Since the weather finally started to get nicer out, we decided that we wanted to check out what was going on at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C..  After doing a little researching and talking with Jon, we decided on going to the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Festival while checking out the cherry blossoms.

Last Sunday I wanted to have some fun with Michael and enjoy the beautiful weather we were having.  I gave Jon two choices, to go to the National History Museum and see the dinosaurs before they were closed for renovations (if they weren't already) or go to the National Zoo.  Jon thought that Michael would like the Zoo better.  It wasn't Michael's first time going to the zoo, we took him when he was 14 months old.  This time, I wanted to try and have some more fun with it since he was almost two years older.  I had found on Pinterest a place that you can print out and make zoo passports (click here to print your own out from the we wilsons blog).
When you print it out, there are actually two passports printed.  I just used regular paper since it was just a spur of the moment trip, glued them together, and then stabled them together to make it a book.  In the future I'll print them out on card stock and cut them to size better.

We wanted to try and spend as little money as possible, but still have fun and enjoy ourselves.  We were thinking of bringing a packed lunch, but it was already past noon so we decided to eat lunch before we headed off to Vienna, VA to get on the Metro (click here to read my post about travelling on the metro with a toddler).

It was helpful to have the stroller, but also a pain.  There are several inside exhibits that required you to leave you strollers outside, even though some people didn't follow the signs.  We also brought our Brita water bottles and filled them up at water fountains around the park so we weren't buying drinks.

Here's a map of the zoo.  If you want to see a better map, click here.  I think next time, I'll look over the map better and decide which exhibits to see.  We did get to see a lot more than we did the first time we went two years ago.

The line was extremely long to see the pandas and since we only had a limited time to see the rest of the animals, we chose not to stand and wait.  If you want to see the pandas any time, or any other animal, click here to see all the different animal cams the zoo has available.

Michael was asking to go play in the playground and at one point there was one.  They now have a carousel and of course, Michael wanted to ride it.  Even though admission to the zoo is free, riding the carousel is not.  It costs $3 per person.  Since Michael is too young to ride this type of ride on his own, Jon "road" along with him.  To learn more about the carousel, click here.

There are many animals at the zoo.  Seemed like there were more than there were two years ago.  There are also daily programs available to go to and learn about the different animals.  The National Zoo truly is an educational zoo.  There are signs everywhere to learn about the animals and the area that they are normally from.




For more information about the Smithsonian National Zoo, click here to go to their website.  Around the holidays, they have some special events.  We have not been to them, but would like to take Michael to them in the future.  At Halloween they have trick or treating, Christmas time the zoo is all decorated, and at Easter there's an Easter egg hunt.  The thing about these events is that they do cost.  I'm sure that we will visit the National Zoo many more times in the future.  What have been your experiences at the Smithsonian National Zoo?  Tell me about your experiences at the zoo on my Facebook page, Gigglebox Tells it Like it is.

On Sunday, we decided that we would take a trip in to DC and go to the Smithsonian National Zoo.  I am nowhere new to riding the Metro.  Growing up, my grandparents lived a little farther from DC than we do now.  Whenever we would visit in the summer, we would always make a trip into DC to go to one of the Smithsonian museums and would always take the Metro.  Now that I'm an adult and a mom, it's a little different.

We travel to the Vienna, VA station to get on.  In the future there will be stations closer to us.  On the weekends the parking is free, but during the week there's a parking fee of $4.75 for the day at the location we go to.  To see all the different stations you can go to, click here.

There are machines at each location to purchase your ticket.  Beware that if you're purchasing a paper ticket there is a $1 charge per trip or $2 round trip.  We had read it wrong and only put the $1 charge on each of our tickets.  It's easy enough to fix, there are machines to add money on to your ticket.  The downside is that they don't take credit/debit cards like the other machines.  Oh, and the attendants don't have cash to break any large bills.  We were lucky that the guy let us go without putting that extra $1 charge on my ticket (I had only one $1 bill on me and no change).  Children four and under get to ride the Metro for free.  Since we live so close to DC and possibly will be travelling in more often, we are thinking about possibly getting the SmarTrip Cards.  For more information about fares for the Metro, click here.

Michael was so excited and wanted to get on the "Choo Choo Train".  This was not his first time on the Metro, but it had been close to two years since he had been on it.  We kept him in the stroller until the train got to the station.
We folded up the stroller so as to not take up too much room in the train.  The Metro can get pretty crowded.  This trip, we ended up riding backwards which was probably a weird feeling for Michael.  He seemed to enjoy it though.

To get to the zoo from where we started, we had to get off the orange line and then get on the red line.  Jon held Michael's hand and I lugged the stroller around the station where we switched lines at.  I was so happy that Michael, even though he was looking all around and inspecting the place, did not try to run off.  There are two stops you can take to get to the zoo.  We took the Cleveland Park stop since it's a flat walk, the other is all hill.  Once we got up to ground level and in the sun, we opened up the stroller and Michael sat while we walked.  To see the map of the Metro, click here.

We did have an incident on our way back.  The train doors closed right before I could get on.  Jon looked worried, but it didn't faze me.  I knew that there would be another one to get on in the matter of minutes.  The doors reopened and I was able to get on with Jon and Michael.  Make sure everyone knows what all the stops are that you need to take and hold the hands of your little ones tightly.

When we went with Michael the first time, he was 14 months old.  We took pretzel sticks to have him chew on to help with going underground.  It helped a whole lot.  This time, it didn't seem to bother him.  Have you gone on the Metro with a toddler?  If so, what suggestions do you have?  Stay tune for my post about the Smithsonian National Zoo.