George Washington National Forest Camping

Two weekends ago we went camping with some friends at the George Washington National Forest--the guy has a lot of things named after him in this area! Haha! We had a great time even though the rain tried to damper things. We were able to get a fire going eventually and enjoyed sitting around it for a long time. We went for a hike (well my friend and I did, while the boys went for a trail run). They also had a beach area on the lake so we hung out there some. Ryan got to swim in a lake which he had been talking doing for a while. He was a happy camper!

The lake was gorgeous and we had a great time getting away from the city for a weekend. It was a nice change of pace.
Click here for more camping photos.

Since then we have just been working and I finished my summer semester classes. 4 semesters down; 2 to go. Last night we used some of my bday money to go to a great restaurant and had the most amazing food. It's called Zaytinya and they serve Greek, Lebanese, and Turkish mezze (small plates). We could go on and on about the food (especially the crispy brussel sprouts and phyllo wrapped lamb) but we won't bore you. Thanks Mom & Dad & Mr. and Mrs. Bechtel!

For those that don't know already, we are going to Montreal at the end of the month. Ryan's company needs him to cover for someone up there and take a look at their current processes to see if they can be improved. He is going up for about 2 weeks and then I am going up for the last week. It will be a lot of fun to have that amount of time in a city so that we can hopefully see a variety of things.

Two days after we return from that we are going to the beach for a week with my parents! We are soooo ready to be there already and talk about it everyday. So as you can see July is busy but should be a lot of fun. We are looking forward to the fireworks next weekend and will probably take a picnic to the same spot as last year. We are also trying to get to a Nats game soon so we can see the new "phenom" Stephen Strasburg. I'm not sure what's more amazing--his pitching or the fact that people are actually at Nats stadium. I guess we won't have the whole place to ourselves anymore.

Steph's Birthday - Annapolis

Three weekends ago we celebrated Steph's birthday by going to Annapolis for a day, but before we left I got Steph some Calla Lilies that she wanted me to share with everyone!

In Annapolis, we walked around a lot and ate our way through the city. We had a delicious Italian meal for lunch, seafood for me for dinner, and gelato (Steph's "birthday cake") for dessert on the harbor. There were multiple breaks in to shops and coffee houses to escape the heat but it was a great day.

We also toured the Naval Academy as you can see from our pictures. They were out of session so we were able to wonder right into the main hall of their sleeping quarters which is apparently the largest single dormitory in the world. When we needed to relax, we hung our feet off the docks in Ego Alley-- where all the yachts drive by to show off.

Click here for more pictures from Annapolis.

We are looking forward to going back. It was a lot closer than we realized and was a great place to get away to. The following weekend we went camping with some friends so check back for that update in the next few days.

Message from Steph: If anyone wants to see some awesome fireworks, we know where to find them so come join! ;P