Vacation! Virginia Trip: 8/16/13 and 8/17/13

8/16/13

We went out for a walk along the bike trail that my Dad frequents and we stopped by to see the nearby Quarry.

Next we decided to look up some Geo-caches while we were out there.

Found it!

8/17/13

We left for home on a rainy day and from what I remember it was pretty uneventful!

And that wraps up my photos from our vacation last year! Almost exactly one year old!

Vacation! Virginia Trip: 8/14/13 and 8/15/13

8/14/13

At the National Zoo. It was hot and we were pushing the stroller uphill for most of it. It was neat but nothing like our Texas Zoos ;-)

8/15/13

Garrett, Landon, my Dad and I went for a scenic drive into the Shenandoah Mountains. Ethan gets carsick so my Mom stayed home with Ethan and they had a special day together.

I was in love with the mountain views...they were amazing!

  

It was a beautiful day. It was a several hour drive each way so after a morning of driving and driving around the mountain top we continued on a little ways to a scenic little town to eat lunch.

The church yard had some very old graves. It's sobering to realize how easily whole families of children used to succumb to illness.

Bank building. I love how stately old bank buildings are.

Vacation! Virginia Trip: 8/9/13 to 8/11/13

8/9/13

My Mom, Dad, Garrett, the boys and I took the Metro down to the National Mall to visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

We quickly discovered that 3 year olds move fast in a museum and reading anything is impossible. Also Landon picked up a stomach bug during travel and that made for an interesting diaper change.

My Dad buddied up with Ethan, and My mom generously stayed with the stroller (it was very hard navigating the crowd) so that Garrett and I could see more of the museum.

The kids were pretty tired out and we were very glad we bought a sit-n-stand stroller for the trip. Ethan slept in the stroller on the way home.

At the end, we asked Ethan which part of the museum was his favorite. We were anticipating him saying "The Dinosaur Bones!" or something to that effect, but instead,  he said the favorite part was "the Grand Daddy part". So sweet! He definitely enjoyed having his Grand Daddy follow him around and spending time with him.

8/10/13

Garrett and I went off sans-kids to the Spy Museum! It was amazing! My Mom very generously stayed home to watch the kids for us and Garrett and I got a day out on the town. We spent hours in the Spy Museum and later ate in a nice restaurant. When we were done we had an hour left before the museums closed but we walked a few blocks over to the National Art Museum to enjoy the art until closing. It was a super fun day and I remember feeling as giddy as if we were going off on our honeymoon. It was very liberating to have a day off from parenting to enjoy a day-long date!

8/11/13

Garrett, my Mom, the boys and I walked over to the local town-center for an outdoor kids concert. Afterwards we perused the shops. My favorite was a neat stationary shop.

Later, Garrett and I took the Metro back into DC to visit the Museum of American History. Some of our favorites were seeing Old Glory, the giant dollhouse (always my favorite as a kid), the First Lady's Dress display, and some pop culture items. There was also a neat transportation exhibit below that I hadn't seen.