The Magic Putting Place

As mom’s summer camp winds down, we picked the hottest day ever and headed out to the Magic Putting Place in Manassas to play mini-golf!

When you arrive, you have a choice of two different courses. You can do the Castle course or the Windmill Course. We arrived during the day, so the daytime price (before 6:00 pm) was $5 per player. If you arrive after 6:00 it’s $6 per player. This is really inexpensive. It gets better if you want to do both courses – that’s just an additional $3.00!

We had a split decision on which course to do but ultimately ended up doing both.

Aside from the day they came roaring out of my vagina, there’s nothing that reminds me more how much I love these kids than to watch them play mini golf. It’s the combination of mania, golf balls flying all over the place, landing in ditches, being raked into a hole instead of hit with a club, and that occasional hole-in-one that I undoubtedly miss because I’m never getting video of the right thing.

You can’t beat mini-golf though for a fun, inexpensive wholesome activity with minimal exercise where you don’t win stupid carnival stuffies that choke hold your house so tight you can’t wait until the day the kids are out of the house so you can donate all the garbage prizes they picked up all summer.

We finished off at Nathan’s Dairy Bar which has some delicious ice cream. They even have a pup cup for your dog if you want to bring them along! It was a great day, girls were happy, mama was happy and we will definitely be going back to golf again.

Leesburg Animal Park

So what do you do when it’s 100 degrees with full DC humidity cranking? You take the girls and 3 of their friends to the Leesburg Animal Park!

The Leesburg Animal Park is about an hour from DC, west on the Dulles Tollroad. We purchased tickets online but you can also purchase them when you arrive.

When you enter, you’re greeted by a Welcome Desk with information about add-ons you can purchase. We didn’t do the pony rides that are offered, but we did opt for a $5 feed cup, which came with food for the goats and a souvenir cup to take home.

You’ll pass by an indoor playground and some party rooms which they use for hosting birthday parties. There were also summer camps visiting on the day we arrived. We looked at the animals housed indoors like the cool patchwork squirrel and I tried to pocket the delicious air conditioning before we ventured outdoors.

There’s a guide map once you exit the building and country music blaring. We checked out some ducks and the bunnies, a massive turtle and the peacocks before heading to feed the goats.

So, do you know how they say 4 out of 5 dentists agree about that gum? Well 4 out of 5 campers liked feeding the goats. This would be the point where Cristian decided I was 110% incorrect for thinking he would want to feed the goats.

Some were outside in the pasture and others were inside the gated area. Then we saw a Patagonian Cavy and went indoors to see more goats, pigs, mules (I think…I don’t know, some version of a horse.) Then we headed down to the fish. No one warned us that we needed 50 cents (in quarters) to get fish food from the machine and I had to ration my only 2 quarters worth of food among the five, well, four kids. Cristian, again not a fan.

Then we went on to Lemur Island! Guess what they had there? Sloth! No!!! LEMUR!

As we rounded the back of the park we saw Zebra and Camel. Apparently my daughter has seen bigger camel. Joke’s on her, YouTube doesn’t count.

Then we grabbed some burlap sacs and they went down the slides a few times.

The center of the Park has play equipment for the kids but it was pretty hot so we headed inside to hit the jungle gym. Access to the inside building is only allowed for those who purchase individual tickets so if you come on a group pass they don’t let you access the inside attractions.

By the end of the day they were nice and worn out!

Jolly Yolly, Fairfax VA

The girl’s tolerance levels for Mama’s Summer camp seems to be waning. Today we headed out to Fairfax to Jolly Yolly. We’ve developed a great routine. We go do something fun, we go eat – usually at Red Robin, and then we hit 7-11 for sodas on the way home. (Yes, sodas. I know I’m a bad mother because they don’t drink fresh squeezed juice and glacial spring water.)

The first thing to note about Jolly Yolly is that it’s got the same equipment that we saw at Hyperkidz in Columbia, MD a few weeks ago. But the layout here felt more organized and the staff was also super helpful and sweet. We may have hit Hyperkidz on a really busy day because it was packed and the staff wasn’t as friendly as they were here.

The areas are organized by age ranges so that your child can play in the area that’s more suited to their age and ability. We saw little babies comfortably playing in the sectioned off areas with older kids running around to the larger play structures. It didn’t feel like the little ones could get hurt either, which was good.

They say here that the age range is up to 13, but I think that your kids will not really find this fun much past 8 years old. It’s definitely for the younger kids and toddlers. Regardless, my girls had fun for about an hour before we bounced ourselves right out of there.

You and your little ones will need socks. You don’t have to buy their socks, it’s fine to bring your own. But if you arrive without socks, they do sell them for a few dollars at the desk.

We got our tickets at a slightly reduced price on Certifikid, which is a great resource for parents in many cities, so make sure you check that out.

The Museum of the American Indian

Which respected founding father said of the Native Americans, “The end proposed should be their extermination or their removal.”

Disclaimer

I have to make a disclaimer. I’m pretty interested in the history of this country as it pertains to both our “founding fathers” and those who were here before them – the true Americans of this country. To this day I insist I didn’t learn in school about Custer’s Last Stand, also known as the Battle of Little Bighorn or the Trail of Tears. I’ve tried to make up for this in my adulthood by reading a lot about how this country was formed and who was displaced for that to happen.

The Native Americans

What I didn’t truly process though, was the extent to which things occurred and how it came to be that Native Americans now live on protected reservations with their own governance – and how long this took. Many museums are about celebrating arts or culture, but make no mistake, there’s little to celebrate here. This is a curated collection of exhibits that show the American Indian influence in this country, and the sacrifices they made for hundreds of years as their country was invaded. Bringing the girls for this was necessary so they can understand how this country came to be, even if a good bit of it went over their heads.

The National Museum of the American Indian

When you approach the National Museum of the American Indian, the first thing you will notice is that the building is incredibly unique. The design is intended to mimic the curves and ripples of rock as created by centuries of water and wind. Once inside and through security, Real Estate Dad explained the atrium design and how it was intended to replicate some of the pieces of art they found.

A few exhibits were closed due to continuing Covid Restrictions, but we headed into the Americans Exhibit first. There are hundreds of examples of Native American culture and associations being part of television, advertisements and consumer goods.

Within the Americans Exhibit were some side exhibits about the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Trail of Tears. In 1830, the U.S. passed the “Indian Removal Act,” the forced relocation of over 16,000 Cherokee Indians. There was much debate about this leading up to the passage, mostly because many eyes were on the “new country” the U.S. had become, but it passed and became one of the blood stains on our culture.

While he didn’t live to see the Indian Removal Act passed, Thomas Jefferson is noted as the first person who suggested that the American Indians be moved west, and replaced with white settlers. And who signed it into law? Andrew Jackson. Well that’s no surprise.

The other big exhibit we visited was the Nation to Nation section, which explains all the treaties signed with the Native Americans over the centuries and then how they really transpired. Spoiler: The United States never followed what was agreed to if it didn’t suit their interests.

We did learn something important here, however. In Native culture, the women are the ones who selected the negotiators and ran things behind the scenes. After getting through all these treaties, you learn in the 1940’s the government attempted to terminate all treaty obligations, take away their ability to govern and take the land. They fought. Hard.

It took until the 1960’s for the public opinion to shift and show sympathy, and in 1970, another surprise, Richard Nixon was one of the advocates calling on the Government to reject the termination of the American Indian and allow them the rights of self-governance.

Several exhibits were closed since things are just coming back to life post-covid, but I feel we saw some pretty important stuff and by the end both girls were asking questions and said they enjoyed it. I think this is probably better for older kids though, probably teenagers.

We spent a summer afternoon at Hyperkidz in Columbia, Maryland. It was about 45 minutes from DC.

What’s in Hyperkidz Columbia, MD?

Hyperkidz is in an office park and GPS directions won’t steer you wrong. It’s around the back of the office park, and there’s ample parking there. We learned upon arrival that everyone needs socks, to include adults. It doesn’t have to be their branded socks, it can be any type of sock so don’t forget to bring those with you!

The gym is separated into different play spaces by age range. On the far left were slides and a ball pit for toddler age. The big “spiderweb” play structure in the middle of the space was the big draw for most of the kids. My kids ran through quite a few times. On the right side of the space in the back is a play area for babies and toddlers under 2 years old. Then on the side were some slides and a play area for 2 – 7 years old, or those under 4 feet tall.

There are plenty of places for parents to sit around the space and there’s also WiFi as well…as if you could get any work done with all these kids running around!

The kids enjoyed it, but even though they say ages up to 12 years old are welcome, my daughters just turned 7 & 9 and the 9 year old seemed to not be interested after about 30 minutes. It could be that it was too crowded which, during Covid, was somewhat of a surprise. Or it could be that the equipment really wasn’t engaging enough for her and she felt like it was too easy. We would really only recommend this for children 7 and under.

Super Awesome and Amazing

Super Awesome and Amazing is like a gym for kids inside a gym for the rest of the family.

You enter through the St. James, which is a huge fitness and lifestyle recreation center. What does that mean? Well, it’s a lot of things under one roof. There are sports fields, a gym, a pool, a restaurant, a spa, dance, gymnastics, ice skating – it’s pretty colossal.

Inside of the St. James is an indoor playground/gym facility called Super Awesome and Amazing. I’m thrilled places like this haven’t shut down due to Covid. They are such a great way to burn the energy out of these kids without me having to get up from my chair.

There’s a pretty impressive 30,000 square feet of ways to burn out the energy. My kids immediately ran for the obstacle course similar to the one at Funland in Rehoboth. They loved running through it, finding slides, coming down, running back up and doing it all again.

There are 3 ways to rock climb to the ceiling of this huge complex and an elevated obstacle ninja course. There are also some ninja courses that are not elevated 20 feet in the air, and that’s more the speed for the smaller kids. Of course there’s a trampoline too which is great, but wasn’t the huge draw for the kids that I thought it would be. These different courses kept them busy for a few hours.

What we didn’t do but they offer on weekends was the waterpark and Virtual Reality Games. Though it was so darn hot I kind of wish we were able to hit the waterpark. It’s also loud. They blast the music so it wasn’t conducive to my being able to get work done, but, I get it. It’s summer. This is Mama’s Summer Camp. No work for me today!

National Portrait Gallery

DC Real Estate Mama’s Summer Camp took us to the National Portrait Gallery on one of the steamiest of DC Summer days. It was so hot, all I could think of was that Summer in the City song and how the lyrics about the back of his neck getting dirty and gritty were so accurate.

The kids were parched and irritated when we arrived, but soon we entered the blissful air conditioning and got started checking out some art!

The big draw here is the Presidential Portraits, as evidenced by us asking a Docent where we were on the museum map and him replying, “Are you looking for the Presidents?”

Um. Yes?

So yes, the second largest collection of Presidential Portraits is here at the Portrait Gallery. Where’s the largest? The White House!

As a DC History fanatic, I was happy to see an exhibit about the naming of our streets, the quadrants and the General Plan of Washington from 1902, which is also called the McMillan Plan. DC was not developing well as a city believe it or not. Post Civil War, people were still pooping in containers and tossing it out their windows at night and wild animals roamed the streets. This was when they started getting the city into shape.

DC’s streets and landmarks were named after the white men of the Revolutionary and Civil War. As the times change and the city has changed, you see other people being represented, for example the 2020 Dedication of the Black Lives Matter Plaza.
We made our way through the Presidents, saw some good ones and some not so good ones. Then saw a portrait which was a special display of the female Chief Justices.

There’s also a lot of artwork of various famous people who have impacted life and culture.

There was some really interesting art, pieces on loan from other museums and the massive Electronic Superhighway by Nam June Paik. This is a super cool exhibit of electronic art, neon tubing that outlines each state boundary in the United States, with retro televisions in each state showing footage of things that the artist believed were the associations with that state.

You’ll see the Wizard of Oz play on the Kansas TV’s, Presidential Campaigns in Iowa, Casinos in Nevada, Alabama Civil Rights struggles, 96 Olympics in Georgia. If you look really closely, for DC you’ll see – surprise! Yourself!

We poked through the HerStory Exhibit – a gallery of female writers currently at the Museum. I tried to get to some other areas but of course, someone was hungry, which quickly turned hangry and we had to go find a McDonalds. Don’t these girls know I’m trying to balance education with fun?

Washington DC Boundary Stones

What do you do when your summer nanny quits the week before school’s out?

Good thing I only have listings right now and almost no buyer clients because I have to parent my own children now. So we’re making lemonade from these lemons. DC Real Estate Mama’s Summer Camp Starts Today!

I’ve planned out a couple dozen activities I’m going to do with the kids this summer and to kick things off, today’s camp activity is part history, and part scavenger hunt.

Have you heard of DC’s boundary stones? We’re going to locate and discuss a bunch of them. Are you new to DC and wondering, “What’s a boundary stone?”

When the Residence Act of 1790 was passed, George Washington was given 10 years to establish the capital – 100 miles square – somewhere along the Potomac, from Williamsport MD to Alexandria.

What’s Williamsport known for? Camp Jellystone! We were there a couple weeks ago!

Thomas Jefferson, hopefully you know his name, hired Andrew Ellicott (a surveyor) who hired Benjamin Banneker. Banneker was an astronomer & surveyor tasked with finding the location for the southernmost stone. According to BoundaryStones.org, Banneker had to lay down on his back and plot the stars as they crossed his spot at a particular time.

This is the location of the South Boundary Stone.

The first boundary stone is the stone that started it all – the creation of boundaries of Washington DC – the Capital of the United States. We found that stone and then moved our way around the original city.

Then Ellicott’s people then plotted out 10 stone markers along the Southwest side of the city. As you can imagine, several have been moved, relocated, damaged by vehicles. Several are on private property.

We found SW 3, which was in a church parking lot. Then we found SW 9 – at Benjamin Banneker Park.

Finally we arrived at the West Corner Stone, which sits in a little neighborhood park in Arlington. It’s much shorter than other corner stones, and as reported by BoundaryStones.org, the thought is that this stone was meant to be placed on the other side of DC and a taller stone on the east side was to be placed here.

Most stones on the Northwest side are in people’s yards or in the Water Treatment Grounds in DC or in other areas that are closed to the public. I really want to see them all!

Despite being in a private yard, we did find and video NW 8, one of the only stones without a fence around it! It did have a little hat though.

The North Stone is off East West Highway. Many mistakenly believe the marker is in the circle on 16th Street. But we found it, and we have video proof!

Most of them on the Northeast side are in yards, one is in a cemetery, one in a forest.

Finally we found the East Corner Stone – it was in a path in the woods. When we pulled up, Real Estate Dad didn’t want to get out of the car to walk down the path in the woods, but the girls and I were having none of that. We went down the path and found it. Other people unfortunately found it as well as evidenced by the beer cans and condom wrappers. Poor East Stone, you’ve seen a lot in your 230 years.

The SE stones have suffered. These stones are along Southern Ave and this side of the city is heavily trafficked.

SE 4 was used as a target during the Civil War so it was in pretty bad shape. In the 1980’s it was smashed by a truck. A replica was placed, and that too was destroyed in 2020.

Several on this side were moved from the original spot as well so we ended our trip here, fulfilled with our fun history excursion and Real Estate Dad said, “Too bad we have kids. We could just go out on a date/scavenger hunt, this would be awesome.”

One little peanut in the backseat whispered to the other, “They are so weird.”