birthday at the beach (and memorial day)

we spent the long weekend at the beach for brett's mom's birthday. we got there at the same time as bill and katie on friday, unloaded, and went straight to the beach!

will was not into the water on friday. he was just content to throw sand. this was strange because the rest of the weekend he was literally trying to drown himself with how fearlessly he was attacking the waves and the pool.

emme is a beach baby! we weren't exactly planning on getting in the water, but she just couldn't help herself.

here she is telling short-legged little juancho to get in too!

we watched the sun set over the bay (literally in the blink of an eye it was there then all of the sudden it was gone!) from karen's back deck on the new chairs we brought for her birthday. surprisingly all four of these high stools fit in the accord. brett's a magician.

so pretty and relaxing. this was the first time i'd seen her deck. love it.

emme spent most of the weekend being a goof and hanging out in one of her many swim suits trying to convince us all it was time to go somewhere. (i spy a boogie! there was a lot of wiping little snotty noses all weekend too.)

cute little plumber beach baby.

this is what pure joy looks like. that little will sure loves his dada.

we brought all three dogs to the beach. newdog loves chasing frisbees/balls down the beach and into the surf. although swallowing all that sea water did catch up to her, yuck. the two little dogs went crazy and decided to stop being scared of the ocean and tried to swim out to sea. so hilarious looking. misty kept kicking even when brett scooped her up to stop her.

once both little dogs were safe on the shore, they both decided to rub their faces in the sand. weirdos.

we turned emme into a mermaid (for as long as her little three year old attention span could sit still).

after naps we went to the pool and brett went fishing at the cut. will was a wild man. jumping off the edge of the pool and trying to swim all by himself without floaties or help. i've never seen such a fearless little kid before. beach grandma babysat while the four of us went to dinner in appalach. we went to tamara's in appalach. it was crowded so we ate outside at a table for two. turned out to be the best seat in the house since it was cool and a band was playing across the street. i accidentally ordered way too much food. note to self, next time you order two sides as your entree, make sure the kitchen doesn't turn one of the sides into an entree portion.

brett made us mama bird burgers for lunch after church on sunday that were really good. (they're lentil/mushroom burgers that look a little too much like they've been chewed up by a bird when you're forming the patties. i'll post the recipe.)

we grilled out for karen's birthday dinner. lots of veggies, fresh grouper, and shrimp. and guess what.... brett and i ate a bit of the seafood too! we've been talking about occasionally eating fish for months. we finally decided to go for it since it doesn't get any better than grouper at his mama's house. then i really jumped off the deep end and had some of karebear's ice cream cake. i felt kinda gross afterwards. but it was delicious, there's no denying that!

i love all these shots of her blowing out the candles. happy birthday beach grandma! she got her wish by spending the weekend with all of us! and she almost got to keep bill and katie an extra day with all that tropical depression business going on around jax,

monday we went to the pool and packed up. poor little will passed out playing on the ipad. swallowing half a pool will do that to you.

beach grandma is so much fun! emme didn't want to leave her, but newdog ended up being the one to stay behind! bill and katie are letting her stay with karen to see how she likes it!

here's to birthdays, family, and summer! we'll be back again soon!

dc trip:: savannah on the way back

we left our hotel on wednesday morning to head back south. we decided to break up the drive home by staying the night in savannah. after driving through lots of rain, we made it to savannah for dinner.  

it was my first time to savannah so we walked along the touristy waterfront and window shopped. i loved all the little candy shops and talked brett into buying some salt water taffy. i sure could use some of that amazing orange dreamsicle taffy right about now!

we stayed at a pretty decent hotel for such a last minute booking (thank you iphone!) and were happy to find breakfast in the morning was overrun with a tour bus of senior citizens also staying in our hotel and visiting savannah. they were southern and a hoot to eavesdrop on.

the top of my list of places to see in savannah was juliette gordon low's house, the founder of the girl scouts. brett decided to skip the tour and save us the 8 bucks.

i've wanted to come to savannah ever since my girl scout troop in third grade talked about taking a trip to see this house. it's amazing how many old family heirlooms and artifacts are still in the house. there was a beautiful garden in the back which was the only place you're allowed to take pictures. apparently juliette's nickname was daisy, so that's where daisy scouts come from!  

here's the back of the house and a wrought iron gate that juliette made! it's got her parents' initials on each side. that was one multitalented woman! seriously ridiculously talented! iron working, sewing, sculpting, wood working, painting, you name it!

after the low house we explored a bit then made it to city market square to take a tour of the city. i got some more dreamsicle taffy while we waited for the tour to start. mmm.

we took a horse drawn carriage tour and loved it.

we saw paula deen's, lots of historical buildings with cool stories, and lots of trolleys. 

the town square system is pretty cool. might get old to have to drive around the square, but it sure is pretty. apparently we were not only on the whole foods tour of america but also the forrest gump tour. we saw the spot where the famous forrest gump bench was and the diner jenny worked at.

for lunch we ate a a place called zunzi's that we found on urbanspoon. you know how they say a restaurant is a hole in the wall place? this was literally the size of a hole in the wall.  you can see one wall in the picture and the other wall was two feet behind me. you just walk in to order then go sit outside to eat. all the hip scad kids go there. zunzi himself is in the picture too on the far left, he was the nicest guy.

we walked through the old cemetery after lunch. creepy how much of the city is built over graves. the union soldiers were also pretty rude and messed with the graves. the tombstones are on this wall because their rightful place got lost.

our last stop was the saint john the baptist cathedral. huge, old, ornate, and beautiful.

between the girl scouts and the cathedral sight seeing, my friend annemarie was on my mind all day.

after that we hit the road and made it home at dinner time! the next day we veged out, watched tv, did laundry, watched more tv, and rode our bikes on the st. marks trail.

the end! when's the next vacation?

dc trip:: we also went to maryland

we woke up tuesday morning and headed to kensington, maryland to go to the washington d.c. temple. my parents (with their only three kiddos at the time) were sealed here in 1983 so i was really excited to get to go to this temple.

 

the temple was beautiful and huge! it did feel strange with its lack of windows though, orlando is still my favorite.

by the time we came out, the rain had started so i didn't get to take excessive amounts of pictures with my fancy camera. drats. we ran to the car and snapped a couple phone shots before hitting the road. that picture on the left is so hilarious to me cause it really captured that frazzled moment well.

we ate lunch in the car and made our way to georgetown. we parked on the cutest townhouse side street and checked to make sure the coast was clear because what trip is complete without changing in the car real quick. brett didn't change out of his church pants so i laughed at his saggy slacks/tennis shoe combo all day. he said he was sacrificing style for comfort since it was cold. touche.

we stopped in at the old stone house then went up the street to sprinkles.

the vegan red velvet did not disappoint. sooo delicious.

we shopped (unfortunately mostly just window shopped) at stores we love/don't have/can't afford.

we got back in the car and explored the georgetown university area (via brett's freestylin') then headed to the kennedy center for one of their nightly free performances. we saw circus performers from columbia.

this was at the end because i was too scared to take their picture during the performance since they said no cameras. they mostly did things (like jumping/flips/balancing on each other) that i would imagine a street performer in columbia would do.

after the performance we went back to georgetown and ate at das ethiopia. it was our first time eating ethiopian food and we loved it! we had the perfect corner window table looking out on a busy intersection so we talked, and people watched, and talked about the people we watched. our food came out on one large platter with endless spongy pancake bread that you unroll and use to pick up your bites. it was our first time eating at a nice restaurant without utensils. lots of fun. sadly, the waitress misheard my spinach order as chicken and split until it was time for the check so we couldn't even tell her. we finally decided it wasn't worth bringing it up since it was only a two dollar difference. multiple busboys asked us if we needed more bread to eat the chicken and the owner even came over to see if we needed any bread to finish it. we're pretty sure they were all judging us as wasteful, ingrate americans. believe me, if i could send that chicken to the starving children in ethiopia, i would.

after dinner we went to see the monuments and capitol at night. so beautiful.

did i mention lincoln is my favorite memorial? so awe inspiring.

just imagine there is a beautiful reflecting pool there living up to it's name.

brett videoed me being an excessive picture taker as usual. we spent a lot of time on the trip manning both cameras.

the end. (of dc)

we said goodbye to the city and headed back to our hotel. we ended up driving straight past it and up into maryland again because brett decided he wanted to see the famous view of the dc temple from the highway at night. as we drove northward, i noticed the south bound lanes were backing up pretty badly. we hoped it would clear out and laughed at how bad that stunk, especially since we both had to pee! after we saw the beautifully lit temple, we turned around and got stuck in crawling construction traffic. it was frustrating but funny at the same time, good thing we had that sirius radio. 

and just for the record... once we finally made it to our room, brett won the bet about who had to pee worse.

dc trip:: national treasures day

the second day in dc was for museums. our first stop monday morning was dick's to buy new tennis shoes for my unfortunate feet. i ended up getting some nike free runs (and i looove them!) so not packing tennis shoes really worked out great for me. the only downside was they're not exactly the color i would have picked if i'd had more time to shoe shop, no one can miss me when i'm crossing the street though!

we parked our car at the verizon center and brett had a slight verbal altercation with the thick-accented parking attendant (insert major payne saying, "what we have here is a failure to communicate.") that left him feeling feisty for a good half hour. fun start to the day! we went to the national gallery of art first.

more beautiful architecture. i just love it. my new shoes were quite squeaky on that pristine, marble floor. the information desk woman was a little sad when my eyes lit up when she gave me the highlights map of the museum. she thinks i don't appreciate art, but i really do, we were just on a time schedule. you could really spend all day in here.

the whole time we were in the gallery i felt like i was reenacting that scene from ferris bueller's day off. we especially loved the water/boat paintings, and paintings where they really capture lighting and reflections so perfectly that it looks like a picture. it's amazing.

this life-size bronze work on the left is of the 54th regiment. we hung out with the prince from "the prince". brett said, "hey i recognize him! let's take a picture together." those medici's sure know how to have a good time apparently.

my favorite rooms were the impressionists. monet is my favorite. my mom has this sunflower painting up at home so it was so cool to see it in real life.

i remember learning about impressionism from ms. brewster in elementary school. she showed us paintings by monet and van gogh including this bridge painting. this painting and water lilies in general, were a go-to picture for me anytime i had a chance to draw with pastels.

the troubled van gogh in real life!

everyday we ate pb&honey sandwiches, fruit, and carrots we packed for lunch. on our way out of the gallery this little guy came right up to us like it was no big deal to beg for food. he must be used to people pulling out food as soon as they leave. he was the fattest and slowest squirrel i've ever seen in my life.

next we went to the national archives to see the magna carta, declaration of independence, and constitution. i was sad to find out that the movie national treasure is a lie and you can't take pictures once you're inside. it was so awesome to see those documents in real life. i was american history geeking out all day pretty much.

posing with a fake declaration to commemorate seeing the real thing. the movie national treasure also lied about how expensive these fakes are, does that mean all that free masons/conspiracy/book of secrets stuff is a lie too?! they sure had me fooled.

next we went to the american history smithsonian and saw more cool old stuff. lots of presidential belongings like washington's clothes and abe lincoln's hat! crazy!

we also saw more modern treasures from pop culture. i had no idea dorothy's ruby red slippers were sequins! 

"i don't know. some lady gave it to him. she even signed her name on it. some lady named... ruth. baby ruth." ha, can't imagine hitting this ball to a beast dog.

the next museum we visited was the holocaust museum which doesn't allow pictures. that was another somber/reverent/emotional place. the main things on the tour that stood out to me were the pictures of people with their story, the walls of names/family pictures/and city names, the actual beds from auschwitz, the room of shoes from holocaust victims as they entered concentration camps, the film of survivors talking about their experiences, and the room of reflection and remembrance.

the last museum we had time for was the natural history museum. (which apparently is not the one from night at the museum, dang! ha guess we'll have to go to nyc.)

i read life of pi on this trip (loved that book!) so the tiger was my favorite from the hall of mammals. brett had some second thoughts about bear hunting in alaska when he saw how big this bear really is.

"i have a big head and little arms. i'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through." oh i can laugh at that all day.

last stop, capitol hill! it was the perfect time of day with the sun sinking across the reflecting pool.

hello civil war soldiers.

 i was disappointed again when i couldn't walk on the real capitol steps, but i still took a seat like my school house rock icon "i'm just a bill." while i'm drinking from the fanciest water fountain (an actual fountain) i've ever seen, here's a shot of my bright crazy shoes!

we finished up the night with delicious thai food near dupont circle. the seating at the restaurant was lots of tables for two super close together. we noticed the girls next to us talking a mile a minute meanwhile our mealtime conversation was relatively silent. it made us laugh, but i guess that's what happens when you're tired and you spend every waking moment together for three days straight. it was nice and relaxing to just sit and eat.

before heading back to the hotel brett had to stop at whole foods to get some vegan bakery choco chip cookies. that boy and his tookies! we seriously stopped at four whole foods throughout our trip to get vegan cookies. it was the whole foods tour of dc. i'd say we spent $40 on treats during this trip. goo! we've been good and cut them out since we've gotten home though. sad day.

(psst -- reading back through this before i post it made me realize how many movie references i used! i think it's a record for unintentional movie quoting for one post. obviously i speak in movie quotes pretty frequently. #2 psst -- two more trip posts coming up!)