2010 Army 10-Miler

It was another year of fun at the Army 10-Miler (Oct 24, 2010).

Last year I ran by myself. This year- David, my brother Joel, and my sister-in-law Stephanie, all ran too.

It was beautiful weather, which is always a bonus on race day. I also ran much faster than I did last year-- a hard earned accomplishment!

This year I also got the chance to catch up with several folks that I hadn't seen it a while: Todd Little (LTC and TCU grad), Misty Cornett Lever (another fellow Horned Frog), and Jennifer Brown (an Ob-Gyn that I worked with at Madigan).

Here is a shot of the of us after the race:

Wordless Wednesday

Cousins in DC

My brother and sister-in-law moved back to the DC area about 2 weeks ago. We are so excited for the opportunities that lie ahead for them but we are also excited to have more family close by; having our kids grow up together, close enough where they could actually know each other, has been a dream of mine and I am thrilled to see it unfolding! Here are the 2 of the cousins together at the soccer fields this weekend. How adorable!!

The National Zoo

This past Wednesday, Sybella, Cooper, and I went to the National Zoo. Our friends Kylee and Shauna rode with us and we met up with lots of NCC Moms to trek around the zoo and have a picnic lunch. I heard there were 18 kids under the age of 3 with us. What a FUN time! Here is a picture of us right before we got in the car to go back home....and we LOOK like we enjoyed ourselves.

Sharon & Cooper's Baby Shower

What a blessing! Saturday at 2pm, my wonderful friends, Shauna and Anna, hosted a beautiful baby shower for Cooper and I. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to have such loving friends. David and I have only been living in Virginia for 18 months and if anyone who has known me for a while is reading this, you know how hard it is for me to make friends. I have always had lots of acquantances, but it has always taken me a long time to develop true friendships. Moving to DC was no different, in fact, it could've been harder. This is the center of all things closed, political and click-ish, which can easily make you feel like an outsider and make it difficult to establish trusting relationships. But God has been faithful in this move and I have awesome friends!!
So, back to the baby shower: my sister-in-law, Kristin, was able to drive in from Ohio along with her mom Debbie and her sister Amy (who David has known for most of his life). My mom was of course here and my godmother and name-sake, Sharon Perry was also in attendance. In addition, friends new and old whom David and I have met were able to attend along with others from church, from the military, and from our recent mission trip. Shauna and Anna created a beautiful event. The food was awesome. The atmosphere was special. The "activities" were creative and unique. They had the guests shape "babies" out of play-do and had me judge whose was the best. They created an ABC book for Cooper which we will read with him often, where each lady did a letter of the alphabet. They had all the guests sign a Pig "Piggy Bank" for Cooper instead of a guestbook. It is ADORABLE and what a cool, tangable memory for us to be able to look at daily. I just don't have words to describe how touched I am, thank-you seems so inadequate but it will have to do for now, so, THANK-YOU ladies.

**Don't forget that if you click on any mosaic or picture in our blog, it'll enlarge the pictures for a better view.

The women in the group picture are:
Front left---Laura Blackann, Lindsey Braley, and Anna Martin
Main Row (left to right)---Glenda McMath, Dana Frisillo, Katie McFaddin, Me, Kristin Simon, Debbie Havaich, Susan McDermitt, Jessica Powers, and Lambeth Evans
Back Right (left to right)---Shauna Oswald, Jenny Herald, Stefanie Chappell, and just in front of them---Sharon Perry and Bettie St.Clair
Not Pictured: Gwen Graber, Jenni Graber, and Amy Havaich who had to leave early

Arrival in Country

We gathered around 5am at Reagan National with the wind blowing and the temperature around 20 degrees. This team of people coming from the financial community, healthcare industry, and government has a unique make-up, to include a pregnant mother (6 months along) and a 10-year-old. Without taking anything away from each member of this team, we all come from different backgrounds and I think it demonstrates that God doesn’t call the equipped…He equips those who are called.

We landed in the capital city of Santo Domingo and I have to admit that the 80 degree weather has been awesome as we embark on this journey. Our first day was more administrative in nature but necessary preparation as we will have a packed week. We brought over a hundred pounds of sports equipment, pharmaceuticals, and teaching materials. Bud and Karen Simon (yes…my parents) who we will be working alongside gave us a run down on all the areas where we will be spending time this week.

Our hosts Greg and Melynda Burge have opened their home referred to locally as the “The Mission House.” Just hearing their story as how they and their 3 kids came to the Dominican Republic (DR) was powerful. They have a beautiful home and we spent time on the roof of the home team building just before the sunset.

The team took advantage of a relaxed evening of spending time with each other, the missionaries, and our hosts to continue to ‘gel’ as a team as we prepare to serve the people of this beautiful and yet impoverished country.

Nat'l Christmas Tree Lighting

Our Family attended The National Christmas Tree Lighting last night. The tree sits in front of the White House on The Ellipse. Here are some pictures that I snapped including: The White House, Kids in front of the tree, Sybella & Granda, the boys, boys watching the entertainment, President Bush about to light the Tree, and 2 shots of the lit Tree.
Also, Thanks to Dave & Kate Schmidgall for attending with us; we had a blast hanging out!

Standing in Line

Yes, again this year, David and I got up at 4am and drove in to DC last Saturday to stand in line for about 3 hours on The Ellipse. "Why?" You ask.

We wanted tickets to the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. It is held the first Thursday in December every year. There is entertainment and the tree is lit by the President. Last year, our first year back in DC, we got tickets and enjoyed attending the lighting. I am not gonna lie, It was cold; I mean REALLY cold on the day of the lighting. We weren't sure that we would attend again this year. But after 11 months, we are refreshed and ready to do it again (kinda like pregnancy....oh wait, we are already doing that again). Anyway, we are looking forward to attending with the kids again. We want to fully engage in LIVING in DC. Every opportunity we get, we hope to take advantage of what the city and the region have to offer. Here is a picture of our "line numbers."



Note: Tickets are passed out on the First Saturday in Nov. This year that happened to be the day after Halloween, so, even though we arrived about 20 minutes later than we did last year, our numbers (221 & 222) were over 100 spots lower than last year (356 & 361). I think people were out too late trick or treating. Approximately 680 line numbers are passed out each year and each person gets 4 tickets, hence why David and I both stand in line since we are a family of five.

In the City

While I was in Atlanta several weeks ago this song just hit me hard. With so much going on in our nation, people struggling economically, and the fear that exists in society...I just couldn't help but to be over powered by the hope that is expressed in this song. 

My heart goes out in faith, hope, and love for:

DC, Seattle, Santa Domingo, and all the other great cities across the globe. 

Promotion

Enjoyed the opportunity to see a friend get promoted to LCDR. JR and his wife Jessica have become good friends and wonderful neighbors. I decided to head into Downtown DC to the Navy Memorial and watch an Army Officer promote a Naval Officer (you don't see that happen very often).

He has two beautiful young daughters (Belle and Noelle) who where there too. Great family, wonderful people. Looking forward to the promotion party tomorrow at their home.

The Navy Memorial was a perfect location to have the ceremony. I have seen a lot of promotions but this was a class act. If you have never gone through the Navy Memorial it is a really cool place to visit while in DC.

Road Trip

Without being to retrospective or philosophical, I wanted to share a few thoughts and I thought these pictures were unique and just wanted to capture them to show my daughter later in life. So it was not really a road trip, but...we did drive down yesterday to Myrtle Beach from DC. It is 7 to 8 hours depending on traffic. Now it is a long enough drive for one person to make but when you add kids to the mix it gets interesting and you begin to learn patience. Sybella was a real trooper but there were moments and the pictures below capture one of them.



I am grateful for Gameboys and other electronic entertainment that help pass the time for the older boys. Poor Sybella, we brought toys of all varieties but when your attention span is only 10 minutes...you run out of entertainment for a 1 year old somewhere between DC and Myrtle Beach. That moment is when this happens (see below). Everyone says she is a 'princess' but rarely does anyone see this side of her. Then it dawned on me...

Aren't we all like Sybella in one way or another?

1. Our attention span shifts from one priority to the next and we wonder why we never hit our goals

2. We have one face we show the public but then there is this 'other face' we have when we are in private

So this week I am thinking through what are the priorities I need to focus on in the second half of 2008 (at work, with the family, and other personal goals). Also want to get better at being of one mind and transparency in all areas.

~David

Field Trip #2- The Washington Monument and The World War II Memorial

Friday the kids and I had our 2nd Field trip of the summer. We went to visit the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument.

None of us had been to the WW II Memorial before. It is young, it was finished and dedicated in 2004. The Memorial is beautiful. There are 2 fountains and pillars as well as many wreaths that are expertly crafted in metal. We enjoyed walking thru and talking about the history surrounding both the war and the memorial. The boys are big fans of history, particularly wars, and WW II is their favorite to study. This may be because many of their great-grandfathers served in the war. Their favorite story is of my grandfather, Oscar Hahn, who served in the war as a spy. He was German-born but immigrated to the U.S. with his family at a very young age. He was in the pre-curser to the Secret Service and also served as an agent to VP/President Truman during the war.

Next, we took a tour of the Washington Monument. Did you know that one of the stones on the interior wall is made of Jade and is worth $3 million? Neither did we! When you descend the Monument in the elevator, there are 2 different places where the elevator stops and you can see the internal walls. We did not get a picture of the Jade stone But, we got some other stones...As you can see in this picture, stones were sent from many places; this one arrived "From Otter's Summit, Virginia's Loftiest Peak, to Crown a Monument."

Here are some more pictures:

The Library of Congress

Over the Summer, I have planned field trips for the kids. Since they have only lived in Northern Virginia for 10 months, they have not yet had the opportunity to visit many of the sites. They are excited to experience the history of this area and "play tourist."

Today was the first of our field trips: The Library of Congress.

Facts about the Library of Congress--
1. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world.
2. The Library is the oldest federal cultural institution in the Nation.
3. It is housed in 3 buildings. The Thomas Jefferson Building (which we toured today) has 13 stories of shelved books below ground.
4. There is over 600 miles of shelving for storing items.
5. The Library has more than 128 Million items including: maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints and drawings, musical scores, digital materials, etc. Of these, there are over 28 million cataloged books and there are items in 460 languages.
6. The library, established in 1800, is 208 years old.
7. Interestingly, it is the only library of it's kind that allows for same-day "Reading Card" registration and materials access. Comparable libraries in Europe have waiting lists for "Reading Cards" that are 5-7 months long.
8. The Library has possession of one of 4 known "perfect-vellum" 42-line Gutenberg Bibles left in the world.
9. The library holds in it's Bob Hope Gallery, the late comedian's 85,000 page "Joke File."

In Summary, one visit to the Library of Congress is not enough, the 45 minute tour and accompanying video are invaluable, the architecture is AMAZING, and the kids enjoyed themselves, as did I. The Library is a wonderful representation of the United States, Democracy, and an open door for Learning.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Date Night

Sharon and I had our monthly date night last night. I made the reservations and she found the babysitter. Off we went for 2.5 hours of adult time to talk, eat, and relax at Tysons Tower Club.

We recently read a book called the Love List by Les & Leslie Parrott. It recommends 2 things you should do as a couple daily, weekly, monthly, and annually. Great little book, easy read, and short enough that a man might read it all! One thing they recommend is a date night...Sharon and I already subscribed to this and love that time away every month to date each other.

Bye- Bye Truck! (or How we became a 1-Car Family)

A new adventure has begun at the Simon house. Not since I was a young girl (less than 10-years old) have I been part of a 1-car family. But, this past Monday, the truck (a 2000 Nissan Frontier) gave evidence that it was not “well.” We dropped it off at the mechanic and the long and short of it is: the truck needed several expensive repairs and needed to pass inspection for registration renewal. It failed! The exhaust manifolds on both sides were leaking….also expensive to repair.

The total cost of the repair work was equal to or would exceed what the truck is worth (we had also just done $1500 in repairs in April). So, after much consideration and with the current registration due to expire on May 31st, Friday night we took the truck to Car Max and sold it.

We hoped the truck would last at least 2 more years; it's only at 121,000 miles- the Honda Accord we just got rid of got to 230,000 miles before we SOLD it!! But, no such luck.

However, we aren’t interested at this time in buying another vehicle. Why? We are not interested the quality or type of vehicle that can be purchased with our current savings and we do not want a car payment. Therefore, the best option for us at this time is to live with just one vehicle. As many of you know, the D.C. Metro area has a great Metro (rail) system---unfortunately it doesn’t go to where David’s work is located. Our current plan is for:

a. David to use the car for work.

b. The kids and I to walk or ride bikes in and around Vienna. Vienna is a great town, the grocery store, bank, drugstore, library, multiple parks, community center, swimming pool, etc are all within 0.5-2 miles of our house.

c. My mom rides the Metro to work. She has graciously said that I can drop her off at Metro and use her car during the day—when I need to get somewhere that is further from home or if the weather is bad.

This hasn’t been nor will it be the biggest challenge we conquer this year. However, it is definitely an adjustment to life as we know it. It will be fun and I am sure it will not be without some frustrations but we will manage as a 1-car family (we would like to make it until August). This will be a great opportunity to teach the kids about caring for the environment, creative problem solving, and good stewardship of resources.

See you on the bike path, sidewalks, and Metro of Northern Virginia and the DC Metro Area!

Biz Developer or Relationship Builder

Around 5pm I met up with Jamil Evans of Evans & Chambers Technology at Chima in Tysons Corner. I think that sometimes people in the business community get so caught up in the networking and business angles that they forget some basic things like stopping long enough to get to know people and build relationships. It was refreshing to sit and engage with a fellow entrepreneur and 'get history' with one another. Jamil and his partner have a great business (certified 8a small business too) that is growing, doing quality work, and provides top notch IT services.

On a different note...Jamil is just a genuine guy who is honest and sincere. Besides talking about what opportunities are out there to be chasing, we had a chance to talk about our families, travel, and the future. It always nice to hear successful people talk about wanting to do more than just make money. We spent time talking about the idea shared by Linda Ellis in 1996...'The Dash'. It is great to make money, it's exciting to have a growing and thriving business...but at the end of the day, I can't imagine saying to myself or those around me..."I wish I worked 3 more hours or I wish I stayed late more often." I am all about working hard and focus, but every once in a while it is important to sit with friends and other businessmen in the community and remember what things of significance we plan to accomplish.

After we hung out for several hours...I raced off to Car Max to join Sharon in our exciting Friday adventure involving the truck (see Sharon's post on being a single car family).

~David

Soccer Game

The thunder and lightening stayed away and we got to go to the DC United game last night!

V.W.I.P.

What is a V.W.I.P?

It's a VIP with a VW (Volkswagon ) Twist. Volkswagon is the new sponsor for the DC United Soccer Team.

Last night I got an e-mail from Volkswagon. I almost didn' t read it because I thought it was just our service reminder. But, to my surprise, it was an e-mail making sure that all the VW owners in the area knew about the new partnership with the Team. It also announced that all VW owners could go to ticketmaster on-line and receive 4 complimentary tickets to tonight's DC United game against the Chicago Fire. Not only that, but if you drive your VW to the game, you will get to park for FREE. And, for the rest of the season, the first 50 VW vehicles into the lot get free parking! So, we are definately V.W.I.P.s!! Barring thunder and lightning, we will be at the game tonight.

See you on the Pitch!

NJ

Heading to New Jersey for the day. I love driving around DC early in the morning before the traffic gets crazy. This was at 6am and is one of my most favorite views in all of DC...

I have seen this view of the Capital on so many movies and there is something about this particular angle and street leading up to the Capital that really gets me. I love so many things about DC and there are great museums, parks, and monuments...but every time I drive down Constitution Ave., I get a little smile on my face.

I was able to stop by the largest coffee shop in the District...Ebenezers...and ran into Mark Batterson. We had a great conversation. Then I walked around the corner and caught the train at Union Station heading north to Jersey. I love riding the train...it is my most favorite form of transportation.

Let's see...I guess the title 'NJ' is all wrong...it should be 'favorites':

1. Favorite time to drive in DC

2. Favorite view

3. Favorite coffeeshop

4. Favorite form of transportation

~Cheers

David

Cherry Blossoms

Today Sybella and I went on an outing into DC to see the Cherry Blossoms. The Cherry Blossoms in DC were a gift from Japan in 1912 symbolizing friendship. What better way to see the beautiful trees and their pink flowers than with friends!
We met our friends Shauna and Kylee downtown to walk around in the glorious weather. We visited the Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, the Tidal Basin, the Cherry Blossoms, and the Tulip Garden. There was even a band playing during our picnic lunch. It was a wonderful day. It is so neat to see Sybella and Kylee growing up together and developing their friendship.