Washington DC, New Years Eve in Times Square and our New Year

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but sorry for the very late update to our blog. ;)


Washington DC was by far our favorite part of the trip. The drive out of Manhattan and back to NYC was not a mere 4 hours that mapquest quotes. It's more like 6-7 hours with all the traffic! I rented a "grab bag" car from dollar rent a car which means we didn't know what we would get, but it would be an intermediate level at least (and it was discounted tremendously). Well, what do you think they had plenty of vehicles in? CONVERTIBLE! We finally rented a convertible ... off course it was a little chilly, so the top was up most of the time, but we were having fun! We did put the top down once in Times Square while we were driving our normal 1.2 MPH with some cops and people running and shooting along the sidewalk ... just kidding, mom. ;) We did put the top down in DC, though. Picture this ... December winter night in DC, cute couple driving about town, the gorgeous husband with his great smile, the awesome wife with a PINK GREEN BAY PACKERS BEANIE on her head. ;) I'm sure it made someone laugh. It definitely made us laugh!


We stayed at a historical Victorian Inn in DC for under $70/night! The Henley Park Hotel was the hotel where 1st ladies would bring guests to for tea! We definitely recommend that hotel and will be going back ourselves! We took in a lot of sights in DC including the White House (for about 10 minutes until the CIA pushed the crowd away from the house because of security ... we were not even on the lawn!), National Christmas tree and the state trees around it (yes, daddy ... there were choo-choos too), Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the new Vietnam Memorial, the Nation's Capital, we took a bus tour around the city for 3 hours. We went to the National Archives building!!! We saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, the Bill of Rights, letters written from Lincoln, plus many other original documents! We also wanted to visit the Smithsonian Institute of American History, but it was closed for renovations. Now it's a good excuse to go back to DC! We did get to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space, though. Definitely worth our time!!! Our last morning there we took a tour through the International Spy museum.

Please check out the pictures of our trip to Washington, DC on the slideshow. :)

I'm not sure if you realize this or not, but if you ever repeat this vacation, please note that you can return your car to any dollar rent a car in NYC! We didn't get back into NYC until about an hour after the car was due. We drove to our hotel (near LaGuardia) to unload our luggage and thought we had to drive it back to our location in Times Square ... 9 miles/1 hour away!!! I noticed a Dollar Rent A Car near our hotel and called them to see how much it would cost to drop it off there ... they said nothing! :) We were soooo relieved we didn't have to battle with Times Square traffic and the subway/bus to get back to our hotel after such a long day!!!


Were we in Times Square for New Year's Eve? Well ... of course we were! But there's more to tell. Contact us and we'll give you the details. Let's just say it was an experience.


We came back to town on the 1st to some very loving cats (thanks to Eli and Cami for watching them) and a super hyper puppy (thanks to the Kelkenberg family for helping us out in a time of need). Zack was supposed to get neutered on Friday the 5th, but because he ate a little milkbone that morning, my 5am wakeup call to get him to Denver by 7:15 was for nothing. I was so bummed! I also arranged to meet up with some friends from Campus Crusade for Christ for lunch in Denver (they were in town for the annual CCC Christmas Conference I used to go to while in college), but I canceled it because I was sooo tired!!! Zack is now scheduled for this coming Monday the 21st!


Our jobs are going well. Fletch had a nasty fall on Thursday the 10th, though. I received a phone call at work from him saying he slipped and landed on the back of his head. We still had some ice on our driveway and Fletch lost his footing enough to where I had to leave school (thanks Tom for taking my classes!) to take him to the ER. The only time I was scared was when I tried calling Fletch when I was on my way home (about 30 minutes had passed while I was getting permission to leave and setting up sub plans in case they found a sub). He didn't answer. We are so thankful to have such great friends that live in our neighborhood! I called Eli who was on his way home from a meeting ... he was able to get inside and wake Fletch up (he was only sleeping). Once I arrived, Eli had Fletch ready to go with insurance card and wallet. Again, we love Eli and Cami!!! The doctor did all her tests and a CT scan and found ... a brain ;) ... with a concussion. Fletch is still trying to get over it. Just last night he was saying he could feel pressure in his head like he's never felt before. He also is having trouble with short term memory loss, so please pray for a full recovery soon! His muscles are still a bit achy from the shock, but he has been able to get to work for most of his lessons which is such a blessing. :)


It's Friday morning here now and I need to go prep myself for surgery. I want to wash my hair because I know my recovery won't be exciting. I'm getting enhancement done on my left eye this morning because it was never 20/20 after my surgery in June. The procedure is not bad at all, but the healing is awful. I have to do PRK which literary means they have to scrape a layer of cells off of my eye before doing the laser surgery. The cells then heal themselves, but feel like grits of sand during the process. I'll be in bed for the rest of the day. Pray for a quick recovery, though ... I need to take Zack to Denver for his surgery!!! I do have a friend coming with me, though ... who can drive my car if I'm not able to.


Hope you all are having a very blessed 2008!!! This is going to be a great year ... I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT. :) :) :) :)