Last week was the much nticipated 8th grade trip to Washington DC. I was able to go along as a parent chaperone and in the nurse capacity...nice as I really didn't need to be put into the pool of parents for the draw-not so nice as I still had to pay. It turned out to be a great week. Yes it was a chore keeping track of four girls who all ran with different groups and keeping track of cell phones. But having the trip all planned-where to go, when to eat...what to eat, being shuttled around and given facts by someone was wonderful and actually a break from the life of home life organizer. The museums were to toughest with with kids-hardest to keep them on track and learning. By the end I am afraid many just found a corner to hang out and talk or play on their phones but then again we put in over 26miles of walking and days up at 6:30 home by 9:30 so I guess I understand....not really as I love all the learning but from a kids perspective.
Braydens group....four kids to an adult. We were up at the airport by 5am. The red jackets were bright but great for spotting our group throughout the week.
Brayden had his backpack and I had a small carry on roller....along with med backpack for the week. I was kind of shocked to see the huge suitcases the girls showed up with!
Two full buses...ours was very red! We landed and hit the ground running-off to the smithsonian.
We did the archives-girls enjoyed this the most. Saw the hope diamond- natural history, air and space, art museum and a couple more. We ended up getting ice-cream on the mall lawn after a while as we were museumed out/walked out. Just found out yesterday Brayden didn't walk this at all and road in some guys cart all over -his chaperone paid for it??
These were some of my girls plus a couple extras....so thankful not to have to deal with girl drama. This was before they all started splitting up with different groups-crazy to keep track of, but great girls.
WW11 Memorial-tour guide would give some info on the bus about where we were going. Once off the bus they would gather the bus together and go over details and facts of the memorial then send the kids off for around 20min-always reminding the kids about behavior and reverence for each memorial. Also asking them to take not of a couple things found at each memorial.
Washington Monument one direction
Lincoln the other direction-memorials were best in the evening.
Mount Vernon- A great place to explore and learn...but hard to do so with the group of kids just wanted to hangout with eacho ther. Half the time it was me following the kids around trying to suttling give hints on where and what they should see. Funniest moment was leading the girls into a little chapel and assuring them it was the new 3D exhibit everyone was talking about. Only to discover it was a monologue by an actress-Mrs Washington. Myself and another mom about died in laughter after we sent the girls in and saw what it really was. Turned out they didn't complain as they said the chairs were so comfortable and I think they slept.
Tuesday morning was Mount Vernon-Washinton's Home. Breakfast was by 7am. I was in charge of a different group of girls for night check-make sure they were in their room and then up for Breakfast. Lets just say they didn't make it up that first day and I had the pleasure of banging on their door and dragging them out of bed trying to make the 7am bus departure.
A very special memorial-Brayden's class mate lost his dad in afghanistan due to us starting the war because of this attack-somber memories.
Jefferson Memorial
FDR Memorial
This is the look most of the time....leave me along and pretend you don't know me.
Martin Luthur King Memorial
We ended this night without a large wrap up room so it was the basement floor which worked just great. The Hotel was filled with groups like us.
Wed we were up and out the door headed to Arlington Cemetary.
Saw the changing of the Guard.
Wreath laying ceremony by some of our students
Getting info about the changing of the guard.
Off to the capital-crazy busy and tons of organized chaos. We ate here...yes you can imagine feeding groups of 100 and they move them through...fast, fast....closer, closer. We also had a talk from Chaplain Black here as well.
This is when he was done with Pictures.
Library of Congress....kids were not impressed.
Supreme Court.
Vietnam memorial-super busy
Lincoln Memorial and also the Korean Memorial before calling it a day.
Thursday we loaded the buses for a two hour ride to Montecello. We ate lunch in the caffiteral of University of Virgina and walked around campus a bunch! Then spent the after noon touring Monticella. The highlight of the day was the dinner-Mitchies Tavern. Huge spread of food...nice change from fries and burger or chicken tenders.
Friday Morning we were out to see Iwa Jima-with a bunch of tired kids.
Exciting day as were got to get into the white house. Tons of security and waiting in line but really great walking through rooms that are in active use!
Before heading to the air port we hit the Bible Museum. Lunch and a couple hours exploring-although a really neat place once again super hard to keep kids engaged.
This was just a really neat exhibit...the museum is geared toward this generation. It was an interactive walk though exhibit-much different from all the other museums we had been to.
This is myself and room-mate and bus seat mate ready for the plane-ride home. We were still smiling not knowing we would sit on the runway for a good hour...after being delayed 2hr.
Off to the air port by 4 only to discovered flight delayed....long story short we didn't get in till 2am the next morning
