I'll go hold the train!

We took another little trip into the District today, but this time we decided to take the Metro (rail system). It was Abby's first time on a "train", so she had a great time. We went to a couple of museums and then headed home. As we were going down the escalator to where the train arrives, we saw that one was already there. I ran a little ahead to make sure it was the line we wanted and then I hopped on. Quintin was pushing Abby in the stroller, so he was a little behind me. Right after I stepped on the train I saw that the doors were closing, without any announcement or anything. Quintin and Abigail weren't on yet, so of course I did what every normal person would do- I stuck my arm out to hold the doors. Doors like this usually have sensors in them so they will open if anything is blocking them, right? Wrong....not these doors. Basically the train doors closed on my left arm- right between my elbow and shoulder. My immediate reaction was to push the doors open- but nope, you can't do that either. I was lucky because right before I got on the train, two Metro employees got on, so one of them jumped up and called on his radio for them to open the doors. They opened about a second later. I told him I was just trying to hold the door for my husband who was right behind me and he sai, "You can't do that Ma'am- you might break the door." Thanks for the concern for my well being. I just had two doors crunch down on my arm and he was worried about the doors. Once we all got on and sat down I looked at my arm, then I noticed that it was starting to hurt a little and there were indention marks from the doors. I don't know what I would have done if those employees weren't on there. I guess I would have had to ride to the next stop with my arm in the door- holding it up of course so hopefully it wouldn't get chopped off as we went speeding through the underground tunnel we were in!!! Luckily, God was watching out for me. I can laugh now thinking how silly I was for sticking my arm out, but I didn't think that the doors were going to lock down like a great white shark! So, my advice is if you ever find yourself hopping on a train at the last minute and your whole party doesn't make it on- just meet them at the next stop! :) Oh, my arm is okay. It was already bruised by the time we got back to the car. Looks like someone hit my arm with a pipe or something, but I'll live! This picture is from our ride into the District.

Trip to DC

We took a short trip to DC this past Saturday. On our way to the Aquarium we walked by the White House. It was early so there weren't that many people out yet. The nice part about typically touristy places is that there are always people who offer to take family pictures for you.
The Aquarium was pretty nice. They had some really neat fish that we had never seen before. It was kind of small, so we decided to go to the Natural History Museum. That was the best part of our whole trip. The place was huge! Abby really liked the 3D African Safari IMAX we saw. It was cute because she kept reaching out in front of her trying to grab things, and then she would lift up the glasses to see what was really going on! I think her favorite part of the museum was the Mammal section because they had the animals as they would look if they were alive. The other parts of the museum had mostly fossils and casts, but she still enjoyed looking at everything.

Friday Quintin had lunch in DC with a friend that he had in California who now lives in the area. They ate at this pub, which is the oldest pub in DC (we walked by it again on Saturday). They met the First Tailor, Georges de Paris, who has custom made suits for Presidents for more than 40 years. Quintin has a hard time understanding people with any kind of heavy accent, and he said this man had a very thick French accent, so he didn't get everything he said. The pub also has a spot reserved for the First Lady- apparently she comes in all the time.

Skater Girl

Abby saw her Dad's rollerblades as we were unpacking and decided that she wanted some skates too. We had to practice in the hallway before we went outside. Of course she has all the protective gear on! She had a great time, but I think she liked it more inside because she could roll easier on the wood floor versus the concrete.

Big Girl Bed

Since our little one was born she never wanted to sleep in any bed by herself. Not the bassinet we bought for her, or the co-sleeper, or her crib. It was only Mommy and Daddy's bed for her. We didn't really force the issue because we liked having her so close and the way the floorplan was in the previous places we have lived, she was way across the house. That didn't make us feel too safe. There are so many things that can happen..... So, for the last two years she has slept with us, in a queen sized bed. One night a couple of weeks ago, Quintin woke up to find her completely sideways between us- of course he had the luxury of having her feet towards him! He straightened her out once, twice, three times. Finally, the last time he awoke he found a special surprise- little toes in his ear!! It was then that we knew that she had to sleep in her own bed. We started talking it up about how great it was going to be to have a "big girl bed" and she got really excited. We found a cute bed at Ikea and she decided she wanted to have a Scooby Doo bed- no big surprise for us. I had to order the comforter set online, but when it arrived she was so excited. Needless to say, she has been sleeping in her big girl bed ever since- no complaints!

My new job

Soon after we arrived in Annapolis, we took a walk around the yard to find the building I am going to be teaching in. It is called Luce Hall The only bad part is that my office is on the third floor- same floor as our house! At least I will get a work out climbing all of those stairs. Abby had a fun time flying around like Superman. She really likes chasing all of the squirrels and we even saw a couple of rabbits, but they didn't hang around as long as the squirrels did. Can't say we saw too many squirrels in South Texas.

Trip to the Maryland Zoo

We took a trip to the zoo in Baltimore last week. We were a little disapointed with it, but we have heard great things about the National zoo, so that will hopefully make up for it. Abby really liked the big bus that you could climb in and drive. We also went on a camel ride. Abby kept telling him to "giddy-up!" The last pic is of a precious baby bird we found!

Return to Civilization

We arrived in Annapolis on Sunday and it is truly gorgeous up here. I know we are going to have a great time. It is so nice to be living in a normal city again. Here it is the best of both worlds because Annapolis has a very "small-town feel" to it, and then you drive 5 minutes up the highway and you can find anything you could ever want. We watched the fireworks last night from "the Yard" (that is what they call the campus of the Naval Academy) and Abby had a blast. She was still talking about them today. The only hard part has been that we don't have internet in the room we are staying in, so we won't be able to write much. Our house should be ready on Monday, and they called Q today to tell him our stuff has arrived in the area, so now we are just hanging out until we can get moved in.

Not as easy as it looks...

As part of our move, we thought we would tow the Magnum behind the Excursion on a car carrier. Sounds easy, right? That way we could all ride in one car, have 2 drivers and little one could have someone to entertain her. So we hooked up the trailer and hit the road. Once we got onto the highway and picked up speed the trailer started fish-tailing. There was a lot of wind because a storm was moving in, so I think that contributed to the problem. There was no way that we could drive 1600 miles at 45 mph- that was as fast as we could go and keep the trailer under control.So after about 10 miles we had to turn around and take it back.
The trip so far has been great and Abigail is a true "Road Queen". We have driven over 1300 miles and only have another 300ish to go today. Yeah!!