Goodbye Crab Fest

My amazing friends threw me a going away crab fest. Maryland, the Chesapeake, and the entire area is known for Blue Crab, so it was the perfect food to commemorate my time here. Not only was this a goodbye party, it was actually very educational. For instance, despite having called them "blue crab" during my entire stint here, I didn't realize they actually started out as blue. Who knew? The crabs seen here, however, are red, meaning they're cooked and ready for eating!

Not only did I learn a little more about the blue crab, I had to get a lesson in how to eat them. It's really quite a process, including a lot of pounding, breaking, cleaning out, and finally, eating. They were amazingly tasty! So, so, good. If the goal of the party was to make me realize some of the great things I'm leaving behind, it was a success. 

 More crab enjoyment...

The roomies came out to help me celebrate as well. Yeah roomies!

My friends also made me some pretty fab cupcakes that said "Bon Voyage Beast". Yes, I am known as "beast" out here. This nickname was one of many side effects of participating in rowing. It's just one more connection I have with Frazier...

Second (third? fourth?) lesson of the night: baton twirling. Meghan twirled competitively for something like 10 years. She is amazing. And she has the trophies to prove it. I know because I knocked some of them over in the middle of the night before the triathlon when I got up to go to the bathroom. Woke the entire house up. But that's another story...

Any celebration must be commemorated with a good twirl. Meghan tried to teach me something, but I'm afraid that me + a spinning, slightly heavy baton = not a good idea. I didn't get very far.

 Ta-da! I did learn how to look like I did something, however.

I am now thoroughly sad to be leaving DC and all these amazing people :(. I have exactly one week left in this city.

Triathlon

This Sunday I completed by first triathlon. It was amazing. Three other friends also competed with me. Here we are in line waiting to pick up our packets and get our amazing pink swim caps.

Here I am getting ready for the swim, the first leg of the race. If you can't tell which one I am, even better. The swim was very, very difficult for me. 400 meters doesn't sound very hard but I never advanced must past "tadpole" during swim lessons.

After the swim was the bike - 11.8 miles. But before you can even get on the bike you have to take off your swim cap and goggles and throw on a shirt and some shoes. It doesn't sounds like too big of a deal, but is made infinitely harder when you are already exhausted and are contemplating about 15 miles left to race.

The first few steps after getting off the bike feel pretty wobbly. My legs were kind of singing that I had already put them through a lot. Thank goodness I was still holding onto my bike for those steps. Then I was off for another 3.1 miles.

Here I am at the finish, crossing the line with my friend M! The pic is blurry because we're moving so fast. Yay!

Urban Baby

So I know I've already been scooped on this story (see blog "Loaf of Love"), but I have to share anyway - it's just too good. Last weekend I had the honor of a visit from Jonathan, Chelsea, and Baby E.

I was so excited to recreate my first ever trip to D.C. with my cousin Jonathan. First stop was the white house. Due to the extreme notice and shadiness required to get tickets, we only got to see it from the outside. Family photo op!

Baby E took a little while to warm up to it, but eventually got very excited.

 

It was a bright and sunny day, so we had to rectify Chelsea's lack of sunglasses. A high class street vendor helped solve the problem. The new shades had an ambiguous logo - mostly resembling a D&G/O. We immediately recognized it as the famous Dolce & Obama label.   

You can't be on the mall without at least one visit at a Smithsonian. I might have influenced this particular viewing a little...

We ate some tasty mexican food, the spot chosen primarily for it's location on the way to the metro. You can't see the mall without a lot of walking, which we did. Not sure what we didn't think Baby E should be hearing...

Of course you can't get around D.C. without taking the metro. Look how easily Baby E took to it. She's a natural at navigating urban life.

Chelsea has a great appreciation for Abe the Babe, so we made this memorial a stop on our mall tour. It had been a long time since I had seen the memorials/mall at night. It really ups the "awe" factor. If you can get over the gnats and swamp smell, I highly recommend it.

Sunday morning: Baby E has already perfected a look we've all been giving Jonathan for years. This look says, "not impressed, Jon, not impressed".

We also took a walk to Dupont Circle, and grabbed some coffee along the way. Dupont Circle is the perfect place to get a feel for local life, and it certainly did not disappoint. Crazy was out in full force this morning. (Crazy not pictured.)

Baby E took in the fountain. 

I had to throw this last one in because she's so darn cute.

I loved having them visit, and can't wait to take them up the Space Needle for our next adventure.