Out of This World

(The work week is tough on Dex)

Our work week routine was thrown off a little this week when Ben received a couple free movie screening tickets to Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. There has been a fair amount of hype and Oscar buzz around this movie.  We were excited to see it for a number of reasons that include, but are not limited to the following:

 

(1) It is about baseball.  You may remember such baseball movies as The Natural, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and Major League I (Major League II to a lesser extent and you probably would rather not remember Major League III: Back to the Minors).  

(Even Mo likes baseball)

(2) Ben had read the book several years ago and enjoyed it.  

(3) The author of the book also wrote The Blind Side. (Did you see that coming?)

(4) The screen writer also penned Charlie Wilson's War, The American President, much of The West Wing, and A Few Good Men. (Can you handle that truth?)

(5) Did we mention it is about baseball?  You may also remember such baseball movies as The Sandlot and The Bad News Bears (the original, not the Billy Bob Thorton remake from a few years ago).

(Some people believe George Washington fought against the British

 because of his belief that baseball was superior to cricket.) 

(6) It was free! (Movie tickets are $14 out here.)

 

The previous list adds up to a recipe for increased expectations, which generally leads to bitter dissapointment.  Overall, it was a solid movie,  and the actors did a great job.  There are quite a few funny lines, but it also felt slow at times and it certainly could have been shorter.  On a whole, we would say wait for it on DVD. 

 

Thursday Kelly took one small step for her passion for NASA and a giant leap for all space geeks. 

Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan testified before the Science, Space and Technology committee during a hearing about the status of NASA. 

(So uhh, you take a right at the ozone layer and then the moon is the big thing right in front of you. 

Seriously, you can't miss it.  If you get to Venus or Mars, you went too far.)

Kelly was fortunate to spend 15 minutes or so with Mr. Armstrong before the hearing began. He was going to show a video during the hearing and wanted to go over it beforehand. Kelly stood alongside him has he narrated the video of his decent to the moon on Apollo XI.  Kelly has read numerous books and documentaries regarding that decent, but hearing his perspective as they got closer to the moon was an unreal experience. I asked Mr. Armstrong when how close they were to aborting once he took over manual control the lunar module? Some of you might not know that the LM was running low on fuel because there original landing site turned out to be to rocky to land. Instead Neil took manual controls and flew the LM past the large crater to a more ideal landing sight. That additional flight time burn extra fuel and when they landed they only had 30 seconds of fuel left. This was the basis for my question. He answered with “it was a possibility when we saw the original landing sight, but after I took control we were at too low of an altitude to abort.” The hearing was looooonnnngg, but very good and beneficial for the committee.

 

Friday was another  busy day on the hill for Kelly. Congressman Costello took her and a few other people on a “members only” tour of the Capitol Dome.

(The view from the top of the debt ceiling.)

You can only access this part of the Capitol if you are a member of Congress or their guest. We headed up the first flight of stairs with no problem. That is when things got interesting. The ascent to the top is only accessible by what is essentially a ladder. You have to climb straight up and wind around until you reach this large steel door. Once we got the door open we were seemingly on top of the world, or at least Washington D.C. There is a district regulation that no building can be taller than the Capitol, so we were able to see the entire city and Arlington. Unfortunately, it was rainy, but it still was a great view.

 

(Even with the rain, Ben thinks the view is great.)

We decided on Saturday to vist the Spy Museum, which is a museum dedicated to espionage and the art of intelligence gathering. We have wanted to vist the museum for a while, however it is not free. We stumbled on  ½ priced tickets a few weeks back and thought it was reasonable enough to take a look. 

(We weren't certain, but it felt like someone was watching us at the Spy Museum.)

It was amusing and we are glad we went, but can’t say we would recommend it.   There are 20 museums in D.C. that are much better and free.

 

Sunday was a great day for Kelly. She achieved her goal of not leaving the house and basically doing nothing. Ben was on pace for the same outcome, but had to attend a conference in Arlington for work. 

After he returned, he got to work in the Kitchen. Upon Kelly’s request, he tried a new recipe for french onion soup. He even made homemade sourdough bread for the soup. The soup is fairly simple, but required us to chop four large onions, resulting in uncontrollable tears.  Ben assumed Kelly's tears were simply out of pure joy.   

All Caught Up

Monday was brutal. The day dragged on like most Monday's do.  At Ben's office, it was not even an easy day to use the restroom.

(Follow up on this emergency -  While specifics are only being provided by building management on a need to know basis, the bathroom now has one less toilet.)

However, on Kelly's walk home, she ran into a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on the back steps of the Capitol. The Senate and House of Representatives came together in a similar to how they did on 9/11/01 to have a tribute to all the victims. They even sang "God Bless America" like they did 10 years ago.

Kelly had a few hearings this week.  Below you can see Kelly hard at work.

(Kelly is on the far right.)

The remainder of the week was uneventful and continued to work for the weekend. Friday night was our softball team pep rally for the playoffs at Nellie's Sports Bar on U street. We foolishly attempted to drive up to U street and was once again was reminded that we weren't in Jefferson City anymore. With NO parking for what was seemingly miles, Ben decided to just run and get our new fancy playoff uniforms and head back home. 

(Ryan (above) was responsible for our sponsorship and new uniforms.  We were just glad that jean shorts are optional.)

Saturday was the playoffs for our softball league. The culmination of 15 weeks of tough games and an entire summer of Ben's analysis of team strategy. The temperature had dropped into the mid 60's with some light rain. Kelly had her game face on and was ready to lead the team to the 2nd round.

Things started off well. With two runners on, Ben hit a bases clearing triple. Kelly followed his at bat with a opposite field single, scoring Ben from third. We posted 5 runs in the first inning and felt good about our chances. We traded runs with the "Great Lakers" for the next few innings and took a 3 run lead into the top of the 7th. After a couple base hits and a triple we had a one run lead with 2 outs. With bases loaded and two outs, we walked the next batter. To make things worse, in this league if you walk a male batter and a female is on deck, the male batter gets to go to second and the female on deck can go to first. The Great Lakers scored two runs on the walk and took a two run lead into the bottom of the 7th. Unfortunately, we were unable to rally and went in order to finish the game and our season.

(This picture was taking before our collective souls were crushed.  Luckily there is next year.)

While we were devastated for the entire walk to our car, we managed to recover in time to salvage a great Saturday. We watched some college football and relaxed before heading to Maryland for some Target/Marshalls/JC Penny shopping. We took it easy Saturday night and did some cooking for Sunday.


Sunday was very relaxing. We took the dogs for a walk on a very crisp morning in D.C. We watched a couple episodes of our netflix show of the moment, "Sons of Anarchy". Ben is much fonder of the show than Kelly, but it gives her the latitude to take care of other business without worrying about missing anything. After a delicious bowl of healthy/low calorie chili, we headed to Eastern Market for some produce and perusing of the various vendors. We made it back in time to watch a few football games and take care of life chores. Overall, a low key excellent weekend, we look forward to the next one.

(We had to put at least one dog pic on this post.)

Fashionably Late

A series of occurrences (primarily laziness/spacing out watching TV) prevented this post from appearing midweek.  Last weekend was supposed to be occupied with the season ending softball tournament.  Unfortunately Tropical Storm Lee drenched the greater DC area the entire week.  This made for both a rough work week - slogging back and forth on foot/mass transiting in the rain.  Also, this made it a rough (or ruff for you pun fans) week for Mo, who despite her time on the streets has turned into a spoiled little princess.  Mo does not like to take care of business with any hint of a storm in the air. 

(Mo's princess like behavior kept her from Meeting Bill Clinton with Dexter.)

With the tournament officially postponed, our weekend schedule was wide open.  Saturday morning started off slow until we heard on the news that the “Newseum” was free admission this weekend. We had wanted to visit the museum for months, however the $21.99+tax admission fee had kept us away. 

The Newseum is dedicated to the history of the news, press and the 1^st amendment. 

It was very interesting and it was easy to get lost in the generations of historic events.  It was amazing to realize how much you forget or never knew about events as they happened. 

Even events in recent memory like Hurricane Katrina, seeing the pictures and a selection of coverage were startling reminders of what the devastation looked like.  

On a whole, the Newseum is very cool and worth a visit. Though it is worth mentioning that the news has a tendency to be kind of depressing and so taking in 100 years of major disasters/tragedies in an hour or two can be a lot.  Luckily, there is a gift shop on every floor for visitors to purchase plush microphones and other trinkets to turn the frown upside down on any aspiring TV news anchor.  

(Uhhh, actually this was Saturday.)

After the Newseum, we attempted to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, but was deterred by massive traffic due to a combination of visitors and security for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and cyclists that were setting up for the Nations Capitol Triathlon.

Content that we had done something useful with our day, we went back and got the dogs and took them for a long walk in the sunshine that finally had returned.  Mo was particularly (or barticularly if you are ridiculous) pleased to be free to go about her business.

Our feature film for Saturday night was Lincoln Lawyer, staring Matthew McConaughey and Marisa Tomei. It was full of twists and turns and overall was decent entertainment for the evening.

Sunday was 9/11, so we watched some of the memorial coverage and discussed how fast the past decade has went. We proceeded with a few life chores and welcomed back the NFL season. Unfazed by the threats of a terrorists attacks we decided to complete our mission of visiting the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. 

We parked along the Potomac river and walked along the Tidal basin until we reached the MLK jr. memorial. It is a great venue for a memorial. It sits right on the basin, looking straight at the Thomas Jefferson memorial. The memorial includes a 30 ft statue of MLK and a plaza full of historic quotes and speeches engraved on beautiful stone walls.

We sat along the basin’s edge for awhile as the sunset.  We continued our walk along the Tidal Basin under the hundreds of cherry blossom trees and highly anticipate next spring when the trees are in bloom. The sun had set, but the sky remained lit by a full moon over the Jefferson memorial. We took a seat  and enjoyed the the view for a few minutes, until we realized it was after dark in a DC park and we should head for safety.  

As we headed back, we stopped at FDR’s memorial just as they turned on the lights. FDR’s memorial is full of great waterfalls that became illuminated as we walked past. 

And that brought our weekend to an end.  What happened after that?  You'll just have to check back in to find out.  

On The Road Again...

We apologize for the delinquent blog post, but we were busy generating material to write about.  As you can imagine, such time is crucial to providing you (the reader) with top quality  blog material.  Without adequate time to generate material, we are forced to just put up absurd dogs pictures like the one below. 

(That is what we call a Mo'stache)

We could also provide clippings out of the newspaper that we think you (the reader) might find interesting or amusing.

(If you are on our Xmas/Hanukkah list and have a particular commitment to hygiene, please forget you saw this.)

Instead of lowering ourselves to that level, we grabbed this blog by the horns and drove halfway across the country for you (the reader) and for us (the writers).  With the car loaded up, we headed for Sparta.

(This is not our car, but just a little piece of the Americana you can see on our nation's highways.)

After a few wrong turns and a few curse words at our GPS we were on our way.  Since moving to DC, our highway time has been cut down dramatically.  We were excited to get out on the road and seek out the type of amazing gas station/truck stop that is not found in cities.

The dogs were also excited to get to ride in the car and enjoy all the sights. 

(Mo's future is so bright that she wears sunglasses at night - though this picture was taken during the day.)

(To really experience this video, you need volume.)

The drive wasn’t terrible and 13 hours later, we arrived in Sparta a little before 2:00am.

Kelly was so excited to see her niece and nephew that she woke up just 3 hours later to stalk them at their house. They had grown soooo much and are at such a fun age.

(How could you be more fun than this?)

Their smiles and giggles are addicting and the anticipation of their first crawl kept us on our toes.

(Kelly judging Mo and Layla's staring contest.)

After Ben finished a reasonable nights sleep, he too was excited to see the babies.

We travelled with them and much of the family to the county courthouse to get our marriage license.  The probability that the days prior to the wedding will be hectic motivated us to check as many things off the list as possible on this trip.  The babies created a great deal of excitement and chaos wherever we went.  Being Ben’s first time to Chester IL, we made sure to give him a tour of the sights including the Popeye statue and the Menard State Penitentiary.

(Popeye was serving 3-5 years for possessing unlicensed firearms - check out that gun show.)

Back in Sparta, we went up to the high school to see some of the volleyball team’s practice. Kelly’s Dad and sister were doing some serious coaching when we arrived and were nice enough to let Kelly participate in one of the serving drills. Unfortunately I was unable to recapture my glory days of the 1996 6^th grade v-ball team and in fact she was somewhat embarrassed.  Ben tries to pretend volleyball doesn't exist.

After a nice family dinner we all headed up to the high school football game. The heat combined with the lopsided score sent up home in the 2^nd quarter.  After the game, we headed out to visit some friends and to celebrate Sparta’s lone touchdown in their bid to avoid the shutout. We had a great time catching
up with the going’s on of Sparta, but the highlight for Ben was his new friend Leon.

Mitch & Sarah’s bulldog gave him a run for his money, but Ben couldn’t stay away from Leon’s big ole head.

(It is not just Leon's eyes that look crazy.)

On Saturday Ben headed to St. Louis to take care of a few things and visit with his grandpa and his friend Sam.

Kelly stayed at the house and did some wedding stuff, but mostly just hung out with the family. Her friend Sam stopped by for a visit with her daughter Laney. We got to catch up and chase Laney around for the afternoon. For awhile it felt like we didn’t live 1000 miles away. It was a few nice days of old friends and family and enjoying the relaxed pace of the Midwest.

Sunday was Jaxon and Layla’s baptism at the church. They were perfect during the ceremony and didn’t make a peep throughout the service.

Afterwards we had a big lunch for friends and family. The menu was a preview for the wedding and was a big hit. After lunch we stuck around to talk to Pastor Scott, who is officiating our wedding. He asked us why we were getting married, how we resolve fights, future goals etc and then we discussed the order of events for the big day. Once we got his stamp of approval we headed home to enjoy the beautiful afternoon. The temperature had dropped 20 degrees and turned to fall overnight. The babies stayed at the house all day and late into the evening before we helped get them ready for bed. Kelly got to “supervise” Jaxon and Lalya’s bath for the first time and give them their bottle before bed time. It was fun to see how much they have grown and how much their routine has changed since we saw them last.

(This was last time.)

Monday we had a big labor day BBQ and celebrated the holiday in style. Lots of eating, napping and throwing the football around. Kelly, Abbey and Katie outlined the reception area of the backyard and mapped out where the tables, band and dance floor will be. There are several wedding skeptics in the family that doubt the yard can host a wedding, however Kelly thinks that the charming atmosphere will overcome any deficiencies it might have.  If not, everyone will be distracted by the mosquitoes anyway. Hopefully we will prove them wrong, but nonetheless it will be an adventure. The day was fading and the daunting task of driving back to D.C. in the morning was settling in. We started packing the car so we could depart promptly at 6am the next morning.

We were on the road at 6am CST, but only made it 45 minutes before stopping at McDonald's for coffee and breakfast. Of course because of the coffee stop, we subsequently had to stop an hour later to take a bathroom break. Not a good start. We then foolishly grabbed a couple of fountain sodas for the road. It was a vicious cycle of beverages and bathroom breaks. Our next stop was in Kentucky for the dogs to get a break from the car.

We all stretched our legs and then committed to getting near Charleston, WV before breaking for a late lunch. We tracked down a Chick-fil-a and enjoyed a chicken sandwich before getting back on the road again.

This is where the fun stopped. We were about to make the biggest error in GPS history. In order to preserve the privacy of the offender, we will not name names.  And really, there is plenty of blame to go around - that includes Mo and Dexter.

(Just because they look cute, doesn't mean they know how to get back to DC.) 

The individual in the passenger seat was re-calculating the GPS to DC. In doing so, said person answered yes to the question “avoid toll roads?”. This action took us off of I-64 and diverted into what is
kindly referred to as “Banjo Country” in West Virginia.

(Where is that music coming from?)

At first it was annoying to be on a one lane road but at least it was a very scenic road. It quickly escalated to a collection of hairpin turns, 20 mph zones, and roads that had no paint on them and resembled driveways.

(Is that the Washington Monument just over the hill?)

We continued to faithfully follow the GPS from back road to back road. After approximately 2 hours and 6 miles later, we found our way back to I-64. Some of you may ask, Ben and Kelly weren’t you on I-64? The answer is Yes.  To make matters worse, we ran into a severe storm system that followed us the remaining 200 miles to DC. We finally arrived at our apartment at 10:15 EST, a mere 15 hrs 15 min after leaving Sparta.

It was back to reality on Wednesday.  We'll tell you about that tomorrow or the next day.  If not, well at least put up some more pictures of the dogs.