The Weekend Round-Up:
November 10-11

Happy Weekend!

New To You Sale
Where: Lake Anne Nursery Kindergarten | Reston, VA
When: Saturday, 7:30am – 1pm
Admission: Free
Stock up for the kids at the biggest children’s yard sale in Reston! There will be thousands of items for babies & children available at unbeatable low prices, including high chairs, clothes from newborn up to size 10, bikes, strollers, kitchen sets, doll houses, trains, toys for all ages, children’s furniture, books, DVDs, and much more. Families in the Lake Anne Nursery Kindergarten community donate a wide variety of gently used items, you don’t want to miss out! All remaining items will be 50% off from 12-1pm. Cash, credit cards and checks all accepted.

Family Day: I Can See My House From Here!
Where: GWU Museum & Textile Museum | Foggy Bottom, DC
When: Saturday, 11am – 3pm
Admission: Free
Washington looks quite grand, especially from above. Enjoy a day of family-friendly activities designed to help you see DC from a bird’s eye perspective. Contribute to a three-dimensional map by building the city’s houses, schools, national monuments, and more from recycled materials. Practice your drawing skills in special workshops with local artist and historian Peter Waddell—and don’t leave without seeing Waddell’s finished bird’s eye view paintings of Washington, DC, in Eye of the Bird: Visions and Views of D.C.’s Past.
Workshops begin at 11am and 1pm. This is a great opportunity to bring kiddos to the museum that is usually a bit sophisticated for young children.

Autumn Bonsai
Where: U.S. National Arboretum | Northeast DC
When: Through Monday
Admission: Free
Take your little people to see the little trees in their brilliant autumnal colors before the leaves fall away to reveal bare winter silhouettes. See red maples, yellow ginkgos, fruited trees, and more in the Museum’s permanent collection pavilions — it’s a fantastic exhibition. Be sure to tour the big trees around the rest of the National Arb while you’re there, too – it’s easily one of the best places in the city to do some leaf peeping, and it’s stunning right now! Get a glimpse in these scenes from our visit there last weekend.

Volunteer for Nature
Where: Kingman Island |
When: Saturday, 10am – 12pm
Admission: Free
How about a great volunteer event that is easy for little helping hands? Help Living Classrooms promote biodiveristy and a healthy ecosystem by seeding the meadows on Kingman Island. The activity is suitable for all ages and is a wonderful way to connect with the community and environment! 

Story Time with the Author
Where: Solid State Books | H Street NE, DC
Where: Sunday, 10:30am
Admission: Free
Join author Raakhee Mirchandani in the store’s adorable children’s section as she reads her book Super Satya Saves the Day, which introduces a precocious Indian-American heroine who faces her fears. (And FYI: The store hosts story time every Thursday, Saturday, Sunday morning at 10:30am, led by either local children’s performer Bearsong, a visiting or local author, or Solid State staff.)

Holiday Season Kick Off
Where: National Harbor | Oxon Hill, MD
When: Saturday, 12-7pm
Admission: Free
Get the holiday season started at National Harbor with a full day of fun, topped off by their annual tree lighting. Spend the afternoon with Santa at the Carousel and Capital Wheel. Catch a screening of Frosty’s Winter Wonderland. The tree lighting ceremony starts at 5:30pm — followed by fireworks!

Show Time
Where: Venues around the DMV
When: Throughout the weekend
Admission: Varies by show
* Prepare to be bow-wowed at Mutts Gone Nuts, at Hylton Performing Arts Center on Sunday
* KAT Second Stage presents Mary Poppins, Jr. at BlackRock Center for the Arts
* See a fairytale come to life with Cinderella at Imagination Stage
* Hansel & Gretel is the Main Stage production at The Puppet Co.
* Little ones will love Old MacDonald’s Farm, this week’s featured Tiny Tots show at the puppet theatre
* Enjoy a performance of Billy Elliot: The Musical at Signature Theatre
* Start enjoying holiday entertainment with Elf the Musical at Olney Theatre
* Anything Goes is on the Arena Stage
* Beetlejuiceis running at National Theatre
* Anastasia is enchanting audiences at the Kennedy Center

Creole for Kidz
Where: BlackRock Center for the Arts | Gaithersburg, MD
When: Saturday, 1pm
Admission: $12-15
Bring the whole family to this groundbreaking, innovative, high quality, multicultural, performing arts program! Creole for Kidz and History of Zydeco offers a rare glimpse into the unique and complex Creole culture and zydeco music in a dynamic and fun show.

Trash to Treasure Green Craft Fair
Where: Watkins Nature Center | Upper Marlboro, MD
When: Saturday, 10am – 4pm
Admission: Free
Do some eco-friendly shopping while the kids have fun at this special event featuring vendors selling items made from recycled, organic, or sustainable materials. Along with local artists selling their handmade wares, there will crafts for kids and food for sale. Of course, plan to stay and play at Watkins — read about all there is to do there!

Air Force One Experience
Where: National Harbor | Oxon Hill, MD
When: Through early January
Admission: $20/adult, $10/child
Want to check out a Presidential plane? After days of being hauled by barge from Rhode Island down the Atlantic Ocean, up the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, the Air Force One Experience is now open for visitors at National Harbor. The craft is actually a Boeing 747 — a former Pan Am plane and then a cargo plane — that has been transformed into a replica of the president’s aircraft. And it will be open to the public for tours at least through until the new year. The above admission prices are the special opening rate, but tickets are regularly $30-35/adult, $15/child.

Catharsis on the Mall
Where: 15th & Constitution NW | National Mall, DC
When: Saturday
Admission: Free
Calling kids and kids-at-heart! Head to the National Mall to join Catharsis on the Mall: A Vigil for Healing. The local expression of Burning Man seeks to promote principles of radical inclusion, participation, self-reliance, self-expression, and activism through art/play/creativity and care for community and the environment. The free lineup of events is appropriate for all ages and will include tutu making, face painting, and hula hooping, a sing-along, community yoga, dancing, fire spinning, and more!

Christmas Bazaar & Thrift Shop
Where: St. Jane de Chantal | Bethesda, MD
When: Saturday, 9am – 4pm
Admission: Free
Shop “local” with more than 35 vendors at this 13th Annual Christmas Bazaar. Huge thrift shop, bake sale, and raffles, plus free pictures with Santa! This is sponsored by HSA for benefit of St. Jane de Chantal School located at 9525 Old Georgetown Rd.

Family Workshop: Luminous Lights in the Arab World
Where: Freer|Sackler Gallery | National Mall, DC
When: Saturday, 11am – 1pm & 2-4pm
Admission: Free
Visit the exhibition Engaging the Senses with teaching artist Ebtisam Abdulaziz and learn about the beautiful patterns and designs on Arab glasswork. Then, return to the studio to collaborate with family and friends on decorating your own glass lamps. For ages 6-12 and adult companions.

Story Time
Where: Dumbarton Oaks | Georgetown, DC
When: Saturday, 2pm
Admission: Free
Saturday, November 10, 2pm. Meet Tomie dePaola.
Award-winning author and illustrator Tomie dePaola will offer a reading of his celebrated children’s book The Clown of God, followed by a Q&A session moderated by Jewell Stoddard, children’s literature expert and retired Director of Children’s Services for Politics and Prose Bookstore. (FYI: This event will be preceded by a children’s program of Tomie dePaola books at the DC Public Library Georgetown Branch.)

Tree Lighting Celebration & Street Party
Where: Downtown Silver Spring, MD
When: Saturday, 6-9pm
Admission: Free
The annual event in Downtown Silver Spring always includes the unveiling of a one-of-a-kind holiday tree on the Fountain Plaza. And this year’s tree, the “CommUNITY Tree,” is no exception! Embraces diversity and unity through visual harmony, four artists have come together to create an illuminated mural with images of a diverse congregation of people ringing the bottom half as prismatic energy organically flows from them and dances towards a mobile color sculpture at the top. Other fun festivities of the evening will include live entertainment, bites and drinks, art stations, games, and more!

Wood Stove Design Challenge
Where: 1160 Jefferson Drive SW | National Mall, DC
When: Throughout the weekend
Admission: Free
The Wood Stove Design Challenge, an international competition to showcase innovative and clean-burning wood stoves, is running through November 13. The goal is to demonstrate how improved designs including sensors and computer controls can make wood stoves cleaner and more efficient. One portion of the competition will focus on how electricity can be produced from wood and pellet stoves and be paired with rooftop solar and other renewable technologies.

Tour the Memorials
Where: National Mall, DC
When: Throughout the weekend
Admission: Free
Observe Veterans Day by visiting the sites that honor those who have served. Make the rounds on the Mall at your leisure or attend a special ceremony — one will take place at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at 1pm, and the World War II Memorial and the Korean War Memorial are easy walks from there.

National Veterans Day Ceremony
Where: Arlington National Cemetery | Arlington, VA
When: Sunday, 11am
Admission: Free
The National Veterans Day Ceremony begins at 11am with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns and continues inside the Memorial Amphitheater with a parade of colors by veterans’ organizations and remarks from dignitaries. A prelude by the United States Air Force Band starts in the amphitheater at 10:30am. Free and open to the public, attendees are encouraged to get there by 9:30am. Read more about Arlington National Cemetery in this post about a KFDC experience there.

Mount Vernon Salutes Veterans
Where: Mount Vernon Estate | Mount Vernon, VA
When: Sunday, 9am – 4pm
Admission: Free/military; $18/adult, $9/child, free/under 5
Special activities at George Washington’s former estate include a wreath laying ceremony, a concert by the Harmony Heritage Singers or the United States Air Force Strings before greeting General and Lady Washington. Throughout the day, write a thank you letter to an active duty service member in the Vaughan Lobby. Honored guests are also invited to place a flower at Washington’s Tomb. (Above admission fees are for online; prices are slightly higher on site.)

Free Parking
Where: National Parks around the DMV (and nation)
When: Sunday
Admission: FREE
It’s the last fee free day of the year for national parks, which means there’s no entrance fee where they usually charge to get in. Take advantage of complimentary admission and hit the trail at Shenandoah or Great Falls, take a ride on Skyline Drive to see the mountains covered in autumn colors, visit Harpers Ferry, or see the birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry.

Drop-In Art Making
Where: National Gallery of Art | National Mall, DC
When: Sunday, 12-4pm
Admission: Free
Visit to the art museum to create some of your own works! Drop-in art making is a great way to try your hand at art making in an informal, relaxed environment. All ages and abilities are welcome to the Education Studio on the concourse level to experiment with different art materials and techniques. This will also take place on November 12, 22, and 25.

Concerto on the River
Where: Kingman & Heritage Islands |
When: Sunday, 1-2pm
Admission: Free
Concerto on the River is a live classical music performance along the bridge between Kingman Island and Heritage Island over DC’s Anacostia River. The musicians will perform separately from one another with varying distances between them, pushing sonic boundaries and physically opening space for the audience to freely move around and in between the musicians.  This is a live classical music concerto and families are welcome to come and enjoy music in nature!

Kids Cooking Class Brunch
Where: Ser Restaurant | Ballston, VA
When: Sunday, 12:30pm
Admission: Free with the cost of brunch
At Ser Restaurant, the Sunday brunch includes a complimentary cooking class every for the kids! Little sous chefs can learn the tricks of the trade straight from the chefs! (FYI: They also offer cooking parties for kids and adults!)

Skaters Gonna Skate
Where: Local ice skating rinks
When: Throughout the weekend
Admission: Varies by rink
Want to glide under the sky? Many outdoor ice skating rinks are welcoming guests to skate the day away. This post has details on all of them (and indoor venues, too), including bonus activities while you’re there.

The EmporiYum
Where: Union Market Dock 5 | Northeast, DC
When: Friday, Saturday, & Sunday
Admission: Tickets start at $15
Meet, eat, and shop at this pop-up market and celebration of everything delicious. Over 90 artisans, producers, chefs, and restaurants will showcase their wares, works, and culinary creations. It’s a chance to meet the people behind the brands, taste and learn about their products, and shop for unique edible gifts.

***MORE GOOD STUFF TO KNOW***
* ‘Tis the season to start planning for the holidays! The just-posted 2018 KFDC Guide to the Holiday Season in DC has info and inspiration galore to help you prep for it all.
* Ordering holiday cards? You can get 50% off Shutterflythrough November 11.
* There’s a new giveaway for a chance to win a Family 4-Pack of tickets to see Fancy Nancy’s Splendiferous Christmas at Adventure Theatre!
* I have 25 “Admit 2” passes up for grabs for an advanced screening of Second Act, a feel good comedy starring Jennifer Lopez coming to theaters in December, on November 12 at 7pm at the Regal Majestic in Silver Spring. (Follow the link to get ’em.)
* If you’re looking for ways to give back during the holiday season, the round-up of Volunteer Opportunities in the DC Area Where Kids Can Help Out, Too has some suggestions.
* You can order a very delicious Thanksgiving Dinner from the Mitsitam Cafe at the National Museum of the American Indian. (Yes, I’ve tried it…lots of it!) This is one of many, many suggestions in Kid Up & Go’s amazing list of places to get Thanksgiving to-go options around the area.
* If you haven’t yet seen the documentary RBG, it’s available to rent on Amazon Prime. Send her some healing vibes as you view it!