Family Field Trip---Our Nation's Capital at Night

One of the quirks of being a homeschooler is that you never simply take a family vacation. I mean, why waste the opportunity of traveling to a new and unusual venue merely to rest and do nothing? Do people really do that? Well, we don't, anyway. Whenever we travel, we wind up calling it a "field trip," even if the majority of our adventures are fun, we can still find a thing or two along the way to learn about. After all...isn't that our goal? Learn something new every day?

On our way...Tex, Mjolnir the fox Squishable, Ladybug, Boo, 

Cowboy, and Firefly.

It's been over a year since our last outing, and we decided it was time to take at least a short family vacation. As much as we LOVE our little foster kiddos, a few days to reconnect and rediscover each other (without the constant trouble-shooting of issues due to foster care) really started sounding like a good idea. We weren't up for anything huge, but lately we've been reading about nearby historical attractions (we are in the Historic Triangle area, after all), and we all agreed that Washington D.C. sounded like a good place to start. 

To prepare for the trip, I went online and used my very useful Amazon Prime membership (I am not getting any kickbacks telling you it has been worth every penny I spent before Christmas) to order a few 'visiting D.C. with kids' books. I hoped that reading the books in the weeks before the trip would familiarize them with the places we'd see and help get them excited about the adventure.

We also started reading the books from the Capital Mysteries series by Ron Roy. I have some of his A to Z Mysteries in our library and figured these would be about the right age to engage the young kids, and I was right. They are simple, but they bring up many of the popularly visited places and make them real to the kids.

Cowboy was super excited by the books. He LOVES maps and was ready to be our tour guide at the Smithsonian by the second day after we opened up the box. His favorite was "Awesome Adventures at the Smithsonian"...it had the most kid-friendly information, complete with pictures, fun facts, and maps.

Because of dropping off the foster children and setting things up with our "farm sitter," we didn't get an early start, but we didn't hit heavy traffic, either, and so we had time for a leisurely dinner/breakfast at Denny's before we reached the city. It was a big hit because the kids ate free. Hot diggity!

After a hearty meal, we still arrived in time to drive past the main buildings at night, which whetted the children's appetite for history and tourism immensely. If they were older, or we were more familiar with the area, we might have found somewhere to park and walk around a bit where we saw other families walking, but we still had to find our hotel, which was a good fifteen minutes away. It certainly was a beautiful night, though. The weather was perfect and the mood was positively electric in the van.

A quick drive-by the Washington Monument a few times

led us to the discovery that poor Boo was a bit creeped

out by the red lights at the top. He thought they looked 

like serpent's eyes. By the end of our visit, however, he was

used to them and liked the monument no matter the time of day.

The Capitol Building at night all lit up...

The Lincoln and the Jefferson...

The kids hope to visit the Treasury Building "next time."

This is my favorite statue in town...Einstein. Isn't he adorable??

The short drive to our lodgings seemed to tone things down a bit mood-wise (we were listening to Dragonrider by Cornelia Funke on my Kindle, read by Brendan Fraser...LOVE IT!), and by the time we checked in to our somewhat cushy, but reasonably priced suite hotel (complete with kitchen, separate sitting area with pull-out couch, and FREE breakfast), the kids were yawning, and so was I. We managed to get everyone's PJs on and read a chapter in our book before the kiddos dropped off to content slumber, dreaming of tomorrow's adventures. 

Hubby and I unwound with an hour of cable (a rare treat for us), while Tex chatted with friends using the free wifi in the room before we turned out the lights so we could all rest up and get an early start in the morning. The prospect of facing the Metro with four kids ages four to ten is a bit unnerving, but I am sure we can manage it...right??

Blessings,

Heather

Trip to Midwest---Day Fourteen---Creation Museum

Milo Goes to the Creation Museum---Coming Soon!

Trip to Midwest---Day Twelve---Story City Carousel

A long standing tradition of our trips to the Midwest to see my relatives has been a visit to the antique carousel in Story City. It is something I have been doing with my kids since my oldest son, age 19, was a baby.

Story City is a charming town, full of Scandanavian history, and a place I wouldn't mind living, if it weren't for the COLD winters in Iowa.

The beautifully restored Story City Antique Carousel is almost 100 years old, and has animals of all kinds on it, from the usual prancing horses, to crowing roosters, rotund pigs, and friendly dogs that whirl and twirl to the merry tunes played on an old calliope.

Milo enjoyed his ride on a pig.

My youngest children loved it as much as their older brother always did, and each one enjoyed four rides, thanks to the bargain price for a twenty ride ticket and the fact that the youngest ones were free. I am so grateful for precious moments such as these and the sweet memories that go with them.

Cowboy had a hard time waiting for us to buy tickets.

He and Milo look on wistfully.

 I told him the fact that the rides that were given were so long was

a GOOD thing, because it meant his ride would be long, too, and it was.

Baby Boo wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but warmed up to the colors and the music pretty quickly.

The ladies loved their first rides. Firefly had never been on a carousel 

before and Hubby was a bit nervous about her falling off, but she did

fine with him sitting next to her.

 

Cowboy LOVED his ride on the rooster. He liked it so much

he had to crow.

Next time around he rode a dog. Of course, he had to bark.

Tex is such a good big brother. He rode alone on a horse once, then he took Firefly on the spinning cup. They both laughed like crazy and wobbled when they got out.

I'm not sure who had more fun...the kids or the grown ups. Here are Poppy and Nanny with Boo and Cowboy. This is a picture of Boo's first ride ever. Then Mommy got to take him for a spin. What fun!

In the end, we all had a grand time. It was a special trip to a special place. These simple, but priceless moments are a part of the cement that holds a family together.

We are so very blessed!

Thank you, Story City Antique Carousel and the wonderfully friendly volunteers who were so kind to us. God bless you all.

Trip to Midwest---Day Nine---A New Kind of Farming

Admittedly, these aren't the best pictures, but they were taken from a moving car on a very humid day and my lens kept steaming up...I just thought this was so interesting, I had to put it up here.

These windmills were lining the roads and sticking up from the fields in the area of Iowa we drove through today. Knowing what a good fuel source wind power can be, I saw them as interesting, though I can see why some folks will think they disrupt the natural beauty of the rural area.

Here is an article from USA Today about windmills and wind turbines in Iowa.

I wish I could afford one for our house. The wind is usually pretty good here, out by the water, but the cost to install one is still so high. I'm sure it pays off in the end, if you are staying where you are for a long time.

I like the idea of alternative energy sources. What do you think?

Trip to Midwest---Day Five---Swim Day

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having a nice pool at any hotel you plan stay at for more than one night during a vacation. I am all for finding the cheapest prices and best values, but sometimes, you just need to splurge a little and have fun. The hotel Tex found for us online in Lake of the Ozarks was just the right fit for our family. While there were things I would like to have improved upon (the carpet could have been nicer and cleaner, and the breakfast could have been more than just donuts…albeit nice ones), I could not have imagined a better pool for the kids, and with the heat index in the 100 pluses, it was a life saver.

The Quail’s Nest pool had the niftiest waterfall wall that cascaded into a child’s pool area. From the child’s pool area ran a “stream” complete with boulders to hop across or send boats around. Cowboy “sailed” his toy car down the “river” dozens of times, with big sister Ladybug fetching it once it rolled over the small waterfall which flowed into the big pool. Baby Boo played for over an hour happily slapping the water in the stream and laughing at how the running water felt on his back. Firefly enjoyed the child’s pool, having the security of shallow water and feeling like Daddy was near. Daddy was able to play with Ladybug and Tex, yet still keep an eye on the little ones. He even had time to teach Tex how to do the breast stroke, and to work on Ladybug's underwater swimming skills. Mom fit in wherever she was needed, and even got to stay in the room with Boo one evening and blog while Daddy played with the older kids. Yay!

I love a nice pool. It sure does tire those little ones out. They all slept very well every night we stayed at that hotel. So did we…yawn!

Blessings,

Heather