The National Cathedral

Hello everyone, i've got a couple posts to update you on.  When we first moved here we decided that we wouldn't rush the whole church hunting thing.  I'm sure most of you that I've talked to have heard me say that church hunting is just like the bane of my existence.  Because we lived fairly close to home it felt like we never really left our home church, but we weren't really connected there because we lived two hours away.  And our church in Reno was great, but it had its ups and downs, and there wasn't really a place for our children and there wasn't a huge young adult crowd.  After talking with other people that have gone through similar things I've just decided that its just hard.  Its hard to find something new when you love where you came from.  And because where you came from has lots of sentimental value it makes it even harder to find somewhere new.  So, when we were moving here Christopher and I both decided that we would take our time.  We have three kids that will need a church family to grow up with, depending on how long we are here for, and searching for a church is much more than just about us.  So, in order to ease into things we decided to take a tour of some historic churches to both satisfy our unquenchable thirst for all things historical, that both Christopher and I share, and so that we can attend church before we find our new home church.  Naturally our first thought was The National Cathedral.  We actually ended up going there about six or so times.  It was pretty amazing.  The people were wonderful, the staff was great, the sermons were wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed the traditional aspects of it.  One of the Pastors that we met while there was a gentlemen on Sabbatical from Westminster Abbey.  He had been part of the service when William and Kate got married.  Now I'm sorry, but that is pretty darn cool!  We heard and met Dean's of departments from major universities like Yale, and from countries like Ireland and England.  We experienced a church that is probably very similar and unchanged from how it was when the church was built in the early 1900s.    We were also able to go on a tour one Sunday and we learned some amazing things.  

Above is a stain glass window dedicated to the Apollo XI mission.  In the middle of the red circle is a white dot and in the white dot is a black dot which is kind of hard to see.  That Dark spot is a piece of the moon.  How cool is that.

Another cool fact is that Woodrow Wilson is buried in the Cathedral, and is one of the only people buried in a tomb and not in a crypt.  He's actually right in the worship area, which is cool but weird.  Just right there where you can touch it. 

Each one of these kneeling cushions is hand done, each one with different themes.  One of the Chapel's has ones that are representative of states.  Each is made by someone in a committee that had to submit various samples and be approved.  There is even one made by the Queen Mother!

This was a pretty emotional piece of artwork in the Cathedral.  It was located in the Military Memorial Chapel.  It also had a beautiful hanging tapestry.

Another really cool thing was the Children's Chapel.  It was an entire chapel in miniature form, with a real working organ, confessional, miniature chairs and kneeling pads.  So beautiful.  The staff actually took the kids in their for a mini-service while we were in ours.  Love love loved that.

Here's some more pics from the tour and some of our visits.  You can see more on the facebook page

Visiting the Cherry Blossoms

I will say that one of the most exciting things that I was looking forward to was getting to see the Cherry blossoms this year!  The Cherry Blossom Festival is supposed to be really cool and the sites are supposed to be absolutely breathtaking.  So, needless to say I was pretty excited.  I downloaded my app and was planning everything out.  This year is the 100th Anniversary of The Cherry Blossoms.  The Festival is the celebration of the giving of the Japanese Cherry Trees from Mayor Yuko Ozaki of Tokyo City to Washington D.C. in 1912.    First Lady Helen Taft and the Wife of the Ambassodor to China planted the first trees.  You can still see some of the original trees on the Naval Shipyard.  Well, the weather has been so crazy that the the blossoms decided to come out early.  When they start blooming, that's it, you better get out there.  We were being told we had about a week to get out there and check them out, to see them at their best at least.  So as soon as Christopher had a day off we headed out there to see them.  This also happened to be our first metro experience.  Which, I must say went really well and it was very big city of us.  The kids did great and it was way easier and way less stressful then I had built up in my head.  It dumped us right out by the Washington Monument and we went and saw that, which Brian has been begging to see since the first time he saw it, and then we walked over to the Tidal Basin and saw the huge Cherry Blossom trees.  They were so amazing and really everything that I had envisioned.  There were so many people, but it was a really good organized caos.  I didn't feel too overwhelmed with the people and the kids and the traffic.  It was a photographer's dream.  The blossoms were drifting in the wind every so often, it was a clear day with beautiful lighting.  It was also your random tourist, who can pick out a good camera and photographer dream.  I spotted me a photographer and said very sweetly, "would you mind taking or picture," and viola...you have a semi-professional or professional (who knows) taking your picture in from of the blossoms and the Jefferson Memorial!  So crazy.   What ended up being even crazier was the next day, on our way to Church at the National Cathedral, it started storming, as predicted.  As we drove back through the District we saw the trees...now, sans blossoms.  Whoops!  So glad we went when we did.

 What Brian had been waiting for!!

 I was so grateful that I have such a great camera and was pretty impressed with the finished results!

 Checking out the Tidal Basin

 Jefferson Memorial

 Yay for family pics by random Photographers

with cameras better than mine

 Practicing my awesome skills

 Brian is a little photographer in the making

Marine One, or one of the Marine Ones

Meet Virginia

Well its been a little while since I posted. Things, as I'm sure you can imagine have been really crazy. My house still isn't unpacked and that is driving me nuts. I can't stand it. I was able to go home and visit for my amazing bff Holly's wedding, so that set me back a bit but it was sooooo worth it...a million times over worth it. So aside from the craziness I've been really excited to decorate this place and design a whole rooms from scratch. In fact I've been chomping at the bit to do it, but every day the pile of boxes seem daunting. And seriously, moving with three kids is seriously way harder then I thought it was going to be. We have been able to get out and sight see, take walks around our neighborhood every day and more than anything, are really loving having Christopher around. Practically the moment we arrived we made wonderful friends in our new neighbors! Amazing!!! I keep telling Christopher there's nothing like "The South"...now while I am totally and completely aware that Virginia is not the South...there are many sentiments that are the same. Its the way people are, especially the people that are from here. Its the kindness, the cordialness, if that's even a real word. Everyone says hi, says how ya doin'. They met us five minutes ago and they invite us over for dinner, let your kids play in our backyards whenever you want and most people don't even bother locking their doors around here. There's a civic association, with Town Meetings - straight out of Gilmore Girls. I was seriously hoping to go to Luke's afterwards and have some coffee and pie. I live in a real neighborhood, with wide streets and sidewalks that have an extra strip of grass between them and the road (see pics). My kids are so happy to have a backyard and kids next door and their own rooms, and space!!! Brian starts school in the fall (and while I'm totally nervous and worrying insanely about this) and we can walk to it!

We've taken several drives into the city and seen the Washington Monument, the National Treasury, Dupont Circle, The Capitol Building, WWII Memorial, Arlington National Cemetary, The White House and even took a jaunt down Embassy Row on our way to the church we've been going to for awhile, The National Cathedral. Its been pretty amazing so far and its only been a couple months.

What's so strange about 'The District' is that its so much smaller than I envisioned. Sacramento seems bigger. I know that's weird to say and clearly you can't understand until to see it (like I had to). There aren't any tall buildings and you can see everything driving down any road. It seems small and quaint. It seems sweet and simple. And while I know (especially as a Criminal Justice major) that DC is notoriously dangerous in some sections, and especially in the evening, you don't get that feeling driving through on a Sunday morning. The first time we drove in Christopher and I were staring out at the Washington monument and then all of the sudden I was like, "Is that the Pentagon?" Really, its just right there, off the freeway, like "Hello Pentagon, how are you?" We went to the nearest base to us to go grocery shopping. After we did that we just walked over to Arlington National Cemetary and saw the changing of the guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It just feels like a small town.

In short and for my first post...I'm in love.

 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 my house is driving me nuts

 National Cathedral

 The only snow we've seen in our backyard

 Pentagon Memorial and burial location at Arlington

 Ami, leaving a remembrance stone on one of the 9/11 Pentagon victims stone

Arlington with the Air Force Memorial in the background

 

 Kennedy Gravesite

January Photo A Day and update...

Well here we are. Its February and when was the last time I posted? Before I had Phillip?! Wow! Its been a whirlwind since then. I had the little man, then we were beginning to organize our huge move to Virginia, throw in a couple holidays and I had gall bladder surgery. I know, how many things can happen in just a few short months. Now we are here in Virginia and life is finally starting to settle down. We aren't 100% moved in yet. The rest of everything should be moved into the house this weekend. Once that happens I think life will finally settle down into normalcy. Christopher is loving his job and that couldn't make me happier. The kids have so much room and we have a great backyard. The neighborhood is wonderful and I am close to my mom's family and several friends. Its really the best way to pick up and move your family across the US from your family and friends, where you grew up, fell in love, got married, had your children and pretty much everything else of significance. But I couldn't be happier. I haven't felt a huge sadness yet. I don't know if I will or if that's good or bad. I think we've just been waiting for this for so many years that I was 100% ready for it to happen. We are making our lists of places we want to see, and picking out historical churches to visit, family to see, friends to meet. Its crazy, I know, but there it is. I have plans for here too. I want to get Phillip's birth story posted, I'll be writing about the sites we'll see, the house and my decorating fun. Pictures and all sorts of things you won't see anywhere else. This is just a private place for friends and family to see our life and stay really updated on everything, more than just a status update. Here's a little peek. I've been doing a Photo-a-Day challenge, which has been great. Christopher surprised me with an IPhone for Christmas (we weren't supposed to do gifts, and I totally cried, lame!) and I found an app through some blogging ladies and we are all doing a Photo challenge. I love it. Capturing the little things you might not capture otherwise :)