This was Tuesday night; Meredith (in the stroller) was meeting LOTS of people her mother has known for years at O.M. O.M., or what I so very affectionately call nerd fest, is a competition for 'smart kids'...they "work" these verbal, word problems and get points for team work, creativity, problem solving and other things. I still do not fully "get it" but I support it. So after the kids competed from Sunday till Tuesday afternoon, the awards ceremony was Tuesday night. 
The competition was held at The University of Maryland and the award ceremony was held in their HUGE field house. Erin Sloan, who is part of the family by choice, helped to announce the awards that night while I got to hang out with her GREAT kids, the Sanfords and Lu. There was TONS of kids, coaches and their parents. Jeff and his skirt wearing friends were down front doing what they do...whatever that is :)
I would like to introduce some of the family-by-choice who were a part of this trip (I will begin at 12 o'clock & go clockwise). Meet Lu (or grandmommy) along with her grandchildren, Emma, Meredith & Garrison. These kids greatly increased the laughs, smiles, and pleasure of our trip. They are some of the smartest, funniest and sweetest kids. Thanks guys!
So Jeff spends his time at O.M. wearing a skirt (kilt), hanging mostly with (from L to R) Craig, Bob, (Jeff), (a coach from Fl. that he LOVES), Amanda, and David. This group has super fun, creative, and unique activities for each group of kids. This year they saw about 844 groups of kids (now there are 7 kids on a team PLUS the coaches and parents...they were tired come Tues. night).
So Emma REALLY wanted a sword that lite up. When her Uncle Jeffrey got her one she proceeded to utilize her professional stage sword fighting lessons (no joke) to act out sword fighting scenes. This is my favorite picture from the 15 or so I took. (note security in the yellow jackets telling us it was time to leave. We were having a BLAST!!)
Wed, morning we all got up early, said good-bye to friends, packed and took the metro to the Sloan's home in Arlington.
Again, the theme was "Thanks I've Never Done" and this picture depicts me first ride on the Metro. I made Lu take this pic with me as her first Metro ride was the very one that was my first Metro ride...I thought that was cool.
For lunch we ate at Busboys and Poets, GREAT PLACE!!! Again, this kept with the "Things I'd Never Done". While you cannot see all the faces, I would like to introduce you to Jeff's family-by-choice that I now call family. Starting with the littlest one and going around the table you will see Meredith, her father Michael, Jeff, Craig, Erin, Gary, Lu, Garrison(not really seen), Emma, Megan and me.
So Wednesday, we were all SO tired there was mostly hanging out, relaxing and sleeping. Good thing as D.C. has OK. typical weather. The high winds, horrible rain and tornado seemed to shut DC down. Craig was able to get out on his flight however, due to the storms, HORRIBLE traffic Lu missed her flight. That meant 7 adults & 3 kids were going to stay in a 1200 square foot house (see pic above and take away Craig). Literally the only rooms people were sleeping in were the kitchen and bathrooms (yes it was a blessing there were 2 of them). Now this picture is funny to us as this air mattress would not stop the reverse suction and almost burned up the motor. It took 4 adults trying to remove the blower before Gary was able to use his brute strength to get it out. Way to go GARY!
This was first thing Thursday morning...MY 30th BIRTHDAY!!! This was the BESTEST croissant EVER! And who does not need a little chocolate to start year #30???? Erin, Megan, Jeff, Lu, Michael and Meredith sang to be as I blew out my candle.
Again, I have never had a birthday that included this kind of breakfast...maybe this is a nice new tradition to start.
Since Lu was still with us, we decided to head to Mt. Vernon (again, never done this). I have to be totally honest & say I was not super excited about it. However, once we got there...I LOVED IT. I now have a book about George's home & have enjoyed learning more.
So Michael & Megan are kinda history buffs. They have SEVERAL pictures in front of George's home. In fact, they were standing in that very spot 12/13 months prior to this only little Meredith was in utero. Meredith was a GREAT surprise and what we all call "the miracle"...Thanks God!!!
Meredith has been such a trooper this trip and did SO VERY well. She was mostly smiles, handled new people and places with charm. And she LOVES her toes. As I took this picture she was laughing, playing with her toes, putting them in her mouth, kicking them and loving life. She's a wonderful and I have to say, I love being an aunt!
After leaving Mt. Vernon we spent time on Ole Town...lots of character, great shoppes and people. For lunch we ate at Il Porto, little Italian place where I had this great seafood pasta. Meredith fell asleep, the adults ate, laughed (Megan and I shopped) and then Megan, Michael, Lu and Meredith had to head to the airport. Jeff & I headed to down town DC, walked around, went to the Spy Museum (SUPER COOL!) then met Jayna in China Town for dinner then on to...
THE NATIONALS GAME!!! (Never been to a major league baseball game). It was SO VERY much fun to spend my birthday with my long time friend Jayna Hooker. We talked, hung out with some of her friends, watched a great game and LAUGHED!! I am so glad Jeff was able to hang out with one of my friends (and he liked her! How could one not like Jayna?)
Friday, Jeff & I slept in then Erin took us to see some of the things she does in a typical week. For lunch we ate at this little, quaint restaurant and we had the GREATEST muscles (never eaten muscles before either! they were fabulous!!!) Jeff and I went from there to H&M, met Erin and Emma post Emma rehearsal and Jeff then got to see Garrison's school. G was SO proud to show off his Uncle Jeffrey.
On Friday morning the kids were upset as they did not get to spend time w/ me on my birthday. So to help with this Erin thought it would be nice for us to have dinner at Guapo's. This is the Mexican restaurant where the kids always go for their birthday. Jayna joined us and we again had wonderful food.
Post dinner, Jayna took me to her part of town, apartment and to hang out with her hubby. She then was a GREAT, PRECIOUS and SUPER friend as she drove me by downtown DC and all the statues, memorials and such. It was breath taking at night and totally one of the highlights.
Thanks to all for making this trip lots of fun and full of Things I'd Never Done!!!!
2 comments:
Anyone who has tips on posting pictues and making things look "right" please pass it along. I need some help...Hope you all enjoyed the post anyway. :)
I LOOOOOOVED seeing you and Jeff!!! I had so so so much fun with you guys, and I'm glad you had fun too! ps. I forgot to take off my pearls for the game...t shirt and pearls, now that's classy! HAPPY 29 faux birthday!!
Post a Comment