I think there are some stairs missing here. That’s a problem… Hopefully the mailman is just tall enough to reach the mail slot.

On Saturday afternoon, we spent some time being lazy and playing bocce ball in Lincoln Park. Bowser was the only one of us working really hard at moving all the balls around after they stopped rolling, but those are the rules – even though he was pretty lopsided towards chasing all the red balls, no arguing over whatever the dog does! He was like a team of his own. When we weren’t playing bocce, we took turns lounging in the grass (and lining up the ridiculous amounts of phones/cameras/technology we had with us for a simple trip to the park).

That night, we took our 6-person bike gang down to the Capitol and then across the National Mall to see some monuments at night. Jami and Kari took their very first CaBi rides and it was pretty sweet to see everything by moonlight. We stopped at the Capitol briefly, then rode past all the Folklife Festival tents on the Mall, then around the circle of the Washington Monument, passed by the WW2 memorial, rode along the under-construction reflecting pool, stopped to see Mr. Lincoln, where we were somehow more fascinated with the light coming from the kiosk at the base, and then finally walked along the Vietnam Memorial wall. The return trip was nice too – cruising along Pennsylvania Ave in the center bike lanes around 11pm — when the temperature in July in DC is finally tolerable — it’s always a pretty exhilarating feeling. No matter how long we live in DC, I will never get tired of seeing the city at night. It’s pretty amazing.

   

   

Sunday was pretty much the perfect day. Shopping at Eastern Market in the morning, pedicures in the afternoon, and sushi boat for late lunch/early dinner. Does it get any better than spending time with family doing those things?! I think Kari definitely enjoyed her first sushi experience and was pretty much a chopstick master by the time we finished. We came home and watched the DVR-ed women’s World Cup Soccer game — still can’t believe that header that tied us up with Brazil!!! Dinner was grilled corn with Old Bay and BBQ chicken followed by a vicious game of Asshole in which Jami was president the entire time . not fair!

It was sad to see them leave this morning. These visits always fly by so fast. Can’t wait until the next one…

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

On Friday night, we attended the Evening Parade at Marine Barracks Washington, “8th and I”, which is the Marine Corps oldest active post. Every Friday in the summer, the parade starts at 8:45 pm, and includes a concert by the US Marine Band, precision marching, the Corps Color Guard and the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, AND!!!! the most awesome LCpl. Chesty, a big, beefy bulldog, who is the official mascot of Marine Barracks Washington.

It was a pretty impressive show, especially because of the evening setting with dramatic lighting and the downright precision of everything. The silent drill platoon was especially amazing, tossing their 10-pound rifles with bayonets back and forth as if they were weightless. And not a one of them dropped (I was watching). Overall, a nice way to spend a summer evening.

On Saturday, DC’s first Kidical Mass ride took place, and Matt was there to take photos and ride with the group, whose goal is: “Promoting safe, fun family biking in the Greater Washington area.” Here’s some more of the photos.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter weekend!

We hope everyone had a nice, long labor day weekend. Weather-wise, it was just gahhh-geous dahhhling. We spent much of it relaxing, doing schoolwork, and watching college football, of course. Matt also found some time to scan the fujichrome sensia 200 slide film that came back in the mail last week. The results include this shot, from an alleyway in Capitol Hill, where we had been wandering sometime last month. I happened to look up and see a few birds perched on the lowest window sill, and then suddenly we realized the whole side of the building was covered in them. It was a very creepy Hitchcockian moment. The birds were all so quiet that we could have passed through the alley, looking at the ground, and never noticed the entire flock staring down at us. Freaky!