In Tandem

Two weeks, one spent planning and the next spent playing. So frankly we're going to try to let the pictures do most of the talking......

WEEK ONE:

Monday we got to have F.H.E. with atec's family this week. Her sister Aubrey was distracted by the book she was reading, so we decided to sit on her for the picture. Here's how she felt about that....

On Thursday, pmc's sister finally had her baby.....Jacob Davis Olsen.

The rest of the week was spent planning, you know, trying to work out the details of covering the entire State of Maryland and the District of Columbia in one week.

WEEK TWO: Back to the Mission-Field

Saturday: We started by flying into BWI, and were supposed to be picked up by the Seger's . However, Melissa Seger got appendicitis :( and was at the hospital, so we were picked up by the Sperry's. We went to dinner in Severn at our favorite Baja Fresh and enjoyed some time with their cute 8-month-old twin girls. Then we met up with the Olson's who took us to their home in Frederick.

Sunday: We attended church at the Frederick Ward and got to visit with nearly everyone we wished there. However, some people were missed, so we dropped by some other homes during the afternoon and evening. But we also got a chance to jet up to Gettysburg for a few hours.

Monday: We spent the morning recovering from missionary work, and played on the Olson's sweet rope-swing. We went to lunch with Brother Kippen and then enjoyed some time in his shoe store, where he gave atec some advice on her shin-splints (ugh!). Then we had to get into the Catoctin "Mountains" for a picture by the caboose.....which is right near Camp David. We also stopped off at Cunningham Lake to dip our feet in the cool water. However, our toes were nearly attacked by minnows. We attended the Frederick Ward Annual Ice Cream Social before meeting up with the Castle's who took us to Hagerstown. We went directly to a BBQ at the Harne's where the Antietam Ward families pmc knew got together just for us. We were amazed to see there were still Fireflies out this late in the season.

Tuesday: We cruised up to Pennsylvania to have breakfast and visit before everyone left for work and school.....aka EARLY (enough to see the morning Maryland Mist and sunrise)! Then we went to West Virginia for some visiting, then ate lunch in Maryland at Weaver's. We then went to the Antietam Battlefield, where they talk about the Bloodiest Battle in U.S. History. Then we spent the afternoon at Harper's Ferry, where the Shenandoah and Potamac rivers merge and the whole deal with John Brown, before cruising to Virginia for dinner and some more visiting.

Wednesday: We stopped back into Frederick to visit Sister Smart....the most amazing Relief Society President on the planet.....literally! But then we headed down to Kensington to go to the Temple. It was so nice to take a break and just sit in the temple, we reminisced about what a refuge from the schedule of missionary work it had been for us. Then we headed to Olney to stay with pmc's cousin Joel and his wife Kristin and their kids. We took a nap, had dinner, and then drove down to D.C. to see the sites in the night lighting! It was so beautiful. On our way home we couldn't help stopping in at Rita's for a gelati.

Thursday: Joel took us to work with him where we caught the Metro to head back into D.C. We rented a tandem bike right near the Washington Monument, then covered the Capitol, Jefferson Monument, Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Memorial Bridge, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, and the White House before returning the bike. We highly recommend doing the bike thing! We also decided that all Americans should be required to visit Washington before they can register to vote. It's amazing how visiting these sites can remind us of the foundations our country is established on. Anyway, we spent the afternoon at the Smithsonian museums, where the highlights for us were the Sunstone, U.S. History in general, paintings by Renoir, Monet, Manet, and a Stradivarius violin. When we headed back on the Metro, there were some emergencies in a few stations on our line, so we ended up spending about 30 minutes in the tunnel.......ugh! When we finally got out, Joel had figured we would be at a different station because of the emergencies and had driven there. Nevertheless, we did finally meet up with him again. We spent the night playing the famous Cundick Marble Game before trying to meet up with the Rich's. We had a hard time getting hold of them, but found the reason to be that John Rich's brother had a heart attack that morning. At this point we decided we were bringing curses upon people we were staying with! Anyway we did finally meet up with them to get back to Severn.

Friday: Amidst the family emergency John had to fly to Utah, so we ended up not needing to rent a car! However, as we were leaving for Baltimore, atec could not find the camera. She searched her bag at least 8 times, got on her knees and prayed, and after looking through the rest of the bags hopelessly, we called Joel and Kristin and left a message. We ended up heading for Baltimore without it, and took the missionaries (including pmc's last companion) out to lunch, before doing a little shopping. However, the shopping was not going very well on account of atec's concern over the camera. We got in the car and found a message on pmc's phone from Joel and Kristin saying they had searched everywhere and couldn't find it. At this point atec blurted out how frustrated she was that she knows so many people who can't find something, then they pray and it suddenly appears......why doesn't it ever work for her? Then, out of frustration she grabbed her bag, pulled it open, and there was the camera! We decided Heavenly Father was testing us! But we sure were grateful for the answer anyway. So we headed to Camden Yards for the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles game. We couldn't help keeping our eyes out for the typical BELIEVE signs of Baltimore. This one was found on the side of a fire engine. You'd think that having lived in Baltimore we would be Orioles fans........however, we both wore Red Sox hats and were pleased with the final score. It does look like we have nosebleed seats, but we actually moved around a bit for the fun of it. Being lacrosse players ourselves, we enjoyed the Johns Hopkins lacrosse team pitching the first pitch. We also enjoyed watching a funny fight on the field when the entire Bullpen came onto the field.

Saturday: We spent a little time trying to visit a few families, to no avail, before we had a late lunch with Sister Rich and the Seger's (as Melissa was feeling a bit better!). Then we went to the airport so we could come home. We almost forgot our tradition before boarding our flight. Since we both love children so much and are excited for the time we get to have our own, we decided that our souvenir from each trip will be a stuffed animal. So in the airport we grabbed a little stuffed red crab! This otter is our souvenir from our San Francisco trip! Finally, although our final flight from Chicago to SLC was delayed by an hour, we got home safe and sound!