Old Post Office Pavilion {Accidental Tourist Moment}

After the Air and Space museum, the kids wanted to go get some Ice Cream, so I Yelped a place that looked fun.  We set out to Maggie Moos Ice Cream and Treatery.  Unfortunately, Maggie was no longer there, but Ben & Jerry's was, and we had our treat and I sat down and let the kids have a dollar to play video games at the arcade.

At which point, I notice these signs:

"Take time to tour the tower"

And I start to realize that I'm somewhere *special*.  The Old Post Office Pavillion is the largest commercial building and third tallest structure in Washington DC, behind the Washington Monument, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Tours were free, so I gathered the kids and we made our way up to the clock tower!

The view from the glass elevator

Once on the thirteenth floor, you have a pretty spectacular view of the city on all four sides.  Unfortunately, our day was pretty hazy, but I got some decent pictures anyway.

The Capitol Building

Washington Monument

National Archives

The Capitol Building

The kids thought this was pretty cool, and you could spend as long as you wanted looking around.  They had diagrams on all the walls pointing out certain areas of interest.  Down below was where the bells were kept, and this machine on the top floor also controlled the tower clocks.

On the 10th floor:

Who knew the Congress had official bells?

And a bell-ringing society!

These are the ropes that control the National Bells

There is a nice little museum room telling the history of the building (very interesting).

We went back down in the elevator with a little more knowledge about the history of the area than when we sat down for ice cream.  What a serendipitous *free* find!

Best,
Krysten
Clickable Party

A Guide to the architecture of Washington DC

Stikman Sightings {Geeky Fun}

If you live in a major metropolitan area or just like to visit them, keep your eye out for this guy:

He is "stikman," and he is a sneaky piece of urban Guerilla art that can be found from Boston to DC, from Hollywood to Toronto.  He is typically found in crosswalks, although he can also be seen on signs and walls. 

My oldest son noticed this one when we were walking in the monument section of DC, and said that he had also seen one back home when we were visiting Boston for a day trip and he wondered what they were.  He asked our waiter that night at dinner showing him this image on our camera, but our waiter didn't know what these were either.  

Once we noticed him, we seemed to see him everywhere!  All over DC and Philadelphia.  After doing some research, I discovered this Flickr group dedicated to stikman sightings by other curious passerby's who have been intrigued by his ghostly presence.  

Chicago, IL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yooperann/4954980819/in/pool-42499904@N00/

Philadelphia, PA
http://www.flickr.com/photos/srhbth/4937909749/in/pool-42499904@N00/

He has become a new Easter Egg for my family while traveling.  If you want to know more about stikman, and see more fabulous pictures of him, visit his photostream.  Also, here are some articles on the elusive stikman:

Chicago Times

Boston University's The Quad

The Washington Post

Who knows, maybe he will get his own printable theme!

Best,

Krysten
Clickable Party

Postcrossing Anyone? {Geeky Fun}

Here's a fun family activity that is educational and fun. We started Postcrossing about two years ago. When we go on our travels, we try to pick up interesting postcards that we can send to some lucky person somewhere around the world.  We started this so that the kids could learn more about geography, and I was surprised to learn about places I had never heard of before. This is also a great classroom project for kids of almost any age!

Basically, you sign up with Postcrossing, and they will tell you where to send your postcard.  You even get to see the person's profile, and find out what kind of postcards they would like.  Once your postcard is received, your profile is listed next in the cue to receive a postcard.  How exciting!  You can start a scrapbook, or just keep the one online.

Here's some we have sent.

And here's some we received!

Here's our personalized map showing where we have sent to and received from.

Hope you try it out, and enjoy it!

Best,

Krysten

Clickable Party

Travel Party "Wish you were here" Adult Bday!

We sent this Party {in a box} to our Nana (Shhh, hope she doesn't see this, cuz I think they're doing it this week!) But I wanted to enter the CSI project's (Create Something Inspiring) party ideas challenge! I posted a sneak peak of this earlier, and I don't have "real party" pictures yet. Nonetheless, here it is!

Wish you were here!

This is a travel theme - for as long as my sister and I can remember, my Nana has loved geography, globes, everything to do with travel. She has done some traveling, but still hopes to get to the Promised Land. I believe she will!

Here are the photos of her Party {in a box} made with love and inspired by her warmth, brilliance and loveliness!