Roadtrip - Washington, D.C. Part IV

On our last full day of our visit Lovey and Char spent a day shopping, exchanging and returning.  An after Christmas ritual that I try to avoid at all costs.

While they were out I stayed home with the kids and their dad.  I cherished the time I was able to spend with them.

It was cold and sleety/snowy outside so we stayed in and played Hungry Hungry Hippos and basketball and all sorts of fun things.

We did some arts and crafts stuff and finished decorating holiday sugar cookies.

Miss Muffet creating a masterpiece with her Lite Brite

After a full day of shopping Char took Lovey to the Maine Avenue Fish Market in D.C. and brought back some really great sea food.  Lovey said the fish market was absolutely fabulous; I was a little envious he got to experience it.  We had seen it the night before while looking at the monuments at night.

Miss Muffet was a big help in the kitchen.  She was very skeptical about the crabs but slowly warmed up to them and decided they were safe to hold.

Especially when she found out they were dead!

Early the next morning Char made us coffee and we loaded up the car and began our journey home.  We were sad to leave.  Char and James were the best hosts and we loved our time with the grandkids.  One thing I am taking away from this trip is the joy in seeing how much love this young family has for each other.

I can still see Miss Muffet and Sweet Pea at the Air Museum, chasing their mama and squealing with delight as Charlotte turned and chased them in return; catching them and covering them with kisses.

Road Trip - Washington, D.C. Part III

With kiddos at home with their dad, Char tooled Lovey and I around the city to see the monuments at night.  I had never seen them lit up.  What a lovely perspective to see them in!

 Jefferson Memorial

 One memorial that I have never been to is the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial.  I would love to see this sometime during the day.  Instead of a building it was an outdoor nature walkway with waterfalls and vignettes that reflected different times and philosphies during his presidency.

I had Lovey stand here so you could get a perspective of the size of the bronzes

The Soup Line.  This was very humbling to see.  Lovey and I realize that it is only by the grace of God that we are not in that situation.  So many still are today.

Father and daughter

Washington Monument from the Tidal Basin

A jaunt across the bridge to get a photo of the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sitting at the top of the hill.

 The United States Botanic Gardens all decked out for the Holiday

As was Union Station.  Gorgeous wreaths.  Next trip out I want to see the inside of this train station.

 Our nation's capitol is beautiful at night!

Road Trip - Washington, D.C. Part II

Char took us to the Udvar-Hazy Center, part of the National Air and Space Museum.

Aaaahmazing place.  Even if you are not into planes you can't help but be in awe over everything inside.

 The Space Shuttle Discovery

The Enola Gay.  The plane was named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot.  I strive to keep this an educational page.

An Air France Concorde.  Flying on Concorde was on my bucket list until the fleet was retired.  The closest I got was watching Concorde take off and land several times.  Lovey was fortunate to have flown on it twice. 

The Clipper Flying Cloud - the world's first pressurized commercial airliner.  This was one shiny plane.

The Spirit of Texas - the first helicopter to complete a round-the-world flight

The Airphibian - part plane / part car.  This is how you avoid those lines at the rental car desk.

A Boeing Stearman - the type of plane my father-in-law soloed in prior to his B-24 training during WWII

Lockheed Blackbird. A side note...during one of Lovey's flights on the Concorde, the pilot notified the passengers that there was no worry about traffic, at their cruising altitude of 60,000 feet, because the only other craft that was up where they were was this impressive reconnaissance aircraft.

This is the Rheintochter RI, an experimental antiaircraft missile built for the Luftwaffe in the last years of WWII.  What fascinated me was that the "wings" or whatever they are called are made of the most beautiful wood.

The Restoration Hangar

Planes, planes, and more planes!

Starting to get a little worn out.

A little refreshment and a rest.  This momma loves her babies!

We had a wonderfully good time!!!

Road Trip - Washington, D.C. Part I

Some of my friends looked at me funny when I mentioned that Lovey and I drove to the D.C. area the week after Christmas. Drive???  Why not fly??  Well, there are several answers to that question.

If we have the time, we enjoy driving; to see and enjoy this beautiful country of ours.  We can stop at different places; discovering new ones and re-visiting familiar ones.  We can try new eating establishments that we read about or learn of from the Food Network and Travel channels.

When we head to the Carolina and Virginia area we prefer to go "the northern route" which is Dallas picking up I-40 in Little Rock all the way through Tennessee and either up to Virginia or over to NC from their.

This year our route was altered to "the southern route" due to Winter Storm Euclid running along our northern route.  The southern route is through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia then we turn north in Atlanta.  By the way, can anyone tell me when they started referring to winter storms by name? 

We had enough snow in the DFW area to give us a white Christmas.  This is what it looked like until we reached Shreveport.

This is just north of Richmond, VA on I-95 our second day on the road.  Wasn't that a quick trip?

Several hours later we reached our destination and got to see these sweet things.

What a blessing it is to be a Mimi and GranDad to these cutie-patooties.

A Spicey Story

One of the delectations in my life is designing cooking and cabinet spaces in a kitchen.  I could literally spend all day looking at kitchen plans.  I've been fortunate to have been able to design three kitchens for Lovey and myself.  This last one I worked on four to five years.

See this rectangular panel to the left of the drawers?  I've often seen these as fabulous pull-out cabinets holding herbs and spices.  I love the idea of utilizing every bit of space, but I didn't particularly want my spices so close to the heat the range-top was going to emit.  I decided to house my spices in a drawer that is in the island, directly behind me when I'm standing at the stove.  I can simply turn around, open the drawer and grab what I need.



 
When we moved in I dumped my existing spice containers in the drawer and it worked fine except it was always messy, the round containers took up lots of space and I never really knew what I had in the drawer. Now that herbs and spices are available in bulk at several markets I frequent I only need to buy small amounts each time.  I can keep my spices fresh by buying smaller quantities. 

I needed to start by finding containers that were consistent, small and space saving.  I selected these tins I found at Specialty Bottle.  They are 2.5" high and about 1.8" across.  Resolving to keep the tiniest amounts possible of each herb and spice, these small containers would be perfect.

I made my labels, transferred everything to their new little homes and officially declared this project done.




I am still toying around with what to do with these spaces on both sides of the range-top.  The empty space back in there is just waiting to be used for something specific  One day an idea will pop into my mind.  I'll grab my graph paper, draw it up and visit the same cabinet man who built all the cabinets in this kitchen.  We'll go through our song and dance of "that won't work", and "you can't do that", but he'll figure it out because he knows what he's doing, we've been through this before with my drawings for this kitchen, and because of that, he gets me.  But there's no rush.  The space isn't going anywhere.  Any ideas?

One Year and Growing!!

This happy baby is my great nephew.  He's also known as my niece's baby and my brother's first grandchild.  He has his momma's blue eyes.

 

He just celebrated his first birthday .

 "Okay, it's sweet...oh yeah, sugar....Mmmmm".

The birthday outfit comes off for the smash cake.  Modern day mothers are so very practical.  Happy Birthday Luke!