Memorial Day 2012

We traveled to my home town of Blue Point, NY for Memorial Day this year.  Long Island is a very patriotic place, so it's great to visit for Memorial Day.

It also happened to be my parents' 34th Wedding Anniversary!  Aren't they awesome?  Check out Carvel's iconic "Fudgie the Whale" cake  :)

We got to enjoy the "first weekend of Summer" with a bunch of perfect summertime activities.  Look!  A tiny (and overweight) chihuahua named Carlos shaking off his bath.

My parents gave me this wooden swing for my 16th birthday.  Here are Chuck #1 and Chuck #2 enjoying the afternoon:

Little dude (Chuck #3) was pretty hilarious for his first Slip 'n' Slide experience.

He wasn't into the whole diving-onto-your-belly thing, despite many demonstrations from his mother & Uncle Justin.  Instead, he would slide down on his butt, run through it, crawl under it, and drink it.  I don't think he missed out... he loved it!  As a matter of fact, around 8pm that night, he was asking if he could get back in it.  Amazing how kids don't mind that freezing cold hose water!!

Uncle Justin did a lot of fishing while we were there.  He didn't catch a whole lot, but there were a few tiny little fish.  Here he is showing Charles his first fish catch out of the pond....

The pond at home is mostly full of snapping turtles and frogs.  Justin caught one huge snapping turtle by accident.  You should have seen the fiasco of the boys trying to get the hook out of the turtle's mouth (poor guy).

He was not a happy camper!

Luckily, my family comes from a long line of nature (and turtle) lovers.  They have literally spent generations working to protect and preserve this pond and the animals in it.  After a few minutes of drama, they were able to get the hook out of the turtle's mouth and set him free again to swim.

This old dinosaur turtle reminded me of the movie Finding Nemo, where the young fish wants to know how long a sea turtle can live.  How old do you think this guy is?!

PS -- I borrowed the turtle pictures from the Long Island Frog Blog, written by my dad :)

The Rose Garden

We went out to visit Justin's parents in Middleburg, Virginia a few weeks back.   His dad is a very talented gardener and grows the most beautiful roses.

Dualthlonning in Fredericksburg

After traffic died down a little bit on Friday night, we left Arlington and headed south on 95, sat in crazy amounts of traffic despite our efforts, and arrived in Fredericksburg just in time to grab some dinner with friends, have a drink or two, and get to bed.  We stayed with a friend from college and his girlfriend at their adorable, cozy townhouse.

Just before 7am on Saturday morning, the alarms went off and we were up and moving slowly.  While the guys went over to the race to start warming up, the ladies went over to Eileen's Bakery to catch a little more coffee and some breakfast.

The duathlon was held at the site of a place called the Virginia Outdoor Center, which has a bunch of fun stuff, like canoes, kayaks, hiking/biking trails, and tubing trips.  They even have some other obstacle-type activities that I once did as part of a team-building exercise with my college Field Hockey team. 

It was a super low-key event with about 50 participants.  The distances were approximate and the timing involved a watch, note pad and pen, but it was a blast to watch!  We ran into some local people we knew from living in Fredericksburg and made a few new friends while watching the race.  

The mountain biking looked hard, and several participants came through the finish line walking their broken bike -- one guy definitely had a few parts dangling off the side.

The guys both seemed to have fun, and I think they would do it again.  They even won a thermos or something like that ;)

Bike Ride Saturday - Mount Vernon Trail

The Washington DC area has a huge network of bike trails.  Saturday morning brought us beautiful weather, so we jumped on our bikes and took a long and leisurely ride down the Mount Vernon trail.

 
We biked south for about 45 minutes through Old Town Alexandria and along the scenic trails on the Potomac.  The trail is mostly paved, with some small sections of curving boardwalk here and there.  Along the way there are many parks; we saw plenty of people out fishing, picnicking, playing sports, and just generally enjoying the day.

I like to quiz Justin on which tree is "his favorite".

 

On our way home, we stopped at a [totally crappy] pizza place in Old Town.  The bad salad bar was worth it for the atmosphere, though.  We sat at a table out on the sidewalk, bistro-style.

xoxox

Easter Sunday 2012

We enjoyed a lovely Easter Sunday in Middleburg full of long drives, long lunches, and long afternoon walks.  The sun was out shining all day and the flowers were all in bloom.

His favorite place to be.

His dad's garden already sprouting up!

Easter will always remind me of visiting my grandparents in Florida.  My friend Tracy and I would put on our sundresses and freeze our butts off at the community sunrise service next to the pool.

Visiting Charleston, South Carolina: the fun

During our trip, we were fortunate enough to be staying with the parents of a friend.  They relocated to Charleston a few years ago, but just moved into a new house in February.  The whole family worked hard to make us feel welcome and to show us a good time in their new city.

You know how the days without any plans end up being the best?  Our first day there, we slept in a little, took our time getting ready to head out, and then had a vague notion of going to see a friend.  That vague notion turned into a spontaneous gorgeous day full of meeting new people and going on adventures.

Thanks to another wonderful host, we spent some time relaxing on a pier & trying out his paddle board.

The water was freezing -- talk about incentive to keep your balance!

He then took us on a boat tour to see some dolphins (!!).......

Hubs soaking it all in.

Me rockin' my free Redskins sunglasses after losing every other pair I've ever owned.

Then we took a little detour to Goat Island meet more friends and take a tour of this beautiful home that is currently being built.  You should see the view from that top roof deck! 

The friend on Goat Island offered up his tractor so we could take in the sights down the [only] dirt road.  We brought along a few Coronas and enjoyed the ride...

M playing tourist

Goat Island is a funny little place.  With about 40 homes on the island and contact to the mainland restricted to boat access only, the residents are very resourceful.  They hire barges to bring over building supplies, they cart their own trash off, they all have personal water purification systems to make the rain water usable, and they find creative places to keep cars on the mainland. I can't imagine the mosquitoes at dusk in this place, though!  There are only a handful of families that live here year-round.

The only road on the island.

How did this truck get here?

Down the road.

Luckily they do have electricity!

Goat Island even has its own toll.  Unfortunately we couldn't come up with the suggested 25 cent fee -- we could only scrounge up about 7 cents.

After such a fun and full day, we headed back to the house for some R&R before our big 10k on Saturday morning.  For dinner that night, nearly every restaurant on the peninsula was booked.  Luckily we were able to grab a table at a place called Poogan's Porch.  I had the most amazing fried chicken!.

On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early for the Cooper River Bridge Run, which is a huge race.  Although it was delayed, we all had a great time and will definitely try to run it again next year.  I really only know two people that live in Charleston (that weren't running the race), but by sheer coincidence they ended up standing next to each other at the race among thousands of other people.

After some serious napping, our awesome hosts treated us to steamed oysters and a southern shrimp boil they call Frogmore Stew.

Shucking oysters.

Our friends from North Carolina joined the feasting festivities and we were all delighted to have a chance to kiss & hug baby Gunnar....

Mama & baby

Hubs hanging out with his new little buddy.

Hanging out with Auntie Mo and her solo cup.

We ventured out on the town for some mischief later that night.  At Husk, we all enjoyed the atmosphere with a few amazing cocktails & snacks.  After that, though, we were all so tired that we mostly just stood around staring at each other in various bars until it was time to go home :)

 J and I finished up our weekend over a nice, long, mimosa-soaked brunch with some of my family at a place called Triangle.  It was such a great chance to catch up a little with a couple I don't get to see often enough!  The $7 pitchers didn't hurt either ;)

The weekend was a wonderful escape from the Northern VA traffic and rush-around lifestyle.  We all spent the 10+ hour driver home dreading our return to reality on Monday morning.

Visiting Charleston, South Carolina: the Road Trip

There is nothing quite like making a 9-hour road trip with your friends down I-95.  As you can see, our time was spent driving, smiling, sleeping, and drinking spicy ginger ale.

Taking on Virginia

Ridin' shotgun

Doing what he does best.

Welcome to South of the Border!

Blenheim Ginger Ale (yum!)

We were lucky enough to make the trip without a hint of traffic.  Quite possibly an I-95 record, especially in Virginia!

Baltimore Marathon Team Relay

This past Saturday, three of my friends and I ran a team relay in the Baltimore Marathon. The four of us ran track together throughout high school and we like to get together every now and again for some kind of running activity. Two of the girls live in New York, one lives in DC, and I'm out in Arlington. It was a great excuse for us to get together and spend some time together.

The elite runners at the start of the marathon.

(From the Baltimore Sun race pictures)

Members of the relay team will each run a portion of the 26.2 mile marathon. For this race, the legs were divided based on difficulty. So the two legs that were mostly downhill (and therefore easier) were 7 miles each, and the two legs that had more hills were 5.7 and 6.3 miles each. Since this was the first time I ran a race this big, the other girls let me run the last leg, so that I could run through the finish line.

As the last leg, I got to my exchange point (mile-marker 19) early in the morning and was able to watch all of the elite marathoners pass by. Watching them run by, it was obvious how hard they each had trained to come to this point. Once the 3rd leg runner of our team reached me, I left my warm up clothes with her and started my 7-miles. Although I think there's a limit to how much fun you can have while running 7 miles, I really enjoyed it. The weather was gorgeous and the spectators were awesome. Almost the whole race route was lined with people and volunteers cheering and handing out gummy bears, beer, Gatorade and water.

A random spectator

(From the Baltimore Sun race pictures)

The elite marathoners are certainly an inspiration to see, but for me it is much more incredible to watch an average person finish a marathon. It is such an enormous accomplishment and I know they will remember that race for the rest of their lives. The people running are just so normal. If you saw them in the grocery store the next day, you would have no idea that this person just ran a marathon. The end of the race is very emotional for some people. People are crying, limping, bleeding, and whatever else, but they still manage to get across that line.

A US Marine running for the Wounded Warrior Project.
(From the Baltimore Sun race pictures)

I ran next to this Marine for the last few miles, and of course it made me think of Justin. He is in California right now, in the middle of the very last deployment training he and his battalion will complete before they leave for Afghanistan. Justin is one of the people that keeps me motivated to run. He runs and trains almost every day, even if he's in the middle of a war zone.

Michigan wedding

Two of my best friends got MARRIED this past weekend! Erica and Tommy had a big, huge tent wedding in Michigan on Saturday. The weather was unusually chilly, but I loved the way everyone looked wearing sweaters over their dresses. It really got me in the mood for fall and apple cider. They did an awesome job designing the whole thing, using mason jar collections from both of their mothers and bouquets of yellow sunflowers on the tables. My camera was being moody, so these pics are all stolen from friends. :-)

Tommy and his parents... don't they look proud!?

awww...

Monkey & Gorilla cake topper

bow chicka bow waaaow....

There were a LOT of great dancers there, but Tommy's parents were my personal fave...

Tommy, Erica, and their families were sooo welcoming the whole weekend. Justin wasn't able to make it up to Michigan, so I was flying solo. Everyone really went out of their way to include me in the festivities. When I look back on their wedding, I know this is the impression I will carry with me. I hope someday people will say the same thing about our wedding!!

This wedding is the conclusion of my "wedding season" this year. How about you guys - are you still going to weddings this fall?