National Harbor at Christmas Time

Good Morning,

Three days in a row.. please don't get use to it. Its not that I don't plan to ever be back but I don't want to commit to a schedule here right now because I still plan to only come and write when the desire strikes or I feel like I have something to say. But as long as I have something to say I will be around.

This past weekend Jason and I planned to tour around the outlets at National Harbor just to see if there was anything that caught our eye for some Christmas gifts and see what they had for deals. Truthfully I didn't find much for Christmas gifts, I could have bought a ton of things for myself though.. those outlets are the devil!! We spent just over an hour there and then headed into National Harbor for dinner and Christmas festivities.

As I mentioned it has been unseasonably warm here as in it was 75 here on Saturday so we decided to go back to the Redstone American Grill because we loved it there so much and they have outdoor seating with a huge fireplace. I have to say there are TONS of options in regards to restaurants in National Harbor but the food at the Redstone American Grill is one of the best places I have ever eaten.

When we arrived at the restaurant there was no outdoor seating but a lovely couple offered to share their table with us. We had a beautiful view of National Harbor, the Navy vs Army game that was on the big TV and the beautiful Christmas tree light show! The food was epic as always and Jason and I decided before leaving that without a doubt we would go back and this time sit inside and enjoy that beautiful atmosphere as well as the amazing food.

View of the tree from the Redstone American Grill

After dinner we toured the waterfront on the way to the Gaylord National Resort hotel, not only was it absolutely beautiful with the Sky Wheel lit up but many of the boats were decorated for Christmas. 

Once we arrived that the Gaylord hotel I was blown away by the beauty, the picture directly below was taken from the waterfront outside. 

They had a huge Christmas tree setup that was absolutely amazing, they made it snow in the atrium with foam and the whole light display was done to music. I have a few pictures but I will try and add a video as well. 

No video, sorry. 

When the show was over, or at least the Christmas portion as it went techno Jason and I decided to get a white hot chocolate and head out to tour around some more. It was such a beautiful night which all things Christmas and white hot chocolate.. we couldn't have asked for a better day! 

Sunday we we over to Dave & Lindsey's to watch football and decorate gingerbread houses with the kids. It was a really good day, and again unseasonably warm! 

The little monkey has learned to roll over, Dave put him on a blanket to show us how he could roll over and he curled up on his side and watched TV, apparently he wasn't into putting on his own show. 

The girls had a fantastic time decorating the gingerbread houses. Ava was very serious about the whole thing and every time she added a new piece of candy she would proudly say "ta da!". She eventually had to be removed from the candy and icing because her sugar levels were I'm sure off the charts! 

I believe that wraps up what we have been up to lately, there are still a few things I would like to write about so who knows when you will see that. Hopefully sooner than later! 

Thank you all for catching up with me this week, I really appreciate you sticking around! Have a great day! 

A Christmas Carol at Ford Theatre & The National Christmas Tree at President's Park

Good Morning,

Two days in a row.. I know I know, unheard of around here! As I mentioned in yesterdays post we have been up to some fun things and I really wanted to document them all for myself as well as share them with all of you.

If you haven't picked up on it already Jason and I are really into Christmas! So while being this close to DC we decided that we had to see the production of A Christmas Carol at Ford Theatre. I have always wanted to go to Ford Theatre as it is the place where President Lincoln was shot, I'm not morbid or anything I just really like history. The theatre is has a great history which you can read about HERE. On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln attended the theatre for the first time to see the stage production of Our American Cousin, it was then he was shot my John Wilkes Booth and died the next morning across the street at the Peterson House. After that night Ford Theatre remained closed for 100 years, it reopened in 1968 as a historical site as well as maintaining its original purpose as a theatre.

The theatre is absolutely beautiful inside, naturally things have been refurbished but still maintaining its beautiful original look and presentation. The theatre is obviously small but has a large lobby as well as a full museum in the basement detailing the history of the theatre as well as President Lincoln.

This is a really crappy picture which I didn't realize until I had already left, but it is the gun the actual gun that killed President Abraham Lincoln. This gun is a .44 caliber pistol made by Henry Deringer of Philadelphia. One shot was all John Wilkes Booth took, he favored this gun for its small size as it could easily be concealed in his pocket. It fired a single one ounce round lead ball and was most accurate at close range. 

The production was amazing, I believe they have been running for 9 years and let me tell you they have perfected the show. Believe it or not Jason has never seen A Christmas Carol, not the movie or anything. Crazy! 

We really enjoyed the show, and the theatre while we were there. I didn't realize how popular that play is around this time of year. 

After the show we decided to wander back down to Presidents Park and see the National Tree again as well as all the surrounding trees. Around the National Tree there is a tree representing every State and Territory in the nation. Each tree is decorated by a school or class within that state. 

All around the National Tree is a huge train setup and little villages, its beautiful. We hadn't planned on going there so I didn't bring my good camera and I definitely didn't plan on it being so busy when we decided to go. This place was PACKED with people and we actually didn't have a lot of time as the place closes down at 10pm every night and they shut off all the lights. I am really glad we made it over there again and got a close up look at the tree. Washington is a great place to visit at night during the Christmas season, I have to say its no New York but its still pretty spectacular. 

I wish I could have shared more pictures but sadly during the performance at Ford Theatre you are not allowed to take any photos or videos. However I highly recommend if you have the chance, see the show! 

Thank you all for stopping in today, I am off to finish the rest of my Christmas shopping and enjoy the day before the rain comes in tomorrow! 

Catch Up & The National Tree Lighting

Well well well.. is there anyone still out there? I cant believe its been a month since I've blogged.. I don't think that has ever happened around here. If it has than its been a really long time since.

I cant really explain why I haven't been around, I just didn't feel like writing. I felt like I didn't have anything to say and forcing myself to come and write about things that I didn't care about didn't make sense. I knew that I wasn't giving up on the blog forever but I just needed some time to regroup and get to a place where I wanted to write. Truth be told I cant say that I'm there yet, wanting to be here and write all the time but I did want to catch up on a few things here because this isn't a place just to fill you in, its a place for me to document my life and have somewhere to come back and remember things.

We went home over Thanksgiving which was amazing and much needed, its hard to describe how great it is to be home to someone who gets to be home all the time. I look so forward to our time there, I feel so at peace, I sleep better.. everything just feels so much better. We decorated the house for Christmas as we are going home this year and I cant begin to tell you how excited I am for that! We actually decorated the outside of the house for the first time as well and it was so much fun. We didn't do anything too extravagant but we put up lights, garland and bows! It was so strange to be decorating the house for Christmas in shorts though. As I'm sure most of you know everywhere has been seeing unusually warm weather for quite sometime.

I love our Christmas tree at home, its big and beautiful and PERFECT!

We put up the a Christmas sign as well, and there is a wreath on the door you just cant really see it. 

We were there for 5 days which was absolutely amazing, I don't take one second of it for granted but in the end its still really hard to leave. We have been really lucky traffic wise driving to and from home which is also a huge bonus. 

Once we got back from Thanksgiving we had lots of Christmas things to look forward to around Maryland and I had high hopes that being busy would make the time fly. I cant say that has been the case but we have definitely been up to some fun stuff. I plan to share all of that with you guys in a few posts but I didn't want to start this one off with being 10 pages. 

Back in November Jason and I entered a lottery in hopes of getting tickets to the National Tree Lighting in Presidents Park DC. You cant just purchase tickets, there are so many people who want them that you had to enter the lottery and just hope. We found out that we got tickets on the 5th of December I believe and we were super excited to attend. 

After doing a little reading on the website they honestly didn't make it sound too great, so we went in with very low expectations. Jason got off work early and we headed into DC, we got a Starbucks and toured around on our way to get in line. I will have to say that their setup was actually extremely efficient and we managed to get through the line and security very quickly. Because of the recent events in California as you can imagine security was over the top, I believe there was just as many cops, military and secret service as their was civilians. The buildings surrounding Presidents Park where the lighting ceremony was held were all lined with snipers, I wont lie it was a little intense. 

While we waited for the show to start they have choirs all over singing to the crowd, it was great! It didn't seem like such a long wait when you were being entertained. It was also an absolutely beautiful day! Sadly not many of my pictures turned out because it was dark, I have a video though of Miss Piggy and Michelle Obama reading Twas the Night Before Christmas that I will try and insert! 

The ceremony was hosted by Reese Witherspoon which was really neat and there were lots of wonderful performers such as Fallout Boy, Aloe Blacc, Andra Day, Bellamy Young and my personal favorite Trombone Shorty! There were many more as well, including the Obama's which was pretty exciting. 

After the show was over we were absolutely FROZEN so we decided to walk around a bit and check out a few of the monuments in the dark before getting a late dinner. If you've never been to DC as I have said before it is absolutely amazing, and the monuments lit up at night do not disappoint. The Lincoln Memorial is still my favorite but check out the World War II Memorial lit up at night. 

The Washington Monument

I believe this hotel is called the Willard Hotel, this place is absolutely AMAZING and I want to stay there. 

We grabbed brick oven pizza before heading home and toured around DC a little. It was a really nice to just take it all in on such a beautiful night and really get into the Christmas spirit. 

So that was one of the few outings we have had recently, I plan to share a few of them with you this week. 

I hope you have all been well, and are all ready for the holiday season.. I know we sure are! 

Thank you as always for stopping in! 

Washington DC Visit October 2015

Good Afternoon!

I am seemingly behind on posting or at least as far as what I thought I had already posted. I wrote last week about our trip to Annapolis, Maryland and I thought I had also posted about the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia but apparently the latter never happened! I think I will come back later this week with that one as well as our trip this weekend to Colonial Williamsburg!

So if you were around last week you know that we went to Annapolis, Maryland and I believe I mentioned on Halloween Day we went to Washington, DC. We have been to DC before and toured around the monuments and all that good stuff, and just a few weeks ago we went into downtown DC just to go to the Gap and we did a little walking around.

If you are planning a trip to DC you should know that it really is walking friendly but there is SO MUCH to see! If you only have a few days in DC than I highly recommend spending one day using a trolley tour to make the most of your time. We used Old Town Trolley because that's the trolley company we tend to use in all places that we visit. All of the tour guides that we had were absolutely fantastic and not only is this a great time saver but you also get a ton of additional history about many buildings throughout the DC area and all the random statues and their significance.

Once you purchase your trolley tour ticket you can get on and off the trolley at your leisure at all the designated stops and spend as much time as you like at each place. I believe the trolley picks up and drops off every half hour. If you choose to only visit the places you stop on the trolley tour you will see a ton!

If you have never been to DC before, whether you are an American or not it is absolutely worth seeing! The history is amazing, there is so much to see and learn. I have been twice now to all the monuments and learned the history and I cant wait to go back again. Jason and I are planning this winter to take advantage of all the museums there and of course the Smithsonian! Visiting DC is absolutely time and money well spent!

Here are some pictures I took on our tour this most recent visit!

The buildings throughout the city are absolutely beautiful, and fall is a really wonderful time to visit! 

DC train station. 

The Capitol as you can see if surrounded my scaffolding, it has been like this since 2011 when it sustained structural damage from an earthquake, at this point they are saying it will not be completed until early 2017. 

View of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Capitol. 

One side of the Jefferson Memorial. 

U.S Marine Corps War Memorial - Iwo Jima Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

The Reflecting Pool & Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln himself! This statue is 19 feet I believe, its massive. 

During our time out in DC we noticed a TON of veterans out and about with care givers and such. It turns out they were there for a tribute at the Korean War Memorial. Most of the veterans we were seeing were from that war and were there for the tribute. It was wonderful to see all of these brave souls and thank them for their service. My grandfather served in the Korean War for the Americans, although he couldn't have been there obviously, I felt he was in spirit. 

The Korean War Memorial is absolutely amazing. 

I feel we visited at the perfect time, the weather was absolutely perfect and the area was in full autumn wonder! The colors were absolutely amazing! 

Entrance into the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. 

The White House. 

A not so fabulous Panoramic of the World War II Memorial. Jason and I have pictures we took here years ago, it was really nice to go back. 

I think the pictures speak for themselves, DC is absolutely a trip to make! I don't think you have to be an American to appreciate all it has to offer. There are a ton of places to eat there, lots of shops, basically anything you would hope for in a city you can find in DC as well as all the historical monuments and museums. All of the museums linked to the Smithsonian are also free which is pretty amazing! Everything is open 364 days a year as well, minus Christmas Day! 

If you are planning a trip to DC and have any questions I would be happy to help, as I said I highly recommend the trolley tour to maximize what you would see if you don't have a lot of time. 

I hope you all had a great weekend, thank you so much for stopping by! Although last week we had one day in the 80s our weather seems to have taken a turn and we are looking to get into some real November weather! I am currently in wool socks, a massive sweater and drinking a hot tea! 

And on that note if you are anywhere close to a Trader Joe's go and get yourself some Vanilla Cinnamon black tea, its in a blue box (I'll see if I can include a picture) because its basically like drinking a piece of cake, and it smells amazing too!! You're welcome!! 

Looks like you can purchase the tea HERE on Amazon if you don't have a Trader Joe's near by!

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Have a great day!!!