Quick trip to Jersey

 So instead of getting away early, it was late afternoon….us and everyone else trying to get out of the city on a Friday.  For whatever reason the GPS took us the longest way possible which neither of us realized until we were so far into it, it seemed stupid to turn back.  Anyway, it made for an incredibly long and since we were both grumpy…..unpleasant ride.

 Got to Marie's around 9 pm….had a bowl of soup and literally went right to bed.  Got up early the next morning to get all the things together to put with Eleanor's cremains that we were supposed to be burying at the cemetery next to Joe.

 Photos, casino cards, eyeglasses, rings, coins, prayer book, coin purse, house key, cat's collar (Bows and Brandy's ashes were put in as well), her cardinal thermometer, St. Jude bookmarks and her rosary.  Tom included a private note.

So as we're getting to the cemetery….Joey calls and says there's not a container lining in the ground.  Just a hole.  So we stop at the caretaker's cottage and they say the funeral home is supposed to do that.  What the what?  So we've driven from DC and Joey from North Carolina and now we can't do this thing.  Brother.

So we just hung around and talked for awhile.  Fortunately Joe and Karen had also planned on loading up the rest of their stuff from their storage shed on this trip so all was not lost.  Now we just need to find ANOTHER time to go do this thing.  Have I mentioned that this has made me re-think cremation?

 Oh, and since Joey has a ceramic mug on his desk that Tom made him a long time ago when Tom was in the service….Joey felt compelled to make a little something for Tom at some crafty ceramic place near their new home.  So this little guy will now be a tasteful addition to Tom's office.

 We spent the rest of the afternoon taking video of Eleanor's home, visiting Denny and Kathy's new house, making decisions about a price reduction on Eleanor's home and Marie baked mincemeat chocolate chip cookies for her brothers.

 We got away early Sunday morning as we had some apartments to stop and see on the way.  Saw this cute scarecrow in a little a town where all the little shops had put them out along the road.

 A piece of glass art in the lobby of one of the apartments we looked at.  Have finally settled on a place that we'll move into next month.  More on that later……..

A Day In The Life

It occurs to me that it might look like (according to this blog) all we do is play.  The reality is most days are pretty bland.  We get up, I make Tom's lunch and our morning smoothie while he gets ready for work.  I sometimes take the 10 minute walk with him there but now that it's getting cooler....not so much.  I work out, do laundry, pay bills, get groceries, answer emails,....you know, that kind of stuff.  Midlife doesn't change up those sort of activities much.

Lately, as we contemplate his Coast Guard retirement, we've been checking on finances....what we've been putting away, etc.  Something we should ALL do at least annually.  We also met with our "money guy" while we were in UT for our annual check up.  That, along with our financial guru Dave Ramsey, convinced us that even though we're doing well at putting away for retirement....we're spending WAY too much on rent in DC.  Dave says you should not spend more than 25-35% of your monthly take home pay on rent or mortgage payments. SO, the search began last weekend for a new apartment.

 So after a morning swim.....

 Sitting in on a couple of workshops and a job fair at the Assoc. of the United States Army Convention....

 I hopped on the green line and got off at each of the stops where living within walking distance of the metro would lower our rent by at least a thousand dollars a month.  Yes.  One thousand dollars.  Crazy, right?  Today I switch to the red line to check out those areas.  Kind of fun to explore new neighborhoods but the thought of packing and moving......not so much.

Army Ten Miler & Dinner with Tri Group

 We had to be up and out the door early Sunday morning.  I decided to go along to watch and once we got to the Metro it was clear the jam packed trains of people were all headed to the Pentagon with us!

Yikes!  35,000 runners so Tom ran to find his "wave" of co-runners to stand with until time for them to take off.  They had to stand by the balloons that matched their bib color.

 Fortunately I was standing up on this hill away from the crowds.  I'm not a big "crowd" kinda gal.

Once it was time for each wave to take off, a line of Army members walked them to the starting line and a cannon shot off to get them going.  Tom took off a little late as did a lot of runners.  I saw them scrambling all over the place... the organization seemed off.  Very unclear as to where they were supposed to be. 

 I found a great place to stand and watch the runners.  The wounded warriors just killed me when they came through.  So brave!  Saw our friend Jessie come through as well but too fast to get a photo.

 Tom ran well and finished in 90 minutes which was faster than he expected.  His knees have really been bugging him so I was glad he felt good about it.

 Still disorganized and wouldn't let us walk to the finish line so had to go back, stand in line for a shuttle then ride all the way around the other side of the Pentagon to get to the finish. Pretty disgruntled by then since I had all Tom's stuff (including his phone) and no way to communicate with him or find him in the zillions of people. Clearly, "see you at the finish line" was too vague!  Finally he called me from a co-worker's phone and we found a meet up place.  Grabbed food and then walked all the way to Crystal City to catch the Metro hoping to miss all the people getting on at the Pentagon.  It worked!

Came home and crashed before making cupcakes then heading back out for our final Ready, Set, Tri! group activity.  We met at Ashley's in Columbia Heights for lasagna, salad, bread &...cupcakes.  Had a great time and got to hear everyone's stories about their first triathlon.  Was great to see them and will really miss hanging out with them on Saturdays. All terrific and fun people.

    From back:  Ashley, Kristen, Jenny, Sarah, Dave, Me, Angie, Jen, Josh, Sarah, Megan, Celia, Ben and Tom

Fall Festival

 It was one of THOSE weekends where it felt like we were going, going, going.......

After a long day Saturday (more on that in another blog) we still had the Fall Festival to go to.  Have to admit we were both pretty grumpy about going as we had to make the horrid drive to Georgetown & park by 5pm for a 90 minute drive to Belvedere plantation in Fredericksburg, VA in a van.  Once we got on our way though we had a great time.  We always meet a few more students and it's fun to get to know them!

Upon arrival, off to the corn maze with our teams.  Little Alexis was our flag girl and between Zimo's guidance and Tom's compass ap we made it through the #3 and most difficult maze!

Thank goodness they had us bring flashlights!

 Very cute market, big outside blow up slides, ropes to swing on in the barn, a jumping thing...sort of like a trampoline but against the ground and full of air...all kinds of fun things that I would have thought  we seem to young for college students but they had a blast!  Especially since it was the first time they had ever seen such things.  It was one of the student's first time with the group and when we got back in the car to go home she said...."That was best day yet in America!"  Very cute.

Students were mystified by these.....

 After we came out of the corn maze we headed to our group where they had big bonfire already up and going.  Hot dogs ready to be roasted and s'mores to be made.  The students had a blast doing that and ate PLENTY!

Next up was the pumpkin carving contest.  After trying to be very careful with knives and such I told them to just reach in and grab the innards.  They were grossed out but good sports about it!

Our team went the traditional route and didn't win (the Chinese dragon team won) but we had a good time anyway.  They still had plenty of time to shop and play on the all the things the farm had to offer before we headed back around 10 PM.  Midnight by the time we got back, dropped Alexis home and then we had a flat tire in DuPont Circle.  Our jack broke while we were trying to change the tire and fortunately the DC Police came by and helped.  Very late by the time we got home and of course we needed to get up early the next day........

Mount Vernon

 Sunday afternoon we had our international students over for lunch before going to Mount Vernon.  I forget how the little things are so much fun with them.  Like Zimo wanting to know about football.  We had an NFL game on tv when they arrived and Tom was telling him the rules.  We had salad, bruschetta and penne pasta with sauce & vegetarian meatballs.  Most food types are new to them...especially Zimo so even the word pasta needed to be explained.  Alexis brought some yummy cupcakes....even a vegan one for Taylor which we promptly popped in the freezer for his return!  They were both mystified by the dishwasher!  Zimo has one in his apartment but has never used one.  Alexis wanted to know everything about it.  The soap capsules, how it works, etc.  Very fun!


We took the beautiful drive along George Washington Memorial Parkway to Mount Vernon.  It's one of the few things in DC that is open but it's also not free.  We wandered the gardens while waiting for our tour time and Alexis took these 4 pretty photos.  She loves nature and something like the bee in her photo just amazes her.  I just love being with her....she's so smart, inquisitive and funny!

 "I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of state and the representatives of every power in Europe." - George Washington

Zimo is 22, very shy and says when he is not in class or in the library studying he is mostly at his apartment.  He said he hasn't had much of a family life.  He has a younger sister who is 10 (his mother died and this sister is with his father's second wife) but he spent much of his life in a boarding school.  Not much of a relationship with his father either apparently.  Hoping his relationship with Tom will be helpful.

 No photos allowed inside the mansion and the dining room is under repair so we didn't see it.  It's interesting, but the grounds, museum and educational wing are really the biggest draw for me.  Oh, and the restaurant and shops!

I was thinking we should have gotten season passes as I just love this place and it would be so different in every season.  I think everytime I've been there it's been Autumn.  I need to change it up a bit!  Very peaceful (except for all the people) and beautiful.