Washington DC

In May of 2019 we took a 7 day trip to Washington D.C.  My kids were 10, 8, and 5 at the time.  We drove with my cousin.  She had kids who were 15, 13. and 9.  She paid for tolls, food, and parking and I paid for gas and our AirBNB.  Our AirBNB was cheap but we were 40 minutes outside of the city so it made for long drives into and out of the city.  We crammed 8 people into her van and it was cheaper to pay for parking then to do public transportation for everyone. We would reserve out parking spots with a parking app the night before and usually paid $15 to park exactly where we wanted to be. We also packed lunches and dinners everyday that we went into the city.  We packed a lot into every day.  I had done research ahead of time and had a list of the areas of interest at each place we planned on seeing.

   
Wednesday Day 1
Our first stop was the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It's in Virginia and about 45 minutes out side of DC.  It's a great place to stop on your way in or out of the city.  It's a Smithsonian museum and free but parking costs $15.  If you arrive at 4:00 or later parking is free.  The main attractions were the Enola Gay.  It's the plan that dropped the first atomic bomb.  They also have the Discovery Space Shuttle and a great collection of other NASA equipment.  They also have a black bird, which is run to see.

The plane that dropped the first atomic bomb

Discovery Space Shuttle 

The flotation device that Apollo 11 used.

Thursday Day 2 
Our first day in DC we started at the National Archives. You can not take any pictures near the documents.  It was really awesome to see the Deceleration of Independence and the Constitution.  The kids also like the hands on lab.  We ate our picnic lunch here in the downstairs cafeteria. Then we went to the Natural History Museum.  We all liked seeing the Hope diamond and the statue from Night at the Museum.  The kids also really liked doing the insect zoo.  They enjoyed holding insects from around the world.  We then enjoyed a tea time snack that we brought with us in their cafeteria. Next was the Air and Space museum.  Highlights here were the write brothers plane and the space exhibits. Then we ended the day at the National Sculpture gardens.  We enjoyed eating our packed dinner here and cooling off our feet in the fountain.  We crammed a lot in today but it worked as these museums were all very close to each other on the national mall.

National Archives 

National Archives hands on area

National Natural History Museum 

The insect zoo in the natural history museum 

Hope diamond natural history 

Spirit of St. Louis Air and Space museum 

Sally Ride's space suit 

Edward White's space walk suit.

Maddy won the airplane contest

V2 rocket 

Wright Brothers plane 

John Glen capsule 

Sculpture gardens

Friday Day 3 
We went to the Marine Corp museum in the morning then we went back to our AirBnB and took naps and relaxed to gear up for our big night.  The Marine Corp museum was really good and my favorite of all the museums we did this week.  There was lots of hands on activities for the kids.  We went into the city around 6:45.  We stopped by the National Sculpture gallery for the jazz in the park.  This was free but so so so crowded!  We couldn't find a place to sit. Then we went on to check out all the memorials at night. The kids also got their national mall ranger badge. It was really fun to do a night walking tour.  We didn't go with a group.  It was over 5 miles of walking and we didn't finish until after midnight.  The teens were doing great but it was a bit much for the younger kids.

Marine Corp museum play area 

The Iwo Jima flag 

Marine Corp Museum 

gas masks from world war 1 

Marine Corp Museum 

Marine Corp museum 

Live jazz at the national sculpture park 

Thomas Jefferson memorial 

Thomas Jefferson Memorial 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial 

Lincoln memorial 

Where Martin Luther King Jr. stood to give his I have a dream speech  

Lincoln Memorial 

World War 2 memorial 

Washington monument as the sun was setting 

Saturday Day 4 
We went to the Holocaust museum.  We got timed entrance tickets for the older kids.  These are free but it is such a popular museum you need tickets to enter.  The have an experience for younger kids that you don't need tickets for.  I would recommend this for families with younger kids.  It was very appropriate in content but still allows the kids to learn about the Holocaust.  It is called the Danial Story.  I took the 3 younger kids over to The African American Museum next.  The Danial Story is relatively short compared to the full museum experience.  We loved this museum.  It was set up in chronological order. They begin with the slave trade and then life in slavery.  The kids enjoyed seeing Harriet Tubman's hymnal and shawl.  Then they have a wonderful exhibit on civil rights and African Americans in sports. We meet up with the rest of our group and we toured the Capital.  I had called ahead and we got tickets through our congressmen so we didn't have to wait.  The kids liked getting to wear the head piece and we all enjoyed the tour.  Next we took the tunnel that connects the capitol building to the library of Congress.  The Gutenberg Bible and Amerigo Vespucci's first map of America were some of our favorite things to see. We stayed until the Library of congress closed.  It had been another full day in the city.

The Holocaust Museum

The exhibit for children

Slave block 

Jackie Robinson's jersey 

Glass from the 6th st. church bombing

Harriet Tubman's shawl and hymnal

The Capitol

The capitol tour

The Capitol 

Library of Congress 

The first time America was written on a map

The reading room 

Sunday Day 5 
     We had been seeing so much of D.C. everyone was starting to get pretty tired.  So we planned a low key day.  We went to the National Zoo and only spent about an 1 and 1/2 seeing the animals that interested the group the most.  Then we went back to our rental and enjoyed the pool and relaxed.  It felt good to have a chill day and to have some time to let all that we had seen soak in.

National Zoo 

Our whole group at the national zoo

The community pool at our airbnb

 Monday Day 6
The Supreme Court was in session today we went to the supreme court to get a seat in the gallery but by the time we got there the gallery was already filled.  We did enjoy the museum in the court but were very bummed we didn't get to see the court in action.  Maddy dressed like RBG which several people that was cool.  From there we went to Ebeneezer's coffee shop.  We enjoyed a treat then walked to Union station.  We ate our packed lunch in the food court and enjoyed the architecture of the building.  Across the street was the postal museum.  The kids enjoyed making their own stamp, doing the scavenger hunt, and getting stamps to start a stamp collection.  All of these activities were close to each other.  From there we got into our car and drove to Arlington national cemetery.  We watched the changing of the guard and found some of the famous graves there.

The Supreme Court

Ebeneezer's coffee shop

Union Station 

The postal museum 

Postal Museum 

Tomb of the unknown solider 

Tuesday Day 7 
We started the day at the American History Museum.  Their tinker lab was not opened the day we were there.  The kids would have liked it.  I wish we had gone a different day so the kids could have enjoyed it.  Out favorite things in the History Museum were Benjamin Franklin's printing press, Plymouth rock, FDR's microphone from his fire side chats, and Dorthy's ruby red slippers. Next we wen to Fords theater, where Lincoln was shot.  The kids got a jr. ranger badge there and we enjoyed seeing the theater and the little museum underneath.  We needed tickets for this.  The tickets also gave you entrance to the house across the street where Lincoln died.  After Ford's theater we went to the National Portrait gallery.  We enjoyed seeing every president portrait.  Then we went over to see the White house.  I had applied to get tickets to tour it but we didn't get them. We then went to the Old clock tower, which was really cool.  It is free and gives you a great view of the city.  Lastly we went to see the  Iwa Jima memorial at sunset.

Benjamin Franklin's printing press

Plymouth Rock 

FDR's microphone from his fire side chats 

Ruby red slippers from the Wizard of OZ

Ford's theater 

The gun that killed Lincoln

The kids getting another free jr. ranger badge

Across the street from Ford's theater 

House where Lincoln died.  

Portrait Gallery 

Portrait Gallery 

Taking the elevator up to the top of the old clock tower

Top of the old clock tower

The old clock tower 

Iwo Jima Memorial at sunset

Parking and public transportation

With 8 people it was cheaper for us to drive into the city and park a van than it was to pay for public transportation.  We used an app and reserved a parking spot near where we were planing to spend the day.  Most spots were around $10.  We did use the free bus that drives around the national mall once which the kids loved.  Other than that we just walked.  We walked alot!

Super tight parking spot 

The Free bus that goes around the national mall.