Catching Up

The work week was a busy one for Kelly and Ben.  We were excited to get to another birthday weekend as well.  We started Friday night by going to our favorite Thai restaurant in DC and then headed to see the movie "The Avengers" in 3-D.  The movie was not exactly Kelly's style, but she was willing to go since it was Ben's bday weekend.  The movie was pretty good and consisted of about 2 hours of non stop actions with a few good one-liners thrown in.  All and all it was good and the right type of movie to see on the big screen and in 3-D.  As an added bonus, in the theater in front of us was a guy in a question mark suit.  After realizing it was not the Riddler from Batman fame, we realized it was the infomercial guy who tells you how to get free money from the government.

Kelly had to work on Saturday morning, so Ben took advantage of the time to catch up on some DVDs that he knew Kelly was not interested in.  Also, Ben made spinach cornbread for the dinner party we planned to attend later that evening.  

After Kelly got back from work, we got ready and headed over to our friend Laura's apartment for a dinner party she was having.  It was fun to catch up with Laura and Ron as well as meet some of Laura's other friends.  The highlight of the menu was a pretty spectacular macaroni and cheese.  It was a fun evening with good food and good conversations.

On Sunday, we headed to Nationals Park to watch the Nationals take on the Orioles.

To kick things off, this guy played the Star Spangled Banner on a baseball bat that had been turned into an electric violin.

We were excited to see Stephen Strasburg take the mound for the Nationals.  He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season and has been living up to his highly touted prospect status.

Things started a little bumpy in the field for the Nats, but Strasburg was throwing in the high 90s.

 

Maybe it was the Presidents' race, but something go the Nats bats working.

Another highly prized prospect for the Nationals is rookie Bryce Harper.  Bryce is still getting a feel for major league pitching, but it expected to have a long future with the Nats.

While Strasburg got it done on the mound with 8 strikeouts in just 5 innings, he also got it done with the bat, going 2-2 and hitting his 1st major league home run.  It was one of 3 home runs for the Nationals as they went on to a 9-3 victory!

After the game, we headed home to take care of some life chores and get ready for the week ahead.  

Hooray for May!

Monday was the first day in Kelly's golf league. While a little rusty, she was able to salvage a 39 in her first outing of the year. It was a beautiful evening in the district and they played a course with great views of the Washington Monument. It provided the perfect target the par three #8 hole.

Thursday was opening day for slowpitch softball season. With Ben on the disabled list for the foreseeable future, it was up to Kelly to salvage the season. Despite a 7-5 loss to the "Watchdogs," the team looked competitive throughout the game. Kelly knocked the off-season rust off with a 3-3 performance with two doubles.

After the game, we headed to a social gathering on the top floor apartment in the Ronald Regan Building. Fun was had by all and we especially enjoyed the view from the apartment.

Saturday was a beautiful day in DC. We started the day by picking up ingredients at the international market. Ben has been experimenting with cooking some of our favorite Thai dishes. He has struggled to find the right ingredients at Safeway, so the international market has stores that supply many of the Thai restaurants in the district. While many of the stores are dirty and probably not up to code, you can't beat the prices and selection!

Saturday was also "European Union Embassy Open House". All of the Embassies open their door and let you tour the facilities. We stopped by Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Slovakia, and Austria.

(Kelly won a quarter betting on putts with some little kids.)

 

(Ben was keeping track of the time so we stayed on schedule.)

(We were a little disappointed that there were no danishes at Denmark's embassy.)

(Sadly, this bust at the Slovakian embassy was not for sale.)

(We ended our embassy tour with the smooth sounds of Austria.)

After all that traveling, we stopped at "Two Amy's" for lunch. Two Amy's is consistently rated as one of the top pizza places in DC and famed for their Neapolitan pizza.  We thought it was above average, but not worth the inconvenient location if your not in the neighborhood.

After lunch, we headed back to Capitol Hill for the DC Roller Derby Championship at the Armory.

(This woman had answers to all of our roller derby questions.)

Kelly was reluctant to embrace the derby, but Ben had wanted to see a match for several weeks.  The crowd was eccentric and immediately, we knew it was going to be an experience.

The first bout was for 3rd place and featured the "Majority Whips" and the "D.C. Demoncats" facing off.

(Note the demon and the cat.)

After a fast start, the Demoncats were able to hang on to the victory to secure the 3rd place trophy. We were able to figure out most of the jargon and strategy of the sport which prepared us for the championship bout between the "Scare Force One" and "Cherry Blossom Bombers."

It was very impressive performance by Scare Force One, beating the Bombers 215-107.  Scare Force One was the clear favorite and Cherry Blossom Bombers had no answer to their 'jammers.' Much to our surprise, we really enjoyed the matches and was impressed with the energy and toughness of the players.

Sunday we headed up to Baltimore for breakfast and an Orioles game. We stopped at "Paper Moon" for breakfast and Kelly had, what she has proclaimed, the best biscuits and gravy ever and Ben had the Banana Foster French Toast. Both dishes were delicious, but the decor is always just as entertaining. 

On the way to the baseball stadium, we stopped by a colorful Baltimore alley.

(Who knew Edgar Allen Poe was an astronaut?)

Before the game, we stopped in the Maryland Sports Museum. It had wonderful exhibits and artifacts from all the famous Marylanders including, Michael Phelps, Babe Ruth, Johnny Unitas and all the great professional and college teams.

It was a great day for a baseball game and even better because we got $6 tickets. As an added bonus, it was 'sun hat' day for Mother's Day.

 Camden Yards is one of our favorite stadiums and it was a beautiful day for a game.

The game started out rough for the home team and they were down 7-1 after 5 innings, but then started fighting back.  In the end, the division leading Orioles suffered a tough 9-8 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

After the game, we stopped by the Babe Ruth birth place museum.  It had some interesting stuff and was cool to see where it all started for the Babe.

After the museum, we called it a day in Baltimore and headed home.  It had been a great weekend, but it was time to take care of some life chores and get ready for the work week ahead.

New and Improved?

Welcome to the new blog.  We are glad you made the transition and found us.  We fell behind a little, so we need to catch up from the beginning of May.  With all the birthday celebrations for Kelly, we slacked on posting on the blog.  Some of the highlights include meeting up lunch at a food truck, dinner at a new Thai restaurant near our apartment and sweet potato pie that Ben made.

We spent most of the following Saturday at Nationals Stadium where we saw the Nats grab a solid victory over the rival Philadelphia Phillies. This being the biggest rival for the Nats, the game was sold out and people were very excited. Ben showed his "natitude" by painting his face.

Sunday was a beautiful day in DC. We took the dogs for a much needed morning at the park, where Dexter chased approximately 700 tennis balls compared to Mosley's 1.

(The heat wave made Dex thirsty.)

(Mo was exhausted from running down one tennis ball.)

We stopped by Eastern Market to enjoy the free samples and doing a little people watching. There were lots of interesting people at the market including people on stilts.

After that, it was time for some life chores and to call it a weekend.