I promised to post more about the National Museum of the American Indian when I had time.  So here it goes!

First off I just have to mention the Metro Rail that we took into D.C. each day.  The kids LOVED it!  My 5 year old still talks about it and wishes we could get rid of the car and just take the Metro Rail.  LOL

Here is my little man on the train.

And here are my 2 older kids.
Notice the lady behind them giving me the evil eye for taking (none flash) pictures on the train.  hehehe The train was nice, but it was much quieter than I expected.  When we road the train in Philly it was more what I expected.  But, that was on a weekend and it was loaded with happy people going to a ball game.  I guess taking the train to work in the morning to work is less fun?  People mostly got on and stared at their feet or they stared at me for having the nerve to bring 3 kids on the Metro.  I found D.C. to be very friendly, but I got the feeling they wished tourist would keep off the Metro! 

Now back to the Indian Museum...This was a lovely museum that I knew nothing about before we visited, which made for some fun exploring!

You have probably figured out by now that I like to take pictures of signs. :^)

Here is one of the many shots I took of the unique architecture.  I thought the building was lovely and I loved seeing my 2 oldest holding hands in this picture.  So sweet!

These are statues out front of the museum.

The kids out in front of the museum.

Since we had made our own moccasins when we studied Kaya we enjoyed seeing these.
Wow!  These would be a LOT of work to make!

This just amazed me.  A whole boat woven like a basket.
I couldn't even weave tight enough to make a basket that would hold water.  I can't imagine what it would take to weave a boat!

A pretty woman's head dress.

A woven vase

Pottery

Why Bibles?
I thought this was interesting.

Here are the Bibles.  The display went around in a huge circle.

This was a dress just like Kaya would have worn.

This is a parafleche like Kaya's sister made as part of her dowry.
It is basically a piece of hide that is painted and made into a suitcase.  it was beautiful!

This was a saddle like Kaya received in one of the stories.

Lots of pottery figures.

Now we are in the section on the modern day things made by Indians.

This was a made by a modern day Salish Indian.  In the Kaya stories the boy Kaya escapes with after she is kidnapped is Salish.  We watched a video about how this was made.  My daughter was very excited to see an interview with a real Salish Indian!

I LOVED this!
They had all kinds of cool stuff beaded.  I just loved these little baby shoes.

This was showing how Indians of today use the skills of the past with new materials.
The basket in the picture on the wall is from natural materials the way the originally would have been done.

The modern day basket was made the same way except using old VCR film.
The kids and I loved this!

Here is a modern day pair of beaded shoes! (With the traditonal ones on the wall around it.)

A modern day mask made of kitchen utensils.

This was the only hands on area we found.  It had different furs and skins the kids could touch.

This was a lovely blanket they had on exhibit.  I thought there would be more blankets, we only say a few.

There were so many pretty things to look at.  I am amazed by the talent of the Native Americans.  They took the most simple materials and made the most beautiful things.  This was such a treat after having studied Kaya this year!

We enjoyed our time at this museum.  We only spent a half day at this one and then we headed over to the National Air and Space Museum.  Stay tuned for those pictures tomorrow.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

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Comments

Posted by Elizabeth @ http://proverbs31wisdom.blogspot.com

Thanks for bringing us along on your journey! We've had a virtual field trip cruising along with you!!!

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Posted by Anonymous

I am so jealous that you live close enough to go visit these things! LOL looks like you all had a blast.

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Posted by Anonymous

I've enjoyed seeing all your awesome pictures. Y'all had a very cool trip.

Sometimes I see my 17 yr old and 9 yr old sons holding hands as we are walking and it just over flows my heart with joy.

Sugga Mama
http://bristleridgeacademy.blogspot.com/

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Posted by Jessy

My little girl (7 1/2) just finished Kaya and she's her favorite AG (right now). We have some Indian heritage that we haven't explored...it was nice to show her your trip photos! (We might do our own vacation to DC in the fall.)

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Posted by www.ShadyBayouAcademy.BlogSpot.com

We lived in the DC metro area for about three years and found most people acted like that EVEN if you weren't on the Metro. It is one of the reasons we moved back! HA HA!

I so want to go to the Indian Museum! Fun!

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