Last week the kids & I packed up and headed north to visit my family in Virginia. Most of our fun was in my hometown, but on Wednesday my mom & I took them a bit further north to meet up with my brother and visit the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
I hadn’t visited the Zoo since I was younger (possibly as many as 30 years ago??). I knew my animal loving kids would love it given they enjoy our visits to the North Carolina Zoo so much. I also thought my son would love the Metro. I was right. Ask him now what his favorite part of our trip was and he will tell you “riding the subway.”
But back to the Zoo! It’s smaller than our state zoo, but still has so many animal species to see. We were trying to squeeze a visit in between rush hours (traffic in D.C is vastly different than Raleigh – thank goodness for HOV lanes!) so we aimed for a few highlights (Giant Pandas) and anything else we could squeeze in. Which ended up being a lot for about 3 hours: river otter, tigers, orangutans, gorillas, lizards, snakes, frogs, small mammals, lemurs, elephants, and even the 2-1/2 month old Allen’s swamp monkey, Zawadi.
I let my son carry one of our old point and shoot cameras and he had fun taking photos throughout the visit. Trying to capture each and every animal he saw. Literally every one including the lizards and snakes. He took nearly 100 photos! It has been so fun looking through them and seeing the visit through his eyes.
Supplies: Around the World freebie (paper) and Flashback elements (“camera ready” label) by Sahlin Studio; Life is an Adventure Part 1 collab kit (heart, tape, flower, leaf); The When {daters} by Sara Gleason (date stamp); Block Party elements by Amber LaBau (staple); Dude mini kit by Robyn Meierotto (paint mask).
At the end of our visit, we headed back to the Metro for one last ride. As we eased out of the underground tunnels and got closer to our station, I let him stand for the remaining ride. Biggest thrill of the day. Do you see that smile?
We were all exhausted when we finally made it back to my mom’s house at dinner time, but it was so worth it. A very fun adventure with my kids.
Have you had any fun day trips lately?
Linking up with Mommy & Me Monday at Really, Are You Serious?
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