It’s springtime, and that means that my kids (and probably yours) are sweating over the social studies reports that are due . . .  WHEN???!!!  In my household, at least, these things tend to sneak up on me (don’t even get me started about the time my older daughter announced at 10:00p.m. one night that she had a United Nations feast at school the next day and was assigned to bring South African food).

This year, though, I decided to get out in front of the project – and what better way than with a trip to Washington, D.C.?  I have to say that my kids are at the perfect age:  old enough to stand up on the Metro and hold on tight, but young enough to get big-eyed over the Capitol dome.  Even better, they’re in that stage where they surprise me with what they know – did you know that the Library of Congress has, like, every book ever (I didn’t, and I write them).

Our trip started off in the nicest possible way.  We headed to Alexandria, Virginia, just the three of us girls on the road for a weekend, my husband at home working away on some project or another.  We checked into the really lovely Alexandria Homewood Suites.  It’s really conveniently located near the highway and on a street with, among other things, a Target (I don’t even pretend to survive without Target these days, wherever I might be) and several restaurants.  Our room was huge and comfortable, with soft linens on the bed, and the kids were psyched about the sofa bed and television that was all theirs in the family room.  We made some lunch in the in-room kitchen and then set out to explore the city.

Luckily, the Alexandria Homewood is quite close to the Pentagon City Mall, from which it’s a cinch to take the Metro into the District – and for kids, the Metro is like a theme park ride, with its huge escalators and futuristic tunnels.  We zoomed several stops underground to Capitol Hill.  We asked our senator’s office to set up a tour of the Capitol, and the kids actually paid attention, especially when the tour guide showed them how you can whisper on one side of a huge room and hear it on the other.    Next we walked a couple of blocks to the Supreme Court, where we checked out the newly renovated building and, yes, the gift shop.  We were so hungry after it all that we caught the Metro back to the mall, then chowed down on Johnny Rocket’s and indulged in a little bit of shopping.

The next morning, we woke up early to grab a good hot breakfast at Homewood Suites before we hit the zoo; it’s important to get there pretty much when it opens or you’ll never be able to park.  The National Zoo, part of the federally-run and therefore free (!) Smithsonian Institute, can’t be beat.  It’s always home to lots of baby animals, especially in the spring and summer, and it offers tons of educational programs, like watching the elephants get a bath. 

Next stop?  The new Air and Space Museum out at Dulles.  My older daughter wants to be an astronaut, so the real space capsules, spacesuits, and other astronaut memorabilia really got her excited.  For my younger daughter, we took a quick ride into Bethesda, where we ate pizza at the excellent Ledo’s and ice cream at Haagen-Dazs. 

To end the day, we toured the monuments by moonlight – incredible!  In fact, I think both of my kids are going to write their reports about the Monuments by Moonlight tour . . .  Oh, well.  At least I know that they had an on-the-ground civics tour like none other.