Catch-up on Life, Love, etc.

I have been planning to put up a new post for a long time, I just haven’t made time to do it.  A lot of things have happened since I lasted posted an update of our lives. Aimee is back in Grad School.  She is doing a Math Specialist program at George Mason.  She is currently taking two classes that are held on Monday and Thursday evenings and she should be finished by summer 2012.  This has kept her very busy and for the most part she is really enjoying her classes.   She is also still teaching the eighth graders how to add and subtract (somewhat joking here – they might also be able to multiply small numbers at this point ;) ).  She has a fair number of challenging students this year so she has some good stories.  My working is going well and for the most part I am enjoying it.  One of my coworkers recently quit so we have a job opening for a public policy staffer – if you know of anyone let me know and I can pass on their resume. 

Last night we bought tickets to Florida for a spring break trip.  Neither of us have ever been to Florida, but Aimee’s sister and her family live in Key Largo so we are going to visit them.  Aimee’s sister will also have just had her 4th baby so we will be able to help out with the nieces and nephew.  It should be a really fun trip.
Michelle, another of Aimee’s sisters got engaged over the Christmas break and is planning to get married in late May, so we are on the lookout for good priced tickets to SLC. 

Last week our college friend Colette came to DC for work and we had a chance to catch-up with her.  We went with Colette to a restaurant called Latasca.  It was way ritzier than I am used to but the food was good and they had a special that let us try almost everything on the menu.  Colette informed us that we only post things on our blog when we travel.  Looking back I think she is right ,so I will try to include things from our normal lives as well.  We’ll see what happens.

Aimee has class on Monday nights and I work until about 7:00 or so most nights so planning for Valentines day was a bit of a challenge.  We decided to celebrate on the Saturday before so we wouldn’t be rushed and throwing things together at the last minute.  This year I decided that our plan for Valentines day would be a surprise, so I told Aimee we had plans but wouldn’t give her any details about what were were doing.  On Saturday morning we got in the car and I let Aimee know that we were going to Baltimore Aquarium.  We had been wanting to go there for a while and it was a really fun day trip.  The highlight of the aquarium is the dolphin show.  Neither Aimee nor I had ever seen a dolphin in real life before and I must say they are amazing creatures.  You can tell by the tricks they are trained to do and the interactions they have with the trainers that they are way smarter than dogs.  They were really impressive!  Here are few pictures of the highlights:



In this trick the dolphin literally jumps about ten feet out of the water and hits the ball with its nose.  This was my favorite trick.  The dolphins can swim up to 25 mph and are amazing jumpers. 



Here is an up close shot of one of the dolphins.  There were either 6 or 7 dolphins total and they all really seemed to like their interactions with the trainers and doing the tricks.  There were four in the big pool doing the show, but you could see the other pools in back.  Once the show started the dolphins in the back pools who were not performing seemed to get excited and started jumping and doing tricks all on their own. 



It is always hard to get pictures of ourselves when we are out by ourselves and not with a group of friends.  Luckily, Aimee doesn’t mind asking other people to take our picture.  This one actually turned out really well.




Here is a good one of Aimee that I snapped in the Brazilian section of the aquarium. 

As we had celebrated valentines day over the weekend I surprised Aimee on Valentines day with flowers and a made from scratch meal.  Unlike most of my surprises where she guesses it is coming this one actually was a surprise because I am normally not home from work much before her on Mondays.  My mom also sent a 2 lb. box of chocolates for Aimee (I’m being gracious and helping her eat it) and the first series of White Collar for me to watch.



Here is a picture of the spread.  It turned out really well!

At the beginning of this month we we went to the Eastern Market.  It is a place where local vendors get together, set up stands and offer their wares for sale.  The last time we went was right before Christmas in 2009.  This time there were not as many people selling stuff but it was still a fun trip  We found some really good mango salsa, homemade chips and a fruit tart (I love those!). 



Yum!

That weekend we also went out to dinner with our friends Eric and Stephanie.  My supervisor recommended a Korean BBQ place called Honey Pig.  We had never had Korean BBQ so it was quite a adventure.  It was a pretty authentic place so most of the people in the restaurant were actually Korean.  They way they serve the food was also quite unique.  Each table has a grill on it.  You order your food and they bring out the meat and cook it right in front of you on the grill.  The place smelled amazing and we liked most of the dishes that we ordered.



Here is the grill.  Everyone has small plates and each person gets some of the meat, rice and all the spices to try. 

January was an odd month.  Both Aimee and I got bad enough colds that we had to miss work!  Plus we got a major snowstorm about the same time.  After it was all said and done, Aimee had a full week with no school.  Unfortunately, they canceled more days for snow than they had built into the school year calendar so she is going to have to go teach on Presidents’ Day.

In January my memory card for my camera got corrupted!  Luckily, Aimee got me an external hard drive for Christmas so I had backed up almost all of my pictures.  I have a new one now so hopefully I won’t have any more problems, but it would have been quite a pain in the neck if I hadn’t backed them all up.
Over the Christmas break we took family pictures with Aimee’s side of the family.  For Christmas my mom got me a tripod and a remote control for my camera (so nice) so we used my camera for the pictures.  I think they turned out really well.  Here is one of the best ones of the entire family:



Our friend Emily Hall came and took the pictures for us.  It is amazing how much kids move around!  There were hardly any pictures without at least one of the kids turned around or looking the wrong way.

We had a lot of fun with Aimee's family.  Her 5 year old niece, Rylee, single-handedly planned a pizza party. During the party we played Pictionary and we learned that some of us (Aimee) are a lot better at guessing the pictures than others.  Before we arrived Stacie and Tony had bought Nerf guns for Michelle and Chelsea for Christmas.  The guns were a big hit with the kids and were a lot of fun to play with.  We turned the whiteboard into a target and had a few competitions.

While we were in Utah, we went snowboarding with my sisters.  My whole family went up to Beaver Mountain, including my Dad.  Most people stayed in the lodge and played Settlers of Catan but a few were brave enough to battle the lines (which were really long).



These two are Hardcore!  A sad fact: due to a feud with the garbage man (who refuses to drive down our lane to pick up our garbage) my parents (read: my Dad) had decided that they will burn the garbage instead.  About a month after this picture was taken my mom accidentally threw a bag containing two snowboarding helmets, two pairs of snow boots and goggles into the fire.  Sadly, they were all destroyed before Elisa noticed them and got them out of the fire.



Aimee didn’t want to play Settlers with us but she had lot of fun with the camera.




Here is a nice one that Aimee took of Elisa and David. 



My Mom is looking a little competitive in this one, but I don't think she was even playing...I guess that is just her natural look.




Camille looks a little worn out in this picture.  She definitely should not have gotten cold with two coats, a scarf a hat and a helmet on!



Aimee even managed to get one of my Dad.



Here is a good one of AJ, Kaylee and AJ’s “picture smile.”



This group just reeks of trouble…and other things….

Christmas was really fun this year.  We were with my family for Christmas day and went down to see Aimee’s family a few days later and spent New Years with them.



My Grandpa and Marianna put on a rousing performance with their trumpets.



Believe it or not, this picture was actually taken BEFORE they played.

Before we left for Christmas, Aimee and I went to the National Botanical Gardens.  They always do a fantastic Christmas display with trains and wooden sculptures of the national monuments.  It is really amazing and this year was better than most.  They had an entire extra room with sculptures of famous monuments from throughout the world.

Here are a few of our favorites:



Aimee with the Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal.



Here I am with the Supreme Court building.  In the background you can see the Washington Monument.



Here is on of both of us in front of the Capitol. 

If you have read this entire post, you are now up on the current state of our lives. :)