New GlassesJake and I have been wanting new glasses for a while... some people in our ward referred us to this web site
http://zennioptical.com/. They aren't the best quality - but way affordable. So we each bought a fun pair and a tinted pair.
Visit from Dad!
My dad dropped by before our vacation! It's been so nice to have him come visit. The first time he came to our apartment... I cried when he left. It made me realize how much I miss my wonderful family. Luckily he's been able to see us 3 times thus far... so I don't get as sad knowing he'll be back again soon. For the record - I hate living across the country from everyone we love. (notice our mega computing power!)
Trip to Washington, DC
Pratt has been so kind, they gave us 5 extra days off this year (unpaid of course!) It's part of their "lower costs" program. Five Furlough days scheduled throughout the year. Hey, we're just glad to have jobs! And more vacation days! So we took our 4 day vacation and drove down to Washington DC for Easter weekend (Cherry Tree Blossom Festival).
It was weird to walk down the streets of DC and pass FBI vehicles and the actual Post Office building. We passed the IRS building and I wanted to yell "hey! give us our money!".
We saw both Air and Space Museums! The Pratt logo was all over...
"The Eagle is Everywhere" (offical Pratt motto!)
This is the PW4098-112" engine. Jake is the Performance guru for the 4000 series. He really likes his "EnJens" hahahahaha (for those of you who don't know... Jake's friends called me EnJen in college: "Engineering Jen" --> "EnJen")
We met Michelle and Reese House at the Air and Space Museum. It was so fun to catch up! We went to the Macaroni Grill with them and the Hovey's.
Our Hotel was crazy modern... heated bathroom floors, glass walls (inside only!), iPod docking station, flat screen TVs, free internet (although the valet parking wasn't free), and the hallway walls were covered in velvet! Fancy!!!
The Smithsonians were very well done. The crazy part is you get to see the real deal. One sign in particular caught me off guard: "This is the REAL Wright Brother's airplane" DANG SNAP! Plus we saw mummies, Dorthy's Ruby Red Slippers, Kermit the Frog, the space shuttle, The Hope Diamond, The Star Spangled Banner (that inspired our national anthem), dinosaurs...and tons of cool stuff. The monuments were beautiful and BIG.
The Vietnam Wall...
Honest Abe
In case you can't tell, that's the White house behind the big freakin egg!
Roosevelt Memorial
Washington Monument
WWII Memorial
We drove by the temple on the way home... it was BEAUTIFUL!!!
We decided to go a different route on the drive home. Even though it was a little longer, we avoided A TON of traffic problems. We drove right past the OCC (American Chopper) headquarters!!! We stopped in and bought some t-shirts (surprise! I know, hard to image ME in a t-shirt!) When we were in the car getting ready to pull out of the parking lot - Jake said to turn around... we saw Jason Poole walking to his car (the computer designer on the show). Sure enough there he was walking to his truck. He opened the back seat and got a 2' wooden block out and put it on the ground - his dog used it as a step to get in the truck! Cool! We were a little star struck (we watch a LOT of American Chopper). We had to fight the urge to follow him home... thought that might be a little freaky!
It was a fun vacation - very relaxing! DC is such a clean and pedestrian friendly city! But now we're back home... work... seminary... sleep... repeat!
