Thursday, May 5, 2011

Washington D.C.

We had a fun time exploring Washington D.C. in March and April.





The first decision was do we fly or ....

...drive to Washington. It takes 20 hours so we chose to fly. The kids loved the flight (once we finally took off - major delays).






We arrive in time for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The blossoms were beautiful.




Around the Potomac River Basin/Jefferson Memorial the blossoms were spectacular.





We loved walking around and looking at as many as we could. We also visited...





The National Arboretum



The White House



Air and Space Museum



The Museum of Nature and Science







We treasured getting together with our friends the Angell's. We love you guys.



F.D.R. Memorial



We rode around on the Metro.



Toured the capital - this is the view from the Washington Monument.





On the weekend Joe took us out to Gettysburg.



National Zoo was wonderful and extra fun since we went with our friends the Angells.



The Postal Museum





The kids love the Library of Congress, especially the children's book section.






Joe and George went with us the Bureau of Engraving - thank you for the tickets Joe.





National Museum of Art



Then we met up with Joe's cousin on the weekend. Do you see the family resemblance? We all went to Jamestown together. What a fun place for the kids to run around and explore.






Elli and Jarom manned the cannon.


Trent and Elli got some water.....





helped make a canoe, visited the blacksmith, saw the guns get shot, chased the chickens - oops....



and boarded the replica ships.



it is hard to believe so many men came on these three small ships. There were sailors and 51 men to settle the new land. Jamestown was the first successful settlement. Roanoke failed a few years prior. The original church still stands today. This was a great place to visit.



Trent tried out the sleeping quarter on the ship. Boy the bedding must have needed washed after 3-4 months at sea. I won't go into detail about the sanitation on the ship, but lets just say the voyage was anything but first class.





Trent helped grind the corn like the native people did in the area centuries ago.




Then Elli and MaKayla explored the native huts.



Finally we all boarded a ferry and sailed across the Chesapeake Bay (note there are 2 Chesapeake Bays in the US). What a great vacation!

1 comment:

Katie said...

Looks like a great trip! Tom and I will have to plan one like it...great history lessons for the kids.