Washington D.C. Adventure, Day 5

We spent our last morning in D.C. at the National Zoo.  Most of our outings in D.C. had been a bit old for Eli, so we decided to do an activity that would be just his speed.  

It was a very impressive zoo.  We got to see the otters eating breakfast, pandas eating bamboo and lions playing with their babies.  Our favorite part was the orangutans.  They were allowed to climb up special towers and travel across cables to another exhibit.  The people below had to watch for falling debris!

We loved our time at the zoo!  We ate our lunch and then headed out of D.C. to begin our drive to Tennessee.  Our D.C. Adventure was wonderful!

 Orangutan crossing!

 Eli could have watched the lions all day!

Washington D.C. Adventure, Day 4

Day four was my favorite day in D.C.  I think it was partly because we had a more realistic agenda, and partly because I love American history!  We spent the first part of the day exploring the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  It is a fantastic museum!

 Camping equipment has come a long ways since George Washington's time!

The girls loved the First Ladies Exhibit.  They had a great time looking at the fashions throughout the years.  They each picked out their favorite and least favorite dresses.

 Anna Grace liked Laura Bush's dress.

 Olivia was not impressed with the dress behind her!

 Bailey chose Michelle Obama's dress as her favorite.

 Ms. Piggy is a rock star around our house!

 We finally found Lincoln's hat for our scavenger hunt!

 Watch our for that bus!

Eli Lincoln

We had a 4:00 appointment to tour Ford's theater and the Peterson House, so we headed there after late in the afternoon.  It was a great follow up to our tour of the American History Museum.

Washington D.C. Adventure, Day 3

We started our third day in D.C. with a tour of the Capitol Building.  We had contacted our senator, John Boozman, and arranged to have a guided tour of the building.  We started in one of the senate office buildings and made our way to the Capitol through underground passages (I had no idea they existed).  We spent almost three hours touring the building and seeing a lot of history.  The interns did a great job of showing us around.

 The underground tram that leads to the Capitol

Our children with our tour guides

After we finished our tour, we had lunch in a shady spot and then walked around the Library of Congress.  Mark was thrilled to get to see a Gutenberg Bible.  It was a beautiful building!  

We then headed to the Air and Space Museum.  We were all pretty wiped out by this point, but the children had a good time looking around.  They were still working their way through the scavenger hunt books I made, so they stayed pretty focused.

 Our Little Pilot

Meeting the Wright Brothers

The highlight of their day was finally getting to swim in the hotel pool!

Washington DC Adventure, Day 2

Our second day started with a ride on the Metro.  Our hotel was located near Fairfax, Virginia, so we drove to the Metro station, parked our cars, and rode the Metro into D.C.  It was quite an experience for our small town group.  There were seventeen of us, so it was no small task to get us on and off the train!

Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery.  We were able to watch the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  It was a very solemn and moving ceremony.

Afterwards, we walked to the Lincoln Memorial.  It looked like a hop, skip and a jump from Arlington, but it was quite a hike!  We entertained ourselves by watching the planes fly over and seeing the Potomic River.  We also took silly pictures with the Washington Monument in the background.

Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial.  Lincoln is one of my favorite presidents, so I enjoyed looking around.  We took lots of pictures with Lincoln as our photo bomber!

We then headed to the World War 2 Memorial and then on to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  We stopped at a bench to eat the lunches we had packed.  There were so many more monuments and memorials that we could have seen, but we were low on time and energy!  

 World War 2 Memorial

 Taking a rest in front of the Washington Monument

We were so tired by the time that we got to the Museum of Natural History, that much of it was a blur!  The metro ride back to our hotel was very stressful.  Our group was making its way down the escalator to get on the metro.  There was already a train there, so the first half of the group got on before the second half was to the bottom.  The doors closed before Mark and I could get on, so we were separated from our children.  Thankfully, there were three adults with them, but it was still stressful!  I knew they were safe, but I felt very out of control.  It was a good reminder that I am never really in control!  Needless to say, we came up with a new plan for entering and exiting the Metro, and it worked well the rest of the week.  Overall, it was a wonderful and exhausting day!  

Washington DC Adventure, Day One

     We started on our DC Adventure early on a Monday morning. We had spent the weekend visiting with Mamaw and spending time with family.  We got up EARLY in the morning to start our six hour drive.  We met our friends, the Pitts family, and started our tour of Mount Vernon.  The children had a scavenger hunt to complete, so that kept our group pretty focused!

     Eli was very distressed to find out that George Washington was dead.  In all of our talks about our trip to Mount Vernon, I guess we failed to mention that George would not actually be there!  Other than that minor disappointment, we had a great time.  It was really interesting to learn more about our first president and how he lived.  Mount Vernon was a great start to our family adventure!

 A picture with our host!

 Eli Humor!

We were a bit tired by the end of the tour!

SUMMER BUCKET LIST

__Pick blueberries

__Have a water balloon fight

__Make homemade bubbles

__Have a play dough day

__Go swimming with friends

__Make popsicles

__Visit Nana, Grand-Bob and Mamaw

__Have a sidewalk chalk day

__Make homemade ice cream

__Catch fireflies

__Get donuts

__ Go Bowling

__Library reading program

__Wash the cars in swimsuits

__Eat banana splits for supper

__Make frozen bananas

__Have each child plan and cook supper one night

__Scrapbook with the girls

__Have a family game night

__Have lots of play dates with friends

__ Make dirt pudding

__Play with shaving cream

__Go to a movie

__Play in a creek

__Have a carnival night

__ Have fun with face paints

__ Have root beer floats

__ Go out for milkshakes

__ Celebrate Christmas in July

__ Have a Kindergarten Playdate

__ Roast Marshmallows

__ Have a carnival night

__ Have a Nacho bar for supper

___ Eat Watermelon

__ Make a photo book of our summer fun!