Laurie and Kim arrive to DC - February 6, 2009

If you follow our blog at all I am sure you have seen Laurie Johnson appear in many episodes of our lives on the east coast. We have been very luck to have her stationed near us on her traveling nurse assignments. This time she brought Kim along and as usual we had a great time. With each new friend Laurie brings there are always the trips to the National Mall. And Cindy really enjoys shopping with the girls which is something she does not get with me all the time. The following are just some more random pictures of Laurie's (and Kim's) visit.













As always we had a great time with Laurie and Kim. What you want to watch for at our blog is a return visit with Laurie and joining her will be her sister Leesa. Leesa has yet to make an appearance to our place so we are really getting excited for that. And anyone who knows these two, knows there is never a dull moment when they get together.

Ken and Nancy LaBrie arrive - Jan. 28, 2009

A while back I got a call from Ken and he asked me where I thought the next Goodyear National Convention was taking place. I asked him if it was Alexandria, VA and he said no. He did say they would be meeting at the National Harbor which for any of you who have looked out our window towards the Potomac River - well, the National Harbor is just across the river and we see it very clearly. Well arrangements were made and we picked them up on our way home from work at Reagan airport - rode the metro to the Huntington station - then boarded our shuttle bus to our apartment. The next five days were a blurr on many levels as we packed in all the sight seeing you could imagine and indulged on a variety of fine foods and drinks.

We introduced them to President Obama.

Made it to the Hard rock Cafe.

Of course we took them to all the sights on the National Mall.

Found a nice spot to replenish our dehydrated bodies.

Took Ken and Nancy to the fish market.

Ken and I relaxing at the pub table in our apartment.

Cruising around in DC near the FBI building.

Relaxing back at the apartment.

By Sunday Feb. 1 (Superbowl Sunday), Cindy and I needed our rest so we took them over to the National Harbor so they could begin their convention. Did I mention that Ken and Nancy took off for Florida after the convention? Oh how it would be nice to be young again. We had a great time with our good friends and certainly hope they visit us again before we move back to South Dakota.

Inauguration - January 6, 2009

If you follow our blog at all you know by now 2 things are pretty constant. One - we are late at getting information put in our blog, AND two, we seem to attract lots of company while we are living on the east coast. Our latest guests we did not really know. Cindy knew of one of them and I had never had the pleasure until now. Jody Ringling and her daughter Katy from Platte SD, were lucky enough to get tickets to the inauguration of President Obama. Of course getting tickets was one thing, getting a hotel was another story. Through a mutual friend, Jolene Nelson of Pierre, we were asked if we had room for a couple of South Dakotans and of course we said yes. They arrived on Sunday and we picked them up at the Reagan airport. Cindy took them into DC on Monday where they spent time sightseeing and getting acclamated to the area before the big event took place. Tuesday morning they ventured into the city around 5 AM and didn't return until late afternoon. Although they arrived back at our apartment cold, tired, and hungry, you could tell they enjoyed their experience. Jody said it best: "Getting a chance to go to DC is one thing, but having the opportunity to go there and be a part of history, especially with your child, life doesn't get any better than that."

As always with company, we had a great time. And meeting two wonderful people like Jody and Katy made it even more special.