Washington, D.C. what fun!

We are home after an great and adventurous trip to Washington, D.C.

My wonderful husband had to do some work out there so the rest of us went along for the ride! And some people wonder why we homeschool, this was one of those reasons why!!!

Before we went I was challenged by how much did we need to do to justify it being school site seeing, but the boys were amazing. We didn't follow curriculum, but they definitely learned a lot! Todd challenged the boys to come up with three questions to stump him with every night. That was a great challenge and they took it very seriously, especially when dad started offering a "Lego Buck" when they were able to stump him! (They usually even had more than three questions to ensure their stump.)

We are creating some lapbooks from our trip as suggested by my friend Jan Bloom. We've only done of these before, so I'll post pictures when we are done.

Wonderful stuff:

Going in January - NO lines, personal tours, not crowded

Hotel Staff that was amazing to us - rides to and from the Metro everyday, breakfast staff so friendly, lifeguards at the pool (life guards are required in VA at pools)

Free stuff all over D.C.

My highlights:

My boys were interested in most museums!

My boys had enough stamina to actually enjoy going to museums all of the time.

I was able to calm down and enjoy what we got to see and not stress (too much) about not seeing it all. (Hopefully we get to go back.)

We didn't get separated on the Metro which we rode every day!

Here's a quick rundown of what we did:

Day 2 - Smithsonian National Museum of American History (great hands on exhibits and the "Star Spangled Banner Exhibit" was very cool), U.S. Marine Memorial (Iwo Jima)

Day 3 - Smithsonian National Zoo

Day 4 - Capitol Tour, ran into John McCain at the capitol basement, Visiting with Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, Library of Congress. Orsborn's arrive!

Day 5 - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Lincoln Memorial, Old Post Office Pavilion – Look out across the city

Day 6 - (Just the girls and the baby) Smithsonian National Museum of American History - First Ladies Dresses and Julia Child's Kitchen

Day 7 - Bureau of Printing and Engraving, Washington Monument, CP-3O at National Museum of American History (just a photo op), National Archives

Day 8 - Arlington National Cemetery, Lego Store shopping

Day 9 - Smithsonian Museum of National History - ran into a homeschool group and joined their activity, IMAX Grand Canyon Adventure in 3D, Dinner with Todd's boss's family...veteran homeschoolers even!

Day 10 - National Building Museum (The boy's favorite - Lego Exhibit.)

Days 1 an 11 were travel days...

None of us were ready to come home. I need to evaluate what we so great about this trip so we can maybe replicate some of that at home. I of course loved not cooking or cleaning a kitchen for 10 years and not having to clean a house...not sure that it's realistic to have that be a part of our every day life!

Things that pain me...

Realization that non disposable items need to be replaced. (Silly things like dish towels and cloths and my clothes.) I think about my mom using the same hot pads that we used when I lived at home but mine that are less than 10 years old are falling apart! Why do I need new ones and she doesn't. (Even though I got some for Christmas, this still pains me, why or why?)

When to stop cleaning/picking up. I am NOT the neat freak of the family but I don't necessarily like messes. But if I start to pick up or clean something then I keep seeing more things that need to be cleaned or picked up and I just don't know when or where is reasonable to stop! Everything will take just a minute or 5 or 10, but when you have 10 things to do that just take 10 minutes, that's over an hour and a half...and dinner was supposed to be done by then....ugh! There is ALWAYS something more to do, but my husband will always wonder why I didn't choose to do thing that he happens to see because it would only take a minute or 5 or 10!

I know that there are more, but I do need to feed my family now....

2011 - What I'm hoping to do...

When I do make a resolution, I really attempt to fulfill it! I haven't done for awhile but I have one this year. Unfortunately my resolution will be hard to measure.

My goal is to have a "lighter" house at the end of 2011.

I of course, can't weigh my house and it's contents so I won't be able to know if my house weighs less or not. I can judge by the amount of stuff that is stashed in closets and under beds and such.

I tend to keep things just in case or hold off from using items until the best time. This year there will be candles burning in my house. I will get rid of clothes that I don't wear. I will allow my children to purge more things even if they are good toys.

We will probably have more books at the end of the year which means I need to purge more of other things. I can get rid of all but the best early readers and small children books!

Please feel free to ask me how I'm doing!

Shopping, Money, Commercialism, Thrifty and more - Part 2

Something that's been on my mind a lot has been this article that I read "10 Things we don't spend money on". The first item on the list was restaurants. We don't eat too out much. There are two main reasons for us eating in more than eating out. First, in our town there aren't that many restaurants that really tempt us to eat out. Second, our budget allocations have changed over the last five years which keeps us in more. When we do indulge in a treat of eating out, I'm happy that there are places to go and eat for us to enjoy.

The article writer says that they do go out to eat but only when they've figured out how to get a free gift card or have some type of groupon deal so it's really cheap. I'm having a hard time with this concept. As I've said before, I'm all for a good deal, but when we get to restaurants I get to see the people involved in the deal and start to think about how the dollars are flowing.

Restaurants need to buy food, pay employees, advertise, buy insurance and all kinds of expenses that I don't even want to understand...I want restaurants to be there for those times that we do get to have a treat or we are on a trip and I didn't make the effort to pack a meal.

I am starting to better understand that I need to pay for these services that others are providing and restaurants is definitely one of those services that have a direct correlation with the dollars in my pocket. If I go to a restaurant and don't really spend any money then can I really expect them to be there the next time? If everyone came in with a coupon, they couldn't stay afloat unless they raised their prices high enough to cover the coupon. Is the coupon really then a deal?

For 2011, we aren't necessarily going to have more money to spend than we did in 2010 (especially with Obama stopping federal employee pay raises), but I am going to be more thoughtful of how I do spend the money that I can put into the economy. I hope to truly support businesses this year and not just take advantage of them.