Spring has sprung in DC

What better way to test out the new camera than a friendly stroll through the park and a visit to Eastern Market? To make things better, it was Easter Weekend and the perfect time to ponder the miracle of renewal and new beginning of Springtime that symbolizes our Savior's resurrection. Definitely a very special time of year.

It has been absolutely LOVELY weather and I utilized my weekend freedom from a window-less office to take a casual walk and try to find some venues to take pictures of people where I wouldn't be afraid of the camera getting stolen.

Along the way, I found some beautiful sights:

Despite having hardly any ground to really call your own in a row house 10 feet wide, a surprising amount of people have beautifully manicured yards full of now-blooming flowers! Exhibit A) some PURPLE hyacinth! the picture makes them look bluer than they really are...I should have figured out a way to fix that, but whatever.

I have a strange fascination with benches. Something about latent potential and the thought of how many different lives have crossed through this exact point, finding a moment of respite before continuing in their myriad directions. Poetic I think! This time the benches were framed by beautiful cherry blossoms--part of DC heritage. This is a park a few blocks from my house and the most enjoyable open place nearby. I love to stop over on Saturdays to see people's dogs socialize and witness kids' first bike rides, siblingn rivalries with wiffle ball games, and even some tai-chi in the "woods" on the North side. Love it!

I also love the park because of these gorgeous towering trees. Sets a good scene for a game of fetch.

After a mile and a half walk, I finally reached my destination at Eastern Market! I had grandiose intentions of getting some sourdough French Toast at a fantastic little eatery there, but the line was probably 3 hours long! No joke...the line is ALWAYS long, but this Saturday the line went clear through the back of the building through what used to be a stage and out into the market itself. Needless to say, my appetite wouldn't tolerate such a wait and I was by myself, so I settled on a fresh lemonade which I sipped while taking some more snapshots, and headed home.

Another wonderful cherry-blossom frame!!

And our little Maurice relatives are out en force! This one wasn't quite as friendly as the Franklin Park critter that ate from my hands, but friendly enough to pose for a quick picture!

While I was out, I wanted to get a couple shots to display the lifestyle of row-house neighborhoods. Narrow, deep houses smashed up against each other. This street was unique with front-facing parking where most streets are all parallel...so it caught my eye.

Here are some of the nicest row-houses in the neighborhood. I don't even want to begin to discuss what they sell for...suffice it to say I wouldn't consider it the most cost-effective purchase. Houses are small, often not well-cushioned from the noises, pests, and problems of your neighbors, and as mentioned before, outrageously expensive. Great people and fun neighborhood, tons of fun ethnic restaurants and shops, manageable traffic, and close access to downtown. So everything has tradeoffs!

I had a great venture into the Spring sunshine! SOOOOO happy that warm weather has returned!! It's not nearly as enjoyable walking by yourself, but I keep motivating myself to get out of the house and spend time doing the things I would do if I had Dave at my side. It's hard sometimes because I almost feel like I'm betraying us in some way, like I'm being selfish and making a life for myself that doesn't include the most important person in my life. Even small things like trying new restaurants or going to museums just make me feel weird. I know that, slowly, I'll get used to not having a traveling companion again, but for now, a morning stroll is a good milestone.

As Dave had mentioned in his post, we get to talk on the phone at various points in the day, every day. Those check-ins keep me going. I'm so incredibly grateful for modern technology that gives me a lifeline to my husband and gives us a pretty reliable, immediate method of communication so that we can keep each other actively involved in our individual lives. I guess I shouldn't learn to rely so much on it because I don't know how frequently we'll have contact when he's in Iraq, but I treasure every text I get in the meantime!

On a final note, I got to watch most of General Conference and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the various speakers. More than anything, I just learn to more deeply appreciate the comfort and strength contained within the Gospel of Jesus Christ as He exemplified humility and patience--qualities I have desperate need of. And, of course, I more deeply appreciate the fact that my husband and I share our core beliefs and our commitment to the Lord. Regardless of whatever personal capacity I might have for dealing with this whole deployment chaos, truly the only thing that keeps me sane is knowing that God is looking out for us, both individually and as an eternal couple sealed in His temple. Anyway, I wanted to quickly share with you all that I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's true church and that His gospel is the most influential and stabilizing force I could have ever been given in my life.

Love you all and hope you enjoyed a spectacular Easter, Lent, or Passover!!

Ft Dix: The Beginning

Dave: I can't say that this deployment ever felt that real until saying goodbye in MD, and getting on a bus for Fort Dix.  I always knew this was real and serious, but I was always just 3 or 4 weeks from seeing Kristine, and that is what I focused on. Now it seems like the time away from her requirement is pressing and my desire to see her grows.

Arriving here, they put us in a building located diagonally next to the one I was in last time.  Once again I am crammed into a 12 man room.  It strikes me how much I miss my wife, how much I miss a normal life, how much I miss a little privacy and space to call my own.  Its like I don't have time or space to be me. We run (not literally) from training to training and that is how I identify my time.  I'm either in training or waiting for the next one to start.  We do have a little downtime, but all we can do is hangout or go to the gym.  Amazingly I am able to talk to Kristine frequently and she keeps me sane. 

Here I am learning how to use a 50cal machine gun, the M2 (pronounced Maw Duece). 

Last deployment we had individuals specified as gunners who were not military intelligence and whose sole purpose was to drive or gun when we went into country. This time the entire unit are officers and noncommissioned officers, and I am low man on the totem pole, which means I get all the tasks and training my hirer ups don't really want. So far I have trained on driving, and using two different kinds of machine guns. The sad part is that the M2 is no longer allowed in Iraq due to our agreement with the Iraqi government, so this training is just for ft dix and a waste of time that I would rather spend talking to my wife.

 Here we are after getting our gas masks tested.

Here is SSG Durham and Myself ready for brazilian jujitsu at combatives class. I know these uniforms look like awesome special occasion Army style samurai clothing, but in actuality they are our regular uniforms turned inside out. I guess the velcro is more dangerous than I thought.

It is Easter Sunday and unfortuneately I am unable to celebrate with my family or even watch general conference.  On an upside though, there is a small serviceman's group which I have a little time to attend.  Both this and last week there were 5 of us attending sacrament.  More than ever I am appreciative of the simple moments when I am able to feel the spirit of the Lord and feel renewed. 

Our new camera!!

Yep, it was time to replace the battered camera that had seen me through some wonderful years abroad...
Dave and I researched some of the newer cameras coming out this season and found one that we thought would be a keeper for years to come: the Canon sx210is. I was lucky enough to get someone to buy my old one, which helped bring down the cost of this new one. Then, with a gift card from our credit card rewards, it got even cheaper! Gotta love when you save up for something and then get it with a bargain.

It hit stores today and so I got one of the first off the shelves! Here is a picture from their website:I am sorry to say I haven't been able to really use it yet, but that is sure to be remedied soon :)

Yellow Ribbon and a goodbye

Kristine: This weekend I got to meet with the unit Dave is deploying with as well as their family members. It was sobering, to say the least, when the information sessions detailed what notification I would get should Dave be killed, captured, wounded, or missing in action. But, other information was incredibly useful as we were briefed on health benefits and other administrative details connected to the labyrinth that is the US Army.

In our free evenings, we got to go out to dinner, worked on a puzzle, and enjoyed our last free days before the longer-term separation. Dave has some pictures on his phone he will hopefully post soon. He is now at another base and learning all about soldier readiness...again. Just under 400 days to go, and counting.

In other news, Spring has sprung in DC. The weather keeps vacillating between cold and beautiful, but hopefully it will settle into gorgeous sometime soon. The National Cherry Blossom Festival starts this next weekend and DC is sure to be blooming all over. So exciting!

Work and school are plugging along too. I have just 5 weeks left in this semester and then I'll be heading straight back to Syracuse and on to graduation!

Just wanted to give a quick update.

Two Weeks in DC: Last Night

Dave: Wednesday was my last day of leave before getting back in the whole deployment thing. All I wanted to do was spend a little more time with my wife before saying goodbye. The weather was fantastic at 65 degrees and sunny so I met Kristine downtown where she works and we went for a walk. When all you want is to just be together, some of the most random things can be really entertaining. Take squirrels for instance. Kristine and I met in a park next to the metro stop. Next to one of the benches was the leftover fries from someone's lunch and the squirrels were in heaven. The funny thing is that they would fight over the area and in chasing eachother, they wandered away from and never made it back to the fries. Kristine decided to help them out. Most of them were too afraid, but one brave soul struck the jackpot and feasted on handdelivered french fries.

After the Squirrels in park we decided to take a walk along the mall before finding some food. Being that it was close to sunset, everything just seemed to glow.


We tried our own picture (above) then thankfully some family came by and offered to take one for us. We helped them back by doing the same thing three steps later. Somehow just walking and talking seems to be the best thing ever.

So Long DC. Its been fun. Take care of Kristine until I return.

Two Weeks in DC: Wk2 National Sculpture Garden and Museum of Natural History

Dave: With only one full week left before returning to Army life, we decided to take advantage of a couple more sights together. Kristine had asked to go to the National Sculpture Garden on the Mall previously, and I not really wanting to go, always found a better option.  This time it didn't matter, I just wanted to spend some time outside with my wonderful wife.  So we went.

There were signs next to all the sculptures, but I can't remember what they had written.     

What is an ice skating rink doing in the middle of downtown DC?

Its a pyramid, I think.

Doing a little streching before pt.

After the Sculpture Garden we went to check out the Museum of Natural History. 

First we went to the Geology section where there was this picture of the earth that displayed all the earthquakes in size and location that have ever been recorded.  It was really suprising to see the midwest and other places have semi-regularly occuring earthquakes. 

Here was this deep black rock with huge chunks of garnet that came from a mine in NY.  I want this for my countertops or tile in my future house. 

This just looked cool.

Here is my Kristine with her amethyst.

Of course we had to see the Hope Diamond.  It looks cool, but honestly I don't understand why its worth millions.  Size and rarity don't really make it worth it to me. There was also a decent collection of jewelry.

We couldn't leave with out seeing the zebras.

The best part of the day was sitting on the bench in the Sculpture Garden.  We talked some, but mostly just absorbed the sunlight and snuggled.  We watched some really cute kids and listened to the securtity guard yell at all the people who were touching the silver tree sculpture I had just taken pictures with. There is something more to us when we are together.  We don't have to be or do anything. Just physically being next to each other somehow makes us more, or better. 

Two Weeks in DC: Wk 1 cont and Wk 2

Dave: To end my first week of leave we decided to go to downtown one more time.  Kristine had never been to the National Holocust Museum, so we went.  I can't say it was fun. Very informative, yes, impactful, yes, enjoyable, no.  I think the greatest dissapointment was historically Europe in general. Before becoming predominately christian and especially after, Jews were terribly persecuted all over Europe.  Hitler and the Nazis tried to do what England had done in the 12th or 11th centrury which was forcibly evict the Jews from the country.  The Nazis needed a scapegoat in order to rally for political power, and Jews were that for all of Europe.  The Final Solution was only developed once the Nazis didn't have anywhere else to put the Jews they found.  Everything that happened was terrible.  People lost themselves by ignoring the humanity of others.  

It was a good trip and once again we found ourselves at the end of the exibit right at the time the museum closes.  We would have waited in the long lines outside, but my military ID got us immediately in. Sweet.     

Week 2

To start week two of leave we had a grand plan of going to Colonial Williamsburg.  We stopped at Bolling AFB to get discounted tickets, when we found out the tickets weren't so discounted, and Colonial Williamsburg wasn't really as close as we thought.  Willliamsburg suddenlty changed to bowling at Bolling.  Kristine and I hadn't bowled in a while so we went for it.  We both averaged over a hundred, and had a friendly competition. 

Kristine's proof that she was winning.

We were on our way to the Mall after bowling when we saw these guys. I didn't know a skill for rappelling was necessary for washing windows, but evidently I was wrong.