Road Trip with Aubrey & Claire

Alicent Manwaring
—Sep 10, 2025
Less than a month after we went to West Virginia with Rex and Veronica, I drove with Aubrey and Claire back to West Virginia to get our little CC Twins (Camila & Claire, three weeks apart in age) together!
It was so fun seeing the girls play together again, but it was also an adventure with two active noisey toddlers and a dog! When one child was trying to take a nap the other one was crying, and while another was trying to sleep at night the other one would cry and wake them up. I think everyone was a little sleep deprived, but we still enjoyed spending time with each other, going on play-dates out, and basking in the chaos that is family!
The girls having a great time playing in Breck & Iris' backyard!
The girls entertaining themselves inside the house as well...sitting on the kitchen rug,
Climbing on the indoor jungle gym,
Eating popcyles,
and making a mess of Camila's room by playing dress-up with every article of clothing in her dresser!
And then there was church with the twins...let's just say it wasn't ideal!
Breck and Iris were wonderful hosts, as usual, and every day was a new adventure...
Beautiful Poorhouse Park in Martinsburg, WV and then Filthy Fiz drinks, in order to keep up with the girls, and Fuzzy Dog bookstore to purchase gently used kid's books.
Our next adventure was at Frying-pan Farm in VA.
The girls had a ball riding the carousel,
taking a tractor ride around the park to see horses,
and visiting all the other animals like roosters and chickens,
goats, sheep, and many more!
The girls also enjoyed riding the miniature tractors.
After a stop at CFA & Wawa's for lunch, we visited the Air and Space museum in VA.
It was quite the place and I could have spent days there, but once the girls were done running around the large floor listening to their voices echo in the vast building, they finally hit a wall (not literally) so it was time to get on the road again.
Aubrey & Iris shopped at a second hand kid's store on the way home while I watched the sleeping girls in the car (so cute!!!).
Another fun day was spent at Shenandoah Valley Children's Museum in Winchester VA.
The museum had four floors and a rooftop play area but unfortunately the rooftop was closed, but the girls still had a blast on every other floor!
After playing with all the building toys on the first floor, we headed to the second floor...
That had a super fun water table and so much more ...
Claire driving a milk truck,
Camila milking a cow!
More tractor fun to be had on the third floor,
and writing pads for Claire and lots of babies for Camila on the fourth floor!
Because of our many day trips, the girls spent considerable time in their car seats. At first one or the other would cry (Claire trying to cover her ears while Camila is crying in the above pics)
but they soon got used to sitting together, and even started holding hands!
Breck was nice enough to take a couple days off and join us on our adventures. And was especially nice to brave downtown DC traffic and take us to the Smithsonian's National Zoo!
The zoo was a pretty awesome, even though several animal areas were closed for rentovation. Above the girls are admiring a pink spoonbill sitting atop a huge fish tank.
Beautiful stingrays, with their interesting patterns, right at eye level! And many more fun animals...
Cool piranhas!
A little Finding Nemo Clown Fish,
Huge seals,
Turtles of all kinds!
Aubrey and I walking with the girls and giving them a break from their strollers.
Claire so pleased to see a little bear just her size...
Camila getting in on the action!
Pretty cool bird sanctuary! Since the DC zoo is so old (136 years to be exact) the streets are made of cobblestone and the old brick buildings are decorated on the inside with intricate mosaic tiles!
Little sandpipers, my fav!
Blue-billed duck,
tons of flamingos!
The girls enjoyed watching the monkey and gorillas play,
I especially loved the Bearded Emperor Tamarin!
But my favorite animals in the whole zoo were the Giant Pandas on loan from China! One of the pandas was definitely more playful than another!
It was so fun watching entertain the crowd by playing with his toys and even doing summersaults.
After wearing the girls completely out, it was time to brave the traffic and drive back home after grabbing Portbelly Subs for dinner.
Our last day we went to one of my favorite places, Hagerstown MD, and the Pennsylvania Dutch Market to be more exact!
There's nothing better than eating a homemade comfort meal made by the Amish, and loading up on tons of other amazing Amish food and snacks for the road! A great ending to a great trip!