Take me out to the ball game!

Saturday, June 2nd: Rob and I woke up pretty early so we could make it to Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon is/was the home of Founding father, and first president of the United States, George Washington. The estate is located just off of the Potomac River. We arrived and started our self guided tour starting in the visitor center, then you go past the slave quarters, Blacksmith's shop, and Martha Washington's gardens. (Side note, we went June 2nd, which is Martha Washington's 281st birthday) We were then lined bu to view the estate. I was sad to see that we Could not take pictures in the main house. George Washington received a key to the Bastille in France, and it is hung in his entry way, and I really wanted a picture of it. (I love the French Revolution) In the tour, we got to see a number of beautiful old rooms, as well as the bedroom of George and Martha Washington, and the Bed that President Washington Died in. It was pretty awesome! After the main house, you are led out to the back yard, which is HUGE, and it has a beautiful view of the Potomac River. (Boy, did George know how to pick some property!) After the yard, we walked down past the kitchen, Bath house, stable, and carriage house. From there, we went to the banks of the river, and went to the doc, then to the old vault. One of our last stops was George Washington's tomb. From then, we made our way back up to the education center, where they have some museums, We got to see a lot of really cool things, including George Washington's wood dentures. We are lunch in the cafeteria, then walked around the gift shops and then headed to our next stop. If anyone is Ever in the area, you NEED to see Mount Vernon. It was one of our favorite things we did on this trip! Walkway leading to the estate View walking to the estate First Glimpse of the estate Gardens Woman's Slave Quarters Shoemaker Shop Stove Room (this room has a series of underground pipes that leads to the estates, and keeps it warm in the winter) Men's slave quarters Blacksmith's shop Overseer's house Mount Vernon Estate George Washington's Carriage Stable Old Vault (this was the first resting place of President Washington until the new tomb was constructed per his last will and testament. He and 20 Family members were entombed here) Doc at Mount Vernon Finial Resting place for Founding father and firs president George washington, and first lady Martha Washington. After Mount Vernon, we headed to Nationals Park. We got to the stadium in time to watch batting practice. It was super hot, so I spent most of this time in a shady spot in the general area. Rob and I decided to walk to the team store and get his mini bat (He gets one at ever stadium) and he was able to get it signed by a nations picture. I believe it was Zimmerman. One good thing about the storm the night before, was that the game was canceled, so we got to see Stephen Strausburg pitch, Rob and I were both happy about that. The Nats beat the Atlanta Braves 1 to 0. There was a concert after the game, it was supposed to be Dierks Bentley, but due to a death in the family, it was changed to Big and Rich at the last minute, so we decided not to stay. The game was fun, even with the heat. It looked like it was a sold out game. After the game, we headed to Old Town Alexandria, we found a place to eat. It was Called Bugsy's sports Bar, It was the BEST pizza I have ever had. I loved it. After dinner, we went and got an ice cream cone, and then walked back to our car and headed back to our hotel. (we were in our hotel every night pretty early- DC takes a lot out of you!) Pizza

Leaving on a jet plane

Friday, June 1, 2012, Bright and early (about 4AM)I woke up, got ready (as ready as one gets when you know your spending the majority of the day at airports and on planes) Rob got home from work at about 6:30AM, and while he was getting cleaned up really quickly, I finished the last minute packing and we made our way to the airport. We parked, checked in on our flight, made our way through security, grabbed a little something to eat on the plane, and waited about 10 or so minutes before we boarded our plane. I was very nervous for this flight. I don't know if it was because of the 40 minute lay over in Chicago, and worrying that we would miss our flight to DC (last time we landed in Chicago, we were 40 minutes late, our plane was ready to take off, and we had to RUN across the airport to get onto our flight), or if had something to do with the baby. Probably a little of both. Lucky for me, I think Baby Girl Carter knew I was nervous, and I would get a reassuring kick every once in a while. Rob feel asleep before the plane even took off, and slept for most of the flight (Understandably so- since he worked all night before) We landed for our 40 or so minute lay over in Chicago, we checked our phones and saw that we had a few messages from Rob's sister Debby, letting us know that a storm was expected in DC, and she suggested we just head straight to her house (The original plan was to go to our hotel, freshen up, and then head to Debby's house) We decided to go straight there. When we landed in DC, there was a light rain. When we got our bags, and headed to the car rental place, It was POURING. While we were at the car rental place, I looked up at the TV just in time to see that there was a tornado warning for the DC area. Let the panic and anxiety set it! We finally got our car, and started the 30 or so minute drive to Debby's house in Virginia. The drive ended up taking us 3 times as long due to traffic, and the storm. There were times where we couldn't see anything in front of us, or we could see mud sliding down the side of the hill and across the freeway, or an inch of standing water. It was pretty scary. When we finally got there, we said hello to Debby and Alan and their kids, and I finally got to meet Donald and Cat and there kids (Donald was the last sibling I had to meet- now I have met all 13!- WAHOO!) We visited and had lots of food. A little later, Carley (Rob's niece) and her husband arrived from North Carolina, and we all visited some more. We had such a good time visiting and getting to know everyone more! When we decided it was time to go, we followed Debby, Carley and Josh to Robert Carter Road. We were not very successful in getting a good picture, but it was a lot of fun trying! After that, we said our goodbyes, and headed to our hotel in Alexandria Virginia. We checked into the Westin Alexandria around 1AM and went to bed so we could get some rest before the rest of our adventures began! Chicago Midway Airport Washington Dulles Airport Rob with a sign on Robert Carter Road. We were here! The Westin hotel in Alexandria Virginia