At this rate, I may get through our American road trip by Christmas next year! I’ve been away for a few weeks (yes, again), but have plans to commit to blogging more often in the coming weeks.
I have to admit that going to Washington DC was not high on my agenda for our travels. Happily, it was for my husband, who likes to do things properly! I’m glad I didn’t miss out on the nation’s capital with its huge collection of museums and iconic monuments and buildings.
We started the day with a visit to the Library of Congress, the world’s largest library, containing over 164 million items. It is an awe inspiring place to visit, with amazing scope and architecture. The library also contains a Gutenberg Bible from 1455. This was the first major book printed using mass produced moveable metal type in Europe. Forty nine copies of the Gutenberg Bible have survived and it is considered amongst the most valuable books in the world.
After our visit to the library (and a walk past the Capitol) we traipsed off down what is known as the National Mall, or what is often called “America’s Front Yard”. This is America’s public space where citizens come to protest their government or simply to connect with their nation’s ideals and history. There are many free Smithsonian museums lining the Mall and it would take weeks just to scratch the surface of their amazing exhibits. As we only had one day, we chose to briefly visit the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of American History. Our kids love museums and could easily spend days in them, but we had to limit ourselves to only a few key exhibits. The highlights from the Natural History Museum were the giant squid exhibit, as well as the insect zoo on the second floor where they do tarantula feedings. The highlights for me in the American History Museum were seeing Julia Child’s kitchen (I have hopes of one day cooking my way through her cookbooks like in the book and movie entitled Julia and Julia), and hunting for Dorothy’s red shoes from The Wizard of Oz.
The next stop on our romp through America’s iconic buildings was the White House. This is only viewable (unless you arrange a tour in advance), from a distance behind a security barrier. President Trump arrived in the presidential helicopter while we were there. Quite a thrill to see the helicopter flying overhead flanked by several decoy helicopters! The White House Visitor Centre was fascinating, containing many anecdotes from, and photos of past presidents.
By the time we reached the Lincoln Memorial at the opposite end of the Mall we were exhausted! Washington DC is very hot and humid in Summer and we had walked at least five miles in the heat. Before visiting the US, I was unaware how much Americans revere Abraham Lincoln. One of our children (who will remain nameless), had been reprimanded for climbing on a small statue of him at Gettysburg (something which wouldn’t perturb us at all in Australia)! In general, it seems Americans are much more respectful of their presidents than us Aussies, and in particular of Abraham Lincoln due to his decisions which lead to the end of slavery and preserved the US as a united democracy.
Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the memorial and you can see a small engraving marking the spot.
It was getting late in the day, but we were so close, yet so far from the famous Arlington Cemetery across the Potomac River! Despite having blisters and mild heatstroke we crossed the bridge (some requiring a piggyback) and walked our final mile to this iconic landmark. Once here we were able to visit the Kennedy tombs (marked by an eternal flame) and to see the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The cemetery contains some of the dead from every war the USA has fought since the Revolution and looks very familiar, having been in many US movies.
This was a BIG day out! It was topped off by the excitement of seeing fireflies at dusk as we walked back to our hotel, for a big sleep, ready to move on to more adventures on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Have you ever had a big day out while sightseeing and thought you couldn’t walk one step more?
Once in the cafe the dolls get their very own mini teacup and saucer (which you can take home with you) as well as to sit at the table with the “grownups” on their very own highchair. The whole experience really did live up to our expectations!
My personal favourite! The doll holders in the toilet where you place your dolls while you go to the toilet and wash your hands.
I’ve been busy planning an American road trip with the help of my trusty highschool atlas (online maps just don’t cut it for me). I really can’t believe it’s true, but the time has nearly come for us to depart – we’re so excited! (And so thankful for relatives who stay behind to look after our home and dog). I’ll be back to blogging on my return with some stories from the road!
This is me wearing my new shoes from Rollie Nation! (Photo credit, my son Atticus).
I had a lot of fun preparing for this party. Reuben turned nine and we celebrated with a bang! We conducted lots of exploding, flying, popping, and foaming experiments which boys of that age love. The invites were a free printable from 
The party food was also a lot of fun to make. My husband (who helpfully is a doctor), carved a watermelon into a brain pattern and supplied some syringes which I set jelly inside (they were a huge hit)! We also had little “petri dish” jellys with sour worms set in them. I made eyeballs from babybel cheeses (instructions 
For decorations I used some test tubes filled with coloured water, and some beakers filled with lollies with hobby fill “smoke” coming out of the top. I also used some gross items missing from certain family members (gallstones and wisdom teeth)!, as well as some dried out and preserved lizards Reuben had collected. I placed some toy snakes and lizards in some jars of coloured water to make them look like they were pickled, as well as some eyeball bouncy balls. My husband drew some scientific formulas (all those years at uni paid off) onto a chalk board and I printed out some periodic tables (from 
The experiments were largely carried out on a plastic covered table outside to help contain the mess. Each child was given a jar in which to conduct their experiments. I tested some of the ones I wasn’t sure about ahead of time and had a surprisingly good time doing so! One of my favourites involved lighting a piece of paper and dropping it inside a glass bottle and then placing a peeled hard boiled egg on the top of the bottle and watching it get sucked inside! Lighting up empty teabags and watching them turn into rockets (instructions 
We also had fun with diet coke and mentos and the skittle experiment (where you make a ring of them on a plate and add a little water, to make a rainbow pattern).
Do you have a favourite science experiment?
While we were away we embarked on a 200 km round day trip from Holland’s Track Farm to Hyden, home of Wave Rock, (shown above). It was an exciting day of exploring for us all. Wave Rock is a large natural rock formation shaped like a breaking ocean wave which attracts a large number of Australian and International tourists each year. It was always an exciting place to visit growing up, so it was fun to take my own kids back there. There has been a lot of development around the site since I visited as a kid, almost requiring two days to experience it all.
There are a number of other interesting places to explore around Wave Rock, including Hippo’s Yawn (above) where you can climb right through the Hippo’s mouth (past his tonsils) and out the other side. The Humps is also another great place to visit nearby (I remember catching tadpoles there in the stream as a child).
At the Humps is Mulka’s cave, a site of special significance for the local Aboriginal people. The cave (pictured above), contains a large number of Aboriginal handprint stencils. There are also a couple of gnamma holes that you can visit. Last, but not least we visited the Resort to swim in their newly constructed salt lake pool (free of charge). This was a really fun experience as the high salt content of the water means it is incredibly buoyant (it is hard to push your legs under enough to successfully swim). Of course like in the Dead Sea, you can always read a book, if the fancy takes you!
Well maybe not 500, 37 miles or 60 kilometres over two days was enough to give me serious blisters and make me hobble around afterwards for days! I’m just returned from the Camino San Francisco organised by the Catholic Diocese of Geraldton. The following is taken from the Camino 
Entertaining has to be one of my favourite activities, so it was fun to put together a table setting for a dinner to be shared with friends over the Easter weekend. I love looking on Pinterest for ideas and found some inspiration 
