Farewell Dear DC

The latest news goes like this: We are coming home EARLY! Jaren's work informed him that he had reached a 120 day limit and couldn't work more without them getting fined for not giving him benefits, so they basically told him that this Friday is his last day. We feel bad to leave the girls and Pam early, but we feel like the sooner we get home, the better (especially better on our wallet!). So we are starting to pack up and will leave early on Saturday morning!

Jaren's best friend Greg Warby came out for a visit last week. We ran all around the city seeing the museums, Arlington, the Capitol, Potbellies, Good Stuff, Oriole's Park at Camden Yards. . .

Greg and I went to museums all day on Thursday while Jaren worked. We started in the Library of Congress which I was very impressed with. It was gorgeous! We walked by the National Archives, but decided we didn't want to wait in the probably 2 hour line in the heat to get in. So, we went and shopped at a souvenir stand instead. We saw the Natural History Museum, Museum of American History, and the Air and Space Museum. I headed home to work and Warby met Jaren at work and they picked up pizza on their way home.


Friday, we all slept in a bit. When we were awake, we got ready and went on a Capitol tour. We stood in with a group in Statutory Hall and heard the cool acoustic affects. It is still fun to see no matter how many times you go in. Jaren got to go on a dome tour where you have to walk up TONS of stairs, but get to go up on top of the dome and walk around very close to the Apotheosis of Washington and go up outside on top of the dome. See the previous post of pictures that Jaren took. I'm jealous he couldn't get me in!!

Friday night, we headed to Baltimore in the rain to see the Orioles play the Yankees. We had just gotten situated in our sweet red ponchos with umbrellas and our first round of ball park food when the announcement came over the loud speaker that the game was postponed due to the rain. We were sorta disappointed that we didn't get to see the game, but at least we got dinner out of the deal... and we get our money back, so it wasn't a complete loss.


Saturday, we saw the White House, ate at Potbellies, and walked around Arlington for a while. It got really warm in the afternoon and I actually got a little sun on my face! We wandered around the National American Indian Museum and did some more souvenir shopping before we headed home. We made our awesome fried shrimp for dinner. That night, Warby treated us to a great round of cosmic bowling. We walked in and got our shoes and while we were putting them on, we noticed something a little off.... the bowling pins were tiny! We thought that was pretty funny, and then we discovered that the bowling balls were also miniature! A lady bowling with her family on the lane next to ours overheard our surprise at the mini bowling alley and explained that it is called Duckpin Bowling and it is huge here on the East Coast. The rules are mostly the same as regular bowling except you get to bowl three times per turn. It was really really fun, but I was awful at it. We bowled until 1 am and then drove Warby to the airport and got home around 3 am. And then we slept in a LONG time the next morning. We had a blast with Warby and were sad that he left so soon!




Now we are just trying to eat all of the food we still have, but probably won't get through some of it! That's ok though, cause we are coming home in 3 days!! We have had a TON of fun out here and have seen lots of awesome things. We're glad that Jaren was able to get an internship so we could come out and have this experience, and we are also glad that it is about over. We'll try to bring some warm weather home with us!

Sandberg Vacation 2011

Jaren's parents and brother flew all the way across the country to visit us this past week. They stayed for a little over a week and we all had a blast! I am going to do a short day by day synopsis for my sake and to show you some pictures of our adventures!

Saturday 12
Picked up the Sandbergs from BWI Airport. We all drove home together, got settled, let them take a nap (they had been flying all night...) , bought metro passes, and headed out to explore the National Mall. No Jeri Dell and Blake, NOT a shopping mall... sorry! Saw the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and the Potomac River.

Sunday 13
Woke up, took turns in the single shower/bathroom: Hard to get everyone ready on time! Went to church, took a metro ride to Arlington National Cemetary after lunch and a nice nap. Saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We made a yummy dinner and dessert to eat while watching A-Team.


Monday 14
Lounged a bit in the morning after Jaren headed to work. Later, took a metro ride into town and saw some Smithsonian museums. Most of us ate dinner at "Good Stuff", a hamburger place. I have been told they are the best, greasiest hamburgers in town. Maybe a bit too greasy in Blake's opinion. . . I met up with everyone that night at the Verizon Center for a Washington Wizards NBA game. Our row won tickets for two free beers per person so Jeri Dell worked her magic and got them to give us soda's and waters instead. The Wizards weren't that great, but the game was fun to watch!!


Tuesday 15
Blake was a little sleepy in the morning, so Jay, JeriDell and I headed downtown to see some sights. We stood in line and got tickets to see the Washington Monument and the Holocaust Museum. Jeri Dell made new friends everywhere she went! When we got to the top of the Washington Monument, I asked this tall boy to take a picture of us. He took it, and then we noticed him following us around a little. As we were all waiting at the elevator, the boy came and stood behind us. Somehow he and I got to talking and he asked... "so are you in high school? ..... or... in college?" I told him college and he seemed a little crestfallen. He was a sophomore in high school. I tried to be very nice and we chatted about sports and school until the elevator where his group got on and ours didn't. Nice boy, funny that he was hoping I was in high school, and flattering that he was brave enough to come talk to me. Haha. The view from the top of the Washington monument was gorgeous and the Holocaust Museum was very sobering. I had lots of fun chatting with Jay and JeriDell all morning. We went to Battle LA that night. It was just ok.


Wednesday 16
We all woke up early so we could make it to Jaren's office by 10AM for our tour of the Capitol Building. Jaren told us all of the fun history behind the paintings and the architecture that he learned in his tour training. The Capitol is so intricate and stunning! Jeri Dell and I loved looking at the beautiful ceilings and all the details everywhere else. We got to go into the Senate and see a Senator give a speech. I wore my cute shoes, so my feet were KILLING me by the end of the day. Jay, Jeri Dell and Blake stayed for the rest of the afternoon to see museums while I went home to work. Came home that night and made dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.


Thursday 17
Drove to Mount Vernon and looked at George Washington's house. Saw a movie and walked through a museum dedicated to George Washington. Learned that he was really tall and saw his lower denture. He was a very interesting man and had a SWEET house! The weather was gorgeous all week long and was especially nice this day!

Friday 18
We went and explored Great Falls National Park. We heard it was a "mini Niagara Falls". It was really pretty and probably pretty impressive for people out here in the East. It was really pretty. It was nice to walk around outside in the nice weather and hear the water. It made me miss the Snake River!! We ate lunch there and then drove up to Gettysburg. We watched a movie about the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg. The museum housed a cyclorama which is a HUGE 360 painting that has lighting and sound effects to tell a story. I guess they were popular back in the days before the motion picture. The painting was over a hundred years old and was just massive! On our way home we stopped in to "a restaurant with some character" in Frederick. We found this little authentic Italian place in the middle of town that fit that description. It was decorated in random statues, pictures, and ivy that was reminiscent of good ol' Italy. The waiter had a thick accent and as we were the only customers for the majority of our meal, we got excellent service. We all noticed that the employees were all speaking Italian with each other and we decided that it must be a family owned restaurant. How quaint!! The food was excellent and we all left with full bellies. On the way out we stopped to chat with the restaurant owner. He was VERY proud of his "Best Restaurant of 2011" award hanging on the wall. Jeri Dell asked him if his family came from Italy to which he replied... "No, not Italy. We are from Iran." So much for traditional Italian... and I guess they really weren't speaking Italian. . . That's some character I'd say!


Saturday 19
Jay and Jeri Dell got up early to exercise and get some more sightseeing in. Jaren, Blake, and I hung out at home playing video games, watching movies and reading until the afternoon. I took a nap while everyone ran some errands. I woke up just in time to help with dinner and head out to another movie.

Sunday 20 HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!
Got up, went to church. Came home, took a small nap and then drove over to the National Cathedral. A man on the elevator really tried to impress upon me the fact that "they just don't build things like this here in the United States... to see something like this you have to go to Europe. They just don't build like this anymore!" .... Ok. Got it. The cathedral is so big and has hundreds of gorgeous stained glass windows and carvings everywhere. Blake and Jeri Dell found a sweet basement cause they were a little "nosy..." :) Very pretty. We dropped Jay, Jeri Dell and Blake off at the airport tonight and we were sad to see them go!!

Other fun memories of the trip
1. Jaren and Blake tackling JeriDell on the air mattress in the living room.
2. Jay threatening death to anyone who popped his air mattresses.
3. Blake showing off his Yoga moves in fun places all over the city.


4. Jeri Dell fell in love with a house down the street. I promise I'll get pictures!
5. Jay's photogenicity. (I know its not a real word... but if you know Jay, you'll know what I mean)
6. Jeri Dell and her floss threader incident. Or maybe she was trying to start a new fashion? Floss threader earrings? :)
7. Getting lost from each other.
8. Twice
9. Once more..... :)
10.The famous horse joke. Thanks Jay!
11. Jaren winning rummy
12. Jay asking the waiter at the Iranian/Italian restaurant for reading glasses. Did I laugh? Yes. Was he serious? I'm still not sure. . .

A Bit More on our Atlantic Trip

Like I mentioned before, we took a little trip to the Atlantic ocean the weekend before Valentine's Day. We both felt like we needed to get out and go somewhere so we booked a hotel that was a short block away from the beach, which was really cheap because it is winter. I would say it is a little over a two hour drive out there but it was a fun drive. We got to cross the huge bridge that spans the Chesapeake Bay. (I think... I would look it up, but our internet isn't working right now.) It was huge and way cool. We both enjoyed the open-ness once we got out of the city. There were tons of cool houses with interesting architecture and lots of farms and stuff on the way out there. We stayed in Ocean City MD that is right on the border between Delaware and Maryland. The city is basically built on a peninsula and at most times you could see the ocean on one side of you and the bay on the other side. There are TONS and TONS of huge hotels and condominiums lining both the beach front and the bay front. We got in pretty late the first night and just relaxed and watched some TV in the room.

The next morning, I woke up and saw a weird orange light strip on the wall. I jumped out of bed and saw the sun about halfway up over the Atlantic Ocean. I got excited and yelled for Jaren to come see. haha. He thought I was a little mean for waking him up, but as soon as he saw it he was a little happier. :) We snapped a few pictures and then crawled back in bed for a while. After breakfast we drove down a ways to the Ocean City boardwalk. You can tell that in the summer it must be just crawling with people. We got there early enough that none of the little shops were open. It was almost creepy to see everything looking so deserted. There were a bunch of carnival rides that were also closed down for the winter and deserted looking. We walked out onto the beach and touched the water so we could say that we have touched the Atlantic ocean. Then we spent a couple of hours taking tons of pictures of the pier and the beach. It was pretty windy and cold, but not too bad at this point. A little later on, we walked down to the rocky point at the end of the beach and there the wind was howling and bitter cold. Our faces were both numb after a few minutes of picture taking so we started walking back towards the boardwalk and the car.

By this time, some of the shops and restaurants had opened up. We stopped in a few of the shops but didn't see anything we had to have. The smell of french fries in the air won us over though. We stopped into a little burger place. I got some cheese fries and Jaren got some chili cheese fries. They were EXCELLENT. :) By this time, our camera battery was running a little low so we headed back to the hotel to grab the extra battery. Then we headed out in search of a lighthouse. Jaren had seen one online that was supposedly pretty close to our hotel. ....About 30 miles up the road we had come to a State/national park (not sure which) and decided we would check it out. As we were driving through, we saw another huge concrete tower that we had seen all over the place and decided to check this one out cause it was close. Apparently it was a World War II lookout tower that was erected to protect the waterway between Delaware and New Jersey. It had a long spiral staircase inside and you could walk all the way up to the top of the tower and look out over the park, the ocean and the bay. It was gorgeous but SOOO windy and cold. From the top of this tower, you could see that there were two lighthouses a little ways off. So we went to find them.

We drove a little ways further and had to hike over a bit of sand to get closer to the lighthouse we had seen. It was a pretty little red brick one. The wind was so cold and strong at this place that it was blowing sand in our faces and we felt like we were going to get blown over. Jaren gave me his beanie cause my head and ears were cold, but after that I was actually pretty warm. We went looking for crabs but decided that they were all hibernating or something. We did find some HUGE crab shells on the beach here though. I wouldn't want one of those coming after me!

After the lighthouse adventure we headed back towards our hotel. We had someone look up the lighthouse that was supposedly by our hotel and discovered that it was, actually only like 2 blocks away from our hotel. It was just on the opposite side we thought it would be on. It was really random and wasn't even close to the water. We were both glad we had found the other lighthouse further up the road.

That night we spent swimming, going out to eat, and going to a movie. We slept in the next morning and just relaxed until it was time to check out and head home. We had fun talking and taking in the scenery on the way home. It was a fun trip. :)