Staycation with Our Frenchies - Part 1

House fix-ups continued this week, but the main event was a visit from my best friend from France. They arrived Thursday night and we tried to pack as much fun as possible into Friday and Saturday.

First we went to see George Washington's Estate, Mount Vernon.

We have been there before, but it was winter and I'd heard the gardens were spectacular in Summer. We braved the tourist crowds and were glad we went.

The gardens were gorgeous. I aspire to have some like these some day. I asked the gardener some questions about gravel walks and weeding.

They don't like you to take pictures inside the house and refer you to their website instead.  I am always surprised by how bright the paint colors were back then.

The house is very grand for the time period, but most of the rooms are pretty small.This room, the "new" room is was the biggest and most impressive. The ceilings are 16 feet tall. I love the back porch.

We saw the slave quarters and the various property managers buildings.

 We lost baby L's hat and had to get her a Martha Washington one en route. Everyone we passed by said how cute and appropriate for the time period it was.

We visited the blacksmith shop and remembered how we saw Elder Grandpa at Nauvoo doing that not too long ago.

Then we went to the Air and Space Museum near Dulles and saw the new Space exhibit with the Discovery shuttle. It was immense!

The kids were absorbed watching the launch video of the shuttle's 39th (final) space flight before it came to rest at the museum.

We also learned about meteorites. Most of them are small (the size of a large marble) and it is hard for scientists to find them after they fall through the atmosphere. Unless it falls in a desert or on hard pack snow - somewhere it stands out against the background. We handled one that came from beyond Mars!  I also like seeing the ones that had been sliced up and showed they were mostly metal inside. In one the metal had cooled so slowly that it had formed crystals.

On Saturday we went to the County Fair. It is huge! We thought it would be a good "American" experience for our guests.

The kids loved seeing the animals. It was another event during which we started a lot of sentences, "when we get our farm..."

 Here is baby S saying "Please can I get a piggie like this when we get our farm?"

The boys watching the honey bees working away:

A huge combine was rigged up like a slide so that the kiddos could play on it:

We took our annual tractor photos.

It was super hot, but we made the best of it with cold drinks, shows, and treats.  Here is my bestie with her first funnel cake:

We watched a comedy magic show while we ate our lunch.  Big sister A was chosen from the audience and won a magic kit that she has been playing with ever since.

Then we took them downtown for our night tour.  It was beautiful and nicely cooled off by then.

Come back again soon!