I want to travel sooooo bad. As do you, I'm sure! The last time I went on a plane and vacationed "far away" was last December 2019. We went to Virginia to see family and visited Washington, D.C. for day trips. Since it's one year later and I'm missing all of those holiday feels and family time, I figure why not blog it all up and reminisce?!
Here we were on the plane ride there from Las Vegas to Washington, D.C., aka LAS-IAD. My husband sits with the kids because sometimes they'll watch a movie together. I always make sure to pack a TON of snacks for long trips. :)
Last year was a special Hanukkah that we actually got to celebrate together with my husband's side of the family. These picture are from Night 5 of Hanukkah. One of the candles on the menorah is extra (the shamash) and is used to light the others.
My mother-in-law makes the most delicious latkes for Hanukkah! These are fried potato pancakes. My father-in-law makes yummy applesauce to go with it.
We went for a big hike nearby. We're a big bunch. My kids have 8 cousins on this side of the family! Our goal was to hike until we saw the water and we succeeded!
Almost every day during the trip, one of my nieces would do my daughter's hair. They know how to do all sorts of fancy 'dos! In this picture, I believe she has French braids.
Oh, how I do miss all the woods in Virginia. It's such a contrast from the desert in Las Vegas!
My husband and I got to have a lunch date at Mon Ami Gabi after the hike. We've always wanted to go to the one on the Strip in Las Vegas, but haven't had a chance, so we jumped on this one!
These next several pictures are from a reaaaaally fun night. We went to the "Winter Walk of Lights" at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. It is beautiful, to say the least, and it really helped us all get into the holiday spirit. I had a ton of fun taking these pictures!
These flowers are some of my favorite displays from the walk!
On the Sunday of our trip, the main event of the day (for the males, at least) was the football game (my husband is obsessed with the Washington Football Team). My nephew made the most delicious pretzels, including one shaped like a football that was later filled with the most mouth-watering cheese dip made by my sister-in-law. I ate soooo much!! 😆 My nephew also showed our kids how to make pretzels.
Sunday was our easy-going, relax-at-home day. Here, my kiddos are just hanging out with the cousins.
Then, my mother-in-law, one of my nieces and our kids made a million sugar cookies. It was almost too much to decorate, haha.
During our trip, we also went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. There are so many planes there, of course, from all sorts of historical periods. It really is quite impressive and well done!
This one below is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which is the fastest plane ever.
We're suckers for those penny souvenir machines.
On another day of our trip, we went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History with my in-laws. We took the bus and subway, which was fun and different for the kids.
We saw this pretty building on the walk over to the museum.
Yup, that's the U.S. Capitol Building below!
Here are 3 silly frames with my daughter and the Washington Monument.
There is always so much to see at the museum! I love it! I don't have a picture here, but I especially enjoy the live Insect section (i.e. the butterflies, the stick bugs).
I can't resist a picture at golden hour!
Some Daddy-daughter pictures from a walk. :) Compared to Vegas, there are so many trees everywhere!!
These last pictures are from our second-to-last morning of the trip - New Year's Day. I loved the morning light and I was excited to begin my 366 photography project. :)
This trip was a year ago, but it sure was a good one! It was so nice to have the whole Hyman family together! I'm so glad that we have these memories and pictures to reminisce. Hopefully, by next December, we can all visit together again. :)
When was your last trip? Where did you go? Let me know in the comments!
Jennifer Hyman is a natural light, lifestyle family photographer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check out and follow her Instagram account @jenniferhymanphotography for her current work! :)