This weekend we had the chance to visit Maryland. Jared's brother Jon is in the Navy, and just finished medical school and his graduation was this weekend. Jared's mom and dad, and two of his three sisters came as well, so all but one of the kids were there. We got to their house Thursday night and they graciously let us stay there.
We woke in the morning to rain, so we decided to go on base and go bowling. Jon's school is on the Bethesda medical center base, so we took a walking tour after bowling. The school had a graduation luau for all the grads and their families. It was so delicious! They had really good pulled pork and all the salads were yummy too. There are some nature paths on base so we walked through the trees and took some pictures there too.
Saturday we took the train into D.C. and walked to Constitution Hall where Jon turned from plain old Jon into Dr. Jon Miller. It was a great ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance. The Marine band, "The President's Own", played for the ceremony and the speaker did a great job too. It was a very stirring sight, to see all the men and women in their dress uniforms. After the graduation, Jared, Paul, and I met up with my friend Sarah and her husband. Sarah and I first met in 7th grade and we've been friends ever since. She is a policy adviser for senator from Massachusetts and her husband works as a press secretary for a senator from Arizona. (I hope I got the titles and states right!) We thought, (I thought, and Jared believed me) that it would be just as fast to walk to our meeting spot as it would be to walk back to the train station and then take the train to where we were meeting them. Well, needless to say, 2.5 miles and 7 blisters later, (SERIOUSLY, I counted!) we no longer thought it was a good idea. It was worth it though. We had a very fun visit and got to catch up. She is expecting her first baby in November and I am so thrilled for her.
After we got back to Jon and Ana's, Jan took us out for dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was MMM....MMM! We love their bread. There is very cool boardwalk and pond, so after dinner we walked around for awhile and let our dinners settle. Then we were off to the Lindt store, where there was chocolate a plenty. After we squirreled away some chocolate for the long summer, we went to Dick's Sporting goods to check it out. Our last stop was Barnes and Noble where I got a new Stephanie Meyer book called "the host". So far it's pretty good, although I don't like it as much as her series. Jared got a new watch magazine (surprise) and we got some treats from their bakery to enjoy at home. We all went back to Jon and Ana's and chatted and watched some funny you tube videos on the computer. We were sad to say our goodbyes, but hopefully it won't be too long before we see them all again!
