It felt like we spent half of February in Washington DC! StoneBridge had a 3-day winter break weekend, and we decided to spend a couple of days touring DC as a family. Prior to our road trip, Dan bought a mobility scooter to help him with all the walking we typically do. He had rented one at Busch Gardens Christmas Town and it was super helpful! The type he purchased is light, small, and foldable, so it can be taken onboard a plane on any of our future trips.
The girls gave it a spin around the house and gave it two thumbs up!
We drove to DC on Friday morning and ate lunch at the food court in Union Station. It was pretty overwhelming (especially for Emma) with lots of travelers and some homeless people, but it was a convenient place to eat a quick meal before heading to the museums.
Our first stop was the National Postal Museum
Upstairs, they had an exhibit on postage stamps from historical events around the world.
There were screens where we could design our own stamps.
The downstairs level was focused on mail delivery methods throughout American history.
There was a mail train car where the girls sorted pretend mail to be delivered to different states.
There was an 18-wheeler truck that they pretended to drive.
They even had a carriage we could try out.
Hallie, Emma, and I stuffed ourselves inside
But we weren't quite as uncomfortable as the passengers riding on the other side of the carriage!
They had different styles of residential mailboxes that kids could deliver mail to. The girls found a Harry Potter-style door mail slot and pretended to deliver Harry's Hogwarts letter to him.
Next, we headed to Ford's Theater, the site of President Lincoln's assassination. The weather was getting colder and there were even flurries in the air!
Lincoln was an avid reader. Emma's trying to see what book he's reading now.
This is an artistic tower of books inside the Ford's Theater museum. All of the books in the enormous stack are about Abraham Lincoln.
Ford's Theater and the famous box seats where Lincoln was sitting when John Wilkes Booth shot him.
The tour included visiting the Petersen House - the boarding house across the street from the theater where they carried Lincoln for medical treatment. This was the bed where Lincoln passed away from his wounds.
We visited the gift shop and the girls tried out Lincoln-style top hats.
We spent the night in DC and visited the National Museum of Natural History the next day.
There was an exhibit about cell phones (I'm not sure why this was in the Natural History Museum...) and we had fun adding "emoji" and "animoji" faces to our bodies on giant cell phone screens.
Some of the exhibits reminded us of the "Night at the Museum" movies!
Hallie fit neatly into this giant rock.
Dan enjoyed riding his scooter instead of walking through this huge museum, and the girls enjoyed him carrying their water bottles and coats for them!
I made Emma and Hallie pose beside this enormous golden geode, so I could compare the photo to the last time we visited the Natural History Museum in 2019.
The Megalodon skull was just one of the many nightmarish displays in the ocean exhibit. I love the surface of the ocean. I don't want to know the details about what's underneath.
There was an entire room filled with beautiful stuffed birds. Hallie hid in the corner because she couldn't stand to look at so many dead ducks (one of her favorite animals).
The Woolly Mammoth fossil.
Emma loved this room, which was filled with animals from various continents.
My favorite was this adorably awkward giraffe
Hallie loves lynxes and, oh look, she found one murdering a bird.
The weather in DC was the coldest day of the year, so after we finished touring the Natural History Museum, we stayed in the car to eat a fast-food lunch, and Dan took us on a driving tour of the monuments before we headed home.
On President's Day, StoneBridge had their annual chapel to honor the active military and veterans in each student's family. My dad is an absolute saint - he's gone to this ceremony every single year to walk down the aisle with the girls.
2020 2026
We've had an unusually cold month, but on one nice day, Hallie and I visited Mount Trashmore playground in Virginia Beach.
She used to be afraid of heights, but now she tackles every climbing structure!
Watching the ducks swimming in the lake
Hallie was invited to a PJ, breakfast, and spa birthday party, and she got some new Cinnamoroll pajamas for the occasion.
The girls enjoyed painting their nails, getting sparkly "fairy hair" braided into their hair, and playing games at the party.
Hallie also had some one-on-one time with Dan this month, while Emma and I were out of town for a couple of days. They enjoyed watching movies and eating breakfast and dinner out while we were gone.
I was one of the parent chaperones for the StoneBridge 7th grade field trip to Washington DC. They hired an amazing Christian tour guide who told us facts and stories about our nation's history, founders, and the government they established in America.
Emma was thrilled that our group included her best friends, Remy (center), and Diana (right). The three of us stuck together during the tours and shared a hotel room.
We spent two very full days running from one historic site to another. We left school in a charter bus at 6:00 am on Wednesday, and arrived in DC by 9:00 am. We started outside the White House, and were supposed to walk through Lafayette Park, but unfortunately the park was closed off for construction.
We walked to nearby St. John's Church, where the Presidents have historically attended services.
The back pew with the gold plaque over it is known as "The Lincoln Pew." During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln would enter church late, sit in the back row, and leave before the service ended so he could come and go quietly without attracting attention.
Our next stop was the National Archives.
We got to see the actual Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights documents. The 7th graders have memorized the Declaration of Independence, and were able to recite it for us. We had watched "National Treasure" as a family before our DC trips, which is about a treasure map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Scenes from the National Archives were prominently featured in the movie, so it was cool to see them in person.
We also visited the National Gallery of Art. Our tour guide, Mrs. Caruso, described some of the early American art pieces and their significance.
Afterwards, we had an hour to tour the Art Museum with our chaperone groups. My girls chose to imitate the portraits.
Mr. Fancy Pants Smolder Gaze
Mr. I Fell Asleep Doing my Homework
Mr. Who Are You and Where Am I?
Mr. I Have a Song in My Heart
We went to a couple of souvenir shops that afternoon and the girls had fun looking around.
Emma was looking especially patriotic.
Only Remy found a souvenir she wanted to spend her money on.
It was unfortunately a hideous Trump doll, which she carried around for the rest of the trip like it was her infant.
One of the other groups of girls joined us in our hotel room while we ate pizza for dinner, and they watched and (loudly and enthusiastically) sang along to the Hamilton Broadway show.
Our last event was a nighttime tour of the monuments and memorials. It was so beautiful, but we were exhausted by the end.
We fell into our hotel beds at midnight and woke up early enough the next day to enjoy a hot breakfast at our hotel.
We started the second day with a tour of the Supreme Court.
Next, we visited the Library of Congress. I had no idea how beautiful and elaborate it was inside.
The Reading Room in the Library of Congress (which was also highlighted in the "National Treasure" movie)
Thomas Jefferson's library display
We ate lunch at the U.S. Capitol Cafe, then took a tour of the Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol Rotunda portraits, statues, and architecture were amazing.
Our last stop was the National Museum of American History, before we headed home on the charter bus.
Our tour guide mainly wanted us to see the actual "Star Spangled Banner" American flag that inspired our national anthem. It's enormous!
We had an hour to explore the American History museum, and we toured the war exhibit first.
There was a lovely exhibit of some of the First Ladies' inauguration ball gowns.
And we got to look around in the modern culture exhibit, which displayed actual costumes and props from famous shows.
The C-3PO and R2-D2 movie costumes
The Hamilton Broadway costume
Captain America's shield
Familiar puppets from children's television shows
The StoneBridge 7th grade class and chaperones
I'm so glad I got to visit Washington DC with Emma. We had a fantastic trip!
