behind every great man there is a woman nudging him.

We stay at this museum for half the day. Upstairs is is a mock up of the space station. There is a military wing for air force and Navy. Trevor does a simulator where he is a pilot chasing an enemy plane. He is in the middle of a cork screw maneuver when his head hits the emergency stop button inside the cockpit. He gets stuck upside down. Three men have to manually turn the simulator over to release him.

Tom is done by 1:00pm and heads out. I take the boys over to the American History Museum. We have lunch in the basement cafeteria for only a mere $64, ouch. This is one of my favorite museums though. It holds the gowns of the first ladies. Of course I have to bribe the boys with more simulator rides in order to get to see that portion of the museum. By this time of day the museum is getting packed with tourists. There is also so much to see.

American History museum holds the pop culture and music wing, which I have no interest in. It also has Trains and original engines from machine shops of the 1900's. The boys with their father's engineering background love seeing the engines. There is a two story piston that became obsolete when it was discovered bigger is not always better. Engines became more efficient and smaller. We barely scratch the surface of this museum before we burn out and leave. The original star spangled banner was on display but the line was obscenely long, and we were all tired. We did see Lincoln's top hat that he wore the night he died. There were also paintings of several of our recent presidents. It is time to quit for the day and head back to the room. We need to consider our plans for the night fireworks.