Globe Trotters

Hey folks,

Well, we are back for a short stay at home before we jet off again to our big vay-cay in Orlando!

Last week I left for my annual trip to Washington D.C. for work and then took a puddle jumper over to Birmingham for a wedding. I typically don't mind flying, but lemme tell ya, those planes last week about made me have a nervous breakdown. And I was in a seat all by myself each time (it was one of those one seat on one side of the isle, two on the other type of planes) so I had no one's hand to grab through turbulence. My nerves were left 30,000 feet up.

Anyway, Ben's best friend growing up, Justin, got married on Saturday, so I flew from DC to the 'ham and met Ben and his brother Chris. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, and you know I always enjoy seeing this boy in a tux-

While in DC it was mostly legislative meetings and business dinners for us, but I did get to have a little fun in between. DC is one of my favorite cities, ever. I think I tell Ben at least once a week that we need to go there for a vacation. This trip I took a tour of Library of Congress. I'm so aggravated I didn't have my camera, but pictures would not have done it justice anyway. If you want you can take a virtual tour by clicking here . It was one of the most interesting, beautiful, and amazing things I have ever seen. If you are ever in DC, the Library is a must. And our tour guide was this brilliantly sweet grandpa who I couldv'e listened to for hours, he was such a good story teller. Here are the two pics I could store from my camera phone as we were walking around the city:

Supreme Court-

Inside Union Station-

In other news, my mom is on this side of the Pacific! I cannot begin to explain how nice it is to be able to just pick up the phone and call her without dialing the country code for Japan, and hearing her voice instead of chatting over Gmail messenger. Mom will be hanging out in Texas with my grandparents (and helping Granny put up with Gramps after his double knee replacement surgery last week) til the end of June, and we are going to go see them next month. Can't wait! I get to show Ben where I was born and raised, and what good Mexican food really tastes like! Here are my awesome grandparents- my Gramps is a spitfire, and Granny is true Southern lady, so it doesn't get any better than them:

See ya after we visit Shamu and Cinderella!

D