A DC Year in Review

What a whirlwind of a year 2012 has been.  I’m glad that it began and ended in Colorado, but we made so many great memories, I had to write once last blog as a thank you to the District of Columbia for showing us a great time all year.  As was probably painfully obvious in my previous posts, me not so good with English.  So I decided to break down our year into one of my favorite things: bulletized lists. Woohoo!  Me like that better.

Things we saw

• Natural History Museum
• Air and Space Museum
• Smithsonian Mall
• Chantilly
• Mount Vernon
• Smithsonian Zoo
• International Spy Museum
• Museum of American History
• Phillips Collection
• Capitol Building
• Holocaust Museum
• Anderson House
• National Archives
• Library of Congress
• Newseum
• Manassas Battlefield
• National Building Museum
• Lincoln Memorial
• World War II Memorial
• Korean War Memorial
• Ford’s Theatre
• Petersen House
• Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighy House
• African American Civil War Museum
• National Portrait Gallery
• Museum of American Art
• The Kennedy Center
• National Harbor
• The National Christmas Tree

The people who came to visit us (in chronological order not order of favorite-- Steph)

• Steph and Peter ( approximately 15 times)
• Stephanie and Olivia
• Roy and Nancy
• The Brunets
• The Crafts
• Jonathan and Joey
• Kath and Abbey
• Emelie and Ryan (plus Maggie and Alice)

The 12 months of DC

12 – The number of calendar months we were in DC.

11 – The number of actual months we were in DC.

10 – The number of times I went to Popeye’s Fried Chicken, conveniently located within walking distance of our house.  Don't judge me.

9 – The number of times the Garmin lady corrected us on the drive into DC .

8 – The number of visits we got from family and friends.

7 – The number of times we went to Mount Vernon.  The membership more than paid for itself.

6 – The number of days I was on swing shift while Jenn’s parents were visiting.  I’m still recovering from burning the candle on both ends.

5 – The number of fish I caught while open ocean fishing in Nagshead, North Carolina.

4 – The number of days I had to travel for work this year.  Significantly less than usual, which means more time with my wonderful family.

3 – The number of weeks it took to resolve my enormous screw up of writing a high priority DR (Editors note: Yeah, I should know what this means by now, but I don’t. DRs are a fairly common thing at his work…apparently) against my own co-workers back in Denver.  I will carry the name Pri-B/Uno Bravo/Juan Bea to my grave.

2 – The number of perfect eyes Jenn has after getting LASIK.

1 Great year in DC.

Top Ten things about being in DC

10. History everywhere—I almost tripped over a cornerstone built by the Free Masons in 1834.  Museums, monuments and centuries-old architecture are everywhere in this amazing place.

9. The money—Gotta be honest here.  It was really nice and we’re hoping to get a new kitchen out of what we saved up.

8. Mount Vernon—Five minutes away and such a great place to take kids

7. Trees—Trees are neat

6. Having the time to get in the best shape of our life. (Editor’s note: I’ve been in better shape, but that was before I had kids, and before the whole “once you hit 30 your metabolism goes to hell” thing.  However, being able to go to a gym six days a week was awesome.)

5. Visits from family and friends.  We had 23 people who visited us!

4. Two words—Date days.

3. The work.  The analyst shop, Katie’s team and Jim Erker made it an amazing experience.

2. Seeing Steph and Peter every other weekend.  This could be thrown in under number five), but it deserves its own category.  I miss my sis already.

1. The kids getting to have a stay-at- home mom.  Jenn may want this one lowered/removed, but the kids and I agree: having the best mom in the world also be a stay-at-home mom is a pretty special thing.

So, if you’ll spare me one last set of un-bulletized thoughts in my last blog post, here it goes.  It was an amazing year.  Thanks to all my co-workers who welcomed in a short-timer with open arms and made me feel like I’d been a member of the team for years.  Thanks to all our family and friends who visited and kept our home-sickness at bay.  And most of all, thanks to Jenn for being in the trenches with the kids every single day with only a couple of exceptions.  Goodbye DC, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we’re so thankful for the memories.