We were excited to show our kids some of the most iconic cities in the country.
We got on the road right after school on Friday, getting about 6 hours of our 12 hour drive down and staying near Columbus Ohio. Our road trip audio books this time were 'Alice in Wonderland' (okay, but collectively our least favorite), 'Whatever After: Abby in Neverland' (enjoyable), 'The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street' (the collective favorite of the trip), 'The Green Ember' (2nd favorite for most of the family), and 'Clementine and the Spring Trip' (we all LOVE any and all Clementine books).
We got to the Ray's house in the late afternoon on Saturday. We got settled, had dinner, visited, played, and then enjoyed a slightly early birthday celebration for Adelie with the cake that Isla made for her.
The manatee-mermaid ocean cake was just perfect for Adelie!
We started off our first official day together with a trip to the Udvar-Hazy Center, part of the National Air and Space Museum. It was filled with lots of aviation and space artifacts.
We saw lots of various aircraft, including an actual space shuttle. We got to learn about space food and space gear (including space diapers).
One of the highlights for the kids was this simulator where they got to try to land a space shuttle. They all kept getting back in line to do this multiple times.
Their other favorite was sitting in this observation tower and playing clapping games together.
After a few hours, the kids had seen their fill and were getting hungry. Christie and I took the kids home for lunch and then swimming at an indoor pool near their house while Zach and Jonathan continued exploring the museum. I didn't take any pictures of the kids swimming, but they all noted swimming with the Rays as a highlight of the trip. Who needs national monuments and museums when you have a high dive and water fun???
Our next day, Monday, was Adelie's birthday. The Ray girls got decorations, and the kids decorated the stairway and the dining room with balloons and streamers and window paints to surprise Adelie. They also gave Adelie with a few sweet gifts to start her day.
Staley had a rough night with some ear pain from her afternoon of swimming the day before. I had worried that our day would have to start off with a trip to a Prompt Care, but she woke up feeling better so we drove into downtown DC to spend the day showing the kids all the iconic DC sites. The temperature was a little cool, but the day was sunny and beautiful.
We started at the Museum of Natural History. It was crowded, so we just took a quick tour through some of the exhibits that most interested the kids...like the dinosaurs, mammals, ocean creatures, gems, insects, and mummies. We only spent an hour or so at the museum, but it was a fun start to the day. I love that most of the museums and sites in DC are free!
We then spent the remainder of our day taking a walking tour of the mall, the tidal basin, and seeing all the monuments and memorials.
Although we were unable to secure tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument, we could still enjoy the view while we had our picnic lunch on the lawn right near it.
There were ample complaints throughout the day from the children about the amount of walking we were doing and their desire for food/drink/treats/rest, but we powered on to try to hit all the downtown DC highlights. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and beautiful!
Along with the Washington Monument, we were able to check out the MLK Memorial...
the FDR Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial,...
the Lincoln Memorial...
and the World War II Memorial.
We also saw the Jefferson Memorial from across the tidal basin, but I think there might have been a full-on revolt if we had suggested walking all the way around to it.
After a little rest by the reflecting pool, we finally gave in and got everyone ice cream treats to power them through to our final stop of the day...
the White House!
And although the kids might have seemed the most excited about seeing ducks in the tidal basin and eating ice cream, hopefully they'll remember some of the other iconic sites they experienced on our day in DC as well.
While Christie and I drove the girls home from the city (in ridiculously slow traffic with a gas tank showing 0 miles to empty almost the entire way and no gas stations to stop at), the boys took the Metro home...and Briggs thought it was AWESOME! He deemed it one of his top 3 activities of the entire trip.
The boys had time to run to the grocery store while we made our way slowly home so that I could make Adelie's birthday dinner of choice (Grammie's meatballs with potatoes and fruit). We finished it off with a fun dessert cake that the boys found and a few gifts, like a bead kit, Converse shoes, and some miniature Squishmallows.
Adelie got to finish off her big, fun, full day with a kid sleepover all together in the living room. It's good to be 11!
The next day, the kids were excited to just have a day at home with the Ray girls. They spent the entire day making bead bracelets, choreographing dance routines, listening to Taylor Swift, playing outside, and just spending time together.
While Jonathan held down the fort with the kids, Christie took Zach and I downtown again on the Metro to go to the Holocaust Museum. It was horrifying and so much of it was hard to see/listen to, but also so important to not forget that atrocities like this did and do happen.
We spent several hours at the museum and then grabbed some coffee/scones before popping by Ford's Theater on our way back to the Metro. (We were unable to go into the theater, but it's so interesting to just see all these historical places.) After dinner that night, we all settled in to watch the movie "Wonka" together. It was a big hit, and Staley declared it one of her favorite activities of the trip. (Yes, you are seeing a pattern. Swimming. Movie night. Riding the Metro. Seeing ducks. Ice cream. The best parts of our trip, according to the kids, are mostly things we could do within half an hour of our home. *sigh*)
The following day, Zach and Jonathan again took the Metro downtown to check out another museum...the National Museum of African American History. They spent over 3 hours in the museum. Zach said it was so well done.
Christie and I had intended to take the kids to the Smithsonian National Zoo in DC for the day, but it rained all day. So instead we went out for breakfast...
and then played glow in the dark mini golf and arcade games. I was disappointed to miss out on the zoo, but the kids all had a great time. They then spent the rest of the day perfecting their dance routine that they'd been working on all week and getting packed up to head to NYC the next day.
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Our time in DC was great. I wish I could say that seeing all the sites just wowed the kids and made a huge impression. I wish I could say that Briggs never felt left out or got bored as the odd man out with the girls. I wish I could say that no one complained or fussed or cried. I wish I could say that our weather was perfect, and we were able to do everything we wanted to do. I can't say any of that.
I can say that we LOVED having quality time with our friends. We did fun things and saw cool sites and introduced our kids to another new place that will hopefully leave a few lasting memories for them. And our trip wasn't even over yet. It was just time to move on to our next destination. Stay tuned...
