I Should Be Packing, but I'm Blogging Instead

This is us. The one showing lots of shoulder (in her Chengdu, China Marine Ball ball gown!) is the EFM who writes this blog. The one wearing a tux (James) is the employee who moves her (and their two sons) around all over the world. The red link, below, is how you can get in touch with me...

The time in Chengdu, China

Chengdu: city of fabulous food and beautiful Buddhist monasteries!

In Our Same Boat (with State)

Beyond the Cornfields
Brand-new State Department family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Love their two little girls (she just recently had a baby while being posted in Dhaka), horticulture, traveling and adventure!
Email From The Embassy
State Department family formerly in Beijing, China, and recently posted to Amman, Jordan. A trailing spouse, she's also a writer, and frequently publishes articles with major news sources. A very experienced State family, this new post is something like overseas post number six or seven for them.
Just US
A beautiful family of seven - they have arrived at their new post: Jerusalem! They just finished off an unaccompanied tour to Iraq and are very much looking forward to sightseeing around the middle east.
Our Life
State Department family on their second post...Tijuana, Mexico. It's their first overseas assignment and they have two little boys. They love Tijuana so far and post pictures frequently! They also get to enjoy the best of both worlds for they can sneak over the border into San Diego when they want to!
The Dinoia Family
State Department family formerly in California, now in DC for a DC tour. Next, the husband will do a one year unaccompanied tour. A very experienced State family (formerly in Iceland and Caracas) with a blog that has been around quite a while and has great archives. Jen has a sweet heart and a lot to give!
The Perlman Update
State Department family formerly in Chennai, India, who then did a year-long unaccompanied tour in Iraq. They are now on a DC tour and after that will do another unaccompanied tour (Afghanistan). She totally tells it like it is and doesn't sugar-coat what life is really like. Witty, snarky, funny and down-to-earth. Look elsewhere if you want fake. Read if you want REAL.
Where in the World Am I?
State Department family formerly in Bujumbura, Burundi and now in Hyderabad, India. They just had their first baby this summer - a beautiful little girl- (there's a separate blog about this) and she also eats gluten-free (with a separate blog, also).

One of the most intriguing things about Chengdu is that it is a seamless blend of ancient and modern... all together, side by side.

Can't Live Without (non-State)

The grounds of Chengdu monasteries can be very, very peaceful...even though they are smack dab in the heart of a city of millions of people.

Specifics

Blog powered by Typepad

« A Very Happy Fourth of July to Everyone (and Especially Those in Hardship) | Main | Don't Hate Me... »

07/11/2010

I Should Be Packing, but I'm Blogging Instead

Our two boys and I are leaving soon to go to the airport to fly to Florida to stay with my parents to convince the Boy Scouts of America that my older son, Matthew, should be allowed to be an Eagle Scout.

And so, in a rare burst of procrastination (rare! HA!), instead of packing, I am blogging. Because I haven't blogged lately.

I could regale you with the story from this past week of how one of the Mean FSI Security Thugs and I loudly traded insults with each other in the entrance building at FSI (when I Twittered about it, I got a lot of responses, and it turns out that I am NOT the only one to be treated badly by the Mean FSI Security Thugs. Imagine that! Total shocker!), but to do it justice, I'd need more time than I have now.

So, since I only have a couple of minutes, I can only post pictures from the last week or so of our adventures here in Washington DC. Pictures of our future adventures in Florida are bound to be forthcoming.

Strong james bends the washington memorial

Things probably felt a little off in Washington DC recently, when my incredibly strong husband demonstrated his superhero powers by bending the Washington Memorial. (But he put it back after the photo op. Don't worry! He only uses his powers for good. Unlike the Mean FSI Security Thugs.)

See? He put it back. And it's fine now:

All straight and tall and stuff.

Good as new.

Like nothing ever happened!

The next few pictures are from the Jefferson Memorial:

When we were there, there was a wedding being held outside of it!

We caught the tail end, as they were walking around, having pictures taken of the wedding party.

Good luck, you two! Being married can be the biggest blessing of your life, if you treat each other kindly and with love.

Important looking helicopters kept flying around above us.

I was all, "Is it someone important? Is it? Is it?" I was totally peppering James with those types of questions.

We went to the FDR memorial. Which consists of a WHOLE LOT of waterfalls. They're very pretty.

Water everywhere = ducks everywhere. And you'll never, ever hear me complain about THAT!

You know it's coming, right?

The onslaught of the squirrel pictures?

Because I've never seen anything like how many squirrels there are in Washington DC. And these squirrels totally have GUMPTION. They will come up to you and be all, "Hello!? Food please, tourist slave!"

They'll size you up to see just how useful you might end up being to them.

They'll look at you from about a thousand different angles and calculate just how many snacks you might have in your camera bag.

They'll walk up, closer and closer to you, and get all aggressive with the flipping of their tails.

Talk about awesome squirrel photo ops!

Being aggressive is their middle name! I guess the tactic usually pays off.

I can't just leave you with the thought that we've only spent our time in downtown DC, though.

We hit Old Town Alexandria as well.

That place is just adorable!

So many shops and yummy places to eat!

And now, sadly, the boys and I are leaving mild-weathered Virginia (people in Virginia don't know what heat IS. Tell this Floridian/Texan family all about how hot you think it is up here. Because it's NOT, comparatively.) and are traveling to FLORIDA in the MIDDLE of JULY.

Should be lovely in Florida this time of year, right?

:)

Posted on 07/11/2010 at 08:15 AM in James, Photos of Which I am Proud, Tourists in Washington DC, Virginia | Permalink

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Missed seeing you around the blogosphere this week (though I say that with a hand over my eyes in shame that I haven't blogged lately either). :)

Safe flight, best of luck with the Boy Scouts, and have a GREAT time in Florida. Maybe when you get back to DC I'll actually have sent out my package to you... just call me lazy!

Posted by: Jill | 07/11/2010 at 08:23 AM

Glad to see you back. I love the picture of Market Square in Old Town. Nick and I actually got married (for the first time) literally around the corner from there, in the gardens at the Carlyle House.

Glad you're getting out and about in DC!

Posted by: Liz | 07/11/2010 at 08:42 AM

Loved your photos!

Posted by: [email protected] | 07/11/2010 at 09:27 AM

Evil Squirrels! He was trying to attack you. At my college, there are these devilish squirrels who through nuts & pine cones at people. Evil. Your photos were awesome at exemplifying their evil nature!

Sorry. Can you tell I have a problem with squirrels?

Posted by: Lindsay | 07/11/2010 at 11:42 AM

I missed you too. We were just in FL for a couple of days and the weather there was nicer than the 100 degrees we had here last week. Go figure. I hadn't missed FL at all until we went back but when we were there I felt a little nostalgic. It sure is pretty down there and we had a lot of good times while we lived there...

Have a safe and fun trip to FL! Can't wait to read your blog about it.

Posted by: Daniela | 07/11/2010 at 02:25 PM

Oh, the heat. How I miss being hot. It has been rather cold here, a chilly 60 degrees some days this week. I would love to go to Florida.
Have fun and good luck.

Posted by: Emily | 07/11/2010 at 04:30 PM

There may be heat in Florida but at least you will be safe from mean FSI security guards while you are there :)

Posted by: Melissa | 07/11/2010 at 04:38 PM

Have fun in Florida. . . *grin*

Posted by: TG | 07/11/2010 at 06:07 PM

We're not making it to Florida this year, although the kids want to go. Hope you have a lovely vacation!

Posted by: Connie | 07/12/2010 at 06:48 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.

James loves me. And our sons. And his job. But not having his picture taken. In 2011 he finished up over a year and half of training, and in the fall of 2011 we got to our first overseas post - Chengdu, China!