Weekend getaway

As you all know, Kevin and I will be celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary on Tuesday. In honor of that, we decided to get away together for the weekend. Originally we were going to go to NYC since (gasp) Kevin has never been there before! Unfortunately, it didn't work out for this weekend, but we plan on doing it some other time. Instead, we took a 3 hour drive up to McHenry, Maryland to a resort called Wisp resort. Wisp is known for it's ski slopes during the winter, but during the summer, they do a lot of outdoor adventure activities. It is located on an amazing lake called Deep Creek Lake. (Those from this area will know it). We had a great weekend together and already want to go back during the winter to ski, and to continue what we were doing this summer. So, Friday we got in later because I had to work, so we didn't have much time for activities. That night we went out to eat at a steak restaurant and just toured the area. Saturday we were going to go fly fishing, but it had rained the night before (a lot) and the water levels were too high to fish. So, we went to the local state park (Swallow Falls) and did some hiking and swimming in the water falls. I learned my balance is not as good as it should be (as I was trying to step from rock to rock in the water, I fell between the two). We both love to hike trails and be around water, so it was a perfect day for us. That night we went to a Santa Fe style restaurant with views of the lake and slopes. Today we did our favorite activity of the weekend. We rented a motor boat for 4 hours and rode around the lake. Kevin did the driving (even though I got a temporary license as well) while I enjoyed the sun and read my book, and unfortunately got a little sunburned. It was well worth it. Kevin kept stopping the boat to jump off and swim around the lake. I have pictures that I will post later this week. The lake is huge, so we didn't even cover all areas in the four hours. A lot of people were tubing, skiing, swimming, etc on the lake. It make Kevin and I want to get a lake house for a summer getaway. However, when we go to the beach we say the same thing about that...we want a beach house. I guess we should get a house here first! :-) So, if anyone is looking f or a weekend getaway, Deep Creek Lake is a nice place to go.

Weekend

Okay, so I said I would post more about the bradley's trip up here over the weekend and that NEVER happened. Partly because we had no time to. Friday night Kevin and I went to a going away get together for a friend from grad school that moved to New Jersey on Sunday. Saturday morning we got up and went blueberry picking (thanks Kev.....he did it all for me since he doesn't eat blueberries and I LOVE them), then we came home and Kev went to work, while I went to a party at my grandmothers place for the afternoon. The party was the usual party with lots of food and entertainment. My cousin, Katie, and I spent time in the moon bounce, but my Nana wouldn't go in! :-) I got home from the party, and changed because we had tickets to see the Lion King on Broadway at the Kennedy Center (an early anniversary gift from my Mom...thanks Mom!). If anyone out there has a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. I saw it 10 years ago with my family in London and loved it, and I loved it even more this time around. Okay, here were are at Sunday. Sunday morning we had to ourselves (thank goodness), but at 12:45 we left to go to National's Park with our friends/neighbors to watch the Nationals play the Astros. The Nationals lost, but it still was a lot of fun going. The ballpark is new this year, and it is amazing! We got home from that game, got in the shower and then my mom came over and we went to see Mama Mia on Broadway at the National Theatre. Also, amazing....it is a lot of fun. From what I see with the movie coming out it is a lot like the play, so definitely see the movie, or the play! So, as you can see, there wasn't much time to blog, or even wipe our asses this past weekend. So, hopefully this weekend I can catch up and write more about their trip up here. Oh, on a side note, it rained all night on Sunday, and we have a leak in our roof right into our living room. There is about a 2 foot by 1 foot hole in our ceiling right now because of it. It is supposed to rain on Saturday, lets hope something is done by then! Ta-Ta for now!!!

medieval times

For a few years now, the Bradley's have been taking an annual vacation up here to the DC area to visit Kevin, Calla, and I. With coming so many times, we are trying to find different activities to do, or places to see. This time around, Kevin and I surprised everyone with a dinner at Medieval times in Maryland. We really thought that all the kids would enjoy it, not to mention we got a great deal on it. (Although they got us later with souvineers and drinks) But really, we saved about 300 bucks overall thanks to my Mom finding a loop hole great deal online. If you are not familiar with this show, it is played around the US (Vegas, Cali, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, Myrtle Beach, Jersery etc.). Right now, they have a deal of kids free with every paying adult! They have a dinner show with horses and knights that shows off skills such as jousting and sword fighting. You get a fairly good meal consiting of soup, garlic bread, chicken, ribs, potato, and an applie tart for dessert. Of course they don't call it what it is, they drop it on your plate calling it dragon, or falcons claw, etc. On a cute side note, Madi (the 6 year old) was afraid to eat the chicken because they told her it was dragon. :-) Overall, I would say it was a successfull suprise and evening. Here are a few pictures. I will be posting more about the trip....that is once I have my father, I mean, my husband off my back about going to bed. BTW...last time I checked i was 28 years old and didn't have a bedtime. :-D So, here are some pics of medieval times.

Sorry for the darkness in the pictures, but you get the idea. more to come over the weekend on other activities!

Housing

As many of you know, Kevin and I have been looking to "upgrade" our housing situation. We live in a cozy 2 bedroom/2bath condo/townhouse that I bought 5 years ago this month. Happy anniversay. :-) But anyways. It is quite comfortable for Kevin, Calla and I, and we love our neighbors so we don't ever want to leave. However, we are accumulating more things as time moves on and eventually we will have to move out. Not to mention Kevin wants a place to use tools and land where he can mow a lawn, etc. We love this neighborhood, but we can afford what we are in. (This area is REALLY expensive) When we do move out, we will actually keep the place we are in and rent it out. Of course we would not be able to do that if we weren't getting some financial assistance from my Dad. He is giving us a down payment on our future place, so we can con't to build equity (we have 200,000 equity now), and even make money off the rental until the market is great to sell. What a relief that is.
Well, what many of you don't know is that kevin and I put an offer on a house last Friday. It was about 3600 sq. ft. victorian built in 99 with all the upgrades (granite, new paint, carpets, hardwoods, recessed lighting, etc.). It was in a town called Vienna, which is about 20 minutes from our current place, and it sat on a 1 acre lot. P-E-R-F-E-C-T. Well, not perfect for us. We got word from our real estate agent last night that there were 4 contracts on the place, and they did not take ours. I was quite bummed out when we got the call. Partially because of the deja-vu. In September we put a contract on a 5 bedroom brick colonial with an in-ground pool. There were 4 contracts, and they didn't take ours. Get this....on both of the houses we were the number 2 person. On the first house, someone put a cash offer down, so they took that, and on this one, someone outbid us. F-R-U-S-T-R-A-T-I-N-G!!!! I hope the saying of "Third times a charm" is correct.
It is just hard when you get your hopes up so high. I started to think of where what furniture would go where, and how I would go to work, and what we needed to buy. You get really excited and then you feel dumb for all the premature thoughts. I truely believe that everything happens for a reason, so I know we weren't meant to have that house (either one for that matter), but since it happened twice, well, it kinda sucks! I KNOW there is a house out there for us, and it won't be long before we find it. In the meantime, we will just spend time with the neighbors that we love. :-)

Jodi Picoult

In the past few weeks, I have been entirely addicted to Jodi Picoult novels. She writes amazing stories, and captures you right from the start. I have recently read her latest novels from about 2002 and on. These include Nineteen Minutes which is about a school shooting in a small town, Vanishing Acts which has to do with kidnapping, the Tenth Circle which is about a rape case, and My Sisters Keeper which is about a girl genetically conceived to be a donor for her older sister who is sick with cancer. My favorite of these books is My Sisters Keeper, which is currently being filmed and is due out in 2009. The actors playing in it are Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, and Abagail Breslin. Also, if anyone is interested in the tenth circle, it is airing on Lifetime on June 28th. You can check out the authors website (www.jodipicoult.com) for more information, pictures, etc. If anyone out there is interested in some great reads, this author comes highly recommended!!!!

Already missed!

As you know, we just had the Bradley clan here for a week visit. We had so much fun while they were here and I hate to see them gone. We are a bunch of sad puppies without them around. I am not sure Calla will know what to do tomorrow morning when Jakey isn't around to feed her his breakfast.
The last time we saw them was in November...before Jakey was even walking and before Caleb was using the potty. Time sure does change them, and I wish we could see them more often. I just have to brag about how incredibly sweet Caleb is at 4 years old. He uses please and thank you, and after we do anything he says things like "Aunt MoMo, I had so much fun, thanks for taking me to the airplanes". Also, when I walk in the door from work and he runs up to me and gives me a hug. He enjoys being around me now and i hope he doesn't "outgrow" this stage in life....or at least not for awhile. Also, he is so well behaved and smart. I even got to teach him how to write his name. Little jakey could just melt your heart by showing you his little grin and his adorable laugh is contagious. I love this stage he is in because he gets into everything. It may not be so "cute" to his parents, but he is just such an inquisitive boy. I also think he will be the sports star...he loves playing with any ball and he definitely likes to throw things. :-)
It was also nice to visit with Ronnie and Carmen. We got to reminisce and laugh about things that have happened in the past, watch movies, catch up on things happening in the past 6 months, and discuss future plans. Of course this was mostly all done during naps or after bedtime for Caleb and Jakey. As they know, they are more than welcome to come up any time. They can also drop the kids off for a weekend and get away by themselves if they want. The best option would be for them to move up here and live close, but I think we all know the chances of that are slim. Thanks for a great trip up here guys. We already miss you!!!

Lists...

So, I have been cleaning my house for the past 2 days for a few reasons. First of all, I had a baby shower here yesterday (success!!!), secondly, it needed to be done, and third of all, we have RCCJ coming next weekend (yea!!!!). I just happened to find lists everywhere that i had written. To do lists, grocery lists, lists of houses, lists of CEU's to take, wish lists and so on. Now, I know I like to write things down, and it feels good to cross things off lists, but I didn't realize I made EVERYTHING into a list. So, I decided to talk about vacations in this blog:

Vacations to go on (now this is the condensed version because it could be forever long)
1. Paris
2. South African safari
3. Italy
4. Ireland
5. Costa Rica
6. Peru
7. Disney World ( I have been here a million times, but it never gets old for me)
8. Alaska
9. Australia
10. Greece

I am hoping to take at least one of these a year. These are in no particular order....just at some point in my life I would like to see them. Kevin and I both love to travel and many of these can be done in a weeks time. Some of them like Australia and South Africa would need to be longer, so it may be awhile before I get to take those. (I only get 2 weeks paid vacation/year and my boss doesn't allow you to take unpaid). I always feel like I need a vacation from my vacation though. You have been rushing around seeing everything, and don't really have much time to relax. Plus, when you get home you have unpack, do laundry, get used to the time zone again (not fun after China/Japan) and get back to work.
Kevin and I have decided to take turns planning our anniversaries each year, so as number 2 is approaching, it is now my turn. Do I take a short trip to one of these places? I was going to go to the greenbriar in West Virginia. Now, if you have no idea what place I am talking about, I will give you a rundown on it. It is a huge resort with golf, tennis, a spa etc. We used to go every year as a family and (there is a hospital in the basement) my dad would get his physical for work there. As a child there, I had to take an etiquette class to eat in the dining area, and everyone had to be dressed up after 5 in certain areas. So, I checked out the prices, and it was ridiculous....$500/night. Now, I love my hubby, but I don't need to sleep in some different bed for $500! So, the search for an anniversary idea is still on! Who knows, maybe we can check one of the above places off our list after Aug.5th!