Lately...

It's hard to believe Tim and I have lived here for almost two years and are just now visiting Great Falls National Park. It is crazy that all of this is right on the edge of DC and only about 15 minutes from us!

Last Saturday, Michelle Prince and I ran the first ever Marine Corp 17.75k! Yes-it's a strange distance (11 miles), but it is to celebrate the year the Marine Corp was founded. The race was a difficult one with trails and forests and several hills, but we survived it. It finished at the Marine Corp Museum in Quantico, VA. I am very grateful that Michelle and I could do something together before we move. Thanks Michelle! Our awesome husbands and Michelle's baby Gabbi came to cheer us on...

Outer Banks part II

I am finally getting to the second part of our trip. We mostly enjoyed the beach...
We rented a kayak, but it made me seasick :(
We saw yet another lighthouse, but this one was covered in scaffolding. If you look closely, you will see my frown....we took a nature walk by the lighthouse.
We also got to visit the Wright Memorial at Kitty Hawk (actually, the location is now in a town called Kill Devil Hills, but at the time, just the hill was called Kill Devil Hill). It was pretty cool!
And since we were on vacation, we had smores for breakfast!

Fabulous. Just like our trip!

The Outer Banks: My future home

We took a trip down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and I fell in LOVE! The Outer Banks are a strip of land off of the coast of North Carolina which includes Roanoake Island (the lost colony), Rodanthe (remember the Nicholas Sparks book/movie), Cape Hatteras (the beautiful Lighthouse), Kitty Hawk (Wright Bros.), and the waters once patrolled by Blackbeard. A member of the fitness center I work at has a beach house in Nags Head, and he gave us a discount to stay there. Tim mentioned it to some co-workers and before we knew it, the trip was planned!

Above: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest in the US
Below: A view from the top...
The entire lighthouse was moved a few years ago to avoid falling into the ocean. The middle picture shows the opening in the trees (now a parking lot) where it came.

Jockey's Ridge State Park dunes. The highest natural dunes in the East Coast.
And about the hottest. These are probably some of the sand the Wright Brothers flew off of though over the years, the dunes have moved and covered an entire miniature golf course. It's now popular to fly kites there. There's lots of wind.

A cute town called Manteo on Roanoake Island...

And the Manteo Lighthouse with a wedding going on. You can see the bride walking down the aisle!

Our beach house. Located 2 1/2 blocks from the beach!

More to come...

Top Ten

Tim and I made a list of the top 10 (actually, it started as the top 5 and ended with the top 15) countries we would like to visit. We started by each making individual lists, then scoring them and coming up with our list together. This is our list:

1. France
2. Mexico/Latin America
3. Italy
4. Greece
5. Africa (we realize this is an entire continent, but we decided a safari or an aid trip would be cool.)
6. TIED for 5th: India
7. Peru (Thanks to Aubrey who made it sound awesome)
8. China
9. Israel
10. Switzerland (Thanks to Mindy and Thomas who made it sound beautiful)
    

I would suggest everyone make a list. What if you had a chance to go somewhere and didn't even know where you wanted to go? We got passports from my parents for Christmas last year and we plan to use them this summer. We're going to COSTA RICA! It's no France, but it's a start :) Any other thoughts?

Happy Birthday to Me!

As always, Tim helped me have a great 25th birthday! I didn't have to work-this always makes a day better, so I got a pedicure and manicure in the morning then Tim and I went to ride the paddle boats on the tidal basin where we had a view of the Jefferson Monument on one side, and the Washington Monument on the other. We then walked to the American History Smithsonian to see a few more exhibits. I've been there four times and I still don't think I've seen half of it!

On Saturday, Tim threw me a Fiesta! He made the most delicious Mexican food and we enjoyed it with a few friends.

Earlier in the week we went with the Snows to a Potomac Nationals game for $1 tickets and $1 hot dogs. All in all, it was a pretty great week!

Hailey, Henry, and Buddy the Elf

It's been a big week for the Lotz family! We'd first like to welcome Henry Thomas Adkins. Born Thursday, April 29th to Mindy and Thomas Adkins. Two days later, his cousin Hailey Jean Lotz came as a surprise on May 1, 2010! Hailey is still in the NICU, but she's doing pretty well. She was six weeks early. Born to TJ and Kristen Lotz.

I hope they don't mind that I stole these pictures from their blogs, but I won't be able to visit them for a while, especially because they are in two separate states and both across the country from me. :( I am very grateful for technology right now!

Saturday, April 24th my cute little Roxy dog got adopted by a sweet couple from Baltimore. I was really regretting not just adopting her, and I was really missing her this week, so when I got an email that HART (homeless animal rescue team) had a new dog that looks like Roxy, I immediately said I would take him. We now have "Speckles" whom we call Buddy, because Speckles is a dumb name. In honor of Aubrey, Buddy has evolved into Buddy the Elf, the dog. We're still learning about his personality, but he's cute and he loves to cuddle just like Roxy.

The Happenings

I haven't blogged very much lately, so below are a few things we've done the past few weeks....

1. Went to the Peeps store at National Harbor with Aubrey to fill the void after Easter.2. Cute Baby Mackenzie's baby blessing in Scott and DeAnne's ward. She is lucky to have both sets of grandparents...and all aunts and uncles so close.
3. Roxy. I admit, we are pretty smitten with this little pup. She LOVES to snuggle, whether it is with one of us or under a comfortable blanket. Below are pictures all taken at different times during the same day -except the bottom right corner.