Smithsonians and monuments and the orange line...

...are the things we fill our free time with lately.
There is so much to do that each weekend we find ourselves overwhelmed with the decision of how to spend our time.
North LOVES the metro and when he gets to feeling antsy can now be counted on to say "I JUST want to get on the orange line".
And so we do.
And it takes us fabulous places.
Like the Natural History Museum (arguably North's very favorite of the Smithsonians) with it's giant African elephant guarding the entrance:

and its creatures big and small in the hall of mammals:

or the giant squid!
and other sea creatures in ocean hall

or the dinosaurs or gems or bugs or hundreds of other things to see...

Another of our favorites are the air and space museums. Both the one downtown and the larger airport hangar in Northern Virginia have provided us hours of entertainment. North loves the planes and satellites and missiles and space ships...

But most of all he LOVES the helicopters...

We've also been to the National Zoo, where we got to meet the beautiful Lila--daughter of one of Bridgett's college roommates

And the American History museum with Nana and Grandad

And the National Galleries and Hirshorn Museum

North particularly loves the sculpture garden at the National Gallery--we can't seem to walk past it without him requesting a trip to the fountain where visitors dip their feet.

our favorite sculpture is the silver tree

We had an eventful trip to the spy museum with Grandma and Grandpa in which someone pulled the fire alarm

which preceded an eventful evening out for Alan and me--for our anniversary Grandma and Grandpa took North while we headed out on the town for a nice dinner--only to have our dinner plans fall short when an underground fire broke out cutting off power to significant portions of downtown.

the restaurant after losing power...

and the scene at the Treasury after we emerged from the restaurant...

the White House of course was still nicely lit up...

The same weekend we were also able to see some monuments like the Lincoln Monument (where North was HIGHLY disappointed to not find his friend Lincoln)
and the World War II memorial where we visited the registry and found Papa

We also recently visited the building museum where we were able to visit the temporary Lego exhibit which North loved

And North has recently been to 2 of his first major sporting events!

His first major league baseball game (the Nationals v the Cardinals) [he's still talking about seeing a ball hit so hard the bat broke!]

and his first MLS game (DC United v. the Columbus Crew)

Overall, we've been having a great time hanging out on the mall and seeing the sights

Playgrounds!

I would be remiss in discussing our adventures in DC and northern VA without mentioning Clemyjontri Park.
It's a FABULOUS playground that North totally adores and a place we seem to find ourselves frequently headed these days.
We have LOTS and LOTS of photos of N enjoying the play space--here are some of them:

There are lots of slides and bridges and climbable walls

And also lots of ride on bouncy/swaying toys--which N LOVES

It even has a kid sized maze

We have also discovered (with the help of a neighbor) a fun little neighborhood park in Arlington that blasts sprinklers on hot days--North being the water baby that he is totally loves the opportunity to run through water. Here are some photos of a recent trip:

long time no...

posts.
Life has changed in major ways for we Milners since the last post.
And it has also stayed the same.
One thing for sure about our current little corner of the world--we are busy as ever now that we have a new city to explore and we snap as many (if not more) pictures than ever before (meaning I have about a thousand to update the blog with).
We are happily playing tourists each weekend and getting our fill of all DC has to offer.
We miss our friends and family and neighbors and colleagues and dog (can't begin to express how much that one in particular pulls our heart-strings) who we said goodbye (at least for a while) to in Indiana but we are enjoying our new jobs and new colleagues and neighbors and seeing new sights and appreciating the adventure that we find ourselves on.
But before I get ahead of myself with our most recent adventures...first things first--catch up the blog on our last 3 months!
The biggest event and perhaps a good "first DC post" would be the move.
and the boxes.
SO MANY boxes.
Seems our first many days were spent unpacking box after box after box after box...but we are finally settled in and our townhouse begins to feel like home. and below is the photographic proof.

Before leaving Indiana we had to bid "see you later" to our near and dear with many good-bye get togethers and parties. They were all special and lovely and made us acutely aware of what we would be missing in our move. From work send-offs to friend and family farewells--so many great times. and most I didn't think to capture on film (or pixel as the case is).
but I did think to get a few of those "goodbye" moments with some phone photos from our last few days.

Like the Paella party at Sam & Levi's!

and our final trip to "Chocolate Moose" with Jenni & Nathan after a swim at the Bryan Park pool

And a last day at CVCCC

and an empty house after the movers had loaded our boxes

then we spent a few days at grandma and grandpa's getting Ender acclimated to her year-long stay before we made the big drive.
I must say that both North and the cat were quite the troopers on our 10 hour journey--perhaps North more than the cat but that was to be expected.

When we arrived, we happily spent an evening hanging out with Alan after our few weeks apart then woke up the next day to wait for the movers in our empty space.

But it wasn't empty long--the movers FILLED it with furniture and boxes. And we unpacked it slowly but surely.

Case in point. The kitchen. Before unpacking:

And after:

and the living room before:

and the living room after:

and North's room before:

and North's room after:

and the guest room before:

and the guest room after:

(hallway to guest bath)

and North's play-room before:

and North's play-room after:

and the laundry room before:

and the laundry room after:

we never took "after" pictures of our room--but the before are just as ghastly and box filled as the rest of the house was...

We've even finally hung some frames on the walls--really furthering the "move-in" progress--like our 2 stairwells now displaying Shepard Fairey prints:


seems we're home.