Long Post: Part I

Things have been busy but I'll do my best to recap here sans all the details a fresher memory would supply:

The Hub and I took a mini roadtrip at the end of May into early June. It was fun; first stop was Philly for the weekend where we were hoping to meet Shaun but he did not wish to evacuate. We all thought Saturday night into Sunday morning was going to be the big birthday so we made sure to know where all David's essentials were so we could take care of him. Needless to say we never got woken up in the middle of the night in a labor frenzy. We had a good time relaxing and going out to eat around Philly.

-Two preggos 41 weeks and 17 weeks

We left Monday morning to make our way to Baltimore to see the Red Sox play the Orioles. It was cool to be at an away game, though funny that there were almost as many Sox fans as there were O's. Camden Yards was neat to see but not as nice as I was expecting; I guess I'm biased with my love of Fenway Park. It's also kind of sad to see so many empty seats. After the game we drove down to Laurel to be closer to DC for our next leg of the trip.

The next day it was off to DC and there was so much to see and do we certainly didn't get to everything. There was a lot of walking and, unlike good old New England, it was hot! We parked along the Tidal Basin across from the Jefferson Memorial and walked toward the Washington Monument. We took in the World War II Memorial and read the quotes and facts that were in abundance.Besides school I learned a lot of this history through my dad and his vast WWII knowledge and collection, and his fondness for watching the History Channel.

Then we walked the length of the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial. That was the one I wanted to see the most so when I got there I was determined to walk up all the steps even though SD offered to run up and take a picture. My legs were tired and weak from the walk and the weather, but I knew I would regret it if I walked all that way only to sort of see him at a distance and through the lens of a camera. I'm so glad I did and to top it off it was nice and cool in the stone shade of it.

After that we went to the Museum of Natural History where the highlight for me was the gem and mineral part where they store the humongous Hope Diamond. It's nice that all the museums are free.

We saw the White House from a distance and then headed over to Arlington National Cemetery. By that time it was later in the day and my legs were not up for more walking. Next time we go back I would definitely do one of those bus tours where you can jump off and jump on throughout the day to save all the walking. I had also wanted to do the night tour but it said it was 3 1/2 hours long which seemed like a lot, so we opted out.

The next day we went to the National Zoo, which was fun, but I swear it was one big freakin' hill, and did I mention the heat? Here are some pics from that day. This panda was the younger one and I felt like he should have been hosed down or something; he was just panting so much His father was inside happily chewing away. I love seeing all the different wildlife at zoos, but am always somewhat torn, especially when seeing the lions and bigger animals as it seems like they never have enough space in which to roam around. I do understand some of it is for conservation, and there was a nice educational aspect of it. I liked the way they had staff at various areas throughout dispersing interesting facts, which is something I didn't really see at the Franklin Park Zoo.

Well I'm gonna stop for now so I can get up tomorrow for work, and will have to continue my other updates another time. Oh the weekends go by too fast!

P.S. The Bon Jovi concert was awesome!!!