Fall is in the Air

Summer has come and, unfortunately, gone.  As the routine of work and school has settled in we have gotten used to it.  Aimee is busy with teaching and grad school and I am keeping busy with work.  I’ve even started doing a lot more cooking and cleaning as Aimee has been so busy (some days I’m basically the best husband ever ;) ).  On Sunday I made a delicious butternut squash lasagna.  It is a recipe we learned to make about a year ago and LOVE. 

Of all the seasons, Fall is my favorite.  The temperatures cool off, the leaves change color and we spend a lot more time outside.  One of the more exciting events that occurs every other Fall is the solar home decathlon.  The decathlon involves 20 or so engineering and architectural teams from the nations top universities each building energy efficient homes using the latest technologies.  The homes are then brought to D.C. for the public to admire.  Aimee and I have gone to it three times now (have we really lived in D.C. that long ?!) and each time we have really enjoyed it.  It is in town for one more weeks so we are planning to go see the rest of the homes next Saturday.

  Some of the homes are really strange looking like this one from Caltech, but others are more normal.  They open up each house for tours and the teams that designed and built the homes tell visitors about their unique features. 

We also went to the National Book Festival this year.  It was really interesting as well.  One of the authors we listened to wrote a book about Lincoln’s evolving views on slavery throughout his life.  It was quite interesting. We also heard about what life was like for the loyalists after the revolutionary war.  I’d never really learned what happened to them after the treaty was signed and as the author mentioned, most of the books about the revolutionary war have focused on the patriots – not the loyalists.  The victors write the history I suppose.

A few weeks ago we took a day trip out to Great Falls Park recently.  It is a fun place to spend a few hours.  I took a photography class a few months ago and going to the falls was a good chance to practice a few of the techniques I learned. 



In this picture I used a slow shutter speed to capture the movement of the water going over the falls.  As a slow shutter speed lets in a lot of light we had to wait until the sun was going down to get a good picture.  I thought this one turned out really nice.


One thing that is always difficult for me is coming up with fun, well planned dates.  Aimee and I’s first date involved me showing up at her apartment with basically no plan – to be fair I did have a plan but she dropped a heavy drawer on her big toe making the planned date impossible.  Luckily, I somehow talked her into another date.  Some time back I was trying to come up with an idea for a date and one of the guys I work with recommend we visit Annapolis, Maryland.  It turned out to be a great plan. In the downtown area it was really fun to explore all the small, unique shops and we got some really good ice cream, crêpes and freshly made peanut butter fudge.  The fudge caused some problems later in the week when I tried the smallest little bit of Aimee’s portion that she had saved.


Here is a picture of us in the window of one of the shops.  It’s definitely and interesting shot!

Over the Labor Day weekend we went to our first major league baseball game with our friends Eric and Stephanie Maughan.  The Nationals have a bad reputation as losing a lot of games.  Happily, that was not the case on the day we went.  It turned out to be an exciting game with several home runs, three broken bats and a win for the National’s in the bottom of the ninth.  It was a perfect day to be outside.  From our seats at the top of the nosebleeds we got just the right amount of breeze to keep cool.  Good food from the Shake Shack helped too.

We took my camera with us and had a lot of fun playing with the different settings.





During the summer we also took a trip out to the beach.  We went to Assateague Island.  It is our favorite beach in the area because it is usually not too crowded and there are vagrant wild ponies roaming the beaches and parking lots. It was a really hot day when we went! 

 
This hat really brings out the blue in my eyes.

We even saw a few ponies.  

During the summer my sister Marianna visited the big Apple.  Aimee went up and stayed with her for one night and they did some sight seeing.  I couldn’t go but it sounded like they had a lot of fun.  Aimee forgot her phone charger so she had to conserve battery a lot of the time. 



Overall, while summer was really fun this year I’m glad it is the fall now.