Our Weekend - Fall is Finally Here!

This weekend was the first we have had alone in 2 weeks, which was kind of weird. The past couple of weeks have been filled with family and friends visiting, so it was a bit lonely! But it was also very productive and relaxing, enjoying the fall weather that has finally arrived, only several weeks late! We spent Saturday doing mostly chores...car oil changed at 9, took Bleeker for his annual exam and vaccinations (ouch!) at 11:30, brunch at Chadwicks, grocery shopped but more importantly, we registered at Target! That was a good bit of fun and somehow still overwhelming. We needed to register for those things we didn't quite find at Babies R Us (aka We Be Toys as my aunt calls it!). I mean, how on earth are we supposed to know how many onesies and side-buttoned undershirts we're gonna need for 0-3 mths and 3-6 mths? So we just guessed! We then came home, relaxed a bit and took Bleeker out for a stroll. Funny enough, as we were walking down by the harbor, we saw all the private boats and yachts that are normally out there but this time, they were all decked out for Halloween! I hated that I didn't have my camera! I mean, orange lights, big inflatable Frankensteins, Scarecrows, Pumpkins, skulls hanging from the sails, pirate-like flags...it was so much fun! So, my goal this week is to go and take pictures of it and post them, so stay tuned!

Today, was just an ordinary day...went to church, went to lunch, walked around the Pentagon City Mall (which is fab by the way!) and then came home! Now, Brad is in the kitchen making homemade mac and cheese from a cookbook for the first time...yum! He's such a great husband. So, that was our weekend in a nutshell. We hope yours was equally exciting! Sorry there are no pics on this posting, but you know we'll put some up soon!

Baby Love

This week, we were thrilled to have our nursery furniture arrive! Yep, last week, my Aunt Brenda (my mom's twin sister) and Uncle Bob surprised Brad and I by purchasing all of nursery furniture and amazingly enough, it all came in this week! So, now we just need to get all the stuff to go along with it, i.e. linens and decor, and the baby of course!! AND last week, if you read one of the blogs below, you'll know we got another surprise by Brad's parents and grandmother when they purchased our stroller. We are so excited to have most of our big items purchased now and feel a lot of relief. Thanks to our families...you guys rock!

Well, on Wednesday, we had a follow-up appointment with radiology to check the placental localization. At our previous ultrasound (u/s), we were told that the placenta was lying pretty low but should move up as I grow and that's exactly what has happened! Thankfully, we got a good report regarding that and all looks well. We had the nicest tech this time and she took a lot of time with us, looking all around at the baby and even did a surprise 4D u/s for us! It was amazing! Brad and I couldn't help but get teary seeing such clear images of our baby boy. Brad was able to scan two of the pics at work for all of you to enjoy. So, here he is! If you click on the image, you can see them much larger. Is he cute or what? Of course, he wouln't move his hand from his face the entire time and insisted on eating his toes, but you can still get a great image of him. Enjoy!

Look, he's so comfortable it appears he fell asleep! Hopefully, the baby will sleep in it too!
Hmm...how do you do this?
Studying the directions so intently.

Stroller Time!

Brad's mom, dad and grandmother were so wonderful to give us our very first baby stroller and we are so excited! The Peg Perego Pliko 3...wow, I can't believe that after all this time of research and trying other strollers out, we have our very own! Eager to try it out, Brad and Andy pulled it out of the box, followed the instructions (yes, some men do read instructions :o) ) and put it together like stroller pros. After we had dropped his parents off at the airport, I got the bright idea of testing it out in our apartment, so I took our first born Bleeker for a ride! He actually seemed to enjoy it so we may have more of these excursions to come. Look how cute he is in it!

The Blackmons in front of Mount Vernon

GW and his crew stopping for a Diet Coke. Didn't you know they drank it then too?

Just love them!

Brad and his dad

Patty and I stopping for a break

Making clothes out of flax

Brad and I roasting apples

George Washington visits us!

The farm at Mount Vernon

The Estate

Andy and Patty at City Hall

Down at the Harbour

The Family Has Gone :o(

This week, we were thrilled to have Brad's parents come in for a visit. We didn't think they were going to make it due to his grandfather being placed in the hospital but at the last minute, and I mean 2 hours before their flight was to take off, the doctors released him to a nursing home and he has been doing well ever since! So, Andy and Patty ran home, packed their bags and headed for the Chattanooga airport. We were really excited to see them because we hadn't seem them since we moved and they had only seen pics of our new home. It was a great visit but we kept things very simple this time as they were exhausted from a busy several weeks before. On Thursday, we ventured around Old Town and had a great lunch at Chadwicks, a new favorite! Friday was spent roaming through Babies R Us, showing them all of the fun things we have registered for. To our surprise and complete excitement, they purchased our stroller as a gift to us, along with his grandmother. What a great gift! Brad and Andy spent a few moments today putting it together. It feels crazy to think we are going to be filling it with a little baby soon! Brad's dad has really been longing for some great seafood ever since they knew they were coming to visit, in particular Legal Seafood, so we made reservations and had a great dinner there on Friday.

Saturday was great day as we headed for Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate and farm. Way back when we found out we were moving to DC, Brad's parents found online that the estate was going to be having a fall festival with all their staff in period costume, fun activities for kids, demonstrations of how things were done on the farm in the mid-late 1700s and a tour of the house. It was a great time to spend with the family and even meet George Washington. Well, he certainly convinced us he was GW! Bleeker had such a great time during their visit, as always, as he gets SO much attention and love from them. He thinks Andy is his best friend and it's so cute to see him follow under his feet everywhere he goes. We were so sad to say goodbye to them this afternoon but know we'll see them soon over Thanksgiving when we head to TN.

Pumpkin Eaters...

I guess you can't have a pumpkin these days in your front yard for fear of the squirrels eating them! We were so excited to have a little front door area to put pumpkins in front of this year, as opposed to living in an apartment building. So, we went pumpkin shopping and got the perfect ones to sit out. Only a few days later, we noticed a nice hole in the side. Thinking it would be a one time event, I noticed one day Bleeker was going crazy to get outside. When I walked up to the door, I saw this squirrel just sitting there munching away! From then on, every day that we came home, the holes were getting bigger and bigger on both of the big ones. I guess the squirrels weren't interested in the smaller one! We just left them out there for fun to see how much would be gone each time. After we realized we had lost the battle, even after spraying them with something to deter them, we couldn't take the look of it anymore and had to toss them but here is the proof of what these little devils can do to your cute fall decor. Oh, after we tossed the big ones, they started on the small one! Urghhh!

Dogtoberfest

This past Saturday, when walking through Old Town, we discovered a little festival going on in the middle of the Town Hall square. To our amusement, we realized it was Dogtoberfest...a festival all for dogs and their owners! How fun right? This festival had small pumpkin bopping for the dogs to try to get, massage booth, and so much more. It was really cute! I didn't have my camera but Jen did so she took a picture of these cute pups just before they went for their little doggy massage. Brad and I had to get Jen and Paul back to the airport but as soon as we got back home, we took Bleeker to the festival but once again, forgot the camera! He had a great time though socializing with the other pups.

Playing ball with Bleeker in the park.

Final dinner at Maggianos

They had to eat at Ihop! How funny!
At the Reflection Pool and Washington Monument

Sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Mural of Marilyn Monroe

Brad and I in front of the National Cathedral

Gorgeous day at the White House

And the Capitol Building

Mexican night!

The boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach, DE

In the nursery section of a great home shop...Decorium, Old Town.

Jen and Paul in front of the City Hall, Old Town.

Jen and Paul at the Old Town Harbour.

The Brits Were Here!

This week, we were thrilled to have friends from London visiting with us. While in London, I (Nicole) worked at an investment company and made some great friends while there. Jen and Paul were two of them (they are not a couple) and they decided to make a visit to the States before Baby Blackmon arrives. Of course, Brad and I were so excited to show them the ropes and how things are done here. Paul lived in Houston for 6 months in 2002 and Jen was born in NY and moved when she was 2, so other than that, this was their only visit. They got here really late on Saturday night, so Brad and I picked them up from the airport and took them home. Bleeker was ridiculously excited about our new guests and wore them out by wanting to play ball all the time! Brad had to work every day they were here but Wednesday, but we still had a great time.

Anyway, here's a breakdown of our funfilled and exhausting week:

Sunday: Noting that our friends were probably wiped out from their long day of travelling, we decided to keep it simple and stay in Old Town Alexandria (our neighborhood) for the day. We were amazed, especially my friends, at how HOT it was! London hasn't had much of a summer, being cool and rainy all season, so they were thrilled to wear flip flops and shorts. We first had brunch at a great place on the river called Chadwicks for their first American meal! It was funny to see how they responded to our menus, being full of choices. They didn't even know where to start! Then we roamed the streets, popped into the Torpedo Factory (a great place for local art), walked along the riverfront and just shopped around the different boutiques in the area. It was a great first day and Jen and Paul seemed to have a good time.

Monday: What great weather and what a great day for the BEACH! Jen and Paul were tickled to know that we lived rather close to a great beach and were all for spending a day there. So, seeing that Tues was scheduled to rain and the rest of the week was going to be cooler, we chose Monday. Yes, I managed to get the nerve to put my 5 1/2 month pregnant body in a bathing suit! I'm just so proud of myself that I drove the whole way there and back without getting lost, with the use of a GPS of course!! Rehoboth Beach is a beautiful beach in Delaware and is chockful of shops, eateries and a boardwalk. It's the beach that most of the DC locals visit and for good reason! The weather was so perfect, hot but no humidity, and there were tons of people that had the same idea as us. After spending all day on the beach, we decided to head back home. Our friends had a wonderful time visiting a US beach for the first time and splashing around in the water and loved seeing their excitement! On the way home, we stopped by Bojangles for some quick southern eating where we devoured fried chicken and biscuits. They absolutely loved it!!

Tuesday: Icky weather = mall. So, I took them to the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. They had a hayday running in and out of the stores. Malls of this size don't exist in England so they loved it! Not to mention they were getting 2 dollars for every pound they spent. So everything was basically half price to them! Oh my, did we have lots of bags to bring home! What an entertaining day I had as watched them shoot fireworks from their wallets! Afterwards, Paul and I drove to Georgetown to pick Brad up from work and got so lost. DC is horrific for crazy roads and exits that come up so quick you don't have time to think. Even with a GPS system, we ended up way on the north side of town! We did make it eventually but not without a nervous breakdown!! :o)

Wednesday: Brad had the day off to travel around with us, yeah! So, we took advantage of the gorgeous spring like weather and Brad's sense of direction and took a tour of DC via the double decker bus. What fun! I highly recommend this for anyone visiting the city. We hopped on at 10:30 am and hopped on and off at the different sites until 5:30! It was a lot of fun and a great way to see the city without walking all over it!

Thursday: A day in Georgetown. It was amazing at how the weather changed so drastically. Not that it was raining but the temperature dropped a good 15-20 degrees! So, even after my disastrous journey to G-town on Tuesday, we decided that I would try driving again into the district. This time, I made it without getting lost! So, we spent yet another day on the streets for Jen and Paul to hit all the shops they didn't have at the mall. And you would be amazed at how many more bags we came home with! We even got to see Brad for a few minutes on the street as he ran errands for work. And we made it home without me getting lost...sorry to constantly bring this up, but it's a huge deal for someone with no sense of direction!

Friday: Last day of their visit - we spent most of it in Old Town and at the shops of Potomac Yard for a visit to Target and TJ Maxx so they could buy another suitcase to put all of their purchases in! Afterwards, we drove yet again to G-town to pick Brad up for dinner but this time, we got lost again!! Oh my gosh, this town drives me crazy with their roads! Some Frenchman named L'Enfant designed DC to be somewhat like the road system in Paris with all of its roundabouts and craziness. What was he thinking? Seriously! But although we got lost, we managed to make it there, though a little late. We had dinner reservations at Maggianos for Italian food...this is Jen and Paul's favorite food so they were in love with this place! It was a great way to finish out a perfect week!

Saturday: They had to leave and head back to London. :o( What a great time we had this week!

Who is the Question Mark Man?

Well, if you read the post from this past weekend, you will remember a picture that we posted of this strange man roaming around the park in a ? mark suit. I thought he may have looked familiar and then a guy we met in the park said that he thought he had seen him on TV doing different on-the-street interviews or something. Brad and I just thought he looked odd. Well, thanks to my sister-in-law Shannon, she sent me this link answering our question to "Who is this man?" So, if you're interested, here's the link! http://blacktable.com/going050929.htm
Maybe you've seen him before on TV, too!