A Canal, a River, and a Creek

On Wednesday, we drove to the Great Falls Tavern Visitors Center - one of many stops along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.  Our plan was to take a canal boat ride (the boats are pulled by mules!) but to our dismay, the water levels were too low that day so they were not doing the boat rides.

Instead, we hiked around, had a picnic, and spent time in the itty bitty museum learning about the canal.  I found it fascinating. 

The canal is a man-made "river" that was dug alongside the Potomac River with a whole system of feeder dams and locks.  The locks were created to control the water levels as the boats traveled up or downstream from Georgetown to Cumberland because of the many changes in elevation that occur along the route.  The canal was back-breaking labor for the many immigrants who dug it (literally dug it by hand).  When it was completed, it made some early settlers quite wealthy because it allowed them to trade large amounts of cargo (coal, flour, etc) throughout the state of Maryland. 

The Potomac River, which runs alongside the canal and feeds into it through dams

The C and O Canal and the Great Falls Tavern on the right

A canal boat which, sadly, we did not get to ride on

Our hike up a hill to an overlook

almost there

We made it!

View from the top looking down at the Potomac

Then on Thursday, we had another adventure in nature.  We joined the Thursday mom's group at a park in the Takoma Park/Sligo Creek neighborhood.  When we got there all the kids were playing on the play structures.  Mine did too...for about 10 minutes.  Then, my three Curious Georges found the creek that runs along the park and decided to go exploring.  What started off as, "Mom, can we throw rocks in the creek?" quickly became, "Mom, can we put our feet in the water?"  And then you know the rest of the story...

Who needs a classroom when you can ride the metro?

The Metro is filled with real-world learning opportunities.  The boys have spent their summer reading signs, navigating maps, counting stops, recognizing colors/numbers/letters, adding and subtracting, and the list goes on and on!

  

And the best seat in the house? The first row of the first car. You can look out the front window and pretend to be driving the train.

When we're in the tunnels, the boys are transported to a vitural "galazy." They duck down when we pass flashing lights as if their TIE fighter is under attack.  Very fun. 

National Postal Museum

I know what you're thinking, "not another post with pictures of your kids at a Smithsonian museum!" 

But alas, it's true.  We visited another one.  And since this blog has become a scrapbook for our summer in DC, I'm trying to record ALL of our outings here (and frankly, I've fallen behind because I was in a bit of a funk last week, so there may be several of these posts in your near future). 

Anyways, feel free to move to the next entry on your Blog Reader list if you're tired of the museum pics.  (However, if you're my friend Nancy who loves all things DC or a grandparent of one of my children who loves all things J, N, and R, read on!)   

We visited the National Postal Museum on Sunday (just before the big storm hit that afternoon) and it was surprisingly fun for the boys, particularly the displays of the various forms of transportation that have been used over the years to transport the mail.  They loved the big semi-truck that they could sit in and "drive."  They could have stayed there all day pushing buttons and turning the big steering wheel. 

There were also stagecoaches, including one that they could sit in, 

a mail train

a few mail trucks,

computers with matching games for kids,

and some neat collections of stamps, mail-boxes, and various other mail-related things.

The only problem with that museum is that there weren't very many people there so it was very QUIET inside.  If you haven't noticed, my boys are not at all quiet.  So we were an embarrassing spectacle the whole time we were there - Steve and I trying to catch up with and "shush" our boys while they ran off to the next exhibit squealing and laughing.  Let's just say that the security guard did not love us.       

Every Thirty Minutes

I read this passage a few weeks ago in Just Courage, by Gary Haugen.  It keeps popping back into my mind, which is usually what happens when I'm challenged by something and wrestling with how to apply it to my life. 

"How do we find that abundant heroic life for which we were made?  How do we enter in to God's kingdom now and experience the authentic power and presence of God? 

We do it in weakness, and we are comfortable with (and even boasting in) our weakness because we actually believe that our heavenly Father is both all-loving and all-powerful - and that all is well as long as we are with the One who neither leaves us nor forsakes us. 

Accordingly, I can take my gifts and passions and training and strengths beyond the places of safety and control, and into the sphere of the kingdom where I actually need God.

Perhaps the first indicator that I am approaching such a place will be seen in my life of prayer.  Mother Theresa said that she couldn't imagine doing her work for more than thirty minutes without prayer.  Do you and I have work that we can't imagine doing for thirty minutes without prayer?

If not, perhaps we need a new life's work.  Or perhaps we need to do an old life's work in a new way.

I won't need to be in prayer every thirty minutes in my work if I don't really need God's power to get it done, or if it's work that God doesn't really need done because it has nothing to do with his kingdom."

As I prepare to re-enter the "real world" I'm treading cautiously...hoping that I don't resort to my comfortable, frenzied, I-don't-need-You-because-I-can-do-it-all-if-I-hold-the-reigns-tightly enough ways. It sure would be nice if I could slow down enough to remember - on a daily basis - where and in Whom abundant life is found. I can only imagine how exciting that abundant life would be and where it would lead. I know it would be marked by courage, perseverence, fighting for justice and the cause of the oppressed, filled with love and mercy for those who are different from me, and yet completely peace-filled because of its humble submission to the One who can use me mightily despite my weaknesses.

Unplugged

A fast and furious thunderstorm and its subsequent 24 hour power outage was not what I would have chosen for Sunday and Monday. But "camping" when we weren't planning to was kind of fun...for a night.

With no:

Air conditioning

Computer/Internet/TV/DVD
Microwave, Stove, or Oven

Phone or Cell Phone (both of our batteries were dead)

Lights or even flashlights

Appliances of any kind

We:

had a picnic dinner at the park and stayed outside until dark,

found a deck of cards and played War by candlelight,

camped out on couches downstairs and in the basement where it was MUCH cooler than the upstairs,

finally all fell asleep around 11:30pm,
and spent the next day at museums where there was air conditioning and outlets for charging a cell phone.

We hit up the Building Museum again

and checked-out the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum (which are housed together).

(can anyone name this President?  hint: my boys keep calling him Michael Jackson)

We got lucky...when we returned home in the afternoon, our power was restored, unlike the many people who are still without power and a/c!

The White House

We finally made it over to the White House one evening last week.  

Can you believe the Obamas didn't invite us inside for dinner?!

Maybe next time. 

South Germantown Recreational Park

  

Baltimore

On Sunday, we made the 45 minute drive to Baltimore.  We ate lunch at the Inner Harbor (restaurants and shops by the water) and then headed over to Camden Yards for an Orioles game.

The restaurant we ate at was pretty wacky (perfect for kids).  They made everyone wear bibs and hats with funny sayings on them.  The one they put on me said, "So much for birth control."  Steve thought that was hilarious.   

There were some neat old ships in the Harbor including this one which was an anti-slave trade ship during the Civil War.

They gave out free batting helmets to all the kids at the game.  Thanks Orioles!

Steve really enjoyed seeing the ballpark and was especially happy when I took the boys to the play area and he got to watch the game in solitude for a little while. 

My overall thoughts on the game: HOT and STICKY (particulary the drive home since the a/c is out on the old Volvo).  Let's just say we were five puddles of sweat by the time we got back.  But, it made my baseball-loving husband happy and I was glad we got to experience another city! 

Udvar-Hazy Center

On Saturday, we visited the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center.  It's the "companion facility" of the one on the National Mall (which we visited our first week here).  This one is out by Dulles Airport and was well worth the short drive out there.  Thanks for the tip, Adriane!

The Air France plane below is one of the Condorde jets that used to zip people across the Atlantic.

The Enola Gay is the bomber that dropped the first atomic weapon on Hiroshima. 

Space Shuttle Enterprise

The Apollo 11 floation device is what the astronauts splashed back to Earth in after walking on the moon for the first time. 

There was also a little plane that all four of my boys got to fly.

And the highlight of the day...an observation tower that you can go up in and watch planes taking off and landing at Dulles airport.

I'm Missing...

1.  My air-conditioned Honda Odyssey

2.  Special celebrations with family and friends

3.  Our no-access-to-TV-channels family room with its big, comfy couch

4.  Heat without humidity

5.  GreenHouse kids who wiggle their way into my heart, like this one:

And yet, I know that these last three weeks will go by in the blink of an eye and I'm trying to savor every moment of this special time away. 

National Building Museum

On Thursday, we joined Kimiko's mom's group again for their weekly outing.  This time they went to The National Building Museum, yet another place we would not have found on our own.  It pays to hang with the locals - it was quite a find! 

The inside of the museum is stunning with lots of natural light (I imagined my photography savvy friends having fun in there!)

From July through September, they have a LEGO exhibit on display called LEGO Architechure: Towering Ambition.  The exhibit features fifteen building replicas from around the world made entirely of LEGOs. 

Next to the exhibit is a LEGO Play Room where kids can create their own towers - or whatever comes to mind.  Jonah sat at the tables for over an hour building to his heart's content. 

When kids finished their buildings, the chose where to place them on the "city grid."  There were several budding artichects there who made some pretty incredible structures.  I was in awe of the twelve-year-old boy who made this one (the one that goes from green, to yellow, to blue, to black).  The picture doesn't do it justice.  He had mad skills!

Nicolas and Riley had fun playing with the LEGO people and driving the little cars and motorcyles around the "city." 

.After getting our fill of the little bricks, we headed downstairs where there's a hands-on play area called The Building Zone.  The boys loved it down there and have already asked a few times if we can go back.  The museum is right next to where Steve works so hopefully one day we can meet him down there for lunch and some more play time.  

    Can you believe that all of these museums are FREE?!