what I did on my summer vacation...

hello again!
It's been a while, yes, sorry about that.
I am living out of a pile of suitcases and laundry bags as we travel from one place to another and another until our new house is a livable home. Shawn is working hard at that and I'm working hard at keeping out of the way. My computer is in need of a small (I hope) repair, so I finally managed to pull a working laptop out from among the towels and shoes and toys and other random why-didn't-this-get-packed-in-a-box-on-the-truck items floating around the car.
I've been photo-journaling the past couple of crazy weeks using my iPhone hipstamatic, since my Nikon is also in need of a small (I hope) repair. You may just be seeing a lot of these in coming weeks. I have a bunch to catch up on but I'll start today with our last week of fun in Quantico before we said goodbye...
Shawn and I enjoyed one more date in D.C. We really enjoy any chance we get to wander around cities, exploring and not worrying about naps and snacks and diapers and all those little things and come with our little people. We love our little people but it's nice to take time to remember that we loved each other first.

Tristan really wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial (the one from the penny!) but we hadn't made it up the actual steps yet with him, so we squeezed in some sightseeing one trafficky day in D.C. as well as an evening picnic and silent drill parade at the Marine Corps Memorial.



Those Marines are sharp. If you're ever in D.C. you have to try to see this. And stand up and cheer and place your hand over your heart and be proud.

Our coffee habit may have reached the point of needing some kind of intervention.

The weather turned hot then cool then hot again...just trying to slowly prepare us for the Florida heat I guess. We may trade the coffee habit for an ice-cream habit. Not sure which is worse.

We had as many dinners and game nights as we could in our last weeks in Quantico. I pray that we can live in a community like this for good some day. The kind of community where you head down the street bare-foot with a bowl of whatever-you-have-on-hand and kids already in pajamas for dinner with friends. The kind of community where those same friends will come to your house with kids in pajamas at midnight to clean your kitchen in time for your move-out inspection...more on that later though.

This place has been amazing. A year of rest that we needed so badly. Leaving it hurt but had to be done and the next place will have life all its own that we will love and hate and live and one day, again, leave. Around and around we will go. For now, though, we'll just concentrate on Today. Moving. Settling. Exploring. Appreciating.

Welcome to our Summer.