A chat with Lady Washington and people watching at the pool

Those things go together right?  Well, they should simply because that is what I did today. We toured George and Martha Washington's estate, Mount Vernon in Virginia.  If you ever go to Washington DC, you need to make Mount Vernon a stop. 

My friend and I were so impressed with everything they offer there.  Admission to the main estate was $15 for adults and it was worth every penny.  I had no idea how grand the estate was. Wer're talking 8,000 acres people!!!

It was breath-taking, especially when I realized that I was walking around where George Washington used to LIVE.  HE used to walk around here!  It was amazing being so close to someone that famous and important in history.  The historians said that most of what was in the house was their original belongings and they were arranged how they had it.  WOW!!! Martha liked some color.  There was one room that was very green.  And it didn't look too bad.   

I wish I had pictures of the inside of the house, but no photography allowed in the main house in order to preserve everthing. 

Sitting on the bak porch was a very cute old lady portraying Lady Washington.  She was accompanied by another lady portraying Mrs. Washington's lady maid.  They were sitting there working on their knitting and needlepoint just chatting away with the visitors and telling stories.  Too cute!

Thouroughly enjoyed the whole experience!  Well done Mount Vernon staff, well done!

After Mount Vernon we hit the pool. I am a people watcher and boy were there interesting things going on today.  We met a lifeguard who was nicknamed (by us of course) as the pool nazi.  Not a very kind person, but appearently I missed his little show.  My friend saw him stand at the edge of the pool, start singing and shake his bum a little.  I was so mad I missed it.  She could have just made it up I guess, but I don't think she would make anything up about pool nazi. 

The other entertainment at the pool were three boys maybe 10 or 11 yrs old standing outside the pool fence throwing stuff up at the frame of the building and running away.  They did this several times and we heard one of them say "Oh he got 3 out!", or "He got 4!"  We were guessing they found a hornet's nest.  They ran off to their house before they got the hornets too angry, so no bee stings for them today.  Oy, boys. 

Operation: Adventure. DC day 1

Wowzers!!!  The first day in DC was a success.  Arriving a little after midnight, Monday morning was a lazy one.  We eventually made our way into the city ready to take on our first challenge. 

Figuring out the Metro ticket machine. 

These tourists eventually asked the nice Metro lady for some help.  Thank you nice Metro lady.

Our day was go go go from there.  First stop was the Pentagon. 

The memorial there for the 9/11 victums was amazing.  A lot of thought went into it. The victum's name was ingraved on a bench.  After reading the name, you look up to see how they died.  If you are facing the Pentagon, they died in the Pentagon.  Likewise if you are facing the airport, they were in the plane.   Like I said a lot of thought. 

We also checked out two Smithsonians, the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural History.  Our last stop was the National Archives.  My little history dorky self was just ecstatic seeing the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, The Constitution and The Magna Carta.  Ahhh it was wonderful.  I will post more pictures on the Men, Money and Me facebook page. Later.  Right now I'm off to Arlington!





Operation:Adventure

Yesterday, I went on a little adventure.  A few friends and I ventured out into the world  and went to IKEA.  Ahhh Ikea.  The magical place with little fake rooms looking so cozy.

*Warning* Do not sit on comfy beds after eating.  An overwhelming nap sensation will come upon you.  

We walked, shopped and discussed arrangements. We came home empty handed.  Sometimes that happens.  After Ikea came geocaching!  Do you know about the geocaching world?  Basically it's like a treasure hunt using GPS coordinates and clues.  It great free entertainment.  

Now on to Operation: Adventure.  This summer is the summer of adventures near and far.  Sunday I leave for Washington D.C. with a friend and we are so ready for adventure.  So far our plans will include some obvious monument sight-seeing, one or two of the Smithsonian museums, cupcakes, a twilight tour, kayaking on the Potomac, and maybe even some geocaching.  It will be grand.  I will be good and take lots of pictures to share with you.

Operation: Adventure

Titanic Experience at the Ford museum

Mud Hens game on the 4th of July

Drive-in movie- Giveaway coming soon!!!

A possible trip to Chicago

Running a Kids Camp

Geocaching

Its going to be a busy summer!

Do you have adventures planned?  I want to hear about them! 

Boy!! Do we have some catching up to do!

Let's see....my last post was May 5.  Gosh, that's horrible.  What has happened in my life for the last month and a half? A lot and not, all at the same time.  I do have a few great stories for you though....

Story 1 from the time we were apart....

I work as an advisor in the high school of an online school.  We are a pretty raz-ma-taz school if I do say so myself.  Even though everything is online, we have events like a traditional school.  One such event is graduation.  Now, I probably have a poor attitude when it comes to graduation ceremonies, but I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. Honestly the only part I cringe at is the guest speaker.  This was the 5th graduation I've been to, and I think there was only one speech that I thought was pretty good.  It was some dude from Google and he made me laugh.  That's all I remember.  This graduation guest speaker also made me laugh, but I was definitely laughing at him not with him. 

He had recently retired.  He began by showing us pictures of his newest hobby....birdwatching.  The title of his speech was "There are no junk bird people." He showed a nice picture of some sparrows, a cardinal, a pigeon (and here's where it starts getting weird) crows, and lastly a turkey vulture.  The picture presentation probably lasted a good 10-15 minutes...I was zoning already. He then explained to us that in the bird watching community they refer to some of those birds as "junk" birds, mostly because they are so common and not very pretty.  They still serve a purpose and are unique.  He told us about the turkey vulture and that because it eats dead animals they have no feathers on their heads to avoid getting bacteria.  Ok interesting, but is this necessary at graduation? Hmm.  Oh but he didn't stop there.  They also urinate on their legs to keep themselves cool or something like that.  I was zoning out and only caught something about urinating.  WEIRD!!! I can only imagine what was going through the principal's mind at that point.  And then I laughed on the inside, because I'm pretty sure I would have gotten in trouble laughing out loud with that one.

The rest of the speech was pretty boring and I'll spare you from the torture.  He did kind of make a point with all the bird stuff, but it was pretty bad.  On a side note, I made the teachers and advisors sitting next to me to guess what time the ceremony would be done.  I was off by 3 minutes.  We also made many comments about the crazy high heels we saw, rated the families according to how well they cheered for their graduate and counted how many times the students caught their sleeve on the stair rails.  I try my best to keep things interesting.  :)


Sooooo today I'm going on an adventure, and I'll be sure to let you all know about it tomorrow.  I also have an even bigger adventure coming up next week that I can't wait to talk to you about.