Things to Do/Places to Go - Around . . . (Jan & February 2016)

I haven't done a huge photo post in awhile, so here goes . . .





I love spending weekday afternoons at Longbranch Nature Center with this coolio preschooler.



Sister cheers with hot cocoa (proof that sometimes they actually get along).



The morning crowd. Love these kids.



The kids tried to train Happy the dog. Unsuccessfully.



These three have been besties since pre-K and they're still going strong.



Sometimes swordfights erupt on my front lawn. Of course.


Looking out windows and waiting for spring.


We spent an afternoon at the Smithsonian American History Museum. And my kids fought over a chair.



Winter if my favorite season at the National Zoo.



Because the bears finally come out to play.




And the birds.





We made a few new friends.





Who seemed to enjoy "hanging" out with us.



But most importantly, my kids actually bonded with each other.



T continues to love Arnie the Doughnut.




Saturday morning Sorry games always start off friendly, but they don't stay that way for long.



P's friends curled her hair.



This is my front lawn (you can start crying now). The boys found an abandoned shopping cart and a disassembled bunk bed. Hence the beginning of our "fort building kit".




After the blizzard, we didn't have many more snow days, but we still had some.



Luckily, the fort building kit is a rain, shine, or snow activity.



Cozy nights on the couch.



Dog walking with my favorite 3rd grader.



Umbrellas are so much fun.



P drew her entire class.



And, finally, sometimes we tune everything else out. As we put on our headphones and wait for spring!

Places to Go - Zoo Classes & Winter at the National Zoo

I love winter at the National Zoo - no crowds and great volunteers (stationed everywhere to tell you about the animals) make for a great visit. When the girls were 2 and 3 I signed them up for zoo class on weekday mornings. Every week the quality of the programming impressed me. Since young children have short attention spans, the first half of the class involved rotating among several stations and activities all geared around the day's animal. For the second part of the class, the teacher read a story and then organized a craft project. And at the class's end, all of the children (and their parents) would walk to visit the day's animal. My kids loved it. I've always wanted to sign the girls up for more classes, but as the number of days of preschool increased* time sort of got away.

Finally this winter we signed up for another round of zoo classes, this time based (cleverly) on the Disney movies (tigers for Aladdin, sealife for the Little Mermaid, pandas for Mulan). And, yet again, I'm impressed by the quality of education offered. For more information - click here. They have classes for all ages - for older kids, the overnight camp looks amazing.

Last Saturday, while my husband worked and the girls attended class, T and I spent the morning exploring the zoo. We had a great time in the bird and small mammal houses - the lack of crowds made it easy to maneuver the stroller and chase a toddler without disturbing other people. T especially loved the indoor flight room. And both of us could have spent hours watching the naked mole rats and meerkats. So much fun.

*The kids' preschool operates on a schedule so that the children attend more days as they age, so 2 year olds only go 2 days a week, whereas 4 year olds go 3-4 days a week.