Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Washington, DC for Memorial Day

Ronny and I took the opportunity while I was in our nation’s capital for work, to spend the Memorial Day weekend for some site-seeing and vacation time.

I was in DC Wednesday through Friday with meetings and had the afternoon of Friday to myself before Ronny arrived that evening. I took in the Newseum as I wasn’t sure Ronny would be too interested in it – and it was great! It takes you through how the media was able to communicate historic events and their impact on our society. Being an updated exhibit, it had some neat technology and interactive exhibits which I was all about! They have newspaper fronts from each state the the top story gives you a great view of the Capitol.DSC03795DSC03796

Ronny arrived that evening and it was cold – wah wah. I’m not complaining, but we were looking forward to seeing the monuments at night, but it was just too chilly to try that. Ronny however, got his first souvenir because of the cool weather!

On Saturday, we were able to meet up with Jess, a Seward-gal who works now with Senator Johanns’ office in DC. She gave us the “all-access” tour of the Capitol, and she knows her facts. Then she took us to an amazing burger place – Good Stuff. It was a great morning and we’re very appreciative of Jess and her time!
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That afternoon, we started out with the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I was most excited to see the FOOD! exhibit about the history of food and agriculture. It was a little lacking in the agriculture, but still an impressive exhibit.
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Later, we walked the monuments & memorials – talk about a lot of steps! (Just over 23,000 steps according to my pedometer). It was unfortunately really crowded – but I think Ronny really enjoyed them.
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I’ve been to DC a few times before, but this was his first time, so it was a lot to take in. I did become good at finding park benches to sit on to “check out the sites” – but mostly to rest my pregnant-lady-swollen-ankles. It wasn’t too bad though, it was just hard for my body to keep up with my energy level to go, go, go!

Ronny was really looking forward to seeing the White House and when we jaunted over there – they had the perimeter fenced off. “Just the nature of the complex” so they said. Ronny was a little bummed, but we got a distanced view for pictures.
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We walked to the downtown area to find a restaurant, then on our way back to the metro (Ronny’s first experience on a Subway btw and he is now better at maneuvering it than me!), we came upon the back side of the White House and they had taken away the fenced perimeter! So we were able to get a few more up-close pictures.
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Sunday we set out early for Arlington National Cemetery. There were a lot of tour buses there, but we made our own route around the cemetery where there happened to be no people. It was so sobering and reflective to walk through the quiet monument and think about the impact that those who have lost their lives for our freedom, have had on our lives. The changing of the guard is always a neat thing to see. Ronny said we officially made our vacation a “Pope vacation” by visiting a cemetery – I loved it!
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Just next to Arlington is the Pentagon and the new(ish) memorial for those who died in the 9/11 crash.
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By this time, we were really tired of all the walking, and decided to head over to the Washington Nationals baseball stadium to see if we could get tickets to the game that afternoon. We did and it was so fun to watch a baseball game in different stadium on a nice, sunny day. My feet and Baby Pope thanked me as well for the rest.

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That evening we decided to walk through the Air & Space Smithsonian (I was trying to get Ronny in there most of the weekend and he wasn’t too excited about the “museum” but I think he thought it was way cooler than what he expected. :) ) We then walked to a different area of downtown and found a fun pizza place for dinner. On the walk back, we enjoyed the nicer weather of the evening and the monuments by night. We could hear the Memorial Day concert on the Capitol steps – and watched it on TV when we got back to the hotel.
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We flew home Monday morning and it was nice to have some restful time at home – and to hang out with Hank! – before starting up another busy week. It was a great vacation, “Baby Moon”, and time spent together on a reflective weekend.

View all of our trip pictures.

I certainly was remembering Memorial Day's past of running in the BolderBOULDER and remembering my Gramps!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Meeting a new friend // Mother’s Day

I got to meet Baby Pope’s future best friend this week – Baby Morris! Morris’s mom, Patricia and I were roomies in college and she is thankfully in Lincoln now so I get to see her all the time. :)

Mother’s Day was let’s just say…odd. It was very nice receiving so many “Happy Mother’s Day!” comments from people at church. But it’s hard to really think of myself as a mother yet. I’m just kind of in the “freak out” phase, so that probably didn’t help. I was also missing both of my families that day and was just in a sad mood. All of the Pope clan was together for family branding – we had to miss. The Frasier clan was together for Miss Maelle’s dedication – we also had to miss. And I was sick. Boo.

But it was the only day Ronny was home in two weeks so I went with him to breed heifers. Romantic! But I’m glad I got to spend some time with him and enjoy our nice weather. And he “treated” me to a free DQ blizzard. :)

A great way to end my first #MothersDay, hanging out with my hubby and a free DQ Blizzard!  (at Dairy Queen)

And lastly, an update about this mother and every-growing Baby Pope, here is “the bump”.

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Friday, May 10, 2013

High five for Friday.

The last two weeks ran together for me. Here are my top five highlights:

5. Travel to St. Louis – I just love this city. Especially when I can enjoy a baseball game.

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4. Coming home to my favorite guys. I love that they have the same expression. :) / Hank is so happy the weather is warmed up and he can spend time outside. He is such a weeny in the cold.
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3. Spending time with one of my favorite pregnant mama’s – yeah for September babies!IMG_1409

2. Speaking of baby, I thought it humorous that my baby app popped up with the baby being the size of an ear of corn this week – since I work for corn farmers and all. One of my counterparts has nicknamed my babe, “The Cornflake”. :)

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1. Garage sale! I made $60 bucks and between the 8 families that participated, we totaled $680. I got rid of these crates, but still looking for someone who needs a desk. Ronny is glad to have his garage back, however.
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high five for friday.
 photo H54Fbutton-triangle_zps678b65ba.jpglife rearranged