Shillig 4 Family

Growing up we often went to DC.  We lived in Manassas for awhile.  We always took the subway into the city.  The subway is amazing because it has stops at just about all the important places you want to see.  I just didn't realize how much you miss when you are underground.  I loved driving through the city in the Taxi and seeing the lay of the land. I chatted with all my taxi drivers.  I loved hearing them pronounce their names and them telling me about their home countries.  I asked them what they missed from home and what they loved about America.  Most seemed to love the rules in America that kept it nice and they commented how if you work hard and stay out of trouble you can succeed.  It was nice to hear such positive feedback. I toured the Air and Space Smithsonian and then met up with Jake near the capital for lunch.  We toured the library of congress and Jake told me how the mosaics reminded him of...

 Day 2 Jake headed to work and Beau, Jen, and I took off to explore.  We came across this incredible sight of an old building completely engulfed by this new structure.  I loved seeing the blending of the old and the new.  This wasn't the first I saw but just the only one that surrounded it on all sides. We found a spot for "breakfast" and chowed down. We made our way to the White House.   Then to the Washington Monument.  These two young lovebirds climbed this neat tree overlooking the cherry blossoms in full bloom in the distance along the water's edge.  Next was the holocaust museum.  It is so hard to understand such horrors that have happened to people throughout history.  It's heartbreaking and infuriating all wrapped in one.  This part about the mother touched me the most.    Jen had never taken a taxi and staying at the Ritz was on her "bucket list" so we marked that off as well! ...

I recently got to tag along with Jake on a work trip and we made it our 11th wedding anniversary getaway as well.  We got up super early to catch our flight.  Jake loves me enough to hit the road way earlier than technically necessary so since we had time to kill we went to the military lounge.  He checked emails and we had a nice breakfast. We got in line for security (the fancy line since he flies so much) and they then split the lines.  When they did Jake offered for the lady who ended up last in line to go ahead of us in the new line.  She came over and I said, "you are!?" and she looked at me and smiled and I said, "yes, you are!" and she said, "I am" but for the life of me I couldn't remember her name then as I went through the metal detector and we went for our bags I said, "Melissa Peterman!" and then told Jake about her shows.  She then took my phone and took silly pics of us.  We chatted all the way to our gates.  It was fun ...