festive rooms at the DAR

We finished our trip downtown with a stop at the DAR Museum. We had never been before and it turned out to be a really interesting and fun place to visit. They have 30 rooms that are decorated and furnished from different periods. During Christmas they decorate 10 of them with Christmas decorations from that time period. It was really interesting to see the different decor from the various time periods and states. There were only a few other people there which was also nice. I was surprised by how much Amelia and Elsa loved running from room to room to see what was inside. They especially loved the large dollhouses on each floor.

I would say we'll make it a new annual Christmas tradition but we may be banned from the DAR after Oliver broke a piece of the porcelain tea set in the children's play area (and by the way, a porcelain tea set in a children's play area is a super good idea).

 They have a really neat library. Amelia and Elsa loved hiding in the stacks. 

 The children's attic was my favorite. So many beautiful old toys.

We were sad to see my mom leave the next day. Oliver loved snuggling with Grandma and the girls loved the extra attention. Grandma also showed Oliver countless robot videos on YouTube which he won't stop talking about. Shortly after she left, Ben headed out again for another week of travel, back to North Carolina. While there, his company flew him to the home office in Texas for a day to attend a dinner where he was presented with an award (Project Manager of the Year!). Just commuting to Baltimore and dealing with Johns Hopkins doctors for a year was enough to deserve an award. But he also completed the company's biggest job successfully. He spent this past week in Michigan and now he's home. For a few weeks anyway.