The Sakai Family

Monday, January 18, 2010

Day 3

We didn't quite get enough of the museums, so we headed back to the Natural History Museum. First exhibit - Butterflies!

A little freaked out, but Lillie loved looking for the butterflies. Can you find the butterfly?

We moved on to the gems. Here is the famous Hope Diamond. It was originally 112 carats. After passing hands and being recut, it now shines at 45.5 carats. It's pretty stunning.

We walked through a photography exhibit and Haliaka and Kamakea took some funny pictures.

Bugs, bugs, and more bugs.

After the museum, we took a drive to the monuments and memorials

Here's Haliaka "pricking" her finger on the Washington Monument.

After driving around D.C. we headed to National Harbor for some dinner. We found Grace's Mandarin, which we heard a lot about, but were a little leery.

Dinner was actually FABULOUS. We had crispy beef, chicken lettuce wraps, kung pao chicken, and lo mein. Lillie had a feast of chicken dumplings, lo mein, berries, and cookies.

Here's the 2 story buddha that took it's place in the stairwell.

Day 2

We did the tourist thing and headed to Washington D.C. to visit the museums. Don't you just love Lillie's get up for the day!??!

We hit the American History museum first. We were so caught up with the fun things inside. Here's Kamakea and Lillie trying to navigate the windsurfing apparatus.

After the American History Museum, we headed to the Natural History Museum. We noticed an IMAX movie about the ocean had just started, so we just made it inside the theater. It was a

3-D movie, so you know what that means.

After some musuem visiting, we had a friend arrange a tour of the Capitol building.

Here's the inside of the rotunda.

Every state has two statues that they choose to place in the Capitol building. Here is one of Utah's statues, Brigham Young.

After the tour, we visited with our friend who arranged the tour. While we were visiting with her, the girls decided to take a few pictures on the couch.

Happy Faces

Surprised Faces

Crazy Faces

"I Love My Cousin!"

The U.S. Capitol and the Girls

So much FUN!!

Day 1

We started the day off at Annapolis Mall. We gave the girls $20 each and challenged them to find some cute presents for Lillie's birthday.

While the girls shopped, Lillie got to play at the "indoor park" for a VERY long time!!

Here she is freezing.

I say gang signs. Haliaka says peace sign. You decide. ha ha

Then, we changed plans a million times and ended up at Sakura, a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, for Lillie's birthday dinner.

First, the food.

Then the friends. Lillie, as usual, is such a friendly girl. She quickly made friends with Madison. They had a great conversation about the food, their age, things they like to do, the flower from their drink.