Happy Half-Year

Yesterday was our six month anniversary and to add to the excitement, it was Friday the 13th! That date has been good to us. The plan was to attend a temple session and go to a fancy restaurant. We rode the red line all the way to the temple (a long and relatively expensive metro ride) just to find out it was closed. Naturally, as things never go as planned. So we hopped back on the metro and stopped in Silver Spring instead, found what may have been the best mexican food I've ever had and caught a showing of the Amazing Spider Man. We'd recommend BOTH to anyone. Is it terrible to say I'm almost glad Plan 1 didn't work out? Almost glad. 

 AJ, thanks for being the best husband ever.

4th of July

Independence Day in DC is one-of-a-kind. We might come back every year just for the fireworks.

We started the day with a pancake breakfast. It's something of a family tradition but also, we've made pancakes every non-working day since we got here and wanted to be consistent. After breakfast we went to the National Parade on Constitution Avenue. It was full of fancy cars, giant floats, and old people line dancing. We were especially glad they decided to also include a marching band from what seemed to be every high school in the nation.

We had dinner plans later in the day so to kill time and cool off we explored one of the art museums. Our first choice would have been the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and Constitution but that line was 2 hours long and outdoors in triple digit heat. 

We met up with our friends Hannah and Wes, a way fun couple we met at church a few weeks ago, and drove to Virginia for a good old fashioned barbecue. We are so grateful to them for inviting us. It made for a perfect day to be surrounded by good friends enjoying hot dogs, potato chips, and good conversation.

We ended the night with fireworks on the Mall. The music couldn't have been louder, the crowd couldn't have been larger, and it couldn't have been more fun.