Weighing In

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Washington DC part 3 / Something Sweet

I am finally finishing up Washington DC.

I think I have been putting it off because my favorite pic accidentally got replaced.

It was one Tyler took of me right before we left Washington DC.

I was standing about a mile away from the Washington Monument ( See last pic of Tyler in this post) in front of the capital building trying to make it look like I had the Washington Monument in the palm of my hand. It was a fun pic! But it is gone, unless somehow I can recover the deleted picture from my camera. It wasn't on the card because the card was full by then so it is actually on the camera memory.

Any who….

Lets proceed…

After resting up and changing clothes at the hotel we headed right back to the hub of attractions.

At this point it is only 1:30.

Tyler and I really wanted to see the Holocaust Museum.

He had done a huge project at the end of the school year over the Holocaust and was really interested.

We were not allowed to take pics of the displays…

Here is a pic from the outside.

We spent a couple of hours in here and I still felt rushed.

Tyler at one point looked at me and said “How could this happen?”

I’ve have wondered that myself… One evil man Have you ever noticed that if you add a “D” to evil you get devil.

The point was Never Forget.

Don’t let this happen again.

Just thinking about it as I type has tears running down my face.

Next we headed to the Air and Space Museum….

This picture makes me laugh… I look tired but Tim looks exhausted..

Remember he hasn’t slept for about 30 hours in this pic

Tyler is taking the pic and he is saying “Dad looks terrible!”

So we try again….A little improvement, very little

I am not sure what Tyler said here but obviously we found it funny…

I actually think he was insulting are picture taking ability…

This was a huge rocket you could go inside of.

More walking back to the truck…

Tyler taking a break

Jefferson Monument, this is as close as we got.

Next we headed across the river to Arlington Cemetery

My shoulder hurt from carrying my purse so Tim carried it awhile.

It was a good look :) What a great guy!! Thanks Honey

We decided to take the tour tram… we were so tired of walking.

Here the guys are waiting for the next tram. I think Tyler is smiling because we don’t have to walk!!!

I cannot even begin to describe how big this place is!!!!!

The graves of John F Kennedy, his wife Jackie, infant son Patrick, and Infant daughter ( no name, I thought that was kind of odd)

Jackie’s

See no name just “Daughter” She must have been still born?

Son Patrick…He was born 5 and a half weeks early and only lived for 2 days.

I never realized that minor children and spouses could be buried at Arlington.

Next we saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the unknown soldiers…

Next we saw Arlington house…

From the front

From the side… pictures just don’t do it justice

Look at the view from here of Washington…

It was amazing…notice the airplane…All day long, every few minutes an airplane would fly in. I can’t even imagine how many people go and come in a day.

ARLINGTON HOUSE ALSO SITS ABOVE THE KENNEDY GRAVE SITE.

waiting for the next Tram to pick us up… I think they are ready to be done!!

We left Arlington around 7:00 pm and started driving around looking for a place to eat.

We did drive by the Pentagon but I was too tired to even get out my camera.

We ended up picking up Wendy’s and heading back to the hotel to eat.

We didn’t get to the hotel till 9:30.

Long LOOOOOONNNNNNGGG DAY!!!!

The next morning we packed up had are free breakfast…

and headed out for a closer look of the Capital building before we headed home.

TYLER

Statue of Grant in front of Capitol Building

Finally looking toward the monument….

And this is where I would have put the really cool pic of me seemingly holding the monument between my hands…. SIGH!!

I probably should have broke this last post in to at least 2 but I was ready to be done with this…

I mean I still haven’t even posted my lake pics yet!

Plus here are a few tempting pics of my favorite new snack/meal

Making a fruit parfait

Fresh fruit, Light and Fit vanilla yogurt (the best) Fiber one cereal on top.

Granola is probably better but if your counting points and calories I would stick with Fiber 1.

YUM!!

Have a great Day!

SUZ

Monday, August 9, 2010

Washington DC part 2

When I was a kid every once in a while my parents would takes us to a Travel log. It was usually in The Bluffton Movie theatre ( so you know how long ago that has been ) And usually aside from it being in a movie theatre I didn’t find it all that exciting.

So I hope my posts aren’t boring you all too much.

But if they are, lucky you can always exit out!! :)

This pic is taken from the Lincoln Monument obviously towards the Washington monument.

Next we headed to the Vietnam Wall memorial

The wall with all the names, started narrow and grew…

The wall with our reflection, So many names, so many died.

So sobering, so sad!!

Next we headed to the White House

Tyler thought all the corner street Vendors looked cool and wanted to stop for a treat.

We thought we would all grab a snack

until we realized that a simple good Humor ice cream bar costs $4.00 Tyler settled on a lemon ice which we all shared. He is soberly displaying $4.00 here.

We asked if they did White House tours…

Basically you had to register 6 months in advance with your state government.

So this is as close as we got!

Next we headed to the Korean war Monument

Statues of soldiers

A reflection wall with etched faces. Do you see me in the middle?

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

Now it was time to head back to the truck, our 3 hour time limit was almost up.

We saw this on the walk back. I just thought it was cool I am not sure what it really is.

By now it was 11:30 so we decided to try and check into our hotel.

We were in luck and they let us check in early. Isn’t it lovely?

Actually it was clean, had a great free breakfast, was only about 2 miles from the capitol and was fairly inexpensive.

Sadly the pool was only open from 11:00 am to 8:00pm so we never got to swim. Plus as If you noticed the pool was in the middle of the parking lot :)

We changed clothes, I showered and we headed back out for more sight seeing!!

Well that’s all for today on Washington DC

Stay tuned for part 3.

Suz

Friday, August 6, 2010

Washington DC part 1

You wait and wait for vacation and then “POOF” it’s over!

I have lots of fun pics to share of the lakes but I don’t have them on this computer yet and since I have been such a loser at posting I though that I would try to post some pics more often over the next few weeks.

So we had 2 great weeks at the lakes, great weather, great fun and great family not to mention 2 of the most darling twin baby girls ever!! We can’t wait to go back again next year!!

I noticed that my niece Ames had some photos posted already of the lakes so if you just can’t wait head here and here to enjoy a few, although I did notice that there are none of me… HMMM

Not to fear I will post some of myself even though the camera makes me look older and heavier :)

So we got back from the lakes Friday night and then Saturday we attended the funeral of my cousin Jean Anne. She was in her early 60’s and died from Cancer. She will be greatly missed in the Kaehr family.

Sunday was Church so then on Monday I had planned to really hit the enormous pile of clothes, sheets, blankets, towels that had to be washed still or folded and put away.

I knew Tim had a run to Virginia on Monday night but when I got the address to run a map for it we realized it was actually Washington DC.

200 Constitution Ave. to be exact, a block from the state capital. Tyler was planning on going with him and they wanted me to come and see DC.

Now I am really not much of a rider and the prospect of being in the pickup for 11 hours one way driving through the night was slightly daunting to me.

But a free trip to DC finally won me over at about 4:00 in the afternoon.

I found a reasonable hotel online for Tuesday night and we left around 8:00 pm.

So Tuesday morning around 7:00 we delivered our load to our destination… The basement parking garage under The dept of Labor building.

Being the true tourist here I snapped a picture right before we turned into our delivery address.

By 8:00 we were unloaded and ready to see the sights.

WOW!

First of all driving around DC is a nightmare, And I wasn’t even driving, I was in the backseat. Poor Tim :)

Have you ever tried to find a parking place in DC??

Especially for a truck like this….

We were lucky and found a free parking space along the Tidal Basin.

Across from the Jefferson Memorial.

From there we walked…. and walked and walked.

Lets just say we did a lot of walking!!!!

We saw many sights…

The Washington Monument…

Yep that’s me, looking slightly wrinkled and travel worn.

Remember I just got out of the truck after traveling through the night.

Wait till you see some of the pics of Tim. At this point he had not slept for 24 hours.

Here is another pic of the monument taken from the WW2 memorial.

WW2 memorial

Tim and I in front of the Indiana marker in the Memorial

He is still looking somewhat chipper here :)

Tyler

Reflection pool and Lincoln memorial

Some of the tamest ducks I have ever seen.

Why they call it the reflection pool. Cool HUH?

The Lincoln Memorial

I believe I counted 92 steps to the top!

Okay so now it is only about 9:45 am in our day. I think I will stop here for now. You can see why I am breaking it up into a few posts!

We weren’t there long but I believe we squeezed as much into a day as possible! We left our house on Monday at 8:00 pm and were home Wednesday at 11:00 pm. We were only gone for 51 hours. 22-23 of those hours were spent in the truck.

Shockingly, I would do it again…. But not right away :)

Have a great Day!

Suz

Saturday, July 17, 2010

I procrastinate….therefore I blog

Yep, It is I the Queen of procrastination!

It is time to pack for vacation and clean the house so here I sit blogging.

Here are a few updates.

I have lost 10 lbs since the 2nd week of June.

I was hoping for more as we begin a lake vacation tomorrow.

But hey I will take what I can get!

We have been super busy doing peaches, corn and applesauce.

My garden is a disgrace this year, so no pictures will be posted :)

Many people ask me all the time what I eat so here is a little sampling…

I love frozen treats….

These are Weight Watchers Strawberry Smoothie bars and Giant Chocolate Fudge bars. 1 pt each.

You get 12 strawberry bars in a box, they aren’t as big as the chocolate bars( only 6 bars in the box) but they take about as long to eat and they are delicious with real chunks of strawberries. Since they cost the same you get twice as much for your money.

But then again sometimes you just need a chocolate fix. So the chocolate bars are worth every penny.

These popsicles are definitely a cheaper way to enjoy a cool summer treat

Since they are sugar free they only have 15 calories a piece so you can have 4 popsicles for 1 point. You can also get them in regular flavors.

I love to eat pasta. Sadly lots of carbs are not the best idea for weight loss. So when I eat spaghetti I make Zuchinni and Onions and only use half the pasta I used to by layering in the zuchinni and onions over the pasta but under the sauce. It is so delicious sometimes I forget the pasta entirely. I have also used spaghetti squash instead of pasta… it is delicious!

Here is a pic of the Zuchinni and Onions ready to cook…

I have also went Berry crazy this month…Blueberries, Blackberries, strawberries, and rasberries. They are loaded with great taste and nutrition. They are low in points, delicious in yogurt and filling!! Also very healthy and a great natural source of fiber.