National Aquarium

Lots to catch up on.......

What we've been up to the last 3 days will be coming. For now, we departed our hotel at 4:30 am est in hopes of beating any traffic issues. And while there was a huge accident on the other lanes causng traffic to back up, ours was smooth sailing. Currently, we are 68 miles from the West Virginia boarder. Although, we have no internet access so hard telling where we'll be when I get to post this.
Yesterday, we were back on the Mall to visit the Smithsonian's air and space museum and the national aquarium. I would never have guessed we would have stayed at the air and pace museum for 3+ hours. Many of their exhibits were hands on. They were able to see how all he parts of the plane work and which controls move which parts of the wings. There were also cockpits to explore as well as space aircraft to go through. We even felt a real moon rock. It was very cool. From there we ate lunch in he mall area where the girl feed more birds and a game of touch football was taking place. Next, we walked through a sculpture garden on the way to the national aquarium. We have many pictures from the aquarium to post later. After that we found out we were only a block away from the white house visitors center so we made a quick stop there before heading to the metro. The signs for the metro are not always the most obvious but we did find the federal triangle station after asking a passerby for help. Th girls took this to mean we were lost but that was not the case.
We went back to the hotel then Kelly, Katelyn, Allie and I walked to Popeye's Chicken to pick up dinner. Everyone packed up the majority of their belongings prior to heading to the pool one last time. After the pool, they showered, finished packing and got a little rowdy finishing up their snacks and root beer. Then off to bed so we could wake them at 3:45 this morning.  In talking with the breakfast room attendant yesterday, she said she would come in early to make sure we could get breakfast before we left as she was normally there at 4:30 every morning.
That's just another example of the kind people we encountered on this trip.
We now have about 10 miles left in west virginia, heading towards PA. Spotty internet is now done. :)

National Zoo

The stride of a cheetah at full speed is 23 feet. It does four strides per second. How many girl scouts does it take to equal 23 feet?  See below......
Many highlights of the zoo...... the panda's being just one of them.

White House

We left the hotel this morning after a quick breakfast and headed towards the White House for our 8:30 tour.  After a slight misdirection with the gps, we arrived at the parking garage before it opened and ended up parking on a side street. We made a mad dash to the white house and then to the tour check in.  I was surprised by the amount of people in line but it moved quickly. We gave two secret service agents our names and ids before the metal detector and screening. I'm happy to report we only brought permitted items and everyone passed. The tour itself as self-guided and took us through 7 or 8 rooms. More to come on that....... as soon as we were past the white house columns, we were able to take pictures.  We then went to a gift shop and then made our way back to the van to head to the zoo.

Sneak Peak from Minneapolis!!!!

We're finally here......

After a beautiful drive in, and a moving parking lot for the last 30 miles of our drive, we arrived all safe and sound to the hotel in Alexandria, VA.  We are staying at the Washington Suites and so far we have only good things to say about it.  We brought our luggage up to the rooms (our hotel room has 2 bedrooms, two bathrooms and a full kitchen) rested for a nano second and then headed to the Landmark Mall.  While it is a three-story mall, it is only partially occupied.  None the less, the girls had the time they wanted in a mall.  We also ate dinner there at one of the four food court options.  After dinner, we roamed the mall briefly and then called the shuttle to take us to a grocery store.  We most certainly have run into some very nice people on this trip.  I asked the manager of the Giant Store how to get a card, he asked me a couple of questions and then told me I could get one at the front desk but upon crossing paths again, he told me to have the cashier just entered the codes.  No need for me to add another card to my collection since I don't live here.  :)
We should have enough groceries to make all of our lunches, snacks and even a dinner while we are here.
Next, the girls got ready to go to the pool.  Although, some of them had planned the pool time as a surprise by telling the other girls we were going for a water balloon fight.  Interesting fact about VA, if they have a pool, it is a state requirement to have a lifeguard on duty.  Good to know for future reference.  We let them spend about an hour in the pool before we had to start getting ready for today, Saturday.
So, as I type this, the girls are still sleeping..... sandwiches are made, clothes are laid out, and the excitement to tour the White House had already started last night with, "Mr. Obama, my favorite sandwich is peanut butter."  Goofy Girls!!
Today's plan is White House Tour at 8:30, National Zoo afterwards, and hopefully Monuments at night.

West Virginia

Today we have been in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennslyvania and West Virginia again. We just finished lunch at Cooper's Rock State Forest and it was breath taking. A spectacular view at the overlook and a very nice quiet place to picnic. I would highly recommend this park if you are headed this way.

Impressions from the girls:
Amber - it was really cool!
Abby - it was awesome and cool and fun!
Allie - I had to hold on for my life!
Katelyn - I think it was cool and cool and weird cuz half of it was shawdowy and half of it was cloudy.
Kelly - amazingly beautiful!
Taylor - cool!
Jenny - its cool!
Alex - I loved it!
Gary - awesome!

Now on to Maryland and finally parking the van in Virginia. I am very happy to say there has still only been 1 disagreement. We've played tic tac toe, the letter game, a word search and the licence plate game where we only have about 16 left. And, they are working on a junior ranger badge for the national mall area.

A little more subdued today..... so far

1st night in Reynoldsburg, OH

After some road construction about 60 miles out slowed us down, we arrived at the hotel and were checked in by 9:50 est. Long day in the day...... our hotel last night was the Super8. 2 of the 3 rooms had decent working air. Ours did not which caused a troubled sleep for me but the girls did well. And since I was up every 40 minutes, when the clock said 5:30, I had cst on my mind and started getting ready. The girls in my room were also ready by 6 am here. It wasn't until Kelly said it wasn't 6:30 yet that we discovered my error. Lol I would venture to say my room of girls may nap in the van today.  All in all a good first day and we're on to day 2. Breakfast at this Super8 consisted of bagels, muffins, waffles, cereal, and juice, coffee, and milk.  Pretty standard but still ok.
We have about 6 hours drive time left today and I am most excited for our stop in West Virginia's state forest for lunch. We are also planning to check out the landmark mall in alexandria, va and grocery shop for the rest of our snack items.
Yesterday we spent $135.61 in gas and less than $50 in food. Not bae for 10 people. :)

Indianapolis

Midway through Indiana.......  first argument. Not bad for the amount of time we've spent in the van today.

6 hours in........

Lunch is done. We stopped at the TA in Bloomington to have a picnic.... in the rain. More so, under the overhang of the restaurant. The manager waved us to come in and eat our lunches.  How very nice he was!!!!
Thoughts so far......
Taylor - good. Like being in a different state.
Katelyn - it's fun.
Allie - (she's speechless, not sure I've ever seen that before)
Amber - its been kinda fun.
Alex - I love it even though my butt hurts.
Jenny - umm, its interesting and fun and cool and fantastic and sweet and I'm not a least bit sarcstic.
Abby - its fun yet boring.

Right now we are attemptin to finish the letter game. Come on Z!!!

And away we go!!!

The van was mostly packed Wednesday night and there is more room than expected after the rear seat was removed.  We met at Sam Davey at 6:45 am and left 2 minutes early at 6:58. Woo hoo. So far no fighting has occured and nobody has complained their butts hurt. Stay tuned for more.........

The time is here

After months of planning, the time has come, it's time for our trips!!!!!  8 Girls and 3 Chaperons will be heading to Minneapolis and 7 Girls and 3 Chaperons will be heading to DC.  Here's a few details of each:

Minneapolis - Thursday, June 21st - Saturday, June 23rd.
Trip details - Como Park, Minnesota State Capitol, Smith Park, Mall of America and the Minneapolis Art Institute.

DC - Thursday, June 21st - Wednesday, June 27th.
Trip details - White House Tour, National Zoo, Smithsonian Museums, Monument tour and Monuments at night.

Watch for updates from both trips......... It should be entertaining!!

What's with all the testing?

You may be curious about the testing going on here right now.  Worry not.  All is good.  As we are getting ready for our trips to DC and MSP, I have been trying to figure out an easier way to blog posts and pictures.  It took a while but, we are now all ready to blog on the road and from the hotels.  Be on the look out for posts from our girls.  I can't wait to see their take on the trips.

Testing testing

Test #2.... :)