Let It Snow (and Ice)

Well, thankfully, our "big storm" held off for a week and didn't interrupt the inauguration last Tuesday! For all of you sturdy Midwesterners this will seem like a joke (in fact, President Obama even said D.C. doesn't deal well with snow after his girls got two snow days this week) but you have to remember that D.C. is a walking city, and the drivers/driving in the suburbs are already a nightmare, so adding snow and ice to the mix is a big, big mess! Apparently last year's total snowfall was 4.9 inches, so the forecast of 3 inches on Tuesday was significant. Here's the timeline of events (and, yes, my entire weather day revolves around the dog and work, since those take me outside):

TUESDAY:
6:30 a.m. - Take Rachel out, think "hey, it's not as chilly out here as usual," mentally mock the snow plow that is spreading salt on the street.

7:30 a.m. - Look out window and see tons of large snowflakes falling. Check the internet to see if bad weather is predicted - it is.

8:15 a.m. - Quick trip out with Rachel since she ate a huge breakfast; snow accumulation already 1/2 inch!

6:30 p.m. - Take Rachel out after work; let her run off leash in the 3 inches of pretty, powdery snow and throw snowballs at her - one of her favorite games! The air temperature is relatively pleasant and we have a great time playing.

10:30 p.m. - Take Rachel out before bed, notice that powdery snow is now crunchy due to sleet that has started falling. Hurry back inside to warm apartment . . .


WEDNESDAY:
6:50 a.m. - Take Rachel out and discover thick coating of slick ice immediately outside the exterior door, worry about falling and bumping baby bump. We make it across the ice rink street to the ice rink yard and back inside.

7:00 a.m. - Check internet for Federal government closure which means my office would close - no such luck, but they are on a 2-hour delay, so I decide on this as well. The sidewalk to the Metrorail is uphill and the railing is metal pipe - I assume that both will be covered in ice and don't want to attempt it with my balance. Sit down on the couch with my laptop computer and a bowl of cereal and get to work.

8:00 a.m. - Hear the noise of maintenance crews chiseling ice off sidewalk and running salt spreaders.

9:15 a.m. - Quick follow-up walk with Rachel on completely clear sidewalk and street - the yard is still slick.

9:30 a.m. - Walk the uphill, completely cleared off sidewalk to the Metro station and head to work. Have to get out of Metro a station early instead of transferring due to some train delays and walk the last three blocks in newly falling mist to the office. (Note: the upside of going to work on snow day is the unwritten "inclement weather dress" rule - i.e. if snow boots are required to walk to work, then you can wear jeans and bulky sweaters at the office.)

7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. - Take Rachel out after work and before bed and about get blown over by the wind - which, along with the day's mist, has helped freeze over the yard again. Wonder why didn't I notice the wind earlier on my walk from the Metro?

THURSDAY
6:50 a.m. - Take Rachel out and discover that ice rink yard is impossible for her to maneuver although I can stomp my snow boots through the ice cover. We head back towards the building in search of a flat surface. We discover some grass peeking out from under the snow in one spot! Catastrophe averted.

7:05 a.m. - Breathe a sigh of relief that Jason gets home this afternoon and has to take her out next time. . . .

Inauguration Day in Person

Jason couldn't get off work, so I ventured downtown by myself today to see the Inauguration. My plan was a spot on the Mall near the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (approximately 6th St) but due to my late arrival, I was part of a large crowd that kept being shifted further and further west. Ultimately I arrived on the Mall in front of the World War II Memorial and behind the Washington Monument (approximately 18th St) where I watched the ceremony on a JumboTron. Here are a few pictures and a video of my day:

The crowd on the Metro before we even left the station. My stop is at the end of the line and we mostly filled up here. Several people from further upline had done a reverse ride out in order to get a seat and then looped back to downtown. Otherwise they may have waited at their station much, much longer. Once downtown, my destination was mostly dictated by which Metro stations and Mall access points were still open. I passed many overflowing trashcans with empty coffee cups. The "feels like" temperature was in the teens. I didn't feel cold until I arrived at the Mall and was suddenly standing still. Then my toes and fingers were numb.My spot on the Mall with all of my new friends! The JumboTron is directly to the left of where this picture cuts off. In my video you can also see the police viewing station to the left of the monitor - it reminded me of something out of Star Wars.

The crowd goes wild as Obama is introduced for his oath of office! I actually don't feel like I captured the excitement of the crowd in any of my videos - it seemed much more enthusiastic than even this video portrays.Here is "Executive One" (Marine One when the current president is onboard) as it carries the Bush Family from the Capitol to Andrews Air Force Base for their flight back to Texas. At least, I have assumed they are in this helicopter. I have always been told that two decoy helicopters fly with Marine One, but this is the only one that I saw. But maybe that's just for the sitting president?

Portable toilets lined each side of the Mall and were also various places downtown. I spotted these during my LONG journey to leave the Mall. This is obviously at 16th Street, as you can see the White House in the background! It took several wrong turns, dozens of blocks, and about 90 minutes of shuffling to be free of the crowd on the way out. I stopped for lunch near my office to warm up and let crowds clear a little more before getting on the Metro to come home. Door to door, I was gone from 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

22 Weeks

Here's a picture of Baby and me as we get ready to head to the Presidential Inauguration. I added a ski jacket, double layer of gloves and a fleece hat to the jeans, t-shirt and turtleneck sweater.

I've been home for almost two hours now, and the tips of my fingers are still sore. My toes thawed out pretty well during lunch. My hips hurt from standing for nearly 5 hours, but mostly from the 90 plus minutes of shuffling that I did as part of the mass of humanity forced to reroute to exit the Mall at 18th & Constitution.

I just read an article on washingtonpost.com about the people turned away at 14th & Madison (yep, I was there - trying to get to the Smithsonian for a lunch break) and then routed to 18th & Constitution (yep, I was there, too)!

But, I'm glad I went! A once in a lifetime chance.

Los Cabos (Day 3)

After sleeping in on Wednesday and enjoying a leisurely brunch buffet at the hotel (one of my favorite meals that we had each day!), we sprayed on the sunblock and headed down to the Whale Watching Terrace to sun and whale watch between dips in the pool. We were not disappointed by either the weather or the whales!

View from our balcony of the pool, swim up bar, and the middle section of the Whale Watching Terrace (where the tables are set up between the pool and the sand).

For dinner our concierge recommended a fabulous open-air restaurant in the historic main square of San Jose del Cabo called La Panga. The food was outstanding and the ambience was tremendous! It was already dark, so I didn't try to take any pictures in the restaurant, but take my word for it - awesome!

San Jose is a quiet, artistic village compared to the loud, party town of Cabo San Lucas. We enjoyed walking around window shopping and admiring the buildings before dinner. We actually bought our one and only trip souvenir in San Jose - a lovely dark blue linen dress shirt for the baby! We know he'll love it when we take him to summer picnics! (Side note: Baby LOVED Mexico - he was constantly kicking me to remind me he was there! But he was very well behaved - no sea sickness on the catamaran or food aversions!)


This beautiful, historic church anchors the square and sits just around the corner from the restaurant.

Los Cabos (Day 2)

On Tuesday we went our separate ways as Jason headed off to play golf at the Jack Nicklaus designed Ocean Course at the Cabo del Sol, while I enjoyed a day of pampering at the spa.

Jason pitching in a shot with the Sea of Cortez behind him.

Jason putting his way to a birdie on the 17th.

I spent a relaxing day getting a prenatal massage, pedicure and manicure, followed by a nap, leisurely lunch and lounging by the pool! Jason joined me in late afternoon for lounging by the pool before we had a beautiful dinner on the hotel's terrace. The seating was outdoors overlooking the infinity edged pool and the Sea of Cortez. Absolutely beautiful!

Los Cabos (Day 1)

We just returned from a fantastic vacation to Los Cabos, Mexico, part of the beautiful Baja peninsula where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet. I have a lot of pictures that I want to post, so I will divide the post into the three full days that we were there. (We also spent parts of two other days traveling, but no exciting pictures for those days.)

Jason enjoying a complimentary welcome margarita on Sunday afternoon.

We stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos in the Tourist Corridor between the two towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. We chose the Hilton because we used Hilton Honors points to pay for the trip, but we thought the facility was beautiful. It also has one of the only swimmable beaches in Los Cabos. However, the water was so cold that we only stuck our feet in on one morning and then headed back to the pool.

Our big event on Monday was to travel to Cabo San Lucas for a whale watching trip. Although sightings are not guaranteed, late December through mid-March is whale watching season in the area and a big reason for us booking our trip when we did.

El Arco

Shortly after we left the marina, we sailed past El Arco (The Arch) which is part of the cluster known as Land's End as the Sea of Cortez turns into the Pacific Ocean. Aboard the Pez Gato catamaran as it sailed around Land's End on our way to find the whales. (FYI, that's pineapple juice, not a margarita.)

We saw whales several times during our sailing. After realizing that I couldn't get very good still photos due to the slow reaction time of the camera, I finally switched to video. This is the only video that was relatively steady as we were bobbing in the waves. In addition to whales, we saw manta rays launching themselves out of the water, pelicans swooping and diving for fish, and sea lions playing in the surf! There was actually an entire rock of sea lions (The Sea Lion Colony) near Lover's Beach by The Arch, but I didn't get a good photo due to the sun behind them.

The happy vacationers as we passed back past El Arco on the way back into the marina.

Babymoon

Shields in the City is taking the next week off, as we're on our babymoon! Check back next weekend for pictures and stories. . . .

Rachel's Christmas Wrap-up

Rachel spent a week with her dog and human friends at the kennel while we were in Kansas. I don't think I mentioned in my earlier post, but we spent the holiday at my parents' house and then the weekend in Kansas City with friends before heading back home.

This is a post about Rachel's Christmas toys, but I must mention that Jason, Keith, and Desiree were very sweet to indulge my food fancies in KC. I enjoyed all of my favorites: QT fountain drinks, Oklahoma Joe's Carolina-style turkey sandwich and tons of fries, and a taco sin carne at Manny's. They were mean to me and ordered margaritas at Manny's, but they did let me eat more than half the salsa brought for the table with my huge pile of chips!

My folks gave Rachel a PetsMart gift card which we redeemed last night for a large rawhide candy cane and a new nylabone (hopefully this means she won't have to eat my boots again)! Here are some pictures of her enjoying the rawhide. We gave it to her when we started watching the Sugar Bowl. She didn't move until it was gone shortly before halftime.

"Let me just try this out for size."

"Hmmm, wonder how I should tackle this thing?"

"Yep, this looks like a good spot here."

(We did take the bow off after the pictures and before she really dug in too far.)

My brother also gave her two new toys which she loves. I have a video of her eating on the plastic "snowman," but I will have to wait until Monday to upload it.

20 Weeks

I had Jason take my picture yesterday to document a very important event: a trip to the gym! I'm sure all of you who already have kids can agree that I don't need to make excuses for working out less than 10 times in the past 5 months, but I'll offer them anyway. First trimester I was too fatigued and nauseous to workout; then just as I was feeling better, I got a cold, and then the holidays/travel, etc. I actually have my second cold now (thanks most likely to holiday air travel), but I did manage to put on my all black Angelina Jolie outfit (also known as the one pair of workout bottoms that fit me and a clean t-shirt) and go for a walk on the treadmill.

My belly has certainly become very obvious the past few weeks - at least to me and Jason - but I was surprised how many people didn't "see" it in the red shirt at Christmas. This is the look I sport around home quite a bit - constantly surprising myself with my reflection in the mirror! :-)