2019 Building Museum - The Lawn

Today we went to the building museum while Aidan was at football practice. It was definitely better than I thought it was going to be. I couldn't figure out exactly what would be fun about this particular exhibit but the kids really wanted to go since we go to their summer exhibit every year. It turned out to be really nice and relaxing and everyone had a great time. The lawn was perfect for rolling down and there were lots of hammocks for relaxing. We had a snack - which is always the highlight of the day! 

Picnic at Mt Vernon

Gramma and Daddy Jim invited us to the neighborhood picnic at Mt Vernon this year and it was so much fun!  The evening was gorgeous - the perfect summer night!! 

The food was great and Declan had a good time running back and forth between our blanket and the food tent getting everyone drinks. We did a house tour by candlelight and a hayride around the property as the sun was setting. We even got to go in the basement of Mt Vernon which was something I had never done before and was really neat! 

I hope this becomes a summer tradition for us - it was so much fun!

Fossil Hunting at Purse State Park

 It's the last day of summer vacation.  How did that happen so quickly? This year the summer just flew by and I'm totally not ready for fall!!
Today we drove to Purse State Park in MD for our annual fossil shark tooth hunting expedition!  It was a beautiful day and we were pretty successful in our hunting. Brendan made a lean-to shelter for the kids out of driftwood which they loved.  Aidan made swords out of driftwood.  Emmy and Aoife played in the water and Declan preferred to stay out of the water and on the sand. Declan found a deer femur which was the best thing of the day!
We found bunches of shark teeth. It was lowish tide so the hunting was a little easier than when the tide is high. We didn't stay too long. Everyone was getting anxious for school the next day. It was nice to be able to relax outside one very last time before the crazy starts all over again!

Great Country Farms

We took a trip to Great Country Farms today to pick some apples.  The kids swear that they had never been apple picking and I couldn't believe it - another mom fail!!

It was an hour drive into the country but it was so worth it!  The kids had a great time on the wagon ride to the apple orchard and apple picking and an even better time playing on all of the slides, playgrounds, mazes and bouncy things that they have there!  It was seriously so much fun - I would totally go back!  

The Solar Eclipse

It was so hot today in Arlington for the Solar Eclipse!  At first I thought that we should go somewhere monumental for it but we just ended up at the pool - it was much better than sweating it out somewhere!
We got to see the eclipse through glasses but the cool moon shapes that all of the shadows made was the coolest thing ever!

Natural History - Part 2

 Back to the Museum of Natural History today!  Great parking again but we made the mistake of visiting in the afternoon instead of the morning. What a difference! It was so crowded but we did get tickets right away to see the butterflies and it was super cool!  We also walked through the early human exhibit - which is Aidan's favorite (but boring for the other kids) - so everyone was pretty tired by the time our parking ran out.
I love that we can make quick trips in to DC. It takes me less time to get to the Museums than it takes me to get Aidan to football practice in Arlington!!