… You may finish your beloved book series.

Drowning her sorrows in ginger ale and Vanilla Almond Special-K cereal, Megan mourned the loss of Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus. She braved sea sickness for Percy and Anabeth, and was literally sobbing when their stories closed…in a cliff-hanger ending. Hate mail to Riordan ensued.

I was walking slowly down the path and I noticed a Blue Admiral on the ground. It looked like it was trying to fly away, but somehow couldn’t. So I picked it up and put my hand next to a flower, but the butterfly only flew back and landed on me instead! it would not get off. I continued to walk around looking at butterflies, but it still wouldn’t leave. Eventually I picked it up and was able to shake it onto a flower. Another Blue Admiral landed on my hand and… would not leave!

The butterfly room at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is full of live butterflies. There are many different types and they are all tremendously appealing. The room has a pathway down the middle for visitors to walk on, but you always have to look before stepping because the butterflies sometimes land on the floor. The pathway is lined with various flowers. The butterflies are everywhere: flying through the air, on the wall, on the ceiling, on the flowers, on the floor….

There is a spot only about 5-6 ft. away from the door that has some cantaloupe, banana and pineapple slices on stands. Around 8 Blue Admiral butterflies were perched on one slice of cantaloupe. Most butterflies drink flower nectar with their long tongues that they use like straws. Some butterflies almost never drink from flowers, instead gaining their food from tree sap, dead animals, or other organic material.

There was every kind of butterfly you could imagine, from all over the world. There was a box with different cocoons in them hanging from little plastic sticks. There was also a butterfly-cage, in which were three huge butterflies from places like Africa and Asia

It was exciting and beautiful and I’m glad I got to have that experience.

PEACE LOVE CHOCOLATE-COVERED-ALMONDS – Megan

This afternoon we visited the Museum of Natural History, the Mall and the Lincoln Memorial – more from the nation’s capital on Sunday. Tomorrow is Annapolis Boat Show day.

The rocks that line the shore in front of the park are there so that when the tide comes in and the water rises, it won’t wash away the grass or erode the park. The water crashes onto the rocks, which sends the water back on itself. The constant motion makes it impossible for any type of wetland to grow in that area.

Next to the rock line is an area where wetlands can grow. In fact, the area is fenced off so people will not walk on that area and possibly destroy the life growing and living there. In front of the wetland and a little ways into the water is a small line of rocks. These rocks are not like the rock line earlier described. Their purpose is to break the waves so when they wash over the wetland grass growing behind it, the waves will not be strong enough to destroy or unsettle the life there.

Right next to the small area of wetland is another rock line. This rock line is protecting the lawn of a house. The people who bought the house want to keep the rock line there because without it, they would have a wetland growing in their backyard instead of a lawn. If they use fertilizer or pesticides on their lawn though, when the rain comes it just washes into the ocean and can harm the creatures living there. If there were wetlands growing instead of the rock line, the fertilizer and pesticides would be absorbed by the wetland grass and sand before going into the ocean and therefore protecting ocean life although threatening wetland creatures.

The state of Maryland is encouraging people who own waterfront property to plant wetland grasses and will in some cases pay for wetland restoration on private property.

PEACE LOVE CHOCOLATE-COVERED-ALMONDS – Megan

 We’ve learned that these translucent pulsating ghosts possess a seriously painful sting, and they often travel in pods. While their range extends from the Caribbean up to southern Cape Cod, they flourish in Chesapeake Bay. Apparently we were lucky to swim where we did — in the Sassafras River’s fresh water. Now these creatures have fringed out around Strider’s hull, defending their demesne like dementors guarding Azkaban. Its 80F and the water is 72F, but even Colin doesn’t want to take a dip!

Two sea-plane ultralights flew over the mast yesterday afternoon. This one has inflatable pontoons, but the other appeared to have an old inflatable avon dinghy for its landing gear. Sorry we didn’t get a picture of that one!

While watching a bald eagle glide low to a nearby tree, I spied a tiny orange hang glider; it coasted over my head and fluttered a way: a beautiful monarch butterfly.

A nuclear power plant sits near the east end of the Chesapeake-Delaware canal, which we transited on our way from Delaware Bay into the Chesapeake. The day’s science lesson focused on the structure of the atom, fission, the functioning of a nuclear reactor, and the pros and cons of nuclear power. Coincidentally Owen had just read a book on the Japanese Tsunami!

 The 9/11 museum was created as a memorial to the fall of the Twin Towers. The museum itself is shaped to look like a building that has fallen on its side and was built right next to the towers’ foundations. Inside there are four levels. Throughout the museum are placed different items that were recovered from the wreckage of the Twin Towers. There are also pictures of before and after the planes crashed into the towers.

There was a separate room that branched off the fourth level. In that room there were clips from TV broadcasts, more pictures, quotes from people who experienced the attack, a time line of the attack, phone calls and more.

Also on the fourth level was a map of the world that flashed messages written by people who visited the museum. There was a machine that you could write your own message on, so I did.

Hello, I am Megan and I will never forget the fall of the two towers. I hope no one else does either.       – Megan F.

The 9/11 museum was very sad, but in a way, also very beautiful. If you ever visit New York I suggest visiting this sight.