Ocean City Boardwalk (Jones & Co Family Vacation Part 4)

We hit the beach in Ocean City which of course meant the boardwalk.  I managed to get sunburnt despite my sunscreen application.  But we were at the beach.  The boardwalk was much less fun that I remember as a kid except maybe the photobooths, but the beach itself was of course awesome. Now for some photos.
Of course we had to photograph the bay bridge as we crossed over it.

The boardwalk has a ferris wheel though.

One of the photobooth strips - Clearly we were having issues using it the first time - but we improved with time. Smash and I look cute though - nevermind you can't see the others.

We didn't really need to buy beach gear.

I looked for this postcard to send Schreve but I couldn't find it.

I love that my hat is blocking people out.  hehe.

Boat Cruising to Mt. Vernon (Jones & Co Summer Vacation Part 3)

As part of our travels in DC we decided to by a LivingSocial Coupon and take a boat cruise to Mount Vernon for the day. It was supposed to be something like 100 degrees in the city so we got up extra early for boat cruising to get out of dodge ASAP.  The boat seemed to go exceedingly slow and there were some characters on board (ones that weren't us).  But we enjoyed seeing DC from another perspective.

We also enjoyed this bridge.  Later in the week we got to drive over it and JJ tells us that there's a bike trail on it as well.

Another fun part was having the planes landing as we passed by National - had this been a Monday Morning or Friday Night I might have been on one of these.

And finally at last we arrived at Mount Vernon.  Momo was not so much feeling the long walk so JJ and her took the shuttle and the rest of us treked up the hill that George Washington once took frequently I'm sure. 

We saw his tomb where he and Martha now rest.

We saw GW's sheep which I'm sure are the same ones that once grazed the hills of Mt. Vernon or at least descendants.

We checked out all the outbuildings and of course questioned the help as to what they were about.

This guy was completely disinterested in us.  But the Doctor and I had a nice discussion about the weather and the savages in Indiana that must have run off with my frocks.

Since George might have sat here I needed to sit here too.

Smash and I were quite fond the of the artichoke trees.  I was wondering if I could plant one at home.

This is George's view.  Isn't it lovely. 

And here is the mansion. 

And because we can't ever listen to the "no photo" rule we of course snapped some photos inside.  Without the flash of course.

This green parlor is kind of loud don't you think?

I was just saying how I wished that the random people would get out of our photos of the house.  And then they did. And it was just us plus Mt. Vernon of course the other camera has the group shots on it though.

And then after some lunch and shopping and a stop at the museum for the interactive Xtreme movie we headed back to the harbor for our return boat ride. 

Double fist pumps for the return trip.

By George I think this is where GW used to swim.

The return boat ride seemed to go a little faster although I think that was really all in our heads.  We of course needed to snap a million gazillion photos because every moment of family vacation should be documented like this...
I think it was actually an argument but they were trying to be cool for the photo.

And brother shots.  I think the boys look more alike in this photo than normal.

And just being goofy.

And there's Momo who seemed to escape being caught on my camera but must be on the other one.

More soon - we're off to the beach next.

Upcycle - T-Shirts Into Beach Dress

So I cleaned out my t-shirt drawer a few months ago and really didn't want to toss out all this fabric or donate it to goodwill so I decided I can make a dress out of this.  And that's exactly what I did.  I cut squares of various sizes stitched them together with a zig zag stitch and then before I knew it I had a dress.  The hardest part was all the gathering.  The Zig Zag really gave the t-shirt knit a little character.  Anyhow I totally love it and it was perfect for our trip to the Ocean City.  Oh and best yet total cost $1.25 for the elastic - everything else I had on hand.  (sorry for the crappy photos I had literally just run out of the ocean for these photos.  And yes everything this dress is kind of asymmetrical oh and another selling point it can be worn there is no back and no front and it doubles as a skirt. 

Stay tuned for two other upcycles soon as well.

Done Today

This weekend I had grand intentions on doing all of nothing. I have been so busy with life lately I wanted to be bored for a bit. Well this morning I decided I caught a crazy fever and did all the following instead.
8 loads of laundry
Clean out the fridge
Mopped two bathrooms a kitchen the living room and hallway
Cleaned 2 boxes out of my closet
Took out the trash
Cleared out my bedside table and moved it to the garage
Cleaned off the kitchen table
Ran the dishwasher
Weeded (well semi weeded until I melted)
And organized my closet by with summer fall gear

Hmmph that feels good and now I am off to drop off some baskets to my friend, get some necessities at target, grab some fabric for a project, and see about a new bedside table and/or patio furniture. I guess being lazy isn't my thing.

Best of Life Videos June - I was Made for Sunny Days

Finally I was able to get words on the videos!  This has been a major thorn in my side since I started these so I'm happy to announce no longer.  Of course I only used them sparely this time perhaps in July we'll get crazy town.   This month I took fewer videos and as a result I only had one that didn't make the cut due to size, but June was still an awesome month.  

The song used is "I was made for Sunny Days" by the Weepies and it's one of my favorite songs so I could hardly wait for summer to use it.   Sorry it won't work on iPhone and it might take a minute or so to load.  Enjoy!

If you want to see the other videos - click here.

Da Metro + Chinatown + Mom with Pastrami (Jones & Co Summer Vacation Part 2)

So continuing on with our vacation saga.  After surviving the mild heat at cathedral we decided yes we can take more heat and hopped on an un-air conditioned DC Metro car bound for Chinatown.  We literally thought we might die on the car with a void of breathing air + the mugginess that is the swamp DC is built on.  Hah!  At the first stop we darted back onto the platform for another car which much to our relief did have working air conditioning.  Let me just say I am glad that we live in America where we can ride public transport for $2 and expect it to be cool and refreshing - I only wish they also served cocktails. 
Anyhow we got to Chinatown without any other major snafus. 

The boys like to ride standing up.  I have the balance of a hippo so I prefer to sit so I can avoid showing people my graceful moves.   It also make texting easier

Nobody was having the let's take a photo on the escalator segment that I wanted - image that.

If you have ever been to Chinatown in DC you probably know that aside from like 1/2 a square block there are no real Chinese or really Asians left it's just a posh neighborhood with some nice shopping, the wizards arena and sky high priced condos.  Of course I went in search of a nice straw hat and maybe some flip flops at a little Chinatown store only to be let down finding only two stores neither carrying any cutesy Asian wares I wanted.  But I was in luck because H&M was around the corner and I got a straw hat for $6.50 and it was the last one in the store - score! After walking around with our feet starting to melt to the pavement we decided we should probably just return to Alexandria for dinner with Chris's dad, before we were too cranky for our own good. 

FCH is made in America

We went for dinner at some Italian joint in Alexandria.  It was a pretty good place my chicken parm was ever so lovely and mom got a pastrami sandwich which was her first since like 1968 and I think she mentioned like 10 times how long it had been since she had one. 

More vacation posts to come and you are in luck as my flight is delayed 4 hours so I might have time to finish blogging and scheduling these before I leave the airport.