Wagons, Sporty Vans, and Trains Galore

The day after Thanksgiving, we ventured to downtown D.C. to the Smithsonian museum.

Here is a photo of the girls with Mimi and PawPaw with a covered wagon from Laura Ingalls time at the entrance of the Smithsonian American History Museum.

I thought this was the perfect photo-op because of the Christmas surprise they had awaiting them the next day! 

While we were waiting for Brad to park the van in a garage, we discovered that there are FREE guided tours of the museum! We were fortunate to have perfect timing and hopped on one just as Brad arrived. (This is a section of the Berlin Wall.)

We also saw the most ginormous train. We discovered that the museum had to put in a big hole in their building to get it inside.

We saw this fantastic interstate sign for Texas! 

We learned the history of this car and the man who was the first person to drive a car across the continent. That was no simple feat, because you can see, he had no windshield or top! It was just a man with goggles on to keep the bugs out of his eyes with his dog companion!!! 

Brad was excited to see that the van he grew up riding in as a child in a MUSEUM! LOL! It actually made him feel prematurely too old! 

After the museum, we continued our tradition of going to mall for P.F. Chang's for dinner.

Not only did we enjoy delicious Asian cuisine, the girls got to take a ride on the train...

around the mall....

by themselves!! We thought it was impossible that the day could get any better than it had already when the IMPOSSIBLE HAPPENED!  

The highlight of all highlights happened: the girl met Santa Clause!!!

We had no plans to visit Santa, and I did not dress the girls for the occasion. But it was perfect, the girls met Santa just the way they were. It was a complete surprise.

There was no hurry, they just enjoyed a nice conversation with Santa.  

I didn't buy any package, these photos were taken candidly with PawPaw's Canon camera with permission from Santa and his people "elves"!   

The girls were ecstatic and ran to tell Mimi and PawPaw the good news about Santa with lollipops in their mouths and coloring books in their hands. Wonderful memories were made in celebration of  the coming of Christmas!