Heat Wave

Sunday was smokin hot. We refused to go outside unless forced by 1. the dogs need to relieve themselves or 2.bbq. We took the dogs to the dog park in the morning until Dexter approached cardiac arrest. There were 9 dogs at the park which led to mass confusion when trying to play "fetch".

Sunday we headed over to NW D.C. for a bbq at a friends house. While directions to Debbie's house seemed oh so simple on google maps, it proved to be quite complicated. After evaluating our mistakes, we figured out that after coming off the Metro, we went the complete wrong direction. A few things to note: A. it was 101degrees out, B.Debbie lives in a nice area, however we went in the wrong direction of said area, and proceeded into the not so nice area of Columbia Heights, C. Kelly wore shoes appropriate for a bbq, not for a marathon type walk. Once we reached Debbie's the bbq was great. Ben and I competed in a croquet match against folks we never met.


(Kelly wishing she could use a 9-iron in croquet)

  Much to the despair of our new friends, Ben used any means necessary to come out on top (and did - "If you are not first your last" -Ricky Bobby).
After the bbq, we decided to head to the National Mall for the Memorial Day concert on the Capitol Steps. We were much too late to get a seat, but it was a great walk down the mall at night. As we walked around the Capitol we listened to the Marine Corps Band. Another 10 blocks and 6 blisters on Kelly's feet and we were home.

Memorial Day was hot. So hot there was a heat advisory. We did our best to avoid the weather and stayed indoors. Later that evening, once the sun was setting, we decided to go pay our respects at Arlington National Cemetery.
 It was an impressive sight to see an American flag in front of each grave stone.



 Due to the time of day, there weren't many people at the cemetery, which was nice and peaceful. If anyone wants to go to the cemetery on a future visit, we highly recommend going either earlier in the morning or later in the evening. We stopped by President Kennedy's grave . It was covered with American flags and roses. President and Mrs. Obama had stopped by earlier that day and placed a wreath on the Kennedy's graves.

We headed up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. There was no one else around and we got to see the guard pacing back and forth in total solitude.

We hung out there until the guard notified that the park was closed. After the cemetery, we made our first venture into Arlington for a few groceries from Whole Foods and a slurpee from 7-11.

Once back at the apartment, Ben did some cooking for the week and Kelly mourned the end of the 3 day weekend. While it went too fast, it was an enjoyable few days in DC. The only thing better would have been getting to go to Mom and Dad's retirement party. I guess that is the price of fame, but it can be weird to see family pictures and not be in them. Hopefully the fam will be making a trip out to D.C. in a few weeks! We have already started to plan the itinerary, specifically the cuisine.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

On his bus ride to work the other day Ben was startled by a large costumed George Washington walking across the street in a Nationals jersey.  Luckily, other riders saw this and so Ben knew that it was not the result of bad cream cheese on his morning bagel.  A few blocks later a similar Abe Lincoln mascot was crossing the street.

                                                           (Honestly, that is Abe Lincoln)

What did all this mean?  It meant that the Nationals were back from a road trip. It also meant that it was Nationals time!

Today Kelly and Ben went to see the Nationals try to defend the home field against the San Diego Padres. We were nervous about our ability to procure tickets as this was a fierce battle between two last place teams known to have fair weather fan bases.  As we approached the stadium, a gentleman offered to save us the trip to the ticket window.  For $7.50 each, we managed to get in the door.

(Despite the mustache binky, this kid got carded for beer.)  

Conveniently, many of the Washington faithful did not show up and so we were able to relocate to premium seats.

  (These two thought Super Dave was going to make an appearance.)

Nationals Park is not the greatest stadium in the majors.  This is especially true amongst the newer stadiums.  It is not bad, but it just lacks any real defining architectural characteristics. There are a few good views if you walk around the stadium.

(just to the right of the Capitol is an impressive parking garage)

What Nationals Park lacks in design (and honestly quality of baseball - more on that below) it makes up for with an impressive dedication to ballpark cuisine. 

 ("so here is what I am thinking, we take a hotdog and put chili on it")

 (actually, they also do a macaroni & cheese dog - on the left)

 (Kelly loves chili dogs - Ben loves taking pictures of Kelly eating chili dogs)

If you have made it this far, you may be wondering why we are only now getting to the game itself.  Well, that is because it was somewhat of a snoozer with a 2-1 win for the Padres.  The highlight for fans was the Presidential Mascot race which Abe Lincoln won easily.  He even taunted Washington and Madison by falling backwards through the finish line tape.  Teddy Roosevelt was too far behind to even be taunted.  This may have been due to his childhood asthma (if you have not read David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, note that he spends many many chapters on this).

The game itself was highlighted for the Nationals by Lance Nix who threw out a runner at home from left field and added a solo home run.  As Cardinals fans, Kelly and I enjoyed seeing former Cards Rick "The Rick" Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick. 

(Rick reminded us about how he used to strikeout for the Cards too - in this instance with the game on the line)

We also got to see Southern Illinois University's own Jerry Hairston Jr., who didn't seem to have the juice on this day and was unable to pump up the Nationals to victory.

The most enjoyable part of the game was when reliever Todd Coffey took the mound.  As he sprinted from the bullpen, a stopwatch appeared on the scoreboard next to the words "Coffey Time."  We arent sure about the origins of this but it is probably because Mr. Coffey's weight is higher than his ERA.

(and this is why baseball will always be America's past time)

After the game, we headed home for a lazy evening at home.  Tomorrow we will be attending a bbq or two and possibly the Memorial Day concert on The Mall (which will air live on PBS).  Will we be there?  We don't know yet.  You'll just have to read the next post to find out.

Go crazy folks, go crazy!!!



You guessed it, we won our game last night. While we had less talent, fewer players and less beer than the other team, we managed to grind out a hard fought victory. Ben, the unanimous MVP, had 2 homeruns and added his12th straight hit. His 3-run homerun in the top of the 7th inning put the Asses in position to claim the win. If your wondering about Kelly's offense, well you gonna have to keep waiting. She continues a slump that is so deep she will need a bobcat to dig her way out and it is only her solid defense that keeps her on the roster.

Team shot with the White House in the background




The team decided to celebrate the victory with a beer. We headed up 17th, around the White House and ended up at Blackfins. We had a great time celebrating and hanging with the team. While we are not big drinkers, the special was a beer fountain so we had to join in. We are considering these for wedding reception centerpieces. What do you think Abbey?

(Beer fountain)

Great view of the WH on the walk from bar

Looking forward to the long weekend in the city. Hopefully we will make it to a Nationals baseball game and then enjoy a few bbq's on memorial day.

Report from the trenches of work

With Ben and Kelly now both on full time job duty, blogging has taken a little bit of a back seat.  Mo and Dexter regret their general confusion about the qwerty keyboard and their inability to contribute. 

Week two at work has been good so far for Ben.  He is starting to get more of the acronyms down, which helps to abbreviate the day.  Other observations from the daily grind are:

1. That it is funny to see so many commuters wearing flip flops in transit presumably because they are more comfortable than the dress shoes people plan to wear at the office.  A jammed escalator in the metro the other day did show some of the dangers of this.  Also, people who sport the mohawk/suit combo may be rare, but seem interesting.

2. The people in Ben's office building seem to be very busy.  So busy infact that multiple people were seen reading at the urinal last week.  One guy was reading his mail and the other a blackberry.  The guy reading the blackberry was not a hand washer.  If you are not a hand washer, know that others are watching. While it is no excuse, the hand soap in the building doesn't smell great.

3. Ben has set a few personal records.  The first was wearing a tie five days in a row last week.  Also, with three days this week, that makes 8/10 days.  Which leads to the point that when water on the edge of the sink soaks your tie, it is annoying.

Kelly has been thrown into world of Capitol Hill. It has taken some adjusting, including how to get into and out of the building. In case of an emergency, Kelly is screwed. So far, it has taken no less than 3 attempts at finding an appropriate exit.

The pros of working on the Hill: learning the legislative process, working near/in the Capitol building, working with the Congressman and the presence of 3 cafeterias including a fountain soda machine(with diet Pepsi) in the building.

The cons: large/confusing/overwhelming buildings and elevators, no time to do personal stuff at work and not being able to have lunch everyday with Ben.

Get ready sports fans, tomorrow is game day. We take on "cold hard cash" on the national mall. We will blog the results,including pics.


Didn't have much picture-worthy stuff happen this week, so we thought we would post some pics of the dogs.

 (Even Mo knows hand washing is important)

 (Dex and Mo not blogging)

(1st DC ice cream.  If it tasted different, they did not complain.)

(What the house is like when Ben and Kelly are at work)

Preakness Stakes

We decided to head up to Baltimore, MD for the 136th running of the Preakness. Neither of us are horse racing fans, but it is one of those things we thought we should attend. This may come as a surprise to many readers, but we headed to Baltimore with no plan of attack. As we approached the city, we became aware of our gross miscalculation of time, strategy, and interest in attending the event. We sucked it up and made our way through one of Baltimore's more questionable neighborhoods. Unfortunately, we were almost out of gas and had to stop. On the brighter side, the gas station was located across the street from "HipHop Fish and Chicken".

If you ever watched the show "The Wire," Pimilico race course appears to be in the general area that was primarily featured.  After finding a place to park, we made our way into the track.  It was quite a spectrum of people attending this event. There were folks dressed to kill with fancy hats and seersucker suits along with people with no shirt or shoes on. Ben sported his light blue tuxedo t-shirt in a quest to be classy but let people know he is ready to party. To our surprise, he was not the only one in such a shirt.  Would you believe we saw two other people in light blue tuxedo t-shirts? Honestly, we would not believe it if we had not seen it with our own eyes.

 

Our general observation of horse racing is a whole lot of drinking interrupted by a few min of racing. It seemed like everyone around us was stumbling drunk off the official drink of the Preakness which is known as the "black-eyed Susan", whatever that is.

 After Ben placed our bets,we sipped on Diet Pepsi and enjoyed a crab cake sandwich while we waited for the Preakness Stakes race to begin.



"Hi, umm I'd like to throw this money away"







The Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom prior to the race



The minutes leading up to the race were electric. People were really excited, some of which had been there since the gates open at 8am. Horse racing is literally the worst sport to see in person, but the environment made it worthwhile. As the horses turned for the homestretch, Animal Kingdom (Kentucky Derby Winner) made his charge. As the horses passed us the second time, just 1/8 mile from the finish, people were going nuts. Shackleford edged out Animal Kingdom and Astrology. Unfortunately for us, we bet on Astrology to win it all.  Apparently it was not in the stars for us to make money off this race.

Shackleford to the far right, Animal Kingdom in the middle and Astrology on the left

It had been a long day out in the sun and we were happy to get home and spend the evening with the dogs. Netflix has struck again, this time in the form of the show "Glee". We watched way too many episodes before calling it a night.



Ben's Bday

Since moving to Washington DC, public transportation has become an important part of our lives.  Particularly, Ben's this week as he commutes to and from work.

Ranking Ben's Bus Trips to Work (sad, but true)
1. Wednesday - The 3rd day was the charm. Not too early, not too late, plenty of seating.
2. Monday - Day 1 means I left too early, but plenty of room and low traffic.
3. Thursday - Had to wait for a while to be picked up. Got a seat, but crowded.
4. Tuesday - Bus was running behind.  Heavy traffic.  Stood for 30 minutes.

Ranking Ben's Bus Trips from Work to Home - As a favor to our readers, we will save this for a later post.  If all three of you are really good readers, we'll forget about it all together.

Ben's week has been largely filled by the new job.  Lots of calls, meetings, reading and more. 

Kelly continued to enjoy her freedom this week by visiting the National Arboretum and Arlington National Cemetery. We (Kelly and the dogs) started off the morning at the arboretum and enjoyed all the peace and quiet it had to offer. It felt like I was taking a hike back home. It was a little piece of So. IL or Mid-Mo right in the middle of D.C. The dogs enjoyed the park as well and 'claimed' as much territory as possible during the 3 mile hike. Kelly dropped the dogs off and then headed over to Arlington to take a stroll through the National Cemetery. It is a very moving experience to see all the graves and reading when and where they served. There were a few that served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, what true heroes.

I also got the opportunity to see the changing of the guard.

Today was Ben's birthday.  As many of you know, 33 is the new 32.  The weather cooperated and allowed Ben to play softball on his birthday for the 4th year in a row.  The forecast called for thunderstorms, but they held off and we had a gorgeous evening on the Mall.

The Asses (see the earlier post for the origins of our team name) were victorious for the 2nd week in a row.  Coincidentally, this was Ben and Kelly's 2nd week.  Kelly had a stellar defensive night split between 1st and 2nd base.  Also, she added an impressive triple at the plate.  Ben stood around at 3rd base with little action.  This was probably for the best though because it allowed him to catch his breath after his 3-3 (2 homeruns, 1 double) performance at the plate.  It was a lot of running and Ben is not as young as he used to be - literally.

Ben's favorite restaurant in D.C. is "Ben's Chili Bowl". Its not exactly his favorite food in D.C., but it does have his name in the title which automatically sends it right to the top of his list. To honor both Ben's name and Ben's chili bowl, Kelly got him a "Ben's Chili Bowl" apron for his birthday.

Ben started his job this week and there has been some adjusting. Setting an alarm, keeping a schedule and habitually attending work have all been recent developments. Prepare for exciting tales of commuting on the bus in future posts.  Day 1 was pretty smooth.  Day 2 seemed to be more hectic on the bus.  The jury is still out on the overall experience. 

Kelly doesn't start work until next monday and has been enjoying her last week of freedom. She went down to the Library of Congress yesterday and got her "research" card. This allows her into the main reading room and access to the entire library. She spent about an hour there just sitting in the room and looking around in awe. Mr. Stegmann, you would have been in heaven. So many old books about old people, right up your alley.

Mo and Dex don't have much to report. They still like to eat(sort of - though much more so if it is people food), sleep (as frequently as possible) and poop (well, if you have read this blog, you know).

Congrats Dad on a wonderful coaching career. You passion for coaching is an example for all of us and you have impacted the lives of so many people through your years in athletics. You have been a great leader, outstanding coach and the excellent father all at the same time. Enjoy retirement and being a fulltime grandpa. Sparta athletics won't be the same without you.

We headed downtown yesterday to check out the National Archives. While the line was filled with 4 million 4th-8th graders, the wait was worth it. We got to see the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The exhibit was crowded and noisy, we look forward to coming back during the fall or winter to spend more time looking around. 

All jazzed up on American History, we decided to stop by the Capitol and see if we could get a walk-up ticket for a tour. Fortunately we snagged a couple of tickets without having to wait long. The tour took us into the Rotunda and the old House of Representatives chamber.

(This is (a) the ceiling in the Capitol Rotunda or (b) our apartment -- you vote)

We learned a few fun facts and enjoyed the two areas of the Capitol we were privy to, however overall we were disappointed. We figured we would be able to see some functioning part of the building. After the tour we wandered over to the Library of Congress. To our pleasant surprise, the Library of Congress was awesome. It was such an impressive building, filled with beautiful artwork, mosaics, and intricate carvings. We highly recommend visiting the L.O.C., if you are in town

.

(Library of Congress)

We watched the movie "Blue Valentine" last night. It had some Oscar nominations so we figured we would give it a try. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either, not much happened. The actors were good, but overall, we recommend giving it a pass.

It is Sunday so of course "it's meet the press". After watching Newt throw his hat in the Presidential race, we headed to Eastern Market for some produce and treats. It was a beautiful morning/afternoon, with the sun making it a little on the warm side. We grabbed a shrimp po'boy from a vendor and then picked out some good produce for the week. Now this is Ben's domain, he is in charge of all food related decisions. While Ben picks out the produce, Kelly focuses on trying as many free samples as possible. Before leaving we stopped by the bakery for our treat of the day. Kelly had a cannoli that was out of this world. It was one of those treats that you grieve once it is gone.

 



(Eastern Market)



(Ben's wedding band search is over)

(puffer fish)

Thats is it for Sunday. After the market, we watched a little NBA playoff action and called it a weekend. Ben starts his new J-O-B tomorrow,bringing to a close our "vacation".

We saw some interesting/beautiful yards in the neighborhood, thought we would share...

(Wildlife - DC style)

(Kelly looking for bees)

(Random bear in our neighbor's yard -- we really think this speaks for itself) 

Citzens arrest on Hill Country BBQ

It is a small miracle that this blog post was written. We have been sucked pretty far down into the '24' season 8 vortex. Also, Ben has been taking breaks to obsessively paint a dresser we picked up.



(just 7 coats to go)

Shockingly, we managed to leave the house (and 24) for over half the day. This is even more surprising because it was overcast and drizzly today. It was the first day since we arrived that the weather has not been perfect.

The so-so weather did, however, make for an excellent day to visit a few of DC's many fabulous museums. That said, the real driving force behind our departure was a desire to try a barbecue establishment that came recommended by one of our new friends from softball.

As many of you probably know, we are pretty passionate about quality bbq. We have generally conceded that DC would not be able to match the bbq we had become accustomed to in the past couple years, but were hoping this would be a good tip. Spoiler alert - we got burned.
It is tempting to go on a long rant about this and had we written this a few hours ago, that is what you would be reading. Instead, we will simply ask the readers of this blog to boycott Hill Country BBQ in DC. If we stick together, the readers of this blog can keep as many as 7-8 people from traveling across the country to this establishment.

Luckily from the depths of a disappointing dining experience rose a nice afternoon courtesy of two Smithsonian Museums (The American Portrait Gallery and the Air & Space Museum).

The Portrait Gallery was pleasant and has a collection that ranges from historic portraits of past presidents and first ladies to contemporary and modern art collections.


(contemporary portrait of Bill Clinton not inhaling)


      (Martin Van Buren I presume? )

The real treat of the afternoon was the Air and Space Museum. For those of you who don't know, Kelly is a space nerd and was like a kid in a candy store. This museum was outstanding. There were several used Apollo spacecrafts, including Friendship 7, Apollo 15 command module, Apollo 11 command module(1st lunar landing) and an unused Lunar module. (Feel free to comment and take a guess as to who wrote that last sentence.  Hint: not Mo) It was awesome to be so close to something so historic. That's what makes the Smithsonian museums so wonderful, they let everyone be apart of history. We were able to walk in a building and see and touch artifacts that have defined our country's history.  One such item was a moon rock that people were encouraged to touch.  Unfortunately, with no hand sanitizer in sight, Ben had to take a pass on touching the moon rock.  While in some ways this was a blow, it kind of just looked like a piece of glass and not worth risking the e. coli  no doubt residing on the unwashed hands of the throngs of 8th graders on class trips to the museum.


 

reflection in the heat shield (too hot to handle, too cold to hold)

After the museums, we went home and Ben added more paint to the dresser and finally, finally we finished season 8 of 24 and were freed to fully resume our lives. Who knows what we might do tomorrow -- the possibilities are endless. One thing that will never be a possibility is going back to Hill Country for BBQ (or at least having to pay for it ourselves). Not to belabor the point, but we want to reiterate to anyone who is considering opening a bbq joint, just because you put "country" in the name of the restaurant, put up signs that have "y'all" in them, and play country music doesn't give you the authority to serve BBQ.