National Arboretum and Hillwood Gardens

It was such a beautiful, clear fall day that Evan played hooky and we had a family outing in DC.  The fall colors are out but they're not at peak yet.  I thought we'd check them out this weekend but it's going to be rainy and generally miserable.

We've never been to the National Arboretum but we've been to Hillwood a few times (sans AJ).  Both are lovely places to visit.  The National Arboretum has a lot of nice, paved paths for the stroller and it had a really quaint ambiance.  Not a lot of people around.  In recent years it's been made famous by the abundantly fertile bald eagle couple, Mr. President and the First Lady.

Hillwood, on the other hand, isn't as stroller-friendly and there were more (snooty) people.  We were able to grab a decent to-go lunch though.  There aren't any options like that at the Arboretum, which is more or less a ghost town when it comes to staff.

National Arboretum:

The U.S. Capitol was originally supported by these columns.

Hillwood:  

Cox Farms

The pumpkin patch is a fall tradition all over North America so it's not like we're special for having gone.  In Northern Virginia, Cox Farms is a local and historical (my parents took my brother and me to their original location in the 80s) fall destination.

We decided to take AJ today and while she wasn't the most cooperative (the best pic we got of her was during an epically dramatic cry) she enjoyed seeing the farm animals and other babies/kids (or bahbah as she calls them).

Manassas National Battlefield Park

We tried out a new babysitter and took our new camera for a spin on an adults-only hike.  It was a beautiful fall day.  Not too much foliage yet but there were small bursts of color here and there.  We're really excited to take this camera with us farther afield on future family adventures!