Washington DC Trip -Part 6

             Monday we had a choice to go to the Museum of Natural History or the Natural Museum of American History, they were close to each other so you could also go to both. The bus dropped us off a few blocks from the museums,  Amy was wanting to be carried and didn't want to walk by the last day, so it took us longer to get there. We started at the Natural History and I could tell I wasn't going to get her out of that museum very fast. Jim and the girls left to go to the American. We stayed and saw the Hope Diamond, Amy wanted to stay in that area but it wasn't as exciting to me, so we did a fast look and moved on. We had a time we needed to be back at the buses to have lunch and then the band members had to get dressed. It was hot and I knew Amy was going to be hard to move along, I didn't see the rest of our family so Amy and took a ride on a Pedicab, it was the best $15 I spent.

                                      Melissa and Jaime inside the American History Museum.

The kids did an awesome job, it was in the 90's but felt like the upper 90's. One of the main concerns was staying hydrated. Some of the parents spread out along the way in case anyone had signs of heat stroke, some walked along and squirted water for the kids. We were the second high school band, so we were at the very beginning. As soon as they reached the end of the parade point, they had misting tents for everyone, and the DCFD had a hose squirting up to cool off too. After that it was about a 10 block walk back to where the buses were parked. After cooling off, changing out of the band uniforms it was time to hit the road back to KC. Our bus had a flat tire on 1-70 outside Independence, MO,  it was fixed quickly and we finally made it back to the high school. This was a fun, fast trip, our family would like to go back to DC and explore places we haven't seen yet and revisit a few that we did. It was neat seeing places you've only read about or saw in a movie.        

Mr. Jarrett, the band leader with Melissa and Jaime. Mr. Jarrett retired after 30 years at Turner High School so this trip was bittersweet for him. We will miss him.