National Museum of Natural History

After we were done with National Museum of American History, we headed down the street to the National Museum of Natural History.  This was probably my favorite museum of the day because of all the cool exhibits and that fact that it was probably the most child-friendly museum for Ke’alohi.  You will probably recognize it instantly for the giant elephant in the middle and the dinosaur exhibit.

The first thing that we all wanted to see (okay, fine, maybe it was just the girls) was the Hope Diamond.  It is a 45.52-carat deep blue diamond, almost sapphire like.  It has been described as the “most famous diamond in the world” and is said to be the second most-visited artwork in the world, after the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.  Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1958.  When we were there, there wasn’t less than 20 people at a time looking at it.  I can’t imagine how many thousands of people a day and millions of people over it’s lifetime at the museum have flocked to see it.

What I loved about the rock and gem exhibit was that there were a lot of things that children can touch.  Any parent of  a toddler will tell you that they love to tough and play with anything and everything.  This rock that Ke’alohi was touching took her “beating” for at least 5 minutes as she rubbed, tapped and hit it.  Right now she is really into different textures and looks so I’m sure she loved the smooth glass-like edges and the rough outer edges.

As a woman, I think it is always my duty and job to find opportunities to shop so when I saw how big and great the gift shop was, I rushed in to get a few things.  We picked up a magnet and a little stuffed animal elephant for Ke’alohi to play with.  That poor elephant suffered through a lot of throwing and biting during our time in D.C.  We had such a great time in this museum and I really can’t wait until we come back to visit it again.