We had way too much fun in DC to only do one post, so here is the first!!! My Mom moved to Virginia a year ago for work, and we were all SO sad to see her go. My whole family lives in Grand Rapids and I already feel so far away from them - Virginia seems forever away! The good news is she moved to a place that is GREAT for visiting though. Since it has been a year since she moved away, we decided we should get out there for a visit, and it was a blast. Elyse was SO excited to ride on the plane (as you can see from the picture above!). She has been on a plane before but she was too little to remember, so it was fun to fly with her for the "first" time. The funniest part was when we were waiting to take off and she kept asking when we were going to "blast off"...love it! The plane wasn't very full so we sat in rows across from each other so they could each look out the window. They were VERY well behaved, and since it was only 1 1/2 flight, they were pretty well amused by the plane trip itself for most of the time. They gave the girls little kids packets with a coloring book and crayons and it also had a little tiny set of wings that were stickers. Elyse made Kenny put the wings on her back so it would look like she had wings on - that girl cracks me up!
When my Mom first moved to Virginia, she called to tell me about this fountain that is in the middle of an open air mall with shops and restaurants. The water shoots out of the ground sparadically and she called to tell me how many kids were running through it and squealing they were having so much fun - she couldn't wait for the kids to come visit so they could do it too! On the first night we were in Virginia we grabbed a bite to eat and let the kids run in the fountain. They loved it and my Mom was so excited to get to see them running in it. We actually went back on our last night there too because the kids wanted to go in it again so badly! It really wasn't that warm out by after dinner and the water was COLD, but the kids couldn't have cared less. Lexi was even brave enough by the second night to go stand in the middle of it where the water sprayed in a circle all around her and got her drenched! It was pretty cute :)
The first full day we were there, we made the trek into DC to do some "touristy" things. My mom only lives about 40 minutes outside of DC, so it is perfect for visiting there as well. We rode the Metro there, which the kids were pretty excited about. We spent most of our time at the National Museum of Natural History, since we heard it was the most exciting museum for the kiddos. They were in awe of the huge dinosaur skeletons, and I have to admit, I was too!!! Lexi loved the Terradactyl - the wing bones were unbelievable. Elyse liked the really small animal skeletons because they looked like baby animals (of course!). As you walked around that section in a circle, it led you through the phases of Evolution - which was a little difficult to explain to the kids, but at least they got a mini lesson :) There was also a pretty cool section all about bugs, and the kids got to watch a Tarantula feeding. Elyse's eyes were HUGE the whole time, but she wasn't nearly as big of a scaredy cat as I was expecting!
There was also a small room that was a hands on area for the kids. There were tons of things to look at through microscopes and lots of activity boxes about all different science topics. There was another section with clothes the kids could put on from around the world which Lysie really enjoyed! Overall, the kids and the rest of us loved the Museum. They are still talking about all the things they learned there!
When my Mom first moved to Virginia, she called to tell me about this fountain that is in the middle of an open air mall with shops and restaurants. The water shoots out of the ground sparadically and she called to tell me how many kids were running through it and squealing they were having so much fun - she couldn't wait for the kids to come visit so they could do it too! On the first night we were in Virginia we grabbed a bite to eat and let the kids run in the fountain. They loved it and my Mom was so excited to get to see them running in it. We actually went back on our last night there too because the kids wanted to go in it again so badly! It really wasn't that warm out by after dinner and the water was COLD, but the kids couldn't have cared less. Lexi was even brave enough by the second night to go stand in the middle of it where the water sprayed in a circle all around her and got her drenched! It was pretty cute :)
The first full day we were there, we made the trek into DC to do some "touristy" things. My mom only lives about 40 minutes outside of DC, so it is perfect for visiting there as well. We rode the Metro there, which the kids were pretty excited about. We spent most of our time at the National Museum of Natural History, since we heard it was the most exciting museum for the kiddos. They were in awe of the huge dinosaur skeletons, and I have to admit, I was too!!! Lexi loved the Terradactyl - the wing bones were unbelievable. Elyse liked the really small animal skeletons because they looked like baby animals (of course!). As you walked around that section in a circle, it led you through the phases of Evolution - which was a little difficult to explain to the kids, but at least they got a mini lesson :) There was also a pretty cool section all about bugs, and the kids got to watch a Tarantula feeding. Elyse's eyes were HUGE the whole time, but she wasn't nearly as big of a scaredy cat as I was expecting!
There was also a small room that was a hands on area for the kids. There were tons of things to look at through microscopes and lots of activity boxes about all different science topics. There was another section with clothes the kids could put on from around the world which Lysie really enjoyed! Overall, the kids and the rest of us loved the Museum. They are still talking about all the things they learned there!
