December trip to Washington, DC.

It has taken me so long to get to upload these photos and pick a few that were my favorites. In December I flew to DC to visit my husband and met up with my in-laws there for a small family reunion. I sure hope our next home is closer (and cheaper to travel to) than DC. This trip was so much fun, and I wish I could have stayed... but luckily while I was there we signed a lease to an apartment that I will be moving to in one week from now!! Anyway, I want to share some of my most favorite little memories from this trip so that I don't forget them. 

Chelsea, Dillon, Opal, Karla, Doug, Jeremiah, Jerrod. December 31st, 2014.

We really didn't take any photos the entire trip, and this was the only real family photo we took.... on the night before Dillon's parents and brothers left! I wish we took more, especially while we were out exploring DC. We had brunch at Eastern Market, went to Ben's Chili bowl, ate dinner (a couple times) at Hop's, and more. Opal loved eating goldfish with her grandma, and playing hard to get with her uncle Jeremiah. By the end of the tirp everyone knew all the words to the Taylor Swift song "Blank Space"... because that was the only thing Opal wanted to listen to or do!

Lovebirds. January 1st, 2015. DC.

Dillon and Opal, Washington Monument, January 1st, 2015.

Chelsea and Opal, Washington Monument, January 1st 2015.

Dillon and I found a beautiful hotel that made itself out to be located on/ near the Dulles airport, which is a pretty reasonable drive (40 minutes) to save some bucks. WELL, turns out this hotel was actually 30 MINUTES PAST Dulles...... and requires tolls. $8 in total! meaning $16 a day! This was an awful thing to come to find out, and by the end of the trip we ended up just getting a room at the Americana Hotel (literally love this place and how reasonably priced it is for being in Arlington!) So we spent New Year's Eve there! We promised to stay up this year for the countdown and ended up all falling asleep about 30 minutes before. (ha-ha!) We are officially old birds.

So being that we were already in Arlington, we walked a couple blocks bright and early on New Years day and caught the Metro. We definitely thought we would see more than lost gloves on our walk. We even made a game out of it and tried to find other things like shoes! Drunk people always lose things on the walk home! :-) Our first stop was the Washington Monument. I wanted to go up since it is open now, but it was MUCH to clod to wait in the long line that had already formed. Thankfully I am moving back so I have more time to try to get up in there!!

We sat and ate hotdogs on a bench next to the monument to warm ourselves up. Have I mentioned that I love hot dogs? Whenever I see a hotdog stand, go to costco, SAMS, or Ikea, I HAVE to buy a hotdog! I seriously do.

I love little things like that. Eating a hotdog with my husband in the Nation's Capitol on a beautiful morning... and New Year's Day at that! How amazing is it that I get to share this life and these experiences with my family. I will cherish these memories for the rest of my life.

One of the reasons I love living in Washington, DC is all there is to do. My favorite museum is the National Museum of Natural History. It was the one place I wanted to take Opal because of all the things there is for her to look at.  The line was too long that day, but I will go back and experience the butterfly room with them. I have to! I have been wanting to go in that magical room for so long now. Opal always loves to look at the animals in the North American mammal exhibit. This is also Dillon's favorite because of the wolves, bears, and deer. He's a big fan of our beautiful woodland animals. (Reason why the nursery will have this theme!)

Papa bear and baby bear. DC. 2015. Natural museum.

Washington, DC is such a beautiful city. It is a magical place jam packed full of history, art, and undiscovered gems all over the place. I will miss this city when we leave.

Dillon being the best daddy in the whole wide world. Washington, DC, January 1st 2015.

I loved seeing Dillon bounce back into daddy mode. He was buckling car seats, hauling the stroller around and fixing apple juice sippy cups like he hadn't missed a beat. I can't wait to get back to our normal family routine! I'm so excited for it.

Our sweet babe.

Opal's poor little nose was red pretty much the whole trip! Except for being in the hotel where we kept it too warm according to Dillon! :-) We just drove him bonkers! We wanted all of his attention and wanted to be so silly together. She wanted to show him all of her toys, read all of her books (at once) and kiss him allllll day. Her sweet little kisses were all for daddy the whole week we were there. I absolutely loved seeing her love on him. She misses him so much, and I know he must have been so glad that she felt that comfortable with him again.

 After we left the museums we headed to Ted's bulletin in Eastern Market and ate lunch. I seriously fell in love with their tomato soup and then had to pack my sandwich to go because I couldn't eat anything after! (this darn pregnant belly is already messing up my appetite!)

Opal at DC-3 (hot dog joint on 8th ST) Last day of trip.

 On our last day we went to the barracks and packed our bags there. We had lunch with daddy at DC-3 and spent the last hours laughing and having fun in our favorite neighborhood. This trip was so much fun. It has me so excited and giddy about my move back the Nation's Capitol. I can't wait to share more of our explorations of DC and more cool memories.

Celebrating our city being re-opened!

 Today we decided (very last minute) to go out and re-visit some of the open air memorials in our city to celebrate the end of the government shut down that lasted 16 days this October. One of our favorite things to do is pretend we are tourists and take tons of wacky photos throughout Washington, DC. We have lived here for just over a year and a half, while Dillon has been stationed at 8th & I Marine Barracks Washington, DC. He serves in the Marine Corps and works alongside some pretty great people.. including the Commandant of the Corps. (I will have to write a post later on sharing some of his rad moments here at 8th & I.)

Two memorials I wanted to revisit especially were the WWII & Vietnam Veterans. Coming from a long line of family members who have served in the US Navy, these two mean a lot! They've traced our family being men of the sea, all the way back to the viking days! But- most recently, my great grandfather served as a Navy Corpsman during WWII; & my grandpa was a mechanic during Vietnam. I have a cousin serving now, and even I had planned to enlist!

The Vietnam Veteran's wall is really special to my Papa, so we called him and got two of his war buddies names and found them for him! Both of his buddies were MIA.

 

 The Vietnam Veteran's Wall

Life in DC has definitely been something to remember for the both of us... and will most certainly be something we talk about and share for the rest of our lives. Last year we spent many months without a car and had to rely soly on public transit.. (WAY different than back home for either of us..) If you don't know what the public transit here is, here you go:

• Metro system: basically a subway system that can take you all over the DMV (DC, Maryland, &Virginia) area

• Capitol Bike Share: Rental bikes that are on a lot of corners. You just swipe your card and drop the bike off at any check point when you're done.

• Taxis: a bunch of smelly guys who drive you anywhere you're willing to pay to go... If you take a taxi here... GOOD LUCK. Most of these people shouldn't have licenses, don't use turn signals, drive 50 mph in a 25, and are crazy weird!

• Public Bus: The first (and only) time we rode a bus here we got lost for 6 hours and ended up somewhere far in Maryland looking for a furniture store. We never rode a bus again.

While using the metro we walked everywhere! For the first month I was in tons of pain from my feet and legs being shocked by the amount of walking I did. (This is coming from the girl who had a door to door job before moving across the US!!!!!) And by everywhere I mean everywhere. The grocery store was a mile away from where we lived, so I had to pull a cart (the kind you take to flea markets) all the way there & back. We finally got a car in September... that by November died and we had to suck it up and purchase a newer car. That's how we ended up with our cute Mazda 3. Nobody will ever be able to tell us that we didn't struggle! (ha-ha!)

We have experienced so many neat things while living here. My husband has met President Obama and has visited the White House.. He also worked the Inauguration! We try to go to as many events as possible, because were living where history is made! How thrilling is that? There is so much to do here, I definitely recommend to whoever is considering visiting the Capitol to do so! This year we went from living on Capitol Hill in a tiny one bedroom studio apartment, to a larger home 5 minutes away from the Nationals Stadium on an AFB. We found out we were pregnant only a couple weeks after moving! It excites me that my daughter will be able to tell people that she was born here. She will never have to worry that her life isn't interesting! I hope to bring her and (her future siblings) back one day and show them where mommy and daddy spent their first years of marriage.

 

The Reflection Pool 

 

 At the WWII Memorial

 (Obviously had to take a photo of the California wreath in honor of my great grandpa)