Wow It's Almost Been a Month!

I finally have stuff to write about other than mosquito bites! Actually quite a bit so here I go:

• The Taylor's Visit
• Two weeks ago our friends from Tacoma, the Taylors (Brett, Pami, Madison and Elliott), surprised me with a visit. The story starts out months ago when I said that Madonna was going to be performing in NYC and that I didn't think that there would be many other concerts that could be better than that, Madonna in NYC. Pami was one of a few friends who I tried to talk into flying over and going to the concert with me, she told me that she looked up tickets but they were all sold out. So the hope of a Madonna concert ended there for me. Little did I know that she, Brett and Patrick were scheming up a plan. It all came to fruition on October 9th. Patrick called me and asked me to go to FedEx Kinkos so that I could sign some paper work the insurance lady was sending over for his bike that was stolen. I was a bit frustrated bc I thought that it would be better if we did it together bc the parking in that area is horrific, but I went anyway knowing how stoked he was to get his bike ASAP. So I get there and I asked for the paper. I was given on that said, "Happy Birthday for the other Washington! Love the Taylors." I was kind of mad bc I thought it was so dumb for them to fax that over when they could have just emailed it. So (with out paying, I didn't realize this until later) I turned around to walk out the door but I heard someone say "Hi Kim" and when I turned around the whole Taylor family was there. Then before dinner that night they gave me a little envelope and inside was a tickets for me and Taylors up to NYC on the train and tickets for me and Pami to Madonna! It was such a great surprise.

Brett and Elliot hiding and waiting for me at FedEx

Me and the Taylors at FedEx

• So they stayed with us in DC for two nights and about a day and a half. We saw some of DC's main attractions. One thing Patrick and I hadn't done yet was visit the Georgetown area and walk up and down M Street, so we took the Taylors there. It was amazing, all kinds of cute shops and fun restaurants. We also visited the oldest house in DC cleverly named, "The Old Stone House." There wasn't much to see other than the amazing back yard. We had a great dinner down there and the next afternoon took the train into NYC.
  
• Oh, upon Julianne's request I also feel compelled to tell you that Patrick and Brett hung out one night with Paul and Christian Werner, Julianne's dad and uncle. But really, they had a great time and it was great for Patrick to see Paul while he was here and meet Christian, who is studding at Johns Hopkins.
  

Taylors and Connallys outside the Capitol

Natural History Museum's new Ocean Exhibit

Us and the kids


The boys smoking their cigars and having a beer on the porch

• Now about Madonna. No matter what you think of her or her music you can not say that she is not an amazing entertainer. It is like not liking Alex Rodriguez or baseball but appreciating seeing him turn an amazing double play or hitting a grand slam, it's still really fascinating. Or like if you think history is really boring but being amazed at the monuments around here and being intrigued to learn more. That's how the concert was for me. I was not a huge Madonna fan, I have great memories of listening to her and Micheal Jackson with my parents when I was little and hearing album after album of hers while growing up. So I was stoked to see her and knowing that she is one of the best at her job just increased the excitement. I was just so impressed with her musical and physical talent (she was dancing and running around stage all night and played the guitar). The way that she mixed all her old music into her new music was really cool. The production was amazing. I have been to musicals in London, on Broadway and several in Seattle and I have been to several concerts but I've seen anything as elaborated and as well choreographed as this concert was. The dancers and musicians that she brought in were fabulous. Here is all the types of music she played: pop, old school rap, Romanian Folk (with amazing Romanian musicians), Latin, disco, and tecno. Crazy, right? They had hip hop dancing, break dancing, tap dancing, and Latin dancing. It was so good and fun! Thanks Taylors!

Me and Pami at Madison Square Garden just after seeing Madonna

• October Days
• Besides the Taylors coming we've had a few other excursions this month. We went for a walk along the C&O Canal which runs right along the Potomac River. There was a path that cut through to the Potomac and we explored that as well. It was a fun day.

C&O Canal

Potomac River

• We bought our first pumpkins for our house. There is a cute little pumpkin stand near our house that we visited and now we have pumpkins.

• Patrick and I decided to head into town last Saturday to see the American History Museum that we hadn't seen yet. Turns out it was closed for remodel until the end of November. So we went to the Old Post Office Tower. There is a great view from the top. We also visited Potbelly for the first time. It is the best sandwich place ever! yum. Then on our walk back to the car Patrick fed a squirrel. Cute. These are the kind of stories you get when I write, sorry.
  

View from the Old Post Office

Patrick feeding the squirrel : )

• Today we had the 4th rainfall since we've been here. Boy, does it know how to rain here. It is coming down like a hurricane right now. It's pretty cool too bc it's really warm out.

• Jack
• Times with Jack get better and better each week. We are two good buddies now. I love hanging out with him. We made tye-dye pumpkin t-shirts last week and planed flowers and beans this week. We've also explored various parks and the river as well. The kid is fantastic and fun. I have another amazing job.

Hanging out on the Potomac watching the planes fly right over us to land

Our Pumpkin Tye-Dye T-shirt