A Few Things

 

 

 

Anyone else sick of D.C. pictures yet? I have come to the realization that I may take too many. I guess I figured that out when I proudly proclaimed to Forrest, "I just deleted more than 500 photos today!" No wonder I dread editing.

So I've been wanting to post this particular series of pictures for a while because, I mean, look at them. It was the prettiest, sunniest day. I saw that sun getting lower and we headed over to the Lincoln Memorial. Then wouldn't you know it, the clouds started gathering. But we waited a little bit longer and tadaaaah, magic. Did you know that almost nobody hangs out on the back of the Lincoln Memorial to watch the sunset? Seriously, no one. So then I remembered that my camera has this nifty little self-timer (duh, I just never remember it) and we have this nifty little perfectly-lit stage upon which to get some pictures. And bonus, no one was around to watch (and judge).

Anyway, I've had my cute Forrest home a lot lately and it has been great! Except the day he made me mow the lawn (okay, I volunteered but it was driving me crazy). We realized that the last time our grass was cut was an embarrassingly long time ago. Like last August when my dad was here. He cut it. And okay, it really isn't as bad as it sounds because it has basically been winter since October and we weren't even here all of September so there you go. But the grass was still kind of long.

Spring seems to be here finally. I can tell because it has rained at least ten times today with intermittent sun and the flowers are finally blooming on our plum tree. And that's how I know.

Oh and one last thing! My adorable husband just passed his last CLEP today and is officially the proud owner of a CCAF degree! To celebrate we are going to see a movie. We were going to see the movie anyway but it has now become a celebratory movie outing. And now I won't even feel bad about getting popcorn because we're celebrating, duh. 

A post about Mount Vernon

I'm backtracking a little bit because apparently all the exciting things in my life happen all at once. I had better get through some more of these D.C. pictures before I forget to post them for a year and let's face it, it's not really very interesting anymore after all that time. It is still interesting now though, right? 

I'll assume you just said yes and now we'll move on.

Right, back to Virginia we go. This post is about Mount Vernon, if you couldn't tell from the title. Mount Vernon was the home and estate of our very first president George Washington and if you didn't already know that, I hope you are either in 3rd grade or not American. Probably most third graders knew it too. 

We spent all day there because it was so cool. And because we had to take the bus to get there which seemed to take half the day anyway. The weather was finally pretty warm and we were in the mood for some history! All of the exhibits were really well done and the museum had some very interesting old artifacts but I think the part I liked best was the woodland walk and the sheep. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the house which is silly and I was actually in the mood to obey some rules that day, I guess, because I didn't even sneak a one. We zipped through the house first because that's kind of the whole point and then we hit the exhibit and the museum. I was pretty excited about the 4D movie that we got to watch in the exhibit. It snowed on us, guys. 

Really the only bad thing about going to these types of places (e.g. ..places with gardens?) in the off-season is that nothing is in bloom. So the gardens are pretty uninteresting unless you really like bare branches. But the rest of it was definitely a great experience minus the thousands of school groups. I realize that there aren't actually any kids in my pictures but that is just what I like to call good timing (and maybe some photoshop). You'll just have to take my word for it. 

A lot of pictures up ahead.

 

 

 

How I found out that I'm nobility.

We spent this day at the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives. There were almost no people at the Jefferson Memorial. We were the only people on the guided tour. Whenever something like this happens, it makes me feel really special but then when that wears off, I feel really awkward because we are the only people the guide is looking at. That is way too much eye contact for me. I also feel like I have to give encouraging nods to prove that I'm paying attention. 

We also went in the Archives to look at the Declaration of Independence and the other famous documents. Did you know they don't let you take pictures in there anymore? 

You know how you always thought it would be cool to be descended from really famous people? After a little research in the National Archives, it turns out I am! Forrest had been wanting to look up his ancestry for a while, so we got our cool "Researcher" I.D. cards and went to work. Most of my family has been in America for a really long time. Like they came over on the Mayflower long time. So it was kind of boring to find out that most of them have been farmers for 400 years. 

Then I hit the jackpot. I found a family tree dating back really, really far. After clicking on random people to see where they were born, I found a woman who was born in a castle. "A castle?" I thought to myself, "Maybe she was rich! Or at least somewhat important." So I googled this Margaret Douglas and found out that not only was she a Countess, she was King Henry VIII's niece! I'm directly related to King Henry VIII's niece who was, at one point, next in line for the crown. Henry VIII may not be the most wonderful person in the world, but I dare say that pretty much everyone knows his name, so I'll take it. I could have been Queen. 

Now that I know I'm  basically royalty, I guess Forrest can do the laundry around here.