Quick Vacation

We wanted to take a bit of time this summer to see some new things, but we didn't want to go really far, or spend too much money.  Hmmmmm.....what to do.  That seems like the impossible vacation.

In May, some of Mike's college friends came over.  One of them lives right outside of D.C.  Before she left she said, "You should bring your boys up sometime."  After they left, I looked at Mike and said, "Let's go to D.C."  So we set it up.

On the way up to her house we stopped at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum.

We rode a simulator.  We wore 3-D glasses and watched a movie as to what it is like to be in a plane.

 I had to get a quick picture of Austin.  He is starting to not enjoy his picture taken so much.  So, I take them when I can.

 This museum has an observation deck.  (Adam was letting his true colors show while we waited for our turn).  It was really beautiful up there.

 Adam insisted we take a picture so we can show how far up we were :)

 And Adam wanted to take a picture of our car.  (It is on the left side, on the other side of the tree, between the red and white car.  The blue SUV)

This museum is near Dulles airport.  From the observation deck we could see planes.  I told Mike I just wanted to see some take off or land.  Before we left I saw 2 take off and 1 land.  I felt like that was a successful trip.

After we left the museum we went to Jen and Darron's house.  We made plans for the next day, had dinner, then we went blackberry picking.  I was really surprised to see how excited the boys were to pick blackberries. It made for a wonderful evening walk, with the  bonus of fresh blackberries to take home.

Monday we went to the International Spy museum.  We were to choose an identity and be tested on it later.  I did not remember all my information-it's really tough!   They also had a section on bugs and had sections where someone could go talk and someone else could push a button and listen to the bug they are talking near.  They had fake bombs that needed to be detonated.  The part you pull up could not touch the sides.  Again, I might say that I did not do good at this.  The boys were able to do it, but not me.  They had keypads where you had to find the code  and put it in correctly into the keypad.  This was a really fun museum that I had never heard of!

We went to the gift shop and found...

 How cute is that?

Then we went to the Air and Space museum in the Smithsonian.

 I had to get a picture of my boys with Wright brothers.

The funny thing was they got so excited about......

 ....escalators!  Oh to live in a small town with no escalators!  Really they enjoyed seeing the rockets and airplanes, too.

Then we headed to the American History Museum.  That had a little bit of everything from American History in it.  It was truly amazing.  It had president's coats and hats.  The ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz.  Trains, cars, buses, etc.  They also had sections on TV cooking shows.  Really this museum had everything!

 Again, Adam showed his colors and posed with this statue.

We then went to Union Station, had lunch, and looked around a little.  We thought about going to some of the monuments but the boys were so tired we decided to head back to Jen and Darron's.

Adam fell asleep on the way back.

 Then he ended up like this...

 and slept that way the rest of the way back to their place.

Tuesday we got an early start and went to the Washington Monument.

 I think that is such a beautiful monument.

 This is inside the doors of the monument.

To the east we saw the capitol building.

To the south we saw the Jefferson Memorial.

To the North is the White House.

To the West is the Lincoln Memorial.  Amazing views!!

As we walked to our next stop, I saw these pillars with different states on them.  Virginia was right next to a section that was roped off.  It was meant to be!  

I had to get a picture of my boys by Virginia.

Our next stop was the Einstein Memorial.

We hung out with Einstein for a bit.  ;)  Really it is beautifully done.  It was nice that it was on our way to our next stop-The Lincoln Memorial.

Just beautiful!

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial I got this picture of the Washington Memorial. (still my favorite!)

Adam was starting to slow down a bit so from time to time, as we needed time to catch up, we would find Mike and Austin like this.

Our last stop was to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

One picture with the Washington Memorial in the background.

From the front.

We drove past the Jefferson Memorial and got a quick glance at him standing inside. This is a picture of the outside of the Memorial.  We were not able to fit it into our schedule to go inside, maybe next time.

This vacation was a whirlwind, but we did so much and had a great time.  That is what counts the most.