More DC adventures

For our March temple trip, we went with another couple - Russ and Judi Bell. We also went to Boston with them a few weeks ago.







The view with the sunlight shining on the temple was beautiful in the morning :).










After the temple, we took the metro to Arlington Cemetary. We watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier as well as a memorial placing of a wreath of flowers.


















Evidence of spring - a beautiful pink budded tree in the midst of the lines of the tombstones - lined up straight to simulate the lines like solders form.









Jim and Russ as we wait for the tour of the Robert E Lee house. These two are crazy eucre partners :).

House Progress

Here's a peek at the progress on the home. My route home from work takes me by the house - so I'll stop and take photos each day when the workers make progress. We are excited. ...

Here comes the frame...one floorSecond story...
Sheeting and the roof...


Four walls and a roof :).. we took a sneek peak at night and had our first kiss in our house at this stage :).Here come the shingles..
And now we have windows :)....

Not in a Van Down by the River

Instead I am in a hole down by the cemetary by Merck for this photo. Who ever thought we be so excited about a hole in the ground !?!? :). The hole for the foundation for our new home has been dug and after this pic the foundation has been poured. Yeah!! It has been warm enough for the builder to move forward. We are looking forward to August 1st, our planned closing date. It will be nicer to be closer to both our work offices. Although there is a cemetary on one end of the subdivision - our lot is on the opposite end...so I don't have to see gravestones when I look out the window and Jim can still have some quiet neighbors in the area.

It is a four bedroom, 2 1/2 bath layout, with an unfinished basement (perfect for Jim's gym at home :)..) and a great bumpout in the garage. We have also chosen most of our color options. The exterior will be a light, creamy yellow siding, with white trim and shaker slate accents, with a midnight blue color for the door and shutters. We will go with a neutral color scheme inside - Jim will paint the interior before we move in - probably a light yellow color (so that we can get an eggshell or satin finish with the paint - even with an upgraded paint, the builder will only do a flat finish, which is totally not going to work for us). We will have a light reddish cabinet color and ash black granite countertop in the kitchen. Brushed nickel hardware.

The entry way, dining room and living room / study will have a hardwood flooring. Sometime in the next month or so, we will choose our carpet and vinyl flooring (the new fancy name for linoleum) in the kitchen :).

The pics below are from the Model Home, not ours since it obviously still a concrete hole in the ground. The pics show the general layout of our home will look like - you can see the construction crew's presence.

American History 101 - field trips :)

American History- we ventured to downtown Philly to experience the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence was signed). Seeing the bell was really cool - we really enjoyed learning about the history that has made it larger than life - starting with this country's forefathers and going through time for women's rights, Martin Luther King, the American Indians, etc....




Independence Hall has some really cool architecture and it was somewhat surreal that we were standing in the rooms where pivot points in America's history took place.



Supposedly the room where the Declaration was signed
Jim being goofy while I take a photo of the cool doorway

Of course, a visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum and running up the steps just like Rocky was a must. Here's pic of the Rocky statue.
We also make our monthly drive down to D.C. for our temple trips followed by taking the metro into the Smithsonian and Monument area and exploring.