Sunday, December 10, 2006
Somebody's Been Busy
This is Matt's first week out of school for the holidays and he has decided that it is time to give the apartment a new paint job. We have been thinking about painting it for a little while and thought that now would be as good a time as any. It only took him three days. What do you think?
Weekend in DC
I guess it’s about time we told you about our weekend with Corey in D.C. We drove to Corey’s on Saturday morning and went to see some of the monuments in D.C.
First we went to the Iwo Jima memorial. We had never seen it up close and were amazed how big it was.
We didn't stay long. The wind was bitter cold and our fingers were freezing. We then went to a Bell Tower that was given to the U.S. from Sweden as a sign of their friendship.
Arlington Cemetery was next on our tour. We got to the Visitor’s center at 10 minutes to the hour. A sign in the center said that the changing of the guard happened every hour at the top of the hour and said that it was about a 20 minute walk.
Realizing we only had half the time needed for the walk we decided to run up hill to see the changing of the guard. We quickly realized that our bodies had become very out of shape and the air was very cold. We struggled our way up the hill and made it just in time to see the meticulous changing of the guard. We were amazed at how well they keep time with one another, clicking their feet at exactly the same time.
We leisurely walked to JFK’s grave and the eternal flame.
We got back into the warm car and drove past the Pentagon to Crystal City for lunch.
Then we went to Hain’s Point and explored The Awakening. Matt and Corey attempted several times to climb up the leg and each made it.
Cami made it on her first try – not expecting to make it even half-way up after watching the other two struggle multiple times before making it up the slick sculpture.
We drove around the neighborhoods of downtown D.C. for 20 minutes and finally found a parking spot.
We walked to the White House and saw the Christmas tree being decorated and the state trees being planted around it.
We walked to Washington memorial,
the new WWII memorial,
Lincoln Memorial,
Korean Memorial,
and Vietnam Memorial before heading back to the car.
We drove back to Corey’s to change for the temple. Jill met us there and we went to the temple for Corey’s stake temple night.
We looked around at the decorated trees on the temple grounds and the international trees in the Visitor’s Center. They were beautiful.
We went inside for a special meeting with Corey’s stake. The Washington D.C. temple does something very special for the stakes in its district. They allow the stakes to have their meeting on Saturday night in the chapel on the seventh floor of the temple. That night, they had the largest turnout ever for one of these meetings. It was really neat. The temple president said the workers would be there until everyone had a chance to do some work before they left. We went through a session and left to have a late dinner at Silver Diner.
The next morning we slept in and had a really yummy Frittata (an egg, sausage, cheese thing in a pie shell. Mmmm...). We then decided that we should do some long overdue geocaching. After two hours of Corey trying to get his GPS to download the caches, we had to go to his work so he could use the computer their. Apparently the computer at home didn’t have the right software. So finally we were on our way. We found 5 out of 6 caches.
One of them Corey found after the rest of us decided we had had enough and headed back to the car. The only one we didn’t find was a micro. We don’t really like micros. This was Jill's first experience with Geocaching. She seemed to really like finding little treasures.
First we went to the Iwo Jima memorial. We had never seen it up close and were amazed how big it was.
We didn't stay long. The wind was bitter cold and our fingers were freezing. We then went to a Bell Tower that was given to the U.S. from Sweden as a sign of their friendship.
Arlington Cemetery was next on our tour. We got to the Visitor’s center at 10 minutes to the hour. A sign in the center said that the changing of the guard happened every hour at the top of the hour and said that it was about a 20 minute walk.
Realizing we only had half the time needed for the walk we decided to run up hill to see the changing of the guard. We quickly realized that our bodies had become very out of shape and the air was very cold. We struggled our way up the hill and made it just in time to see the meticulous changing of the guard. We were amazed at how well they keep time with one another, clicking their feet at exactly the same time.
We leisurely walked to JFK’s grave and the eternal flame.
We got back into the warm car and drove past the Pentagon to Crystal City for lunch.
Then we went to Hain’s Point and explored The Awakening. Matt and Corey attempted several times to climb up the leg and each made it.
Cami made it on her first try – not expecting to make it even half-way up after watching the other two struggle multiple times before making it up the slick sculpture.
We drove around the neighborhoods of downtown D.C. for 20 minutes and finally found a parking spot.
We walked to the White House and saw the Christmas tree being decorated and the state trees being planted around it.
We walked to Washington memorial,
the new WWII memorial,
Lincoln Memorial,
Korean Memorial,
and Vietnam Memorial before heading back to the car.
We drove back to Corey’s to change for the temple. Jill met us there and we went to the temple for Corey’s stake temple night.
We looked around at the decorated trees on the temple grounds and the international trees in the Visitor’s Center. They were beautiful.
We went inside for a special meeting with Corey’s stake. The Washington D.C. temple does something very special for the stakes in its district. They allow the stakes to have their meeting on Saturday night in the chapel on the seventh floor of the temple. That night, they had the largest turnout ever for one of these meetings. It was really neat. The temple president said the workers would be there until everyone had a chance to do some work before they left. We went through a session and left to have a late dinner at Silver Diner.
The next morning we slept in and had a really yummy Frittata (an egg, sausage, cheese thing in a pie shell. Mmmm...). We then decided that we should do some long overdue geocaching. After two hours of Corey trying to get his GPS to download the caches, we had to go to his work so he could use the computer their. Apparently the computer at home didn’t have the right software. So finally we were on our way. We found 5 out of 6 caches.
One of them Corey found after the rest of us decided we had had enough and headed back to the car. The only one we didn’t find was a micro. We don’t really like micros. This was Jill's first experience with Geocaching. She seemed to really like finding little treasures.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
thanksgiving eve
Thanksgiving this year has been unlike any other in the past. Our plans started as a group dinner with other dental students. But, one by one everyone cancelled on us. It was down to us and one other couple when they called Tuesday night and told us they had found cheap tickets to go home. So we quickly called Corey to see if we could join him for turkey day. The plans were set for us to go to Jill’s (his new fiancée) house in Baltimore and then leave for her family’s house in Philadelphia the next morning. We left Richmond in the rain around 2 in hopes of bypassing some of the holiday traffic only to find out that every other driver was thinking the same thing. A 2 ½ hour drive ended up taking us over 6 hours. Good thing we had the new iPod loaded with great music and the laptop to watch movies on.
Wednesday night we stayed in Jill’s cute row house in Baltimore. We got to see Jill’s pretty new ring, watched some gripping episodes of Top Chef and ate pizza. That was just what we needed after that “fun” car ride.
Wednesday night we stayed in Jill’s cute row house in Baltimore. We got to see Jill’s pretty new ring, watched some gripping episodes of Top Chef and ate pizza. That was just what we needed after that “fun” car ride.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Turkey Day
Thursday morning (Thanksgiving), we left Baltimore and headed for Philly. It was decided that we would take the back roads to try and avoid any more traffic. The roads were beautiful. We even passed a horse and buggy in old Pennsylvania Amish town. It took us a couple hours to get to Jill’s parent’s house.
We met Jill’s family and were immediately welcomed.
We played a few games of ping pong which Cami was once again reminded just how bad her hand-eye coordination really is. 
Jill’s sister made an excellent Thanksgiving dinner and we ate very well. We even had some Pennsylvania Thanksgiving classics like potato stuffing and shoefly pies.
The night was spent talking and playing games. We played Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture. That’s our favorite (not!!) We stink at that game, and that night was no exception. But Jill’s siblings were fairly well, making us look even dumber.
We met Jill’s family and were immediately welcomed.
We played a few games of ping pong which Cami was once again reminded just how bad her hand-eye coordination really is. 
Jill’s sister made an excellent Thanksgiving dinner and we ate very well. We even had some Pennsylvania Thanksgiving classics like potato stuffing and shoefly pies.
The night was spent talking and playing games. We played Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture. That’s our favorite (not!!) We stink at that game, and that night was no exception. But Jill’s siblings were fairly well, making us look even dumber.
Black Friday
Friday we went to Valley Forge and saw all sorts of plaques and memorials in tribute to the Revolutionary War. 
We stopped to have hot dogs at the Gift Shop (which had gifts outrageously overpriced) and headed for Philly.
Philadelphia was filled with large crowds of people. We drove past where the Liberty Bell was and quickly decided not to see it on this trip when we saw that the line’s end a couple of blocks down the road.
Jill’s dad told us that we needed to participate in a Philly holiday tradition. Every year Macy’s has their Christmas light show. They have had the same light show since the 1930’s so it wasn’t the most spectacular show we’ve ever seen. But we were glad we went.
We then went to the Reading Terminal Market which has many different vendors who sell just about everything you could ever want from seafood to books and home décor. We would have liked to eat there but the crowds were unbearable. So we met up with Jill’s sisters and waited an hour in line for Jim’s Cheese Steak sandwiches. They were good but not the best we’ve ever had and our clothes smelled very heavily of the scent of sandwiches. Mmmm…
We went back to Jill’s parent’s and quickly made some turkey sandwiches for the road. We said our goodbyes and were on our way back to Richmond. The trip only took us 4 ½ hours to drive-- much better than 8.
We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Thanks to Corey, Jill, and Jill’s very nice family.
We stopped to have hot dogs at the Gift Shop (which had gifts outrageously overpriced) and headed for Philly.
Philadelphia was filled with large crowds of people. We drove past where the Liberty Bell was and quickly decided not to see it on this trip when we saw that the line’s end a couple of blocks down the road.
Jill’s dad told us that we needed to participate in a Philly holiday tradition. Every year Macy’s has their Christmas light show. They have had the same light show since the 1930’s so it wasn’t the most spectacular show we’ve ever seen. But we were glad we went.
We then went to the Reading Terminal Market which has many different vendors who sell just about everything you could ever want from seafood to books and home décor. We would have liked to eat there but the crowds were unbearable. So we met up with Jill’s sisters and waited an hour in line for Jim’s Cheese Steak sandwiches. They were good but not the best we’ve ever had and our clothes smelled very heavily of the scent of sandwiches. Mmmm…
We went back to Jill’s parent’s and quickly made some turkey sandwiches for the road. We said our goodbyes and were on our way back to Richmond. The trip only took us 4 ½ hours to drive-- much better than 8.
We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Thanks to Corey, Jill, and Jill’s very nice family.
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