Thai Embassy and Smithsonian Fun

first off... I'm 46 today... let's get past that and on to the updates. we car rallied into Georgetown and the DC mall for a whirlwind tour of the Thai Embassy and choice Smithsonian buildings... My nephew, Radd was officially made a "Rabinsky" with a few forms and official stamps by the Royal Thai Consulate down in beautiful Georgetown, right near the banks of the C&O canal. It was all very business like... kind of like being in the waiting room while you friend is in the salesman's office at the car dealership. I scanned the rack of tourist info for Thailand... quite beautiful and inviting... too bad there's so much turmoil over there. I drew a couple of pics of the other folks in the waiting room... everyone is filling out paperwork, or waiting for an official to return with a new form. We then hit the streets for a short walk to a Chinese food court... Chicken and rice and a lot of laughs. I piled everyone back into the cars and scooted down around the Lincoln Memorial, past the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial, a jig and jog to the Smithsonian Castle. I love that building... We walked into the West wing, the only one currently open to the public, for a tour of the eclectic: A tiny model of GORT, from the Day the Earth Stood Still, a stuffed snow leopard, carved ivory, Olympic medals, and my favorite of all time - The life mask of Abraham Lincoln, done two months before his assassination. We soaked in as much as we could, then we all held hands as we scampered across the parkway, the U.S. Capitol Building to our right; Washington Monument Obelisk on the left and the Natural History Museum before us... The kids had a blast, as did the adults. Dinosaurs, Elephants, Whales, Worms... The Hope Diamond... after a quick carousel ride for Radd and Niki, we were back to the cars and out of DC before the rush. What a nice day. I have a pile of reference material, and bunch of sketches to mess with.
Pic1: Son Niki on the seat, and nephew Radd on the shelf at the Smithsonian west wing
Pic2: Abraham Lincoln's life mask in bronze, Smithsonian
Pic3: Pencil drawing in the Thai Embassy of folks doing paper work
Pic4: Dino-Gesture drawings in the sketchbook from Natural History Museum
Pic5: The Carousel outside of the Smithsonian, in the parkway area.