jedimentat

It was our Spring Break! We took a trip to DC, since the kids had studied all about the US Government this year, as well as some presidents, WWII, and Cold War.

We stayed in a campground slightly out of DC called Cherry Hill Campground. The kids looooved it bc it had a cute log cabin with kitchenette, bathroom, bunks, hangout area, as well as a nice pool and splash pad; in between seeing sights and museums, they had a blast at the campground itself

We spent the first day touring the National Mall area; from the Washington Monument to the WWII monument to the Lincoln Memorial to the Vietnam Memorial to the museum area; the National Air and Space Museum was absolutely *slammed* with people so we went next door to the Museum of Native American Culture, and then briefly to the Botanical Garden, and then on a tour of the Capitol Building. After that, we (I, especially) were pretty walked out (17k steps in one day, and hitting the tylenol and heating pads later), so we got some awesome Thai food and a taxi back to our car.

(we were *so* tired by the end of the day Capitol Building tour)

I did *not* expect all the other parts of the Capitol beyond what you see on CSPAN; certainly not the rotunda looking like a Leftovers intro

We also rented a street electric scooter and rode on the sidewalks for a while, which was a blast

The following day, we went to the Stephen Udvar-Hazy Center Air and Space Museum, which is near the Dulles Airport. Kingfox had been there previously on a work trip, and highly recommended it, and he wasn't wrong. We had a fantastic day looking at the exhibits, from the history of military aircraft to the history of space flight to the history of commercial aviation, and all kinds of things in between...the Concorde, the Discovery Shuttle, the Blackhawk...we took a million pictures, so here you go...

the scale of the museum is pretty amazing.

(they were pretty excited to find a 'Memphis-Belle'type plane)

space food of Soviet cosmonauts: borscht and cabbage-soup-in-a-tube (the spacesuit-fart jokes write themselves)

We had just studied a *lot* about the Cold War, so it was all especially interesting.

Nike missile

(it's right next to Dulles, so you can go up to the 'tower' of the museum and watch the planes approach the runways while listening to the air traffic control transmissions, which is cool (and reminded us of IKEA in Newark, minus the meatballs))

Probably my favorite part was the ultralights and weird kit-planes bc they are *insane* but also look really, really fun...here is a pic of a 'backpack' rotocopter and also a circular-fan "flying platform". ((I know a surprising amount about aviation bc my father did helicopter-rescue-and-repair in Vietnam, flew hanggliders, model airplanes, and then bought a small private plane (Piper Archer or Cessna, I forget) when I was in high school, which I've flown in, along with some other fun planes at the local airport (Aronca, etc); so, I picked up a lot)).

All in all, it was a great trip, and I highly recommend the Hazy Center if you haven't been there.

Lots of rainouts, iffy weather for soccer and track season this year

Kids

moving from that white belt to yellow belt in karate

Kirk lost his last tooth, and subsequently started his braces

Dogs

been doing a lot more reading. really enjoyed books by Christopher Buehlman (esp 'Black-Tongued Thief' and 'Between Two Fires'), Sarah Kenzior, and Willie Vlautin this month. watched "Andor" and enjoyed it; also Murderbot and Hacks