Oh Christmas Tree...

let's start with the fact that it's a tradition for us to go cut down a fresh christmas tree every year. the day after thanksgiving was not as fun this year... and i really wanted a tree. so, we decided to go check out the dupont circle farmers market. luck us, they had trees. it was so fun carrying it through the streets of DC to get to our apartment. actually, since it is a mile, only i thought it was fun. alex started getting mad that i made him stop every ten seconds for another picture.

here he is at the beginning of our adventure. the smile is genuine.

 still doing okay here... but that tree is heavier than it looks.

 unwilling to acknowledge i am here.  smiling is over. grumbling about how i'm not helping. (sorry)

taking video didn't help... but look how cute alex looks carrying that tree down the street. 

 in the lobby of our building. it looks bigger now that it's inside.

 the elevator. alex is quite mad at this point, because he just wants to get the tree home but i'm blocking the elevator door to get one more hilarious photo.

 once we got it upstairs we had a few snags. it tipped over (sugar water and all) once, then AFTER i put all the lights on i realized there was a short in them and only half lit. needed new lights and/or a new fuse. had to go buy a stand (no, DC hardware, Rite Aid, CVS, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Harris Teeter, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Costco do NOT have stands.) alex and i hopped on our bikes toward Target and then thanks goodness some guys out walking their dog pointed us to a local hardware store that had some. several hours later we put the last ornament on the tree...  

cute right? christmas trees make me so happy.

let the holidays begin. 

FALL...

Mom and Emily came to visit... here we are in front of the old stone house in Georgetown.

 I wanted to see all the monuments by running to each of them. Emily was thrilled. Here's the beginning of our run on the Potomac.

 Lincoln

 Martin Luther King

 FDR

Almost to the Jefferson

 But come on, how pretty was this day!

I went on a tour of the Capitol building with Rachel, when she was here visiting Sarah. Here's the statue of Freedom, which is on the top of the building...

 Utah's statue of Philo T. Farnsworth... who we learned actually was from Idaho. Born in Utah, and Utah stole him for the statue hall... but really he isn't from Utah at all. 

 Original Supreme Court Room... very cool...

 Oh, and on halloween we made Caroline's Bread Pudding and carved pumpkins. The pumpkins turned out well. I can't say my version of her bread pudding did. My baking pan barely survived the ordeal.

 Nowhere to put a jackolantern in an apartment building, so we opted to display him outside from the top of our window AC unit. I hate to admit it, but he's still sitting up there. Yuck. I won't post a picture of that.

Lastly we went to Shenandoah and Warm Springs, VA. The highlight of the trip for Alex was the hiking and fresh air. Here is a hike we did in George Washington National Park. 

 The highlight of the trip for ME was the warm springs mineral water pools. Thomas Jefferson apparently designed the wooden structures around them; built in 1760's. 

Spent an hour soaking in there.  Delightful.

 we opted NOT to stay at the homestead, because it's a bit spendy, and instead found the Warm Springs Inn. it was adorable.

 Now, on to more hiking. This time in Shenandoah National Park. This was Old Rag Mountain. 

We didn't get a picture, but right after this, we ran into a BEAR on the hike. It was about 100 feet away and came running down the hill and popped out of the trees right by us. It was really scary, but thankfully, after a stare down, he turned and walked away. Needless to say, Alex and I ran down the rest of the trail.