National Building Museum + Green Spring Gardens

We met the Littles at the National Building Museum one morning to see "Small Stories" (an exhibit filled with amazingly detailed dollhouses through the decades). We all loved looking at all the houses and they also had a fun play area within the exhibit that the kids loved. We also got to see them setting up the "Icebergs" exhibit which was fun. And the kids loved playing in the "Play, Work, Build" exhibit. And Kirsten and I survived a downtown outing with all 10 kids!

We wanted to go somewhere fun for lunch but trying to find parking downtown during lunch proved to be difficult. We even tried heading over to Crystal City and still couldn't find any parking. We finally gave up and headed to Flippin' Pizza which was a perfect choice for our large group. Anna, Abi and Lucy were such great helpers with Ruby and loved holding her and giving her lots of attention, which she loved. We wandered around Green Spring Gardens after pizza. The kids spent most of their time playing in the river and making up all kinds of games.

We had a yummy dinner at the Littles house that night and then got to join several friends for an outdoor movie (Zootopia) at the Pinkney's house. It was great to see old friends and the kids loved unlimited popcorn and treats on a beautiful summer night. The girls spent the night at the Little's house and the rest of us headed back to our hotel where Simon crashed immediately.

Yards Park

Yards Park is one of our absolute favorite spots in D.C. It's just the perfect location to relax on a summer evening while the kids enjoy the water. We had a yummy picnic dinner from Potbelly and were so happy we could meet up with the Earnests that night and catch up.

Annmarie Gardens + River Farm

When I asked the kids what places they wanted to visit when we were in D.C., we came up with a long list of favorites. Annmarie Gardens was at the top of their list so we headed there our first morning. The kids have so much fun playing in the fairy forest there and checking out the new fairy houses on display every year. This year they had gnomes hidden throughout the forest and the girls loved trying to find all of them. It's fun to see everything they've added since our first visit there 6 or 7 years ago. The inspiration for our backyard stage and our art room came from Annmarie.

Our next stop was River Farm, another favorite. The lush green setting on the river is hard to beat. The kids had fun running around in the children's garden and we took a hot walk through the meadow down to the river.

Virginia trip.

Ben had to do some work at Andrews Air Force Base outside of D.C. so we decided to join him. He had an unexpected trip to Charleston come up right before this trip so instead of being able to drive up with us, I drove up with the kids and Ben was going to meet us there that evening.  I got stuck in horrible traffic heading up 95 (of course) which added an extra hour to our trip. But we were so happy to finally arrive at our first stop, the Davis house! Our original plans were thwarted due to major rain. But the kids still got some time to play and Jessica introduced us to a delicious Mediterranean place for dinner. So yummy.

Unfortunately, there were some crazy air travel delays that day and Ben didn't end up getting in until 1 a.m. I had the fun task of checking into our hotel with all 5 kids and luggage and getting everyone to sleep. The girls were super helpers and we survived.