FINALLY....A FUN-FILLED WEEK!!!

I had been waiting all summer long for last week to come. All summer I felt like I was working like a crazy person...some long hours at work during the week, and weekends spent working on our house were not much easier! Even though I had good experiences at my two firms, I just could not wait for vacation and for my parents and sister to come visit us!!

The week after I finished at my firm and Joe stopped seeing his patients, Joe and I continued to work like crazy people to get the house ready for company! We had carpet installed the day my mom, dad, and sister showed up. My dad got in earlier since he was coming for a business trip and rather than sit around at the airport waiting for the other two, he decided to come to our house early and surprise us! The carpeting was about halfway done and the house was turned upside down. It was such a wonderful surprise, even though Joe and I had been hoping to get everything back to normal before anyone showed up. He left for a few hours to run errands for us, pick up the girls, and get us some takeout...and when everyone came back, the house was spotless and beautiful! (Except for the basement, which is where we stuck everything while we carpeted the rest of the house.) My dad was so shocked...from the look of things a couple hours earlier he had figured he'd be living in a construction zone for the next week! (We will be posting before and after pictures of the house a little later!)

So the fam got to stay for a whole week! It seemed like it would be plenty of time but of course it went by way too fast. I was even more sad that I thought I would be when they left on Saturday...I think just because we had such a good time. In some ways being far apart gets easier over time, and in some ways it just doesn't.

So what did we do while they were here?? Lots of staying up late to watch the Olympics, going to delicious dinners, sightseeing, and just talking and relaxing. These are a few of the main highlights:

Washington, D.C. My parents both had business to do in D.C. on Monday so Joe, Katie, and I toured a little of D.C. just the three of us. We hopped aboard a trolley tour that drove us around to lots of different stops. The quality of the tour was highly dependent on the quality of the tour guide ... we had guides ranging from excellent to borderline incompetent and extremely annoying! Here were are...Kate and me in front of the capitol.

The Library of Congress...pretty cool. Later we took the trolley past the National Cathedral and all the embassies and hopped off in Georgetown where we shopped around and had a delicious Italian dinner! Then we hurried home to catch more Olympics, of course.

In the middle of the week, we headed to Virginia to spend a couple nights away. We found a good outlet mall and had some fun there and also enjoyed our first destination: Mt. Vernon.

Mt. Vernon is George and Martha Washington's beautiful home. We took a tour of the house as well as an extra "national treasure" tour that takes you behind the scenes and also tells you about the filming of National Treasure 2 on the grounds.

I loved spending time with my wonderful parents and even being spoiled a little as we stayed at great places and ate delicious food. Just ask my dad, vacation is not vacation without good meals and plenty of ice cream (or maybe the ice cream part was the girls' idea). The car rides through traffic were a little long but gave us plenty of good time to talk (or catch up on sleep).

Our national treasure tour took us around to the ice house where we got to step inside and see this hole where Washington's slaves dropped ice from the river below to use through the summer. This is where I saw the ugliest spider ever! It was black with brown stripes, huge, and was right above my head. I ran out screaming.
Besides the two tours, we also went through the museum and saw 3 short movies about Washington and the Revolutionary War. It was so fascinating to learn more about our first president.

Next we headed to Charlottesville, Virginia (location of the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson) and stayed in an old home that is now a lovely bed & breakfast. Our tourist destination was Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home and plantation.

Monticello was beautiful and definitely worth the trip! The museum isn't finished yet, but I think we learned even more by going on three different tours and hearing everything directly from our wonderful guides and asking questions. We all agreed that although Washington's house was grand, Jefferson had better taste - his house is amazing! We also loved the gardens and I went home inspired to be serious gardener someday!

We thought this bean fort was a great idea for our future garden - and the best part is the beautiful beans! I had never seen anything quite like it.
It was also really interesting to learn about the lives of slaves at Mt. Vernon and Monticello. I was particularly interested in this topic after taking a class last semester in which I learned much more about slavery and the slave trade than what you learn in junior high or high school, particularly about the economic aspects of slavery. It was fascinating to hear about the attitudes our founding fathers had towards slavery, and the inherent contradiction of declaring that all men are created equal yet continuing to hold slaves. If you go to Monticello, I would highly recommend taking the plantation tour because you learn so much!

We left Monticello on Thursday and barely made it back in time for Joe's softball game! (Actually we were late.) We had a little downpour for a few minutes of the game but after that it was a beautiful night (aside from all the mosquitos). Because of always having to work this was actually the first of Joe's softball games I have been to! But like all games the wives don't really watch, just talk and chase after kids!! Sorry, Joe. I'm sure you were great!

Friday was our last day together. We had a more relaxing day - yummy breakfast of German pancakes, trip to Baugher's to pick peaches, beautiful drive to Hunt Valley, lunch at the Pennsylvania Dutch Market, and trip to Wegman's to pick up something to grill for dinner. It was another great day.

I can't believe the week went by so fast. Mom, dad, and Kate - we loved having you here and hope you come visit us again soon! Thanks for everything, WE MISS YOU.