DC Field Trip

Why does it always rain when I go on the 5th grade DC field trip? I didn't go with Savannah and her class had a gorgeous day! I go with Xander and now Noah and we get gray skies and rain. Oh, well. And why are the three musketeers standing on the side of the highway, one might ask?

Because our bus broke down! Rain and broken buses!

Thank goodness it wasn't raining while we had to wait for another bus to come rescue us. After about a 30 minute wait, we were back on the road, quickly arrived in the city, and were off on our sightseeing adventure!

The boys wanted to see the memorials at the mall but didn't want to make too much off a detour off the main path so this is the closest we got to the White House.

The World War II Memorial.

Our Maryland boys!

Of course Noah wanted to find his Utah roots.

One of my favorite parts of the WWII Memorial.

One last shot with the Washington Monument behind them before moving on...

to the Lincoln Memorial.

Love this view!

Next up was The Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Although we didn't have time to stop, I encouraged the boys to come back down to DC and visit the Archives where they could see significant documents from our country's history. I told them the Declaration of Independence is fading so to make a visit there a priority!

It started raining pretty hard just as we arrived at the Museum of American History so it was perfect timing! Noah loved the Batmobile.

Of course these Lego-loving boys loved the Lego Statue of Liberty!

Some of my favorites included the sunstone from the Nauvoo temple...

and the death mask of President Lincoln.

Ever since reading Nathaniel Philbrick's book In the Heart of the Sea, I have been fascinated with the history of whaling and can't wait to take a trip up to Nantucket. For now I'll settle for checking out these cool items at the museum.

While we were at the museum, we decided to take a break for lunch. Thank goodness because it was still absolutely pouring outside! By the time we were done, the rain had let up and we were able to head out to our last destination of the day. For some reason Noah needed a little encouragement from his friends to smile for this picture.

Time for the Air and Space Museum! First a little space...

and then some air. The other boys had decided to go to the gift shops but Noah and Parker were up for checking out the cool planes from WWI and WWII.

Noah struggled a bit with this landing simulator.

Despite all the little mishaps, I had a great day with these guys and their parents.