Fall Apples & Leaves

We finally got around to going apple picking the 2nd week in October. We didn't really NEED any apples, but I like the photo ops and I usually freeze all the apple pie mixture to use through the year. It was a nice warm, sunny day and the kids were willing photographic subjects!

Then of course we had to do our annual leaf pile photo shoot at the church. We got a big pile this year and had warm weather into the end of October so it worked out great! Someone even happened to stop by so we could take our whole family together!

I think these all capture their personalities very well! Jacob is silly, Leah is sophisticated, Andrew is cool and calm, and Abi is just a little mischievous. 

Family Vacation, Days 3-5

After two whirlwind days in Washington, D.C., we decided to take the next few days for a little down-time. First we finished out our D.C. part with a trip to the National Zoo. It was hard to believe it was free for all we got to see! It was a ton more walking than we thought!
We saw elephants.

We saw lots of monkeys. (Or we acted like them...)

Pandas were a favorite, even though we only saw one, and it was far away.

And one last family photo before Grandma & Grandpa headed back home.

Then we drove about an hour to a new Air BnB, in a city near Baltimore. It was a good deal and we thought it would be nice to get away from the bigger city for a few days at the end of our vacation, and see different things. This house was really kid-friendly and they even had out toys for the kids to play with. They had a huge bedroom of their own, tons of Legos, and even movies to enjoy.

We spent a whole day not doing much. We did enjoy fast food lunch at Chick Fil a and then went to a playground, but mostly just played around the house. Then the following day we went into Baltimore, the Inner Harbor area and went to a Science Museum. The kids really enjoyed this even more than the one in D.C. that we went to. There was many hands-on exhibits here.

Andrew enjoyed being a paleontologist.

Jacob sat in a dinosaur footprint.

Abi lay on a bed of nails! 

And then built a giant tower of foam bricks.

Of course Jacob always loves the water table and played there at least half an hour. There was a lot of other fun things they enjoyed, too!

And we spent a little time taking in the sun on the Harbor for the last part of our epic family vacation!

Washington, DC Day 2

On our 2nd day in Washington, DC, we headed to the main purpose we even went to DC: The Museum of the Bible! We got a couple free tickets awhile back and were really looking forward to this, as we heard great things. It did not disappoint. It would be hard to tell about all we saw, but we agreed you needed at least a full day to see everything in the museum, if not more.

We were already in awe just in the entrance-way, with the moving images on the ceiling. We were told to go to the 3rd floor first to see a movie. It was more than just a movie-- it was an experience! You get up and walk through the story of the Old Testament. There was things to see all around and it truly brought the stories to life. There was one for the New Testament as well.

There was a whole floor dedicated to the history of the Bible through time, and we saw lots of interesting Bibles. We didn't have nearly enough time to see them all.

We saw how scrolls were made & read.

Then we found the Kids' area. They had fun carnival-type games to bring the Bible stories to life for the kids.

A really nice museum volunteer used her membership to bless our family with tickets to the Life of Jesus virtual reality exhibit. We put VR goggles on and saw all the places of Jesus life in 3-D, surrounding us on all sides. It was really neat and felt like we were actually in Israel. We were so thankful to that lady. 

The bottom floor had a special Illumination exhibit with tapestries that glowed in different colors based on the lighting in the room. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. The images were from the book of Revelation.

And a quick photo with Grandma & Grandpa to commemorate the really great museum!

After the Museum of the Bible, we made a quick trip to the Archives. This is where the actual Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights are kept. We were not allowed to take photos in the building. We wanted to get in and out quickly but it ended up taking 30-45 minutes to wait in line for security to enter, and it was a hot day! We were glad we saw it, though, and still had time to make it to the Air & Space Museum for a whirlwind tour.

Again there was too much to see in just an hour and a half but we saw rockets, we saw Amelia Earhart's plane, we saw the Wright Brothers plane, a rover that had landed on Mars, The Spirit of St. Louis that flew across the Atlantic, Neil Armstrong's spacesuit, a blimp, and so much more. I don't know how much we actually absorbed, but we came, saw & conquered.

Day 2 may have only been 5 miles of walking but it was still full. The kids said their favorite by far was the Museum of the Bible. We ended with a trip to McDonalds for a refreshing ice cream before heading back to our house once more.