Back in the Before Time

Yes, I'm catching up again. So, going back to my birthday:

12 May 2012. I turn 48. The SigO takes me canoeing at Mason Neck. We had packed a lunch of fried chicken (KFC - a decadence allowed very rarely), potato salad, beer, and desserts. We loaded the picnic onto the canoe and set sail (so to speak).

We hadn't gone far at all when we saw this nesting mother.

The Rhododendrons were in full bloom.

and the irises.

As we entered another section of the marshes, I began looking for a place to stop for a picnic. And mayhaps some other recreational activity. Not long after this turn in the river

we found this wonderful secluded spot. Perfect for birthday hanky panky. Oh. and lunch. SigO's comment on it all: "Canoeing is fun!"

Afterwards, we headed into Old Town Alexandria to my favorite local yarn shop where I limited myself to 6 skeins of fingering weight (hey! that's an accomplishment!)

And that was my birthday. A nice way to spend the day.

Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend.
The forecast for the weekend was mid 90's. And for once, the weathermen were right. Take that together with the abysmal traffic around here whenever there's a long weekend, and we decided we were only going to do little day trips. And one of those days was spent at a Renaissance faire at Lake Anna. It was my first time at a Renaissance fest since I left Germany, and trust me, they barely resemble each other. The last one I went to in Germany was in the village I lived in, which was quite old. That particular fest included unfiltered ice cold beer served in stone mugs and drank in a communal hot tub. FYI, Germans don't wear clothes in their hot tubs. Not even the public ones. But, really, I guess the one here in the states wasn't too far off that theme:

In addition to this scantily clad lad we sat across from a man sitting with his legs spread wide wearing a kilt that was way too short. I was really impressed by a lot of the costumes worn not only by merchants, but by visitors. This fairy was actually a merchant selling fairy wings:

I'm not sure what this guy was, but he seemed to love posing for pictures, so...

there was real live jousting

and we all took our turn at throwing hatchets. Only H-Boo succeeded in hitting the target and having the hatchet stay in the board. We all hit the target, but mine and SigO's just bounced right off.

Otherwise, we just sat in the beer tent, drank beer and listened to music. I tried Scotch Eggs. I can safely mark that off my list of things to try going forward. Blech.
So, that was a fun weekend.

Fast forward to last week. My family came to visit. My oldest brother, his wife, their daughter, and my middle brother. I ran them ragged. Or they ran me ragged. One or t'other. Whichever, the running began on Sunday. We wanted to see all the memorials, and I thought it wise to start with the ones tour buses don't normally stop at, so we parked our car at the Jefferson Memorial. I've seen that lots, but somehow always missed the George Mason Memorial. So here's a picture of La Femme (best niece ever) and me with ole George.

Walked from there to the Washington Monument,

followed by the WWII Memorial, where we all crowded in under TX. SigO and I each sat under our military branch. Of course, it was WWII, so the Air Force didn't exist yet. I had to sit under the Army Air Corps. Back in our slumming days.

then back over to the Tidal Basin for the MLK Memorial

and the FDR park (which is my favorite now)

then ALL the way back on the mall for the Smithsonian Natural History museum.
That was day one.
Monday, we headed out to Mt. Vernon. Scott and I had both been there more than once, so there was no point in seeing that again, so we dropped off the rest of the fam and headed over to the river where we set up some lawn chairs and just chilled out. It was great. I don't get to talk to the brudder as much as I'd like. Afterwards, we headed to the mall where they have an American Girl store, and I bought La Femme a new doll. That store is awesome. They have a "salon" where you can take your doll and get her hair styled. It almost makes me wish I was young enough to want one. OK, I kind of do want one. So, I guess it makes me wish I was young enough for someone to think it was appropriate for me to have one. After that, we went to the new Air & Space museum out by Dulles where they have the space shuttle.

That was fun. La Femme and I compared cartwheels. Hers are considerably more impressive than mine. And to close out the trip, we went on the world's longest night tour of DC's monuments. It was beautiful and the guide was very knowledgeable, but I have to say, any tour lasting more than 3 hours is just too damned long!
The Army  band was playing on the steps of the capital as the sun set. It was truly beautiful and somewhat moving when they played the National Anthem.

Turns out we didn't need to see the WWII memorial during the day as we had plenty of time to see it at night. It's really quite beautiful with the fountains lit up at night.

As is every other monument in DC. The Lincoln memorial is always beautiful at night

as is the Marine's.

It was a good visit. It opened my eyes to a lot of other places in DC that I still haven't seen, after all these years.
So, now we're all caught up. This weekend is the Taste of Reston. Should be fun. See you there.