Having a Ball in Baltimore!

There is so much to see and do along the east coast we just couldn't begin to do it all. Luckily Rusty took a course in Maryland for his continuing education requirements so the kids and I were able to spend a few days checking out Baltimore.

DAY ONE -SATURDAY

The first day we used our science membership to get into the science museum. The kids designed containers and participated in an egg drop, played in the children's area, did the dino dig thing, and spent the day exploring and learning.

Ben's favorite was the Submarine
Chipping away sandstone from fossils.

Dallin's favorite was this giant wall made of those tiny plastic sticks that hold whatever shape you push them into. It was cool and self contained in that kids could push from either side.

DAY TWO-SUNDAY

The next day was Sunday we went to church in Baltimore. It was fun to meet the mother-in-law of my neighbor in Enoch in Relief Society. She and her husband are serving a mission in the area.

DAY THREE-MONDAYMonday we visited the Zoo. We got in free with our zoo membership- which is a good thing, because the zoo was mediocre and a lot of the animals weren't available due to cold weather. We still had a nice day running around outside enjoying the beautiful fall weather.
I think my kids got tired of my oohing and ahhing over all the beautiful leaves. But I couldn't help it. I LOVE the fall!! The best part of the zoo was the children's area. They had several fun displays the kids enjoyed. Such as a lily pad leap across the water, larger than life birds nests, a tree slide, and turtle shell spinners.

DAY FOUR-TUESDAY

I had a major debate over the last day. We were trying to do this trip without breaking the bank, but I wanted to do something fun and memorable for everyone. There is an enormous aquarium and a huge children's museum. If only we would have know we could have hit the aquarium Friday night for really cheap, but now it would be over $20 each to go. The children's museum was about 1/2 as much so we opted for that.

Wet, Wet Washington DC

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... it was certainly the west of times- I meant the wettest of times. We were hoping to sneak in a quick trip to Washington DC to see some of the sights before we headed west. Unfortunately our visit coincided with the arrival of some pretty heavy rain due to Hurricane Ida. Luckily we had all of our winter coats with us so we "weathered" the storm just fine. As a bonus the rain kept most everyone else away and we had free reign to most of the museums and monuments.

We decided to park the car and pay for a tour bus rather than trying to find parking or hiking in the rain. It was awesome to actually visit the famous monuments in DC I just wish we had more time. One and a half days is not enough to see DC.

I'm not sure why or how this ended up being Ben's take the picture day, but he insisted on taking at least every few photos, not bad for a 5 year old eh? We visited the American History Museum and the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian, but even then we only saw a small part of those museums. We were able watch an IMAX movie at the Air and Space Museum which was fun, but it made it difficult to see much else.

Don't forget to "take the left turn at Albuquerque"

For anyone who hasn't been subjected to numerous hours of Looney Tunes (it was one of the new dvds we picked up for this trip)... Just re-name this post My Favorite Museum. If you have Looney Tune expertise you will realize why this was my children's favorite catch phrase as we passed numerous road signs ticking off the miles all the way through New Mexico.

I've been to A LOT of museums in the last year. I've been to children's and science museums in many of the biggest cities on the East Coast- many of which are nationally recognized. So after seeing so many museums you may be surprised to know that my favorite museum (so far) is Explora Children's Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On one of our trips across the country I was looking for something we could do to break up the ride and decided to check it out, after all it was free with our membership. Honestly my expectations were low. Their website is not impressive and regular price for entry is only $3-$7 per person, Where many of the museums we have been to admission is $20-$30 plus per person.

We've been to Explora twice in the last 6 months and each time we go my kids (and I) learn so much. At Explora interactive doesn't mean a flashy display with a button for the kids to push- interactive means they learn by DOING! Not only are the displays conducive to exploration and experimentation, but there are many staff members roaming the area eager to help the children explore and learn. And the museum is set up so that when kids create something they have a space to display and share it, which inspires other kids to create and display.

Unfortunately pictures just can't do justice to this awesome museum, so you'll just have to take a left turn next time you pass through Albuquerque.

These are pictures of the big kids working on their chain reaction creations.

When we went this time we made time to run around outside for a little while just to breathe some fresh air. FYI the orange face is Lauren's craft project.

I wish I could say that this picture reflected Kate's demeanor for the week or day or even the hour, but she was definitely teetering emotionally. She was unpredictable during the entire trip with mood swings and hysterical crying fits at random times. I was getting worried that we had scarred her already challenging emotional psyche, but after 2 days of consistent sleep in our rental home in Arizona she is beginning to stabilize. Phew, because I was at the end of my fragile emotional psyche too. As a bonus they don't charge any extra for anyone crazy, I mean brave, enough to ride the sky bike- Rusty obliged the children by taking a daring ride over the museum for them as they were too short and didn't weigh enough to do it themselves :)

Road Trip

You know you have been in the car driving for too long when...

* Your kids watch the red box movie you rented twice in English and then decide to watch it again in French...

* and they think it's more funny in French

* Your 4 year old decides the stamp from her McDonalds Happy Meal is eyeshadow and rouge and the chalk from her activity kit is lip stick- and you don't care as long as she is happy (The kids were happy to have a new traveling activity kit to alleviate some of the boredom- thanks to Aunt Richelle. One of Kate's other favorite past times was strapping her baby doll into Rusty's Hat as a car seat- that's what she's holding in the picture if you can't tell.)

* You've passed so many time zones the clock in your car is totally irrelevant

* It takes an industrial size vacuum to clean all the crumbs out of the car

* You become skilled at passing items to the back of your van and changing the DVD in the player strapped behind you while still keeping your eyes on the road and steering.

*You can predict within 10 miles when your 5 year old will need to have a potty break (I'm not sure why, but Ben was the only child who required regular potty breaks- boredom?)

* Your children no longer ask "what's for dinner tonight", but "where's dinner tonight?"

* Where you stop for dinner is determined by who has a kid's eat free night on that day (Just a note that on Tuesday and Saturday at Denny's you can get 2 free kids meals per paying adult meal- for a family with 4 kids and 2 adults that drink water- you can eat a real meal for pretty cheap and for anyone traveling in the South Shoney's has kids meals for less than $2 SWEET!!)

* You find yourself excited to see what food options are available at the next exit (Our goal was to avoid McDonalds and other fast food as much as possible- We would typically eat breakfast at the hotel, snacks in the car, skip lunch, early dinner at a sit down restaurant. Over the two weeks of travel only 2 visits to McD)

* You spend more on gas in a day than you do on food and housing. (with 2 cars that wasn't so hard)

* In spite of having an oil change just before leaving, your due for another upon arrival.

* You begin to appreciate the diverse beauty of our amazing country as you pass through such varied terrain. As we drove through the country I often thought about what the land would have been like before it was "settled." How incredible it must have been to be some of the first people to set foot on land that had been preserved and prepared for our day. And how grateful I am that they built freeways and rest stops along the path for those of us less adventurous.

On that happy note I will leave the rest to your imagination. We had a great time on our trip to the East Coast, but it is nice to be done with the drive. We were very fortunate to have taken the southern route through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma although it was rainy, we avoided the major snow storms passing through Colorado and such. We were blessed that we didn't have any trouble with the cars or the kids. In fact no one took Dramamine and no one threw up!!! It was a successful Road Trip!