Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Cherry Blossoms and Marathons and Home

This past weekend, I went home.

Home to the land of cherry blossoms, and traffic congestion, and competition, and politics, and my family.

It was a wonderful weekend. One of the best I've had recently, in fact.

*The following post is quite long. I had to put all these photos in here because I no longer have Facebook. More on that later.*

First, I flew out of Chicago.
And, they have a Red Mango in Midway now. My life was complete.


Then, on Friday, I went shopping with my mom for some shoes.

My sister got into college. Hooray! 

Saturday, we got up at 0dark:00 to watch my dad run, and finish, his first half marathon!! [0dark:00 is actually 4:30, for those of you unfamiliar with military lingo].



Before the race! [Outside RFK Stadium, site of Nationals glory days of old].


Our signs. The best signs there. We really were the only people cheering on the runners at the start. It was 7:00 am, of course, so I can understand not wanting to hear "wooo!!!!" THAT early, but the runners smiled. And laughed. And said, "you're cold? YOU'RE cold?" and "cute!" and "hahaha." Having run a half marathon, I'm definitely under the opinion that supporters like these make the race so much more manageable. End soapbox.


Look how precious the mom is.


There Steve comes!!


"I ran through history." A history-lover's dream slogan.


Then we hopped on the Metro to go to our next location: Dupont Circle.


There they are, running up a hill! And across the way is Starbucks. Oooh how coffee was needed.


But instead we stopped at another adorable bakery of which I currently am forgetting the name. But look how pretty they are.


Aaaaaand BACK on the Metro to watch the finish line. [With our coffee & bagels you're not supposed to drink/eat on the train. That's why the El wins, guys].


Finisher!!!! So proud.


Go, Dad, Go!


Then we commenced to walk around DC (again), this time not in a hurry, to look at the cherry blossoms. Plus, I haven't done the "DC thing" in a while.


Gotta love 'merica.


At the WWII Memorial. Such a BEAUTIFUL day. Plus I love fountains.


Stars.


UVA! Susan should be in this picture, really.


Awww.


Color!!


WWII Memorial.


Aaaah cherry blossoms. 


Boy, do I miss the East.


I mean, come on. What's not to love?


Sigh.


Look how different we look with my new hair color! You'd think we weren't even related.


Sisters.


Perfect framework.


Me.


Victoria.



Susan.


Then, after watching a really cute movie, we went to celebrate at Sweetwater.


Ribs.


Dessert. YUM. Bread pudding.


I missed these babies. Made me think about getting a cat.


Hi.larious. Look at the above photo. Look at the house sticking out of the highway wall. Seriously, either somebody didn't plan well, or somebody really didn't want to lose their house to the government. 


And finally, on Sunday night, Susan gets gasoline. For the first time. After she drove to the gas station. 

I cried.

I'm old, people. Susan is DRIVING, getting into college, etc.

And that, my friends, was my weekend.

Fin.

4 comments:

mattvstherealworld said...

best (and longest) post ever! Also, best signs ever.

matt

Ashley Joy said...

I love your sign. I would have laughed so hard. I had many comments along the way, but now I am forgetting them. In sum, this post makes me want to go to DC.

CanaRuthThompson said...

ASHLEY!!! This makes me so happy. I told my mom that we always seem to cross paths. I wish we would go home at the same time so we could see each other!! Miss you :)

Joy said...

What an awesome weekend! Thoroughly enjoyed reading and looking at all your pictures! :)