Up, Up, and Away

Well, I finally did it.  I took the kids on another field trip.  We meet up with a friend from my MOPS group who happens to home school children of the same age as mine and we drove to the Air & Space Museum located in Chantilly, Virginia.

We decided upon this because 1.  We weren't sure how our kids would do together for a long period of time,  2.  It was the cheapest and easiest option because we were wary of taking our kids on the metro, and 3.  It meant we didn't even have to go near the beltway.

Overall, we had a good time.  My daughter was a little less than enthusiastic about how much walking we ended up doing (I don't have a stroller anymore and they don't rent them out like the zoos do) but as long as she got to sit every once in a while she was fine.

One of our favorite things was the area where you can observe airplanes taking off and landing at nearby Dulles International Airport.  We could even hear the air traffic controllers as they talked to the pilots.  We were also taken to a display air traffic control room where we learned just how important the job of an air traffic controller is.

We also learned about the different things airplanes are made of and why certain materials are better than others.  We learned about the purpose of the lab on the space shuttle and why rockets have multiple segments.

It was a wonderful learning experience for the kids and the moms (at least me).  Yes, I learned something too.  I learned that my daughter is happier at the zoo and my son is just as happy at a museum or zoo.  I'm not sure if it's the age difference or being a girl or that she didn't want to walk, but it's something I hope I can work around in the near future, because I would love to do another museum trip with the same friends taking on Washington, DC next time.

Places to go. Things to see

I can't believe it... I'm having trouble figuring out where to take my kids on a field trip.  When we were in Ohio we were going somewhere at least once a week.  Now that I'm back in Northern Virginia, I can't seem to find something I want to do. 

Maybe it's more accurate to say I can't decide on which of the many available options I think the kids would enjoy the most.  I mean who can pass up the National Air and Space Museum (both of them), National History Museum, the American History Museum, the Lincoln Monument, the Washington Monument, and the many other tourist sights in and around Washington, DC.

I think the biggest issue I'm facing is that I realize that most of the places I want to take them are in Washington, DC, and I REALLY don't want to deal with the traffic.  I gave up my job in the DC suburbs 6 years ago in part because I didn't want to deal with the traffic.

What do to?  I think I will let the kids decide where we are going, and then I will decide when (taking into consideration traffic) and maybe I can get someone else to go with us to make the trip more enjoyable.  Any takers out there?