Last month Ava and I travelled to Washington D.C. and Virginia with some of her 5th grade friends. It was a three day field trip with a TON of activities packed in. Before the sun rose on Wednesday, March 16th a group of children and chaperones loaded onto two buses. On the way up the hill to our first stop, Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home), the first bus overheated and we all had to pile onto one bus. With three children in each row we stopped and visited the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum at Dulles and the Iwo Jima Memorial. That night we made it to our hotel and a new bus was waiting for us the next morning.

The next day, St. Patrick’s Day, as we were eating lunch the second bus was hit by a taxi and yet again we piled onto one bus with three children to each row. I’m sure most of the kids loved this! I know Ava did. Our next stop was the Smithsonian Museums, Ava and my group of kids decided to go to the Natural & American History Museums. The entry to all these museums is free! I was happy that some of my tax dollars are going to these great resources. The second bus was deemed drivable and we were able to spread out again for the rest of the trip.

The rest of the day was a big walking day. We visited WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. We had a mishap where we thought Ava lost her iPod touch but she did not! We missed a beautiful sunset looking for it but the pictures of the Jefferson Memorial lit up by the golden sunset show how pretty it was going to be! All of the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom and spring was in the air. We had perfect weather the whole trip. Later that night we headed by the White House for a quick picture and then headed back to the hotel again!

The last morning of the trip we were all a little groggy from the massive amount of activities but we managed to make it to breakfast on time. We headed out to Arlington National Cemetery and watched the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The last mishap of the trip happened here when one of the children dropped their cell phones over the railing and tried to pick it up. The guard stepped out of his formation and yelled to “not cross the line.” After about 15 minutes, the military police were able to retrieve the phone. We rode the metro to the lunch stop and managed not to lose one child.

The very last stop on our trip was the National Archives where we got to see the Declaration of Independence, the “nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty.” I’m sure the kids will think this is cool when they are older. They really seemed to understand and appreciate the Bill of Rights and how it has provided us with our freedoms.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of this awesome trip, Ava, her classmates and friends!

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~Jessi Paige