Our DC Trip, Part 1: The Mall (Not the Kind with a Food Court)

We've been living within an hour of our nation's capital for months now . . .

. . . and I decided it was high time we took the kids to see it in person.

I decided to keep things simple.  We started at President Lincoln's end of the National Mall, and worked our way over to President Washington's, checking out various monuments along the way.  Abraham Lincoln is one of my heroes.  I feel so grateful that we had a president with such wisdom, compassion, and plain good sense leading our country during its greatest crisis.

Joy made sure her Minecraft friends had a good view of Lincoln's second inaugural address on the north wall of the monument.

Our next stop was the Vietnam Memorial.  It was sobering to explain the war (briefly) to my kids, and look at the names of thousands of servicemen who died in that conflict.  Anna even spotted the name Daniel on one panel of the wall.  I'm sure there were a lot more Daniels and probably a few Todds on those panels, too.  It would have been so hard to send one of our boys to war, and not have them come home.

We strolled through Constitution Gardens on our way some other, more famous sites.  I think the kids were more intrigued by the ducks than by most of the monuments they saw today.

The next stop on our little tour was the WWII Memorial.  It may not be as iconic as the Lincoln or Washington monuments, but it is one of my favorites.  I love the focus on unity, sacrifice, and facing difficult challenges because it was the right thing to do.  While I'm grateful that we don't face the threats that generation did, I think we might be better, stronger, and even happier people if we had to sacrifice and work together the way they did.

Before we left that memorial, we made sure to snap a picture of "Iwo Jima" on the Pacific end of the memorial.  My grandfather was a Marine who served there.  It was his first deployment--talk about baptism by fire.

We then proceeded to the Washington Monument.  From far away, it is just a unique landmark.  Up close, I found it awe-inspiring to stand next to that massive tower of stone reaching over 55 stories straight up (it was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1884).  I didn't bother taking a closeup--it wouldn't have done the monument justice.  It is a fitting monument to a towering man whose character and dedication inspired an entire nation, and who responded to that hero-worship so selflessly.

Tough Assignment

Mission: Take nice snapshots of the kids for an upcoming family history activity.

Targets sighted.

Success.

Success.

Success.

FAIL.

FAIL.

FAIL!!! 

Good enough.

Beta Daniel

Daniel's been promoted . . .

. . . to be his Wolf den leader's assistant.  Admittedly the promotion is kind of by default because the former assistant aged out and the only other Wolf in the group just moved here this month, but I think Daniel still appreciates the bit of responsibility that comes with that little epaulet.

Enough serious talk--time for some post-Cub Scout meeting kickball in the church gym.  The builders put wire cages over the clock, air vents, and scoreboard for a good reason.

The Wall

We try to do a fun family outing or project every Saturday after chores.  I'll be honest, sometimes our fun activity is just relaxing around the house together, but today we tried something  more adventurous:

The YMCA's two-story climbing wall.

Remember that scene in "Frozen" when Princess Anna tries to climb a cliff and runs out of steam about four feet up?  That's about how things played out with our Anna today.  And Daniel.  And me, the first time I tried it.  Hauling your body weight up a wall is a lot harder than it looks.

I actually made it two-thirds of the way up on my second attempt, and Phillip managed about the same.

Joy was the only one who made it to the top.  I think she owes her success to determination and lots of tree climbing over the past few months.

The Timely Artist

What does your preschooler draw with markers?

Mine writes down the time every time it changes on the microwave.

Time to wait for 11:56.

Melted Art At Home

The first week I taught Joy School, the lesson plan called for me to grate some crayons and let the kids arrange them on folded paper that I would then iron to create colorful pictures (or Rorschach tests).

There were plenty of shavings left over, so I kept them for Phillip and the kids to experiment with a few days later.

It's funny how a simple technique can produce such varied results.

Of course, Engineer Daddy wanted to create something very specific when it was his turn: he made symbols for "Love At Home."

Today I finally got around to hanging up some of our artwork.  I arranged a print by each family member (plus an extra one from Anna) on a big blank wall in our stairwell.  It's always fun to come around the bend and see colorful artwork our family created.

I also hung one of Daniel's prints over his bed, along with a mosaic he made the day he joined our Joy School class, and a mandala I randomly drew him one day. :)

Crayons in the Lobby

I took Todd along to my optometrist appointment today.

The office had paper and crayons in their lobby, and Todd set right to work . . .

. . . jotting down a few equations (and the word "awesome") . . .

. . . and writing the names of the crayons he was using.  Good thing they didn't have turquoise or chartreuse in their crayon bin.