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It’s tough scheduling family outings when you have kids on different school calendars like we do. Two of our boys are in year-round schools and our oldest is under the standard traditional calendar. So whenever their vacation schedules eventually do overlap, we make an effort to do something worthwhile together.

This time around we went up to D.C. to visit with family. While there, we took advantage of the splendid weather and went museum hopping at the Smithsonian. Coincidentally it was time for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival so as you can imagine, it was pretty darn crowded in and around D.C. over the weekend.

random tidbits from the visit…

- can it be any MORE expensive to eat at Mickey D’s than at the Air and Space Museum? yikes. for a group of nine, it took a large bite out of the wallet!

- the kids loved riding the Metro even though it was slam packed. our six year old loved standing up while riding. in fact, he insisted on it even with a seat available.

- speaking of the Metro, from what I heard on the news, I think ridership on thurs/fri broke records. something like 900,000 trips were taken on both days. You may remember that the highest recorded riders was over 1 million trips on President Obama’s inauguration.

- with the huge crowds, we just did our best to see what we could at the Air/Space and Natural History museums. we barely scratched the surface since there’s SO MUCH to see there but enjoyed what all we saw nevertheless.

- barely got a glimpse of the hope diamond.. simply too many people congregated in that section of the exhibit. but the diamond/gem exhibit was probably the favorite part of the museum for the wife and her sister. heh.

- Roxy Paine’s Graft, a huge steel sculpture of a tree at the Sculpture garden was neat to see. it’s the first contemporary sculpture installed in the garden in the 10 years since it opened.

- definitely have to come back to see more of the Smithsonian. hopefully when it’s LESS crowded.

- before we left for home we made sure to visit our favorite korean noodle shop for some jja jang myun. for $4, you can’t beat the price PLUS it’s better than any I’ve tasted in the VA/NC area. definitely check out Choong Hwa Won if you’re any where near Annandale.

- another favorite eatery in the area is Spartan’s Family Restaurant (located in Burke, VA). Fantastic gyros, souvlakis and salads. it’s not much to look at but the food is always great.

here are a few random photos from the trip…