We've been on a great vacation this week! My cousins, Adam and Ashley, are graduating from high school--a week apart since they go to different schools. They live about 4 hours from Washington D.C., so we decided that during the week between, we'd spend a couple days there. We all had a wonderful time, and it was great to show Hannah some of the wonderful sights! (Of course, she had seen some when she was Eli's age when we lived near there, but not much of a surprise that she doesn't remember!!) ;)
We got there on Tuesday afternoon and went to Union Station where we caught a Duck tour that took us around D.C.--in case you don't know what that is, it's a vehicle that travels on both land and water. It was about 1 1/2 hours long, and we drove by all the major sights. There was only one other couple with us, so we pretty much had it all to ourselves! Hannah got to drive when we were in the water, which was really fun.
After having dinner at Union Station, we went to see the Lincoln Memorial and the FDR Memorial before heading to our hotel for the night. On Wednesday, Dad had a business meeting, so Mom and I took the kids downtown to the Smithsonian area. We went quickly by/through the red castle (mainly because of needing a bathroom stop) and realized how beautiful it was!! We then went over to the carousel, which Hannah and I rode. Then off to the Museum of Natural History. What a great museum!!! As Mom said over and over, Hannah IS my opposite...when I was a child, I would say "I'm on vacation...I don't want to learn anything." Hannah was enthralled with the museum! She wanted to learn EVERYTHING!! It was really great. I was so impressed by her curiosity. (although not so surprised...) ;)
I think her favorite parts were the gems, the butterfly garden, and the volcanos. After enjoying the museum for a good bit of time, we decided to go back to the hotel for a swim. (although it was beginning to get rainy, so it was pretty iffy...)
But we got there and it was looking pretty good, so we decided to try--it was Eli's first ever swim, and boy did he have a ball splashing in the water!!! Unfortunately, the swim only lasted about 10 minutes because it did start to rain. To finish off the day, we went to one of our favorite restaurants from when we lived there, a great BBQ place called Red, Hot, and Blue. YUM! Our last day there, Thursday, was probably the best day! Mom had lunch with an old friend, so Dad took us to the brand new 2nd Air and Space Museum out by Dulles Airport. The place is a giant airplane hangar, and was HUGE (1000 feet long, over 200 feet wide, over 100 feet high, plus the space wing which is over 200 feet long--the building was in a T-shape).
Among the hundreds of planes, helicopters, spacecraft, and other flight vehicles, there was the Blackbird (the fastest plane ever built, flying at mach 3.3), the Space Shuttle Enterprise, and the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the atomic bomb). Plus there was a tower to go up where we could hear air traffic controllers from Dulles Airport and watch planes take off and land. Amazing. We could have spend much longer than we did! On the way back to Blacksburg, we stopped at Luray Caverns, which was Hannah's favorite attraction of the whole trip.
The cave had some amazing structures, including a pipe organ made out of stalactites! Truly amazing!! It was a great trip, and Hannah really did learn a ton, and LOVED learning a ton!
(Hint...click on pictures to see them bigger)
We've been on a great vacation this week! My cousins, Adam and Ashley, are graduating from high school--a week apart since they go to different schools. They live about 4 hours from Washington D.C., so we decided that during the week between, we'd spend a couple days there. We all had a wonderful time, and it was great to show Hannah some of the wonderful sights! (Of course, she had seen some when she was Eli's age when we lived near there, but not much of a surprise that she doesn't remember!!) ;) 
We got there on Tuesday afternoon and went to Union Station where we caught a Duck tour that took us around D.C.--in case you don't know what that is, it's a vehicle that travels on both land and water. It was about 1 1/2 hours long, and we drove by all the major sights. There was only one other couple with us, so we pretty much had it all to ourselves! Hannah got to drive when we were in the water, which was really fun. 
After having dinner at Union Station, we went to see the Lincoln Memorial and the FDR Memorial before heading to our hotel for the night. On Wednesday, Dad had a business meeting, so Mom and I took the kids downtown to the Smithsonian area. We went quickly by/through the red castle (mainly because of needing a bathroom stop) and realized how beautiful it was!! We then went over to the carousel, which Hannah and I rode. Then off to the Museum of Natural History. What a great museum!!! As Mom said over and over, Hannah IS my opposite...when I was a child, I would say "I'm on vacation...I don't want to learn anything." Hannah was enthralled with the museum! She wanted to learn EVERYTHING!! It was really great. I was so impressed by her curiosity. (although not so surprised...) ;) 
I think her favorite parts were the gems, the butterfly garden, and the volcanos. After enjoying the museum for a good bit of time, we decided to go back to the hotel for a swim. (although it was beginning to get rainy, so it was pretty iffy...) 
But we got there and it was looking pretty good, so we decided to try--it was Eli's first ever swim, and boy did he have a ball splashing in the water!!! Unfortunately, the swim only lasted about 10 minutes because it did start to rain. To finish off the day, we went to one of our favorite restaurants from when we lived there, a great BBQ place called Red, Hot, and Blue. YUM! Our last day there, Thursday, was probably the best day! Mom had lunch with an old friend, so Dad took us to the brand new 2nd Air and Space Museum out by Dulles Airport. The place is a giant airplane hangar, and was HUGE (1000 feet long, over 200 feet wide, over 100 feet high, plus the space wing which is over 200 feet long--the building was in a T-shape). 
Among the hundreds of planes, helicopters, spacecraft, and other flight vehicles, there was the Blackbird (the fastest plane ever built, flying at mach 3.3), the Space Shuttle Enterprise, and the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the atomic bomb). Plus there was a tower to go up where we could hear air traffic controllers from Dulles Airport and watch planes take off and land. Amazing. We could have spend much longer than we did! On the way back to Blacksburg, we stopped at Luray Caverns, which was Hannah's favorite attraction of the whole trip. 
The cave had some amazing structures, including a pipe organ made out of stalactites! Truly amazing!! It was a great trip, and Hannah really did learn a ton, and LOVED learning a ton! 
(Hint...click on pictures to see them bigger)
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