Tag: washington d.c.

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Review: Museum of African American History and Culture with Kids

Should you go to the Museum of African American History and Culture with kids?

My friends who live in DC were jealous. I got tickets to the Museum of African American History and Culture which has been open since September, 2016. “How did you get tickets?” they asked. None of them had been yet. Tickets, which are free but are timed and reserved in advance, are in high demand. (More on how to get them at the bottom). They all wanted to know what it was like.

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Museum of the Bible in Washington DC: What You Need to Know

Our first blog post, Museum of the Bible with Kids, covers what you’ll find in Washington DC’s newest museum – with a focus on kids  This post covers the rest: the restaurants, the tickets, the location, the controversy.

First let me comment on the logo. I’m a sucker for a good logo, and I think the Museum of the Bible has a good one. It looks like a B turned on its side, and an M, and also the two tablets holding the 10 commandments. Clever!

The controversy over the Museum of the Bible

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Review: Museum of the Bible with Kids

Should you go to the Museum of the Bible with kids?

When I told my cab driver to take me to the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, he turned around and said, “what?” He’d not heard of it. The museum had only been open 10 days. “Has it been advertised?” he asked. I’d read about it several times in the Washington Post, but not being from DC, I didn’t know what they were doing locally to spread the gospel of its opening. “I’m not a believer,” he said. I told him it didn’t matter whether he believed or not – it could still be an interesting museum.

The Museum of the Bible. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

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Visiting the White House – with Kids

Let’s just say that preparing to go to the White House is worse than flying a plane these days. Not that our president should be unsafe, but…

If you’re planning a trip to Washington D.C., you probably want to go to the White House. It’s free, historical and exclusive! It’s hard to get in.

The Front? The Back? Nah, just one side.

I thought my kids would be SO excited to go into the White House. In the end, they were bored. BORED! What’s wrong with them? When we entered, they gave us a Junior Ranger activity guide, which the kids promptly handed to me and made me hold. But it was interesting.

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Review: Arlington, VA Family-Friendly Suite Hotels near Washington D.C.

This is part of a series on Washington D.C. with kids. Most of the attractions in Washington D.C. are free, making a trip like this much less expensive than trips elsewhere (after factoring in hotel costs!).

After two trips to Washington DC in two years, I feel like a hotel search expert. I spent hours trying to find the right combination of things I wanted for our meager budget. If you can get a hotel that works for you in Washington D.C., by all means go for it. When we went the rates were too high (not to mention parking costs). We opted for Arlington, VA, which is very easy (and quick) to get to on the Metro system.

Here was our criteria for a hotel: Continue reading “Review: Arlington, VA Family-Friendly Suite Hotels near Washington D.C.”

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Three Museums not to miss in Washington D.C.

This is part of a series on Washington D.C. with kids. Most of the attractions in Washington D.C. are free, making a trip like this much less expensive than trips elsewhere (after factoring in hotel costs!). Here are three free museums you shouldn’t miss (Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the National American History Museum and the Postal Museum):

Bureau of Engraving & Printing

During the tour, you’ll walk above the printing floor, watching the workers. They have a sense of humor, posting signs like “tomorrow only: free samples” and “just think how I feel – I printed my lifetime salary in a few minutes.” You’ll see the printers (which we saw getting jammed), sheets of bills then getting cut and trimmed, computers that inspected the currency (at ½ second per sheet), carousels/trays of money moving through the packaging process, $400,000 bricks of money (and $100 billion in one room alone). The exhibit before the tour is interesting as well, with the history of the bills and printing.

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Review: National Building Museum with Kids

This is part of a Jersey Kids series on Washington D.C. with kids. Most of the attractions in Washington D.C. are free, even if they’re not part of the Smithsonian complex. That said, here’s one museum that’s worth the money you have to pay (depending on your family/kids).

Interior of the National Building Museum. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

National Building Museum

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Review: International Spy Museum with Kids (and discount tickets) – in Washington D.C.

This is part of a series on Washington D.C. with kids. Most of the attractions in Washington D.C. are free, even if they’re not part of the Smithsonian complex. That said, here’s one museum that’s worth the money (but you can get discounted International Spy Museum tickets on Goldstar just in case).

International Spy Museum

This high tech International Spy Museum was a lot of fun for the whole family. As you enter, you go up the elevator (there are some great videos playing as you wait), and then you to pick a “cover,” memorizing all the details about your new identity. After entering the gallery, look for the computers that question your identity (there were really long lines for the three computers), and get tested on what you know. You’ll also get more information to memorize and tested again at the end. That was fun!

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Review: Newseum with Kids in Washington D.C.

This is part of a series on Washington D.C. with kids. Most of the attractions in Washington D.C. are free, even if they’re not part of the Smithsonian complex. That said, here’s one museum that’s worth the money you pay.

Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Newseum

Newseum turned out to be my daughter’s favorite museum on our trip, and I loved it as well. In fact, after spending 2.5 hours at it one day, we went back the next day to catch what we missed (the tickets allow a 2 day consecutive entry at no extra cost).

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