Thursday, May 15, 2008

Back Home - Whatever that means

I'm not sure if it's home or not, but I'm back in my state of residence - Minnesota. DC was incredible. It was pretty low key, which was why it was so enjoyable, I think. My flight got in on Friday night and I went to dinner at my all-time favorite restaurant with three of my friends from Bible Study. It was good just to sit and laugh and catch up. Oh, how I miss them (you will see that that will be the theme throughout this post). I went to Amy's on Friday night to the warm reception of a very excited 7 and 4 year old, and we laughed and played and I kept them up past their bedtimes, which was fun for me. Nia woke me up on Saturday morning, and we watched cartoons together in my bed (Translation: Nia crawled up into bed with me and watched cartoons while I slept with my arm around her so we were "cuddling"). The girls left for swim lessons, then my friends Jackie and Mary showed up at Amy's house and the four of us packed the car and got everything ready for the Kenny Chesney concert. We drove to Baltimore - and even if that had been the entirety of the trip, I would have been content. The four of us have such a fabulous time when we're together and laugh a lot. We picked up right where we left off and it was like nothing has changed - even though everything has. We told stories about the good-old Leach office days and got kinda nostalgic.
We got the tailgating parking lot at 12:30 - apparently, 3 1/2 hours late, because the lot was packed. We got a spot in the corner of the lot under an overpass, which wasn't as fun as being in the middle of all the pandemonium, but we made due. We tailgated for a few hours, while the sun began to come out from behind the clouds, and by the time we went in to the concert at 5:30, it was a gorgeous day. Sun shining, 70 degrees. Perfect. We saw the last 20 minutes of LeAnn Rimes (she was only okay), Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn and Kenny Chesney. It was a very entertaining show, and we had a blast. The show ended around 11:30, and we stayed at a really nice hotel in Baltimore.
The original plan for Sunday was to go to a nice brunch somewhere, but because it was Mother's Day, they were all booked, so we did the continental breakfast thing in our room. Mary and Jackie went down and gathered lots of different kinds of foods, and the four of us sat in pj's and chatted some more. That is a favorite activity of ours.
When we got back to DC on Sunday afternoon, I spent it playing with the girls. Then I went to church with my friends and was reminded of how much I miss them and that church. I love the church I go to now, but it's like comparing apples and oranges, and I miss it. Oh, and the weather was atrocious on Sunday. Pouring rain all day.
I woke up Monday morning to more rain and puddles everywhere - which was interesting when it came time to walk Nia to her bus stop. Caty had rainboots, but I did not, and my feet were soaked. Amy and I dropped Caty off at school, then went to breakfast at Panera (yummmm, cinnamon crunch bagel). We did a little shopping and a few errands that morning. I was so excited to go running on the gorgeous bike trail that I miss, but because of the icky weather, I ran on the treadmill in Amy's house. Not as cool. Amy and I went and had manicures and pedicures on Monday afternoon, and that made the entire trip worth it. That felt amazing, and my feet are very thankful.
We picked the girls up from school, did a little more shopping and then took them to dinner at another one of my favorite restaurants. Monday night involved Amy and I watching Jon and Kate plus 8, and me repacking my suitcase because an adorable 4 year old thought it would be fun to rummage through it.
Tuesday morning was hard - saying good-bye to two sad little girls. I rode into Amy's office, and it was fun to be in downtown DC again. There's just an atmosphere that no other place has. Then I metroed to the airport, and that is the end of my trip - and this story.
Now if you're thinking that you would have liked a lot less words and lot more pictures, you should leave a comment on here for Amy to read, because she has all the pictures on her camera, and refuses to send them to me. After working in DC, I know the effectivness of a lobbying campaign.

2 comments:

Kari, RN said...

It sounds like you had a great vacation, yippee!! I'd love to see the pictures, so hopefully you'll get them soon! Miss you!!

Anonymous said...

So I never really noticed before, but in your profile picture, it totally looks like that poor little girl has two heads. And one of them is way too big for her.