Washington DC Trip (April)

Well obviously I'm playing catch up again. In early April we had the opportunity to go with Ken to DC for a work conference. The hotel he was staying in was just a mile walk from the Smithsonian, so... to good to pass up. It was overcast and a little rainy, but we we're able to enjoy our time there. So Ken got up to go to work and the kids and I walked to a different museum each day. It was really fun, as the kids and I have been studying in school, several things that we would get to see. If you have not been to the Smithsonian, it is well worth a trip. The museums are wonderful, full of neat and interesting displays, interactive opportunities, kid friendly, and even the cafeteria has really nice food.

We started at the Natural History Museum. Lots of bones and rocks, fossils, and artifacts from ancient civilizations.

We thought this was pretty cool, a fossilized tree. It looked a lot like a palm tree to us.

This is in the center dome area of the museum. It is covered with interactive things for kids to listen to, touch, and look through. The boys really enjoyed this.

Aaron looking into an animal hole to see what he can find.

Well one of my girls is about as tall as an elephant leg and one is definitely not.

They have a really nice display through ancient times. Each period has artifacts, as well as life size recreations of how the people lived and worked. This was neat as Hannah has been studying this time period. So we got to see lots of artifacts that she had read about.

It was hard to take pictures through glass and plexiglass, not to mention that we had two strollers with wiggly boys. But we did our best. It was nice to have Hannah able and interested in taking pictures too.

They had an arthropod exhibit, which we enjoyed. Aaron really liked looking at the swimming arthropods through the little viewers.

This is what he was looking at.

Lauren liked the hands on bug exhibit. That's my nature loving girl, excited about getting to hold any kind of creature.

Tomato Horned worm

Stick bug ???

I really like this exhibit. It's amazing the beauty that naturally occurs in rocks. The colors are vibrant and the shapes defy description, some are small and others are huge. Again hard to get good pictures, but really wonderful. God is sure creative, both in creatures and rocks.

We also got to see the Hope diamond, though our picture didn't turn out, it's spectacular. Though I can't imagine wearing it, it's a whopping 45.5 carats!

They have an enormous exhibit of animals from each continent. It was interesting to see the variety as we traveled from continent to continent. Aaron and Caleb really liked this exhibit. Not sure they realized they were not real or just thought how neat that they were all so still : ).

They also had a beautiful special exhibit of live orchids. It smelled amazing and the variety was unbelievable.

The next day we went to the American History Museum. I think this was my favorite.

They have a special exhibit for the actual flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so as not to damage the flag. It is huge, originally 30x42 feet. It is now 8ft shorter, as pieces were cut off for souvenirs, before it was owned by the museum. It was hand sewn by Mary Pickersgill her daughters, nieces and a servant. It was flown over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, when that fort was under siege. Francis Scott Key was on a ship off the coast and when he awoke and saw the flag still flying he knew that the battle had been won and penned a poem, which later was put to music, as the Star Spangled Banner.

Obviously an artistic representation.

They had a neat exhibit, of a house through time. They actually took a 200 year old house from outside of Boston, and went through the history of the five families that inhabited it from Colonial times through the 1960's and all the changes that occured in the house and in history. It was very interesting to look at history in this way. Here is more information about the exhibit. http://americanhistory.si.edu/house/

They had a hands on science discovery lab - Sparks Lab. They looked at science inventions in American history - electricity, nanos, communication. The girls had fun with experiments and the boys had an area just for them to play and explore too.

Outside the lab they had an area for making your own discoveries and an exhibit that showed many different everyday items and how they came to be.

This section had two big movable fans, pinwheels and lots of ways they can attach. You had to try and build something so the pinwheels would all move at the same time. Aaron liked the spinning and Lauren liked the challenge.

Another exhibit involved the history of transportation, filled with many actual vehicles. Boy heaven.

Caleb was quite taken with all the life size "people and pets" He really wanted to pet the dog.

Another favorite was the special exhibit on Abraham Lincoln. It was just too hard to get pictures. You can visit it here,

http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=696

We also saw Julia Child's kitchen, completely replicated like hers, with many of her items stocking the kitchen. There was a really neat exhibit of First Ladies. It was so neat to see Mary Todd Lincoln's inaugural dress, Dolly Madison's tea set, Martha Washington's dressing mirror and dress as well as dresses from many other first ladies. I really liked the idea that I was feet away from a dress worn by George's wife~ amazing. There was also an exhibit/tribute to those serving our country. It started with the Revolutionary War and went through the Iraq War. It showed the history of each war, the life of a soldier and the politics that set the stage for both war and peace. There was much more to see, but I think you got a good overview.

There was a scuplture garden outside the museum, and since the sun had finally made an appearance we went for a short walk. I thought this one was funny. They had many others, but my camera batteries died.

The last day we went to the Air and Space Museum. An amazing assortment of flying objects of all varieties. Some you look at and can't imagine how it could fly and are impressed with the bravery of those who first attempted.

Apollo Lunar Module. It was hard to imagine being on the moon, in something that looked like it was made out of aluminum foil and stuff from a kids erector set.

They had a fun hands on exhibit about flight and space. Here Lauren is discovery what she weighs on different planets.

Here she is learning how to fly an airplane using controls, it had wind blowing about so it was tricky, you can see her hair blowing. She did pretty well keeping the plane level.

We got to see several planes, whose flights and flyers we have studied in school. That was pretty cool for the girls.

The Spirit of St. Louis, flown by Charles Lindbergh.

The Bleriot, which Lauren and I read about with the book The Glorious Flight.

The Wright Brothers

We saw many items from commercial plane history, WWII flying, the Apollo missions, space stations, satelites, lunar exploration. As well as exhibits about the solor system and the history of flight.

I just liked this picture of Aaron, relaxing in the hotel room, watching a video.

Some sites from DC. The White House, through our car window. If you look closely you can see an armed man on the roof top.

The original Smithsonian, with it's identifiably rooftop.

The Washington Monument

The Captial Building

There are many historical buidlings all over and interesting architecture. This church was just outside our hotel. We also walked past the Willard hotel where Lincoln met to try and bring and end to the Civil War, MLK wrote his "I have a dream" speach and many other presidents and notable people have stayed and met. No picture as it was starting to rain.

It was Cherry Blossom Festival while we were there as well, so some pictures of the famous trees.

We had a great time and I look forward to going back, so much to see and do.

New Market Battlefield (from March)

This Civil War site is about 20 minutes from our home. They have a Homeschool Day event each year. We went with our friends from NC (last weekend in March). The day looked like it would be rainy so we left the little ones home with the dads and Leslie and I took the bigger kids. Though it was overcast, we made it the whole day without showers. They did a really nice job of having activities, hands on demonstrations, and historical interpretors explaining things.

The actual battle took place in the orchard and fields behind the house. The family, hunkered in the cellar during the battle and when it was over their home was turned into a field hospital.

Outdoor bread baker.

The kitchen outbuilding. They were actually preparing lunch for the interpretors.

They had a soldier camp, where you could learn about the daily life of a soldier.

First you had to register, verifying that you were 18 or older.

Then take a soldiers oath

Learn how to pitch a tent

Dig a latrene

Learn about cooking and what rations you would be given. Even some hints about how to supplement with stuff from local farmers.

Learn the consequences of disobeying orders or rules of conduct. They would have to wear a sign of their offense and hold heavy items or backpacks of rocks. These guys look way to happy to be punished.

Then you had to learn how to carry your arms and march to orders.

This was a more permanent winter tent. It's complete with fireplace and chimney, very inventive.

Dressing up in period clothes and writing letters home.

They had a section set up as a time period Fair, with all kinds of games. The kids had fun trying them out, some were rather hard.

Lauren was determined to do this, she tried and tried. It was really hard to keep your balance, especially on uneven, muddy grass. Christopher gave her a helping hand.

The big girls enjoyed learning the Virginia Reel, to live music.

One of the activities was a craft barn, where the kids could make flags, quilt patterns and harmonicas. I caught Isaiah and Joshua soldiering with their flags.

The crew hanging out on a cannon, while we walked the battleground .

A view from the battleground, obviously located on a peak, looking over the town and a small river.

They had a really nice museum. It had wonderful artifacts from the Civil War, lots of information about the famous battles and how they were fought. It also included a film about the New Market Battle called "Field of Lost Shoes". This was how this battle was later known, as so many soldiers lost their shoes in the field due to the rain and mud. It included this statue done by one of the VMI students who fought in this battle and went on to become a famous artist. His name is Moses Ezekiel. The film showed him returning to the field after the battle was over to find one of his friends. He took this friend to a place in town and stayed with him, tending to his wounds until he died two days later. It was a moving story of loyalty and friendship. He went on to become a famous sculture who was knighted by the King of Italy. This sculpture is of Thomas Jefferson.

This stain glass window represents the Battle in art and glass.

Leslie took this picture of the girls while we were walking near the Battlefield. I just loved it.



A little history lesson if you're interested http://www4.vmi.edu/museum/nm/index.html