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…

   
The blog posts have gotten a little bit sparser these past few weeks, as the craziness of life has taken over. What is it about the end of summer that makes people feel the need to buckle down and get back to work?

At any rate, I thought this “oldie but goodie” picture (taken in Rock Creek Park in 2006) was appropriate for the way I’m feeling these days. Can’t slow down. Lots to do and little time to do it in. And it feels like the holidays will be upon us in no time, too. Does it make me sound old talking about how fast time goes by?

Yesterday was a gorgeous, warm November day that felt like it was somehow leftover from the first week of September. I went hiking out at Great Falls (on the Virginia side) along with my friends Riles and Alison, as well as Bowser and Alison’s dog Winston. There was lots of tromping through the woods, into leaves and puddles, as well as plenty of homemade trail mix and Riles’ backpack (very important for carrying the trail mix). Bowser and his little legs did surprisingly well, walk-running the entire hike and still not being tired at then end of it.

It always amazes me that, even while living in the city, it only takes a 30 minute drive and a quick walk to be in the middle of nature, and what feels like the middle of nowhere.