Visting Mt. Vernon!

Brian, Anthony, Maureen and Tom in the garden

Sign with Mansion in the background.

Brian, Maureen and Anthony in front of Mt. Vernon

George and Martha Washington's Tomb

Anthony and Tom inspect the tomb

Pres. Washington swearing in - Museum Exhibit

Tom and Rob hamming it up at lunch

We met our friends Maureen, Brian and their son Anthony on Sunday and visited George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon. Our friends came from Massachusetts to visit Washington, D.C. and enjoyed the musical "1776"- which they highly recommend, and toured some of the usual spots. We joined them one day for the Mt. Vernon tour - and noticed that the walking tour through the house was pretty quick. We were disappointed that it was so fast, and that the docents didn't really get to give much information about the house. 

  The museum was really informative, though, and had some nice short films of Washington's military history, Presidential history and legacy. We were disappointed that we didn't learn much about the house, the surrounding buildings, the architecture, or the gardens. Of course, it was cloudy, cool and misty in the morning. ** After the tour and the museum, which took about 2 1/2 hours we a fun lunch in Shirlington with our friend Jeff.

 

Photo Blog: Fun Margarita Friday

Last Friday we visited our favorite Mexican restaurant, and Tom loves to get a margarita to unwind (Rob doesn't drink), so we were joined by our friends Ed and Rob (we call him Rob-2) for a fun dinner. We'd like to request that Monday through Thursdays be done away with, and we just have a week of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What do you think?

Rob-2 enjoying a Margarita Friday!

Fun in Lynchburg, VA

During our week off, we drove down to Lynchburg, VA to meet our friends Tom G., Robert and Ed. We stayed at a great hotel that was once a shoe factory. We enjoyed a great dinner, breakfast and lunch, and paid respects to our other friend Ed who passed in 1996 (my Tom's late partner). We learned the Lynchburg closes up shops during Christmas week and about 80% of the stores are closed during that entire week!  It was a fun time and great to see Tom, Robert and Ed. Here are some photos- and some thanks to Robert L.

L to R: Rob, Ed, Tom, Tom and Robert in hotel lobby

L to R: Ed, Robert, Tom, Rob and Tom

Shoebox with breakfast order inside

Ed, Tom and Tom breakfasting in downtown

Craddock Terry Hotel- former shoe factory and nice place to stay!

Ed, Tom, Robert, Rob and Tom in hotel lobby

Tom and Tom at Lunch in restaurant that was a former Woolworth store downtown

Friends Visit from Mass.

Our friends Tracey, Rob and Jordan visited this week from Massachusetts. They were in town for a fireman's convention because Rob is a fireman... We've known about this for a couple of months, and got together for dinner and conversation. We met them at Baltimore's fun, wacky "Paper Moon Diner" that's loaded with crazy stuff, mannequins, toys, etc. all stuck to the ceilings, walls, and even outside! This is a fun, wacky place to eat, unique, and a MUST for all visitors!!

Outside the Paper Moon diner are bizarre mannequins!

Superhero toys are just some of what's inside

Jordan next to a HUGE pez display

The dining room where we dined!

Tracey, Rob and Jordan next to a funky mannequin

L to R: Tom, Rob,Jordan, Tracey & Rob

Our friend Phil: A Shining Star... literally

Phil is a young man, 19 years old who came to our door to promote his lawn care services last Spring. We hired him and he does the BEST job ever. Over time, we've gotten to know each other and we've talked about people we all know, religion, ghosts, God, politics, people, dogs, school, comics, tv, movies, music and more. We've grown to look at Phil as a good friend, and always look forward to seeing him. After a couple of conversations and dinners talking about what he should major in in college, he was influenced to choose Architecture- and Tom has become his mentor (and helps with homework). This weekend, he came over for dinner Sunday night and brought us a great Christmas gift- A STAR for the top of our tree. What's amazing is that he ordered it weeks ago, and we were still looking for one! What a fantastic, perfect surprise.
 After dinner we all enjoyed watching the Amazing Race on TV (and one of our fav teams won- Nat and Kat!-Yay!).

Tom, Phil, Rob

Our tree with the New Star!

Dolly Snoozes, Phil Looks on

Everyone together under the Star!

Tom Surrounded by Dachshunds: Franklin, Sprite

Catching up with Friends

Weekends aren't supposed to be all work, and every now and then we try to get it out of the way to finally enjoy time with friends. As everyone knows, life often gets in the way. This weekend, I (Rob) was determined to finally get together with friends that have been asking us for awhile! Jason and Kevin live in Washington, DC, and although we've had lunches or dinners- there's only so much you can do and say over a meal. So, this past weekend we met them in Washington, DC at the open-air Eastern Market (loaded with vendors that sell many things). The weather was perfect 75F and sunny. We got to eat a sandwich outside at a table with an umbrella, catch up on stuff, and enjoy walking around the market. I even found a bookstore and bougnt a novel about a dog (what a surprise...not). Although it was only for a couple of hours, it was a great change of pace and wonderful to catch up. Here are some pictures from that afternoon.

Fun Last Minute Picnic at Fort McHenry

This weekend we did a lot of things around the house, so when the Monday holiday (Labor Day) arrived - we had a nice breakfast outside (it was 60F at 7am!) on the back patio, then watered the new trees, did housework, walked the dogs and got a call from friends Steve and Jane who suggested a picnic @ Fort McHenry shortly thereafter! So, we gathered the dogs, treats, water, and grabbed lunch to bring. The temperature was about 85F and the cool breeze off of Baltimore Harbor made for a perfect couple of picnic hours. We also walked the dogs around the perimeter of the park and saw the new large visitor's center under construction. We posed for pictures in front of the Fort, as we have favorites taken there from 2006 and 2008. Seems like every 2 years we get great family photos taken there. This year was no exception (see below) and we got some great pictures of Jane and Steve! It made for a great and very memorable holiday.

Part 2: Friends and the American History Museum

PART 2: We met our friends Dave and Laurie and their three cool kids (visiting from Massachusetts) on Sunday and toured the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington, DC- then went on to enjoy the Smithsonian's American History Museum. Here are photos from that adventure... 1) Walking toward the front door (Tom wearing his "I can say What I'm thinking" tee shirt); 2) Tom showing Julia Child's kitchen - that was moved into the museum as a display! 3) Laurie and kids looking at Carol Burnett's drapery dress from her tv show skit/parody on the movie "Gone with the Wind." 4 & 5) Some great group shots facing the Washington Mall.

PART 1: Friends and the Old Post Office Pavillion in Washington DC

Months ago, our friends Dave and Laurie were planning a summertime visit to Washington, DC with their three kids: Nick, Matt and Emily. Tom helped them out with sights to see (he knows DC well), and the trip happened this weekend. So, we got to meet them for lunch at the Old Post Office Pavilion, where we took the elevator to the 12th floor and got some great views from the tower! Of course Tom and Rob had to take their now-famous "goofy face" photo from the tower with the Washington, DC background. There's a great family photo of Dave and Laurie and the kids in front of the bells from the Old Post Office tower here, too.
This is Part 1 of a 2 Part Blog. The second part will have pictures from our adventures in the American History Museum.
Here are the pictures from the Old Post Office Pavillion:

Movie Night: Catwoman / Surprise Visit

Tom helped a friend for the last three days with his house down in South Carolina (long story), so Rob got to watch a movie that hasn't been on Tom's "To Watch List"- Jeff came over one evening and we watched Catwoman Its a new take on Catwoman (a villianess-turned hero in the comic books) as this film depicted Catwoman as a superhero It was released by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures on July 23, 2004. This story features a completely new character, Patience Phillips, donning the Catwoman costume. The film has no ties to the Batman series other than the name "Catwoman." The film stars Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy, and Alex Borstein. It was poorly received by critics and audiences. Jeff and I thought it was "okay" and could've been better if it stuck with the original character and a less revealing costume.
On Friday evening our friends Cary and Susan surprised Rob (Tom was in SC by then) with Dunkin' Donuts coffee, donuts and muffins! What a GREAT way to start the weekend. Good friends, a surprise AND Dunkin' Donuts coffee. :)

SPCA Dog Walk/Fun Lunch!

Sunday was another warm day, so we started early to get in a fund-raising dog walk. Rob's mom decided to forego it because of the heat, so we took Dolly and Franklin and drove to the local county SPCA fund-raising dog walk in Annapolis. We walked 3.5 miles and were pretty warm by the end of it! We saw hundreds of dogs, including about 15 Dachshunds and 2 Weimaraners, one of which was a rare "blue Weimaraner" (actually more like dark blue). Here are some photos from the dog event. Because the Weimaraner breed of dog comes from Pointers I took a photo of a Pointer. There were also several big dogs, some of which were as large as ponies!






After the dog walk, we cleaned up, picked Rob's mom up and met our friend Jill, her daughter Kelli and her brother's boyfriend Allen at Friendly's for a really fun lunch. We all posed for some pictures outside in the heat. Kelli is such an awesome girl, and Rob's Godchild. She just one a full scholarship and we're so proud and excited for her!! Here's a photo of Tom and I cutting up with Kelli.