Vacation & Travel: Exploring Washington, D.C. – Union Station, Capital, Washington Monument, and Vietnam Memorial
Outside Union Station in Washington, D.C. The girls first comment was, “It looks like an airport with everyone carrying their luggage around to meet the trains.”
Our family had the opportunity this summer to explore Washington, D.C. The girls were VERY EXCITED! They have studied, read, and heard various things about our capital city of Washington, D.C. so they were thrilled to finally get to go and see some of it for themselves.
We stayed in a Reston which is on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The girls were up early the first morning ready for an adventure. We parked the van in Union Station and caught the trolley to get around town.
Originally, it was our plan to walk from monument to monument in Washington, D.C. but we found a good deal on the Old Town Trolley and decided that would be a great option especially for traveling around town with the kids. I am glad we did because it was hot and we still had a lot of walking as it was with the trolley to ride between stops. If you have kids I highly recommend riding the trolley because it helps break of the walking a little bit, gives you and the kids a chance to cool down, get a drink or snack, and rest. The trolley drivers give you information about the various sights you are going by as well so you get a little bit of extra history information while going from one place to the next too. The trolley’s went very close to every stop we were hoping to visit as well which made traveling around the town much easier for us.
The Freedom Bell outside Union Station in Washington, D.C. it says on the side of it “Proclaim Liberty Throughout….”
Watching the trains come into Union Station
Capital building! The tent out front is for the July 4th concert!
Karlie chatting about all the cool places as we ride the trolley to the next stop!
You can see the Washington Monument from many directions all over town….now they know why….because it’s so tall!
They look so small standing in front of the Washington Monument!
Resting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a moment while they take in the sight of the reflection pool and the Washington Monument.
Getting ready to go visit the Vietnam Memorial. They are standing in front of a bronze statue called “The Three Servicemen” which is part of the Washington, DC National Mall trail and commemorates the Vietnam War.
They were shocked at all the names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
Reading the names….so many people and families affected by this war.
Reading through the names with Daddy.
Copying a name onto a sheet of paper with a pencil.
Each girl picked out one name to copy onto their sheet of paper.
As we were walking by the Vietnam Memorial one of the sections had these boots and jacket folded up neatly next to it. It brought tears to my eyes thinking that someone’s family member gave their life to serve in this war. What a special way to honor them by putting their or another family members boots next to their memorial. It makes me thankful for those both in my family and others who have and are serving our country even though there are great risks involved.
Vacation & Travel – Pausing in Reston, VA
Relaxing at the hotel and watching the traffic for a few minutes while we figure out our evening plans!
We arrived at our next stop Reston, Virginia! Thankfully, it wasn’t too far to drive from Colonial Williamsburg and the traffic was really good. We had reserved our hotel room in advance at Weston, however, by the time we arrived they didn’t have any more of our size rooms so we got free upgrade to a suite with two rooms and a refrigerator which was really nice.
So happy to be hanging out with these 3 people, my sweet family!
Brina socializing while Karlie finds a place to lounge and catch up with her current book!
Cool open area in downtown Reston area. A bunch of kids were riding bikes, skating, and playing in this covered area. They also use it to host community concerts.
Hanging out by the water fountain after walking through the downtown area.
We finally decided on Clydes restaurant after walking through the downtown area. It was a nice family restaurant and we were seated in the western style area with lots of horse memorabilia and pictures so they girls thought it was great!
Travel & Vacation – Exploring Colonial Williamsburg
Our wild crew at Colonial Williamsburg in front of the Governor’s Palace!
We had a chance to explore Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia on our recent road trip up the East Coast! It was our first big stop an our road trip. After driving to the area the day before we spent the night at a local hotel and were up early the next morning with our picnic lunch packed and ready to explore the area.
Jake had to work on Friday so for the most part it was just the girls and I exploring Colonial Williamsburg. He did get to join us for a little bit over his lunch break though which was really nice. It was a lot of fun seeing so many neat historical places. The girls did the quest exploration and scavenger hunt. My phone didn’t work in all the areas so we didn’t finish all the quest activities, but we did get our prize for completing the scavenger hunt.
Last year in school the girls studied a lot of about the American Revolution, Civil War and more in Social Studies so this adventure really ties into some of the items they have been learning about in school. Colonial Williamsburg is like taking a step back into America’s past during the time of the American Revolution. There are hundreds of restored buildings, exhibits, homes, government offices, trade shops, museums and more to explore.
We’ve made it!
Hiking along the path to the next location to explore! This was a neat bridge with a stream and path running underneath it, nice and cool on a hot summer day!
Brina and Karlie outside the Governor’s Palace!
Beautiful display of pistols with the family crest in the entry way of the Governor’s Palace!
Standing in front of the fire palace with a small portion of the weapons on display in the palace. The Governor’s Palace had impressive displays of muskets, pistols, swords, curve-blade sabers and more! The hundreds of weapons visible once stepping into the house was meant to both wow and intimidate you.
More weapons displayed on the stairwell. Brina really thought they did a great job hanging the guns!
Touring the gardens at the Governor’s Palace!
Jake with his girls near the palace greens!
George Wythe House and gardens!
Exploring inside George Wythe’s house!
Wow, he was studying some really cool scientific items.
Playing the game of “Pick up Sticks”
Watching him hand-make cedar shingles for a building at Colonial Williamsburg! The fresh wood shavings smelled awesome!
Oh no! Brina and Karlie in the stocks, what did they do?!
Touring the print shop! Wow, there are some BIG books! Karlie loved it!
Brina all smiles!
Grinding up seeds of grain. This is going to take forever if we want to make some homemade bread!
Outside the capital building!
We had a blast exploring Colonial Williamsburg! The girls were ready to stay for a week and explore even more. We only had the one day at Colonial Williamsburg along our road trip, but we packed in a ton of activities into that one day. Thankfully, we started early and were able to get through a large portion of the items that the girls wanted to do. It was really neat learning what it would be like to live there during the time of the American Revolution. All the people were very friendly, helpful, and it was a great day with the kids. We were all exhausted by the time we got back into the car later that day and headed back onto the road towards our next destination.
Road Trip Tips – Easy Games to Pass Time in the Car
Karlie having fun and being goofy on the road trip.
On the road again….! After a full day of work, horse camp, packing the van, and more fun we set off on another road trip adventure with the whole family. The kids are excited and we have several days worth of fun on the road planned. We get to go to a few places we’ve never been before so that is always fun for the family!
Road Trip Game ideas (here are a few that we played on this particular trip):
- Road Trip Bingo – you can buy a road trip bingo board or create your own if you know some of the items you will be seeing such including road signs, building, national monuments, animals, etc….
- I Spy – you don’t need anything to bring for this game. You just have someone say “I Spy With My Little Eye” and the rest of the family has to guess what object they see whether in the car or outside of the vehicle.
- License Plate Game – how many of the 50 states can you see while on the road trip, if I remember correctly we got 37 US states and even some Canada ones too! It was the closest we have ever come to getting 50 states!
- 20 Questions – this does not require any prep or packing either. Have one person think of a plant, animal, or thing and the rest of the family gets a total of 20 questions to determine what object they were thinking about. The person answering the question can only answer “yes” or “no” and nothing else.
- Animal Game – the first person to spy an animal or pen of animals (a herd counts as 1 point) gets one point. If there are different types of animals in the same pen or location (such as horses, cows, donkey, etc…) they can get additional points for each type of animal if they call them out first. Wild animals or unique farm animals (other than birds) such as deer, coyotes, emus, llamas, etc…. get a bonus 5 points for each type they see. Our rule is at least one other person in the car must see the animal as well.
- Car Game – everyone picks a different color of car and gets a point for every car they see with their color. This game works best in a quieter traffic or two lane highway since in a big city the score keeper will have a harder time keeping up and it becomes a series of yelling “I see a red, white, blue, green…..one!”
- Historical Marker Game – the first person to see something of historical significance gets a point.
- ABC Game – this one is great for areas with a lot of road signs or billboards. You start with the letter “A” and find a written word that starts with that letter than move onto “B” and so forth.
- Car Color Bingo – we picked the car color “yellow” and the first person to spy a yellow vehicle would call out “Bingo yellow Penske truck or Bingo yellow convertible, etc…” and they would get one point per vehicle they spotted. Another person had to see the vehicle to count and the majority of the vehicle had to be yellow in order to count.
These were a handful of the ones we played on our road trip. Hope you enjoy some of them if you are going on a road trip too! It is a great way to pass the time and have fun. We all want road trips with the whole family to be fun and pleasant for everyone!
We stopped for dinner at a Chic-Fil-A along the way and let the kids run around in the play area for a few minutes while we waiting for the food. It was a great way to let them stretch their legs and have fun. It helps break up the time just sitting idle in the vehicle too.
Our family enjoys road trips! It is a fun way to spend extra time since we are all packed into the van together. While in the car we have plenty to talk about, games to play, snacks, videos to watch, audiobooks to listen, and even summer workbooks to complete, stories to tell, memories to laugh about, books to read, and more so the time goes by quickly! Yes, we are one of “those” families that make their kids do summer workbooks to keep them up to speed during summer vacation, although we don’t necessarily make them do it everyday (road trips are a great time to get a few pages of some workbooks done). Even though we have a DVD player in our van the kids are not allowed to watch it very often. It is our rule that unless the trip is 5 or more hours the DVD never gets opened. Since we had a 40 plus hours of driving ahead of us the kids were excited to watch a few DVDs on this trip! What do you do to make road trips fun for your family and break up those long hours in the vehicle with the kids?
Welcome Ranch Horse Camp
What a great week of fun and learning at Welcome Ranch! Thanks Ms. Lisa!
The girls were able to do a week of Horse Camp this summer at Welcome Ranch! They always enjoyed getting there a few minutes early to say “hi” to all the farm animals on Ms. Lisa’s farm before camp started. Both girls love horses and animals so camp is always an activity they look forward to during the summer.
Brina on the move around the ring!
Ready to ride? Karlie all smiles while Brina holds one of the cats at the ranch!
Karlie all decked out waiting for her turn to ride. Ms. Lisa always has some special surprise or something different to do each day in addition to taking care of the horses and riding lessons.
Brina leading the horse back to the barn!
Finger painting their names and designs onto Reno, who was being a good sport standing still with all the kids around him!
I didn’t get a picture of all their finger painted drawings, but I did get a shot of their names!
Road Trip Tips – Pack 1 Outfit Per Day for Each Family Member in Ziploc Bags
All packed up and ready to go!
We are all packed up and ready to go on our long 40 plus hour road trip! Thankfully, the kids travel so well. We have a blast on the road exploring various places.
This particular road trip included different stops each night for a week before we got to our final destination where we would stay several days before heading back home. As we were discussing how to pack for the trip my husband suggested packing our clothes in ziploc bags in one suitcase. In the suitcase we had a row of bags for the girls (both of their outfits still fit into one ziploc bag), one row for Jake, and one for me. On top of the rows we had a couple extra shirts and items for Jake and I in bags on top. There were also 2 bags with everyone’s swimming suits and 2 bags of pj’s.
When we stopped each night we would pull an outfit out of the suitcase for each person and put it into a backpack with all our toiletries. We had everything we needed in one backpack each night when we stopped whether we were staying at a house or hotel. We didn’t have to bring in any suitcase or make multiple trips because it all fit into one backpack. It was so simple, easy, and worked perfectly for our family! It made the overnight stays so much more efficient for our entire family.
Our suitcase completely packed with a weeks work of outfits for everyone in the family.
Packing this way took a little more work as we packed, but it worked so well it was totally worth it since we were at a different place every night the first week of our road trip. If we were just going to one place for the entire vacation it would still be easier to pack regularly, however, this will be our new way to pack when we are doing road trips with a number of stops. I found that if I packed the clothes and bags in the evening while we were watching TV it only took a little bit to get it done. We did pack a couple spares bags for each person (just in case or rain or something unpredictable). If you are looking for a simple and easy way to pack for a family on a road trip we highly recommend you pack one outfit per day for each family member in ziploc bags! While on vacation you will have more opportunities to relax and enjoy your vacation, take those pictures, and create special memories!
Happy Cow Dairy Farm
Ewww…… What’s that SMELL?!
We were able to join some friends for some fun at the Happy Cow Farm. It was fun to explore the farm together! It was really quiet while we were there with no official tours being offered that afternoon, but the employees told us that we could watch them as they take the cows into milk.
We watched the cows on the farm, ate some delicious Happy Cow ice cream, and watched them milk the cows. As were watching them milk the cows the workers invited us to come into the barn while they were milking the cows AND gave the kids a taste of fresh milk straight from the cow’s udder! Karlie was the first one brave enough to try it. Her first words were – “That was HOT MILK!” They had a blast learning about dairy cows. The workers were truly amazing with the kids and very patient when answering their questions.
Brina and Karlie at the Happy Cow Dairy Farm!
Wow, that’s some FRESH MILK dribbling down Karlie’s chin!
Brina hanging out with the cows as they wait to be milked!
Karlie enjoyed hearing all the cows names and stories about them from the workers.
We wore someone out! Everyone had a lot of fun!
Welcoming the Kids Home from Camp
Brina and Karlie are back from a weekend at church camp!
We were excited that the girls had the opportunity to go to church camp. They had a blast and learned a lot during their weekend away! Thankful for a great learning experience with friends from church. Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures from their actual time at camp even though they took cameras. They said they were too busy having fun and going to all the activities to remember taking pictures. So the pictures of their camp experience consistent of these “welcome home” pictures. We surprised them with walking balloon animals. When we asked them what one activity they wanted to do together as a family they picked go swimming in the pool! It was great having them back home again!
We had a little surprise for the girls when they arrived back in the van!
Brina was so excited about her walking ladybug surprise.
The girls one request for a special activity the day they got back was for all of us to swim in the pool. Brina loves lounging on the seesaw.
Playing on the water seesaw!
Brina Bee having fun in the pool!
Splashing around in the pool.
Karlie walking her dog balloon!
Fun at the Park with Friends
Climbing on rocks at Herdklotz Park with friends
We met some sweet friends at the park for a picnic and to play! The only time that I could get all four kids to sit still long enough for a picture was after they climbed up on this rock. It was the big rock, but they all managed to get up onto it. Thankful for a great time with friends.
Derby decided to join me on the dash in front on the way to and from the park today. He was on the lookout for a fun adventure! It’s not everyday a horse rides on my dash. The girls thought it was hilarious having him help in the van!
Launching Rockets at Legacy Park
Setting up the rocket! 3….2….1…. Blast Off!
We met Jake at Legacy Park over his lunch hour to shoot off rockets. The girls had a blast setting up, shooting it off, and chasing it down. We shot off the rocket several times, on the last shooting it got stuck in the tree! We had a grand time even though the rocket didn’t make it back home again!
She found it!
Karlie turning to look at the cheering squad. There was a daycare at the park while we were shooting off the rocket! A whole group of kids were sitting on the steps cheering every time we shot off the rocket. I think the had as much fun as we did. Jake is trying to untangle the parachute so we can do the next round.
The girls are helping Daddy set it up for another round.
Ready for blast off!
Putting the rocket and parachute back together for another launch!
Setting it back up!
Karlie on the run for it! If you look closely in the upper right corner of the picture (in the blue sky) you can see the parachute and rocket coming down.
Brina helping prep for one more launch.
Brina ready to push the button for launch!
Ready for take off….just need to push the button!
Opps! The rocket got caught in the tree! You can see the yellow in the upper middle of the picture. The little “Fat Jak” rocket provided entertainment for quite awhile! Thanks Daddy for meeting us at the park on your lunch break!
