Catching Up

On Tuesday, September 11th we decided to head to the Pentagon memorial after work.  We had not visited the memorial before, but heard that it was impressive at night.  It was a stunning memorial and humbling experience.  

After an extremely hectic/busy week at work for both of us, we rewarded ourselves with a great Friday lunch at the famed Georgia Brown's.

It is prized for its southern comfort food and its high powered clientele. Normally, Georgia Brown's is a pricey for our taste, but we had Scout Mob deal for half price. Lunch started with a fried green tomatoes appetizer, biscuits and cornbread.

For the entree, Ben got the fried chicken and Kelly got the jambalaya which were both outstanding. If we hadn't had enough, the pecan pie for dessert pushed us over the top. It was definitely hard to get back to work with a full stomach and in need of a nap!

Friday night we decided to head down to the National Mall to see the recently renovated  reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial. It had been closed for the past year and we have been anxiously waiting for its re-opening.

The reflecting pool has been under construction the entire time we have lived in DC.  This has been disappointing both for general ambiance and our photographic opportunities.  It was great to see the Washington Monument reflecting off the pool at night.

On Saturday morning we walked the dogs and took care of a few things around the house before walking down to the H Street Festival.

The H Street Festival is filled with food vendors, artists, local merchants, and a variety of entertainment.    It is essentially a large street party.

One of the highlights for us was the Ben found a way to enter a hoagie eating contest.  The winner would receive $200 and a huge provolone log as a trophy.  We debated about strategy for some time, but ultimately Ben decided he had to make a game time decision on strategy.

After learning the two guys pictured above were actually legitimate competitive eaters, Ben decided it made the most sense to essentially enjoy the free lunch without feeling ill.  The two pros ended up tying for the victory.  However, Ben felt like the big winner because he (1) got free lunch, (2) got a gift certificate thank you for participating, and (3) did not ruin the rest of his day.

After the contest, we wandered around H Street for a little longer and then headed home.

Sunday, we mostly hung out around the house and caught up on life chores.  Included in that was catching up on the blog.  Luckily, Mo was willing to pitch in some.

Games Galore!

The Labor Day weekend brought the Cardinals into town for a four game series with the Nationals.  It created an odd situation for us as lifelong Cardinals fans who have been caught up in Nationals fever this season. Obviously, we were very excited - Ben ended up working each game and Kelly saw two of the four.

(Thursday's game)

On Saturday, Kelly headed to Baltimore, MD for a friend's wedding. Unfortunately, Ben had to work the game, so Kelly had to fly solo. Sabrina, the bride, is of Bangladeshi decent and had a traditional South Asian wedding. Being a Methodist from the Midwest, it was a unique experience for Kelly. The majority of the guests were dressed in traditional saris and headdresses and the Muslim ceremony was conducted in Arabic (with English translations). 

 The reception, held at the Four Seasons at the Inner Harbor, was beautiful and very classy, much different from the Ho-latch wedding experience from a year ago! The crabcake/filet mignon while delicious, was no match for 17th Street BBQ and the homemade cornbread featured at our reception.

After eating cake and some wonderful traditional Bangladeshi desserts, Kelly headed back to D.C. around midnight (don't worry, she stayed away from the open bar).

 

On Sunday morning we headed out to the National Building Museum, which had a Mini Golf exhibit that Ben had wanted to check out for quite sometime. After much reluctance from Kelly, she compromised and suffered through the experience.

Just as Kelly feared, it was stupid. Kelly believes mini golf in general is stupid, however this course was exceptionally stupid. Oh well, marriage is all about compromise!

Each hole of the course had been designed by an architectural firm in town.  Unfortunately, while some of the holes appeared impressive they lacked playability.  Overall, it was a terrible exhibit and quite disappointing.

Following mini golf, Ben got ready and headed to Nationals Park.  Kelly spent a little quality time with the dogs and then headed down closer to the start of the game.

(Sunday's Game)

It is also worth watching this video from Sunday's game.   http://blog.letteddywin.com/2012/09/02/presidents-race-teddy-tricycle/

The Nationals won three of four from the Cards and took command of the NL East Division. 

On Monday, the Cubs came to town and Ben continued his marathon of Nationals games.   

On Tuesday, it was back to the commute and our day jobs for what would be a short week.  With the weekend came more baseball.

On Saturday morning Ben headed to the stadium.  He only had to work the pre-game, so Kelly biked down to the stadium for the game.  

 As if we hadn't had enough baseball, after the Nationals game we decided to head to Baltimore for the Orioles vs Yankees game that night to complete the Beltway Doubleheader.  We made it to the stadium right as the game started. 

The Orioles were trailing the Yankees by one game in the AL East Division and as a result, the game was sold out. Problem? No, Ben was able to win the war of awkward negotiations with ticket scalpers and got us two tickets for $20. 

As we took our seats in the packed stadium, Adam Jones hit a home run to tie the score. The stadium erupted and you could literally feel the ground shake. It was a great game with the Orioles getting out of a 9th inning bases loaded jam to secure the victory.

Due to another promotion day and shortage of employees, Kelly was recruited by Ben's boss to help out at Sunday's game. We had to be at the stadium at 8:30am. Ben took Kelly around the inside of the stadium, including the press box, clubhouse, the field and of course the Nat Pack room. It was along day of standing around in the sun and we were glad to get home and enjoy what was left of our Sunday.

At home we tried to relax a little, catch up on some life chores, and get ready for another week that arrived way too soon.

To The Beach!

This is a few weeks old.  Sorry faithful reader(s) for the delay...

-------------------------

After another long week in D.C., we decided to make a quick escape to the beach. Upon Ben's mom's recommendation, we headed to  Assateague and Chincoteague Islands on the eastern shore. We left early on Saturday and made it past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge without much traffic. The 4.5 mile bridge was an experience in itself. By far the tallest and longest bridge we had ever traveled across and probably the highest toll ($4) for such a relatively short stretch of road.

We made it to Chincoteague island just in time to grab lunch at Woody's Beachside BBQ. It was a great setup with several little shacks offering a variety of BBQ. The pulled pork sandwich was defiantly above average and worthy of a visit if you ever in the area.

We made the short drive onto Assateague island for some beach time. Assateague is a long barrier island off the Atlantic coast. There is no development on the island and is also a wildlife preserve. 

After taking a long walk on the beach, we found a private section with no other patrons for a few hundred yards or so.

A unique feature of Assateague is the wild ponies that roam the island. We were able to track down a few while we did some exploring.

After a big day, it was time to head home.

Ben was scheduled to work at the Nationals games for the long Friday to Monday home stand, so Kelly took the opportunity to make a trip back to Sparta to visit the family. She hadn't been home since Christmas and was unlikely to get back until the holidays so it was a great last minute development.

She started the visit off on a good note with a trip to Doreen's for a milkshake.

She also got some serious twin time as she helped her mom babysit while Abbey was coaching/working during the week. The babies seemingly doubled both in size and energy in just a few short months. Kelly spent most of the weekend chasing after Layla, who is most definitely her mother's child!

Another motivation for the trip home was to see Abbey's first volleyball game as head coach. It was weird to see my dad sitting in the crowd and Abbey at the end of the bench coaching the team and her two kids running wild on the concourse. It seems like yesterday Abbey and I were both on the floor and dad was coaching/yelling at us from the bench. Circle of life.

 

Kelly got back to town on Wednesday with several surprises for Ben. 1. grandma's homemade cookies. While it was not easy carrying around a box of some of the most delicious cookies known to man, I believe somewhere in our wedding vows it mentioned a similar situation.  2. A bag a Twizzlers that Kelly's mom had given her for the trip back. A random gift, but still appreciated at the Holatch home. 3. Best of all, she brought back a box of Ray's doughnuts from our favorite bakery in U City(St.Louis). On the way to the airport Kelly and her parents stopped by for a treat and she was able to smuggle a box through security and all the way back to D.C.

Ben had worked four games in a row, including two rain delays and two extra innings games. With the assistance of large amounts of caffeine, he made it through the week. We decided to take the weekend as an opportunity to catch up on some much needed rest.  Since we both work in the election profession, our jobs have kicked into full gear and stretched our time thinner than we prefer.