Day 19 originally was set aside as a day to spend with Delaney and Sawyer and their parents. Since their parents had spent the previous day ripping out carpet and cutting out drywall due to their basement flooding, we offered to take their kids out so they could spend a second day finishing the demolition work. While it wasn't ideal, we were still glad to spend time together!
As soon as we asked the kids what they wanted for lunch, Delaney & Sawyer asked for Chick-fil-a, so we headed to that favorite place!
Then we headed to the National Air & Space Musuem Udvar-Hazy Center to spend the rainy afternoon. Our first stop was the observation tower where a kind lady offered to take a photo of us all together. Then the kids participated in a demonstration of the ICESat-2 which will measure topography. Daddy was silly and raised his hand just as the satellite demo unit moved over him. They ended up with a pretty cool printout of the heights of each of the kids.
Then we explored and wandered for the next couple of hours.
"Take a photo for Granddaddy!" These kids are on it.
Then they saw the Spirit of Texas and insisted on a photo for Grammie & Pappy.
Snacks, even if illegal, are essential to survival with 5 kids in a museum.
This educator was really great with the kids. He kept their attention for a long time and handled their questions kindly.
Because shadows are fun to play with, even inside a museum.
Backseat sillies on the drive from Dulles.
We still had some time to pass before bringing the kids back for dinner, so we went to one of their neighborhood parks since it was just on/off drizzling at this point. The kids started off complaining, but ended up not wanting to leave.
Briana & Ryan picked up pizza after their last trip to the dump, so we ate pizza and crammed 48hours of catching up into 2 hours. After the kids ate, they asked to play outside. An hour later we found them thoroughly soaked from a watergun fight they had been having. They list this impromptu water fight as their #1 favorite thing about the entire road trip. Go figure.
Colleen stayed inside with us, but she had her own fun.
We packed in a number of visits on Day 20. We started off at Great Grandma C's home where we visited and then road the shuttle bus to and from the cafe for lunch. The shuttle bus is always a big hit.
While Daddy, Amelia & Great Grandpa Dee were loading a sewing machine up in our van, Austin and I played more War. We had an epic set of battles where we flipped the same number five times in a row. We took a photo to document it. When we finished, he worked on a stick project with Great Grandma's help, and Colleen covered her own face in stickers. Amelia also performed a dance for everyone before we left.
From there, we headed to the College Park Aviation Museum. Originally we were going to meet Martha at a park to let the kids play while we visited. But the continual rain had us change up our plan, and a lengthy internet search the night before produced this museum. It is a small museum, but has a significant kids' area and allows them to climb in and out of some models. So it was a great place for the kids to play and move.
There was a Wright flyer simulator that the museum staff turned on for the kids. They thought it was pretty cool. We ended with this simulator and some outside time. Since there was a break in the rain, we headed to Rita's for a treat.
We drove from College Park up to Joey, Josh & Quinn who live North of DC. We arrived much earlier than anticipated (dinnertime instead of bedtime), so the kids had time to play. Amelia and Joey acted as if they had been good friends for always and performed a dance for us. Carrie got it on video so we can embarrass them when they are teenagers.
Day 21 was another rainy day, but we decided to not worry about it and go hiking anyways. We drove up to Cunningham Falls State Park in the Catoctin Mountains. It did rain off and on throughout the hike, but the tree cover kept us mostly dry.
Somehow we were all looking at the camera at the falls!
After we made it to the falls, we split up for the return trips. The moms, Quinn & Colleen headed back on the easier trail while the big kids and dads took a "cliff walk" back.
We sat up lunch at some picnic tables and then it began to really rain hard, so we quickly relocated to a little overhang. The picnic was still enjoyed by all! Quinn liked Mr. Patrick a lot.
We had originally packed all the gear to play in the sand by the lake, even in the rain. But the water level was so high from so many days of rain, that there was virtually no shore to speak of. So we opted to return home.
Then as we were driving home, we passed by a pick-your-own farm. A few texts later, we all turned around and went to the farm. Quinn had fallen asleep so Pat stayed with him while the rest of us picked blueberries.
Then we planned on going home again when a few more texts went between vehicles, and we detoured through historic Frederick, Maryland where we ended up at a really awesome playground. We spent some time here until it started to rain hard again; then we really headed home.
The afternoon activity was so much fun - our friends had sorted jelly beans into 10 flavors, and we had a taste-testing competition to see who could correctly identify the most flavors (with closed eyes too). Pat led the game, even feeding jelly beans to Colleen on each round. Carrie was the clear winner, but she had helped pick out the flavors she thought the kids would know. Quinn had fun climbing into the dishwasher while we were all distracted. Amelia was the scribe for the entire game.
There was a pretend wedding before dinner, and that's when we realized that none of the kids actually knew what happened at a wedding.
Before bedtime, we played some games in which you use your device synced to the smart TV. One of them was a drawing game, and Colleen wanted to draw on Pat's phone. The funny thing was that they won using her drawings.
Our last morning, Day 22, started off with the kids doing more puzzles books together and making beaded friendship bracelets with Carrie while Patrick and I loaded the van.
A few photos before we left
Then just as we were going to leave, the kids reminded us of our promise to play one last game of Rat-a-tat Cat. So Patrick led them in one more game.
Finally on our way home! The drive was uneventful, and we were all glad to be in our home again.
After some time processing the trip, I can answer to folks who ask that yes, I would do this trip again. The kids were amazing travelers; the car time was the easiest part of the drive. They ate and slept well the entire trip. There was a lot of strong emotions and difficult behavior moments, but they were also offered a lot of grace for being out of their routine and comfort-space for many days. We had to practice flexibility and finding joy in the changed plans many times, and I'm grateful for those life lessons for each one of us. I sit back amazed and grateful at all the friends who hosted us for an hour or multiple days and were so gracious about the chaos we brought along with us. We are so very blessed.
