Our DC trip Part 9

Today was Sunday, the last day of our DC trip.  We had so much fun, we didn't want to see it end but on the other hand we were eager to get home back to our own beds.  I will definitely miss someone else cooking me breakfast.  But I am also eager to get home and get cooking some healthier foods:)

Every chance we got, the boys begged to go to the pool.  Spending all day walking in the hot sun- the pool was so refreshing.  Even on days, we were so tired, the boys somehow found the energy to swim.

Here are some great pictures of all my boys in the pool:

My little ones swimming all by themselves:)  Look how proud they are

He thought the floaties needed more air- so cute

This was our life guard at the pool.  He is visiting from the Ukraine and working here for the summer.  He was shy at first but after talking to him- he warmed right up:)

I hope you have enjoyed our trip to DC through pictures.  We had a great time, learned alot of new things, and got alot of fresh air.  We also got tons of exercise for the time we were there between walking and swimming:)  The boys are now trying to convince us we need a pool:)

In case you missed the beginning:

Home Sweet Home

Our DC Trip Part 1

Our DC Trip Part 2

Our DC Trip Part 3

Our DC Trip Part 4

Our DC Trip Part 5

Our DC Trip Part 6

Our DC Trip Part 7

Our DC Trip Part 8

Our DC trip Part 8

Day 8 was Saturday.  The boys are all having fun learning and enjoying all the museums.  Plus the pool at the hotel was a huge hit.

We decided this day to drive out to Dulles Airport to visit the Air & Space Museum over there.  Our Metro tickets expired and we didn't want to try to have to find a parking garage in DC that was affordable.  The Air & Space Museum in Dulles is free- YEA but the parking is $15.  Still cheaper than parking at the zoo.  Michael, my hubby was super excited with the museum- he was telling all about his favorite planes.  I never realized he knew so much about planes.  They also had an observation tower, where you could see planes landing at Dulles Airport.

Here are some pictures of this day:

Michael's favorite plane

Space Shuttle Discovery

Nathan in the Observation Tower

Plane landing at Dulles

As you can see, we had a great time.  We didn't want it to end but on the other hand, our beds at home were super comfy and we had animals that we missing up like crazy.

Come back tomorrow to see the great pool pictures I took of my boys.

In case you missed the beginning:
Home Sweet Home
Our DC Trip Part 1
Our DC Trip Part 2
Our DC Trip Part 3
Our DC Trip Part 4
Our DC Trip Part 5
Our DC Trip Part 6
Our DC Trip Part7

Our DC Trip Part 7

Our 7th day in Washington DC was Friday.  We walked to the Bureau of Engraving and  Printing to be told you needed a ticket.  Well, the tickets were free and were being distributed behind another museum.  So, we rushed over only to find out that they were all given out for the day- bummer.

Since, we were over in that part of Washington DC we decided to take a stroll over to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial- not on our itenaray but oh well.  Neither Michael nor myself had ever gone to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial- so away we walked.  Wow- what a walk but so worth it.

Here are some pics from this day:

From the Thomas Jefferson Memorial , we walked over to the Air & Space Musuem.  The boys all had a blast at the Air & Space Museum.

I thought this was neat- it is the Electromagnetic Spectrum in stained glass

Wright Brother's plane

We are having so much fun in DC and learning so much.

Come back tomorrow to see where our last full day in Washington DC took place.

In case you missed the beginning:
Home Sweet Home
Our DC Trip Part 1
Our DC Trip Part 2
Our DC Trip Part 3
Our DC Trip Part 4
Our DC Trip Part 5
Our DC Trip Part 6

Our DC trip Part 6

Good morning:)  This morning is turning into a busy one as I multi task.   I have a load of clothes in the washing machine, am bagging up cupcakes to put in the freezer while we are gone- that I never had a chance to frost- sorry Nathan and writing this blog post all while packing. 

So excited, today is the day we are leaving for our in laws.  We get to spend a weekend with my in laws, sister in laws and their families.  It is always great seeing everyone- we always have a blast.

I wanted to write this blog post about our 6th day of our trip before we left today.  So, here goes:

Since the 4th of July was so jammed packed, some wanted to stay at the hotel and rest.  But we wanted to make the most of our trip and our Metro passes, which we thought was a 7 day pass- well, it actually was a 7 day pass but we missed the part where it said 7 consecutive day.  And since the 7 day passes are not cheap, we figured we should get our moneys worth.  So, we decided to go to the zoo.

The little ones love the zoo- they love the animals.  This summer for our summer homeschool trial, Kevin and Nathan were asked to pick and research an animal for our trip.  Nathan picked a cheetah and Kevin picked a Galapagos Tortoise until he found out the library didn't carry many books at all on Galapagos Tortoises.  He decided to change his animal to the Tiger- much more info at the library.  We also found out that little Michael loves pandas.

Here are some highlights from the zoo:

There was so much to see and do at the zoo.  We left the zoo later than we wanted to but we got to see and do all the zoo had to offer.  A few of the exhibits are closed for renovations, so we will definitely have to go back when they get everything fixed and renovated:)

Hope everyone has a great and safe weekend.  Come back Monday to continue our journey:

In case you missed the beginning:
Home Sweet Home
Our DC Trip Part 1
Our DC Trip Part 2
Our DC Trip Part 3
Our DC Trip Part4
Our DC Trip Part 5

Our DC trip Part 5

This day was July 4th.  We have never been in Washington Dc on the 4th of July~ we had no clue the journey we were about to embark on.

The metro wasn't bad at all.  We had a smooth ride to our stop.  We walked over to the The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, only to be greeted by yellow police tape and a small note taped to the door explaining that they were closed due to the 4th of July holiday.  That would have been nice to put on their website but no biggie.

We had other plans also.  So, we walked to the National Archives.  The closer we got to The National Archives the more people we saw.  We  had no clue that a parade was about to come down the street.  We missed most of it as we were standing in the longest line I had seen in DC so far.

Here is what we saw while waiting in line~ I am standing on a wall to take this picture:

In front of us

Behind us

 I have never seen this amount of people in DC before.  Thankfully, we have packed our lunch the night before and ate our lunch while standing in the 2 hr line in the hot hot sun.

But the wait was so worth it.  We got to see the original Declaration of Independence, the original Bill of Rights and the original Constitution.  The guards were impressed that little Michael at 2 yrs old, told them that was the Constitution- so proud.  Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures.

I highly recommend the next time you are in Washington DC to stop by the National Archives- just don't go on the 4th of July unless you like waiting in a super long line.

We left The National Archives and went back to our hotel and got ready for our next adventure.  We packed up the van and drove to my dad's house and packed up all my Scentsy stuff I had left there.  I didn't want to leave all my Scentsy stuff at the hotel.  A good friend of my family invited us to their 4th of July cook out and wanted to have a Scentsy party also. It was great seeing Dave and Cheryl and catching up.  They had bought some very cool fireworks.  We found out that little Michael is not fond of the noise of fireworks and wanted to go back to the hotel.

We left there and drove back to my dad's to drop all my Scentsy stuff off and to drive back to the hotel, where we settled in our air conditioned room for the night.  Ahhhhh- air is good:)

Come back tomorrow to see where our travels took us.

In case you missed the beginning:
Home Sweet Home
Dc Trip Part 1
Our DC Trip Part 2
Our DC Trip Part 3
Our DC Trip Part 4

Our DC trip Part 4

On our 4th day in DC, we wanted to finish up the American History Museum and go to the Butterfly garden in the Natural History Museum, which just happened to be free on Tuesday:)

Everyday while in Washington Dc, we packed our lunch at the hotel the night before and found a nice shady, grassy area to eat.  Little did we know about our lunch visitors, which made it really hard for the little ones to sit and actually eat.

Here are some pictures of our adventures on this day:

 The Butterfly Garden at the Natural History Museum:

We had a blast and are enjoying our trip to DC.

Come back tomorrow to see what our plans were for the 4th of July:)

In case you missed the beginning:
Home Sweet Home
Dc Trip Part 1
Our DC Trip Part 2
OUr DC Trip Part 3

Our DC trip Part 3

Day 3 for us was on Monday.  We have power, we have air, we have working hair dryers and most importantly we have hot coffee:)  We were starting off on good vibes.

We decided to go to the American History Museum today.  We got on the free shuttle with the most awesome shuttle driver ever, Justus.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of him with little Michael.  Justus was so sweet and made friends with little Michael.  If you asked little Michael, who we were going to see today, he would answer you and it was the same answer everyday we asked~ "I'm going to see my friend Justus."  It was so sweet.

We hopped on the shuttle to the metro. 

There was so much to do at the American History Museum, we couldn't fit it all into 1 day.  We did as much as we could. 

Here are some highlights from that day:

Dorothy's Red Slippers

Scarecrow hat and boots

1600's guitars

Nathan as President of the United States:)

Really cool looking chess set

We had lots of fun exploring the museum.  Learned lots of cool things~ like did you know that in the original Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's Slippers were not red? 

Come back tomorrow to see where we went the next day.

In case you missed the beginning:

Home Sweet Home

DC trip Part 1

Our DC Trip Part 2

Our DC trip Part 2

Day 2 was Sunday.  Still no power.  Saturday night was horrible- no breeze- so hot.  We all had a hard time sleeping. 

Sunday morning got up and showered in our mostly dark bathroom.  I had realized the day before that no power also meant no hair dryer- oh no.  For those that know me, know that I have bangs- always had bangs.  Well, not Saturday or Sunday- it felt so weird not to have bangs.  But we found out with a little or more than a little bit of hairspray, my bangs stayed put.

Almost ready to take the dark stairwell down to the lobby for breakfast, when all of a sudden we heard a strange sound.  Then it happened- the lights all came on and so did the air- yea for air:)  We were so excited- you could hear the hallelujahs and happiness coming from our room.  Unfortunately, it was too late for the hotel to make anything hot for breakfast, so it was another day of bagels, pastries and cereal.

We decided to go to the Natural History Museum this day.  I love the Natural History Museum- the Hope diamond- all the gems.  I would have been so happy just to spend the day with all the amethysts and emeralds, etc that they had.  My boys not so much.  I don't know why they didn't have any interest in seeing the world's largest diamond or seeing all the gems. They did like seeing the animals and the dinosaurs.

Here are some pictures from our day:

Little Michel measuring his hand to that of a koala bear

All my boys having fun at the termite exhibit

I love this picture:)

Neat fish x-rays

Little Michael touching this nice big amethyst- oh to have this at home:)

Dinosaurs

The Hope diamond- 45.52 carats:)

We also discovered that they had a neat butterfly garden- how cool- lets go.  We rushed over only to discover the nice little $7 per person price- maybe not.  We did find out that on Tuesday's you can get into the butterfly garden for free.  Anybody want to guess where we went Tuesday?

Everyone had a great day- now back to the hotel to sit in our air conditioned room and make dinner then off to the neat duck shaped pool the hotel had.

Come back tomorrow for see where we went on Day 3.

In case you  missed the beginning:
Home Sweet Home
DC Trip Part 1

Our DC trip part 1

Our Day 1 was Saturday.  We still had no power.  Trying to sleep with no air conditioning was quite interesting, especially since the temperature during the day was over 100 degrees.  There was no breeze in sight.

We were very thankful to have running water- not hot water but at least warm water.  Trying to take a shower in the dark was also quite interesting.  I have never thought about it before- but no hotel I have ever stayed at had a window in the bathroom.  Luckily, our hotel room had 1 bedroom attached to the bathroom and a door separating the living room from the bathroom.  So, we closed the living room door and left the bedroom door open with so that the light from the bedroom made the bathroom area not so dark.

The hotel staff was great and kept apologizing.  We told them it was kind of like camping so all was good.  There was no since getting upset over something no one had any control over.  There were people quite upset :(  Since the hotel stay was free for us- we decided to tough it out.

After our not so hot shower, we went downstairs for breakfast- which was cereal, bagels, pastries- anything that didn't need to be cooked and no coffee :(

We decided that we would go to the art museum.  We were blessed to have a free shuttle from the hotel to the metro.  The boys had a blast riding the metro.  We got to the art museum and went right to the gift shop.  Each of my boys picked out the postcard of their choice.  It was a neat game to see if they could find their postcards on the wall at the art museum.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

I absolutely love stained glass

Nathan was the only one who found his postcard

One of Christopher's favorites

We had a lot of fun.  The postcard game worked out great.  I didn't realize how huge the art museum was.  The little boys were done after just the upper floor but looking for their postcard kept them looking, learning and moving:)

Come back tomorrow for Day 2 and see where our adventures took us.