Day 40

Earlier in the week we'd talked to an actor about productions coming up and he told us about a Shakespeare company that was performing The Tempest. The kids looked at me with big droopy eyes that just screamed, "pleeeeeease?". There just happened to be a special kids version playing the morning we were planning on leaving so I knew it would be perfect timing.

Once I started packing up the things at our site, the kids began to wake up and help me. We grabbed some bagels and headed to the train with plenty of time to spare. The difference in the weekend vs. the weekday commuter train traffic was crazy!

We made it to the theater about 20 minutes early so the kids added some fish to the art display currently hanging in the lobby. After we were seated in the small theater the cast came out and warmed up the kids for a little while. The actress who was talking to my kids was wonderful and helped them instantly come out of their shells.

This was an audience participation kind of show with adults and kids helping out with the sound effects. And this play definitely needed sound effects with the huge storm in the beginning! The cast did an outstanding job telling the story and keeping even the smallest kid's attention.

They also took the time to let everyone ask questions and get together for the obligatory pictures. This was a definite favorite of the trip for all of us for sure!  Brayden even said he wanted to see the full version with all the boring stuff the cast said they took out - now that's impressive!

We said goodbye to Washington D.C. as we rode the train back to our car and got on our way to the next stop. After about 20 minutes we were already in Virginia again!

Our route actually took us right by the Pentagon. We're probably on some kind of watch list now because the kids just had to take pictures of the building as we drove by.

I was glad to get back to Trader Joe's in Virginia so we stocked up for the next few days. The cashier loved seeing our bags from New York and after she heard the kids tell about where we'd been she had to give us a bag from Virginia too! 

All the mouths of the kids dropped open as we pulled into the campground as we were greeted first by a nice, very refreshing looking pool. After we checked in we forgot setting up our tents and headed straight for a little water therapy. These 96 degree temperatures are for the birds! The water was chilly as we were having some cool nights so it felt wonderful! The slid down the smallest slide I've ever seen about 514 times and we played the pool version of jail until our toes were raisins.

After we set up the tents the kids raced over to the beach volleyball court to continue their Olympic games while I cooked some veggie burgers for dinner. Our neighbors were a little too close for comfort for me but they had a cat along with them so the kids enjoyed watching her constantly. Laney and I jumped on the dishes and we drove back up to the front of the park to the playground area. While I edited pictures the kids played all around the equipment and begged me to take some pictures as it was getting dark.

           

I noticed the sunset behind me so of course I had to walk over to the water for a few shots.  When we got back to the tent Laney said they'd had the perfect amount of play time today that would knock them out when we crawled in the tent. I'd say that's a good end to a day!

Day 39

We woke up early and had a quick breakfast before we left for the National Zoo. All my kids are crazy about animals, but Ryan is most of all. During our last visit at the Museum of American History we'd heard about some unique sculptures using plastic that had washed up on the shores of the Atlantic. I had no idea quite how huge and beautiful they would be!

    

As we walked through the zoo we kept seeing more and more. The part the kids loved most was getting a close up look at all the things that made up each sculpture. There were flip flops, paint brushes, bottle tops, coolers, toys, tires, funnels, bouys, and so much more. It was really astounding to see just what floats around in our oceans.

  

I believe we only saw about half of the sculptures but we were definitely inspired to look into finding ways to reuse more of our plastic.  The zoo does a fantastic job of recycling all the plastic they collect to use it for energy. In fact, one statistic I saw noted that a light bulb can be powered for six hours from a single plastic bottle.

And then of course there were the animals. We were there for the pandas, but kept getting side tracked by all the other adorable animals we found on the way. The small mammals got us all for sure!

                

Laney mentioned she will be having at least half of the animals we saw when she has her own apartment. She is planning to live in New York City, so I'm not sure how that's really going to work out. Perhaps she'll just work at a zoo.

After a long walk uphill we finally made it to the pandas. We met 3 year old Bao Bao, 1 year old Bei Bei, and their parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian. All the adults were too busy eating to pay any attention to anything but the bamboo, but Bei Bei was having a blast playing and rolling around.

   

Ryan remembered keep tabs on the babies born at the Atlanta Zoo a few years before with live video interviews and web cams, so she told the other two all about how the biologists track their daily activities. 

I handed the camera over to Ryan for the rest of the walk down through the other side of the zoo. We enjoyed watching the sea lions for quite a while as they were very excited to see their handler handing out snacks.

After traveling through the Amazon rain forest and a Virginia farm we decided to opt for ice cream for lunch. I don't even know how the kids each finished one of the cones we bought filled with ice cream, brownies, m&ms, fudge, and marshmallows. It was definitely refreshing and enjoyable to sit in the air conditioning for awhile.

Our walk from the train that morning was wonderfully cool and downhill the entire way. It was now at least 25 degrees warmer and even with our refreshing snack none of us were looking forward to the walk back so we opted for an Uber ride to the Newseum. Our wonderful driver even had a charging stick as we didn't have any options for recharging anything at our campground and my phone was down to 2%. 

We walked back into the Newseum determined to do all the fun stuff today and we all absolutely had a blast.  A docent caught us with some very strange objects as we walked in.  I wish I had video of the kids trying to work a rotary phone. When she asked Brayden to make a phone call he just stared at it with absolutely no clue whatsoever what to do. Ryan tried to push the numbers instead of dial the phone. 

When Laney made a mistake typing I told her there was no way to correct it and she would just have to wad up the paper, throw it against the wall and start over. She just stared at me like I was speaking German.

We all spent the next few hours learning about journalism and how to get the scoop. We also learned about the ethics and legalities in reporting tough or revealing stories as well as conflicts of interest. The best part was watching the kids be a breaking news reporter with different stories happening in the city.

 

Once they finished their report they could come down from the green screen and see the report as if it were live on the news. I practically had to tear them away after they'd all had several turns.

Our culminating experience was a game we could play against each other trying to decide if we should print certain stories or pursue certain leads. We played several times and mixed up the teams learning all about real life journalism situations. It was perfect end to our visit for this game family to show what we'd learned!

After a quick visit to the gift shop we hopped on the train back to the campground to play and have a quiet dinner. We'd be leaving the next day after we went to a little surprise I had for the kids!

Day 38

We had a little extra time this morning so once I saw my early riser up we started on some pancakes. The griddle can be a bit tempermental in letting pancakes go at times, but this girl has just about figured it out.

Our first stop today was the Ford's Theater. The kids have just about always been interested in Abraham Lincoln. It does seem most years we have been able to stop at some kind of historic area related to his life.

We grabbed junior ranger books first thing so the kids could get started. The first part of the museum was dedicated to his political life and the struggles Lincoln had bringing the nation together. The kids' favorite part of this section was a quilt made by ladies of what is a modern day Red Cross supporting the efforts of peace. It was signed by all kinds of fascinating people including Ben Franklin, Henry Longfellow, and of course Abraham Lincoln.

The part they were most interested in was the assassination of Lincoln. They had tons of artifacts on exhibit related to the event including the gun John Wilkes Booth used as well as the boot that had to be cut off his broken leg. We learned so much about the events leading up to the assassination and the people involved.

    

Once the kids finished their activities they were once again sworn in as junior rangers. This ceremony was a bit special as it was situated right in front of the original ticket booth to the theater. Unfortunately the theater was closed as they were in rehearsals for a show but since they'd finished their activities the park ranger allowed them to peek inside from the sound booth.

Next door was the Petersen house where Lincoln was taken and later died. The living room was still arranged as it was when his wife Mary sat and waited for him to awake.

Next we learned all about the search for Booth and his accomplices. Apparently Booth thought when he was able to return to Virginia he would be praised as a hero for his acts, but he soon discovered he was that was not quite the case. The kids were all spooked once they peeked into a replica of the barn where he was eventually shot.

The remained of the floors of the house were come of my favorite with lessons and exhibits on the character and ideals a person should live up to. There were five sections, each of which we were asked to write what the word meant to us or what we would do in a situation: equality, courage, creativity and innovation, integrity, and empathy and tolerance. I was surprised by some answers and thrilled with some answers the kids gave. And I'm thinking we need to delve a little further into Lincoln's teachings.

During our evening tour days before our tour guide mentioned Abraham Lincoln was one of the most written about people in history. There were more books about him than any other person except Jesus. I'd believe it too once we saw this stack that reached the fourth floor!

Our next stop was a place all the kids were excited about once I'd mentioned it to them. In any children's museum with a television news area, my kids go wild to see themselves on television and pretend to be news anchors. The Newseum was offering kids free summer so we made sure to hit this museum too. We had the misfortune to visit Washington D.C. when the Washington Monument's only elevator was broken and the other high observation area, the Old Postal Museum, has been purchased by Donald Trump for luxury apartments. We found out the next best place was the terrace here!

Once we got oriented inside and planned our attack on the six floors we got started. After seeing a chunk of the Berlin Wall earlier in the week and learning a little bit about it from Dave and me, the kids were in awe of pieces they could stand in front of.

  

So our family has lived without cable for a few years now and I don't believe the kids have ever seen the news except at relatives homes possibly. I don't watch the news and simply skim the newspaper. This place was overwhelming with the artifacts and exhibits on the role the media has played in all kind of historical events.  There was a very interesting area that had real time statistics on social media. There were screens especially related to Clinton and Trump that were all over the place each few seconds.

We learned about the media in World War II, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, the Women's Rights movement, and September 11th and that was about all I could handle in one day. I was overwhelmed and shocked and sad. It didn't help we ended with first hand journalism accounts of September 11th. This is the lower portion of the broadcast tower that was on top of Tower One.

We decided to grab some dinner to wait out rush hour on the train and return for the interactive exhibits the next day. We ended up eating a delicious pizza a few blocks away and talking about all the events they'd seen. The kids were obviously not as affected as I was but we'd all seen images we definitely weren't prepared for and the time we had for conversation was perfect. We would be learning much of what we'd seen this year for history so they were glad they had a little bit of a preview.

We made it back to the campsite full and happy so we played games until dark and read until all our eyelids would need to be held open. Tomorrow would be an early day and what Ryan was probably most excited about!