Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-up January 11

Ok, I have to admit that it is too cool that I can compose this post while riding on a train!  We are headed home as I type from our adventure in Washington, D.C.  :-)

I hope everyone had a great week.  We certainly did.

Monday was our travel day down.  We were certainly blessed that the hotel had a pool, so that is right where the kiddos found themselves on Monday evening.

On Tuesday, we were off to the National Zoo.  There aren't enough synonyms of amazing for me to adequately describe it.  It is certainly my favorite zoo and was a huge hit with my children.  I wrote all about it and shared more pictures here.

On Wednesday, we visited the Udvar-Hazy center of the National Air and Space Museum.  For those who aren't familiar, it is the second location for the Air & Space museum, since the first location on the mall was literally running out of space for very large aircraft, such as the Concorde, and most impressively, the Space Shuttle Discovery.  There is something surreal about standing under a craft that flew over 150 million miles in space.  You can see more pics and read all about it here.

Thursday found us on the National Mall visiting several of the Smithsonian buildings including the Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum and the American History museum.

My children learned about the principles of flight in an hands-on way

They saw dinosaurs, sea creatures and mammals

They got to visit a learning laboratory

and followed the development of transportation in America

Ok, we're still not on the train, as I had to pack up the computer and help get everyone and all of their "stuff" off it in some semblance of order, lol.  :-)

The day ended with them getting me into the pool.  It was fun, especially the part with my 14 year old piggy-backing me!

On Friday, we headed home.  We made sure to get a photo with our driver from the week, who inspired me quite a bit and reminded me of my own roots and the struggles of my grandparents and great-grandparents when they immigrated to this country.  This gentleman, whose wife and children are still overseas, is working for the transportation company while trying to earn another graduate degree.  He has been in this country for 3 years and speaks English better than most native-born citizens.  It is his sixth language.  He was friendly, funny and personable and always had something fun or kind to say to my children.  He hopes to be able to send for his own family this year.  I pray that he does.

I hope you had a great week, as well!  :-)

Linking up today with:  Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, NOBH, Show-Off Friday, Learn and Link and It's a Wrap, Friendship Friday and Field Trip Friday and Friday Connection.