How American are we??

How much more American can you get? Its the 4th of July, and we were here in DC. And we had an utterly fabulous weekend. 

We went to a baseball game, had apple pie and fried chicken (which was gross, the chicken not the pie) (and okay I didn't make either one of them. I'm a slacker I know.) We went to Mount Vernon, and to top it off we watched fireworks, whilst lounging on the National Mall...with 500,000 other people. What could be more American? 

The following sequence of photos is not in order. 

Here's a little taste of the firework show. Just a little sampling.

If I was an awesome blogger you would get an edited video of the fireworks, set to some very American music. While I am awesome, I am not an awesome blogger, so those pictures are all you are going to get. 

We sat on the grass on the west side of the Washington Monument. And you could look across the road and the reflecting pond and see how many people were sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 

Earlier that day, we ran down to Georgetown an attended a dog parade. Which was awesome. 

I am going to go ahead and say that it is going to be the highlight of the entire summer. I don't think there is anything that could trump a dog parade. Unless of course I got my own dog.

Uncle Same led the parade. 

Meet Dante, he is a Sheltie. And I wanted to take him home with me.

I don't know these guys' names, so I will call them.... Thunder and Yukon.

I don't know his name either, but he was really cute, because he wanted lots of treats.

This little ones name is Bowie, and he is a fat papillon. Super cute, he loved us.

Look at the ballerina. She's darling.

Treats for the parade participants were donated by the Dog Store on Wisconsin.  The dogs loved them! And I loved the parade. 

Next up we have the Nats baseball game.

During the 4th inning, there is a race between the presidents...and its hilarious. 

TJ, Washington, Abe and Teddy. Teddy never wins, but he can moonwalk. 

Look how dedicated to baseball I am. 

Me cheering on the home team.  

Quite honestly I don't know if the Nationals won or lost, but I do know that if you go to a Nationals game, and you want a funnel cake, you should get in line early....Andrew still owes me. 

Olde Towne, and a day on the bay.

Its time. Time for a real update. And that's it. A real update. 

So here we go....

Old Towne Alexandria. One of our favs. There is a fabulous latin eatery called Cafe Salsa and they do one heck of a brunch. The breakfast burrito is to die for. But that's not what this picture is. These are the docks in Alexandria. Lovely.

One day when we were down at the docks and there was a company that saves parrots. And for a donation to the cause, one could hold a number of birds and get a picture taken. I mostly did this to gross out my Mum. She hates birds, although I was only kidding when I told the birdman that I wanted to hold ten birds. He however took me seriously. Those birds were a lot heavier than you would think. The one on my head is Oscar, and it was his first time.

Mum this one is for you.

Next up, we have Annapolis and the Chesapeake. 

Someone forgot to take the camera, so all we have are subpar photos taken with the phone. I blame Andrew, he blames me. We all know who is right. 

We took a ferry ride around the little harbor. And it was great. I love boat rides. We love the navy, and we love all you can eat crab. Delicious. 

We rented bikes and rode around town. I love bikes, especially ones with baskets. 

I would especially love a bike of my own with a basket and a bell. Does Andrew know this? Yes. Does he care? Apparently not. 

Andrew's favorite thing: eating here.  

And this turkey sandwich. Andrew loves his turkey sandwiches. And I will admit this one does look delicious. And as I recall it was. 

We also walked around the Naval Academy, and saw were John Paul Jones was buried. Whose grave/crypt it supposedly like Napolean's in Paris, so it's like we were there. Again. 

And did you know that Annapolis was at one point the capital of the United States? Well now you do. 

Only Me

So the only one who saw the white next to the new background was me. Why? I believe it was because of my parent's widescreen monitor. Sorry for wasting everyone's time with that pointless post. My apologies. 

New Background

EVERYONE has a cute background, except for me. Well, until now that is. After like 2 years of plain black, we did an upgrade! And once I had carefully read the instructions, it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated. However, is anyone else seeing the white? What is that about? I need to know whether or not its normal, since this is my first foray into backgroundom. Let me know, any help would be appreciated. Thankssssssss. I think I like the bright pink title, it adds a little something extra, don't you think?

So it begins. The Summer of DC

After a slow start the summer of DC has arrived!!! Andrew is busily working away, and I am busily sitting around. There are many things that I am liking about living in DC, which I will go into in a moment. But the one thing that I hate, is the humidity. Most people do hate the humidity, but perhaps not for the same reason. No I don't hate it because of what it does to my hair, the damage there is minimal. And no I don't hate it because every time you walk outside, you are automatically wet and clammy.  I hate it for one reason, condensation. I don't like the fact that whenever I get a 32 oz. diet coke it becomes dripping wet. I don't like my glasses of water leaving puddles on the tables. It is more condensation than I have ever experienced. And I don't like it. I like to pick up a glass of juice and know that all of the wetness is contained within.  It is utterly obnoxious. 

Things I do like about DC:

I like the 4 locks I have on my apartment door, I feel very safe.

Smartrip cards, which make public transportation much easier. 

The ceiling fan at our apartment.

Dogs getting the respect they deserve with dog parks.

Al fresco dining.

Embassies, especially Russia.

Whole Food

H and M

The Metro, which I occasionally refer to as the Tube, its basically the same thing people. 

Living alone with just Andrew, no Australians, no cats. 

And that's all I can think of right now. I have no doubt that my hate list will grow longer as well... 

We're not in Kansas anymore.

So we have been nomads for the past couple of weeks. Nomads or gypsies, whichever you prefer. We drove both the Alero and the Explorer to Idaho. Where I informed my father that I never was to see the Alero again, so it better not be there when I get back. I didn't care if he had to push it off a cliff, I didn't want to lay eyes on that beast ever again. Luckily however, within days he was able to sell it, I pity the person who purchased it. We left the Explorer there and took my mom's car and started out across the country. Two things: First off my moms car is really fast, and compared to our cars it's like riding in the lap of luxury. Second, it stinks. Ever after having it detailed and finding a dead mouse in the fan, it still smells. This fact annoyed Andrew to no end. We tried everything, and eventually it went away, or we got so used to it, we didn't notice it anymore. But it smelled pretty much across the entire country. Regardless of the stench we are very grateful that my Mom let us take her car. Thanks Mom! 

So we left on Saturday from Jerome planning on driving 11 hours to Kara's house in Colorado.  We planned on stopping in Pocatello to go to breakfast with Dillon and Hollie, however that didn't happen. Why? Because halfway to Pocatello, in American Falls, Andrew remembered that he left his suits in the closet in Jerome. The one thing we couldn't buy when we got to DC. Ha ha ha. I would have laughed harder if Andrew hadn't been so mad. So we called home and got Tanner, with his new driver's license to drive to Burley with the suits where we would meet him. So instead of having a delicious breakfast in the company of Dillon and Hollie, we got to eat at Carl's Junior. Yum. 

After being on the road for 3.5 hours and only making it to Pocatello, we did meet up with Dillon and Hollie to pick up some presents for the Coloradians. They also gave us a bag of treats, chips, apples and water. Which saved Andrew's life. He kept saying we would stop and get some snacks, but we never did. And soon we found ourselves in the middle of Wyoming with nothing to eat. So he was very very glad about the bag of snacks. Me? I slept the whole way there. And in spite of what my family was anticipating, I was NOT cranky when we got to Kara's. Not even a little bit. 

After a great stay with Kara and Drew and the kids. During which time we celebrated Sierra's birthday, went to an outdoor mall, picnicked, etc. We also went on a hike to Red Rocks, which was great. I'm very disappointed that I won't be around to see Celtic Women at Red Rocks. That would be great, but don't worry we are going to see them at Wolf Trap, although I have to sit on the grass. Gross. Just kidding.  

The O.C and I both have crazy hair. I kept telling Kara to give him a haircut, but I admit he does look really cute with his long unruly hair. 

Here is a great picture of Si Si and Drew and the amphitheater.  And I am telling you it was hard to walk up all of those stairs. I blamed it on the altitude. 

So we began our drive to DC. Some thoughts on states:

Wyoming: I have nothing to say about Wyoming, other than why? Why does it exist? 

Kansas: I loved Kansas. Most people claimed it boring, but I thought it was great, I like the calm rolling grass lands. The historic Cathedral of the Plains, birthplace of Eisenhower and resting place of his presidential library, childhood home of Bob Dole, bleeding Kansas. What's not to love? I think Kansas is waaaaaay under rated. 

Missouri: I am glad that after much weather watching, we avoided some tornados. I did try and convince Andrew to let us become storm chasers like on Twister. He didn't like that idea...lame. 

Illinois: One word: Lincoln. How could you not like Illinois. 

Indiana: Only slightly better than Wyoming. Why? Because its green. Which makes it only marginally better than the western giant. That and it's not never ending like Wyoming. 

Ohio: I liked Ohio, very pretty and its officially the state in which Andrew broke his life long goal of never going to Cracker Barrel. Thanks Ohio! Ohio is also the state were after two days in the car, one of us almost had a breakdown, and surprisingly enough, it wasn't me. 

Pennsylvania: Due to our sometimes malfunctioning GPS I saw more of the Penn state than I wanted to. Well actually it was just one town, which was a lovely place, but I definitely saw more of it that I had anticipated. I also enjoyed the fact that Pennsylvania has townships. 

West Virginia: Two reasons I like this state, Beth Ann, and John Denver. We listened to  "Country Road" the whole time we were in WV, it was both wild and wonderful.

Virginia: At last.

And so we made it. Finally. 

And unfortunately I will not be driving back home to Utah. I will be flying. I think driving across the country is something sane people only do once. I don't know who will be driving home with Andrew, but it won't be me. 

A Long time ago...

We lived in Utah. And after finals were finalized and Andrew had gone golfing at least 8 times, I made him take me somewhere I am sure he didn't want to go.... The Tulip Festival.  At Thanksgiving Point and it was great. I love flowers and I love festivals. So this was perfect! 

Ahh...Purple tulips. I believe we've already been over the fact that I love purple.

How can you not be happy looking at tulips? It makes me wish I was Dutch.