Annual Trip to Washington D.C.

I love our fall trips to Maryland. I love the cool air, the fall leaves, seeing my sister and her family, seeing my kids playing in piles of leaves, riding the metro into the city...okay okay, I love it all!

This year we were out there for Halloween. We were able to trick or treat with cousins. They had a great time and made a huge haul of Halloween candy!

We went to this fun park place that had a carousel and a spooky train through the forest. It was so much fun. You would think that the kids would be scared of the guys with chain saws and masks, but they would just mock them the whole time!

We made a trip to Lurray Caverns in Virgina. They are sooooo cool. It was enormous and had so many formations! They even had an organ hooked up to the stalagmites that would play different notes...it was amazing!

We stayed with our friends the Beverleys who moved to Virgina a couple years back. We went on a walk thorough some civil war areas.

Craig picked up this little walking stick friend.

I love the sight of leaves falling like rain. We love to run and try to catch the leaves as they fall. It is trickier than you might think....those leaves can be quite wily.

The kids played in the woods by the Beverleys house and caught critters in the stream. Look at that crawdad! My kids could get lost out there forever...and of course I would worry forever that they are picking up deer ticks.

Civil War fields

This is a church near Valley Forge

There was beautiful stained glass everywhere. I loved the depiction of Washington praying

These were cabins at Valley Forge

One of our favorite places to visit is the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. There is a koi pond with hundreds of koi fish.

The Bonsai tress are so interesting and old. There are some that are hundreds of years old!

Of course the National Zoo is a must see. We were so sad that "Happy" , the enormous hippo has been moved to a different zoo. He was one of our favorite animals! They are doing some remodeling and I think he was off to find some new lady friends.

Taking a rest at the Native American museum.


Jefferson Memorial is Craig's favorite memorial.

I loved this holly tree so we had to get a picture with it

Hunter's favorite memorial is the Lincoln memorial.

I love family vacations!