A day in the life of a Washington, D.C. tourist

This amazing summertime adventure continues... this time in the Nation's Capital. Washington, D.C. It's my pleasure to share these beautiful summer photos with you knowing that we had such a great time and that life is a dance! What you say? Life is a dance! You see, not everything always goes the way you want it to go. Like having Brent in a hospital for almost 3 weeks and having Melanie and I racing to see him everyday and then take care of his foot at home and try and maintain the house and pool by ourselves. And so we danced... we tried to make it work... gone to the way side-routine, structure, we adapted and lived how we had to. We had to take care of our 'Daddy', so that meant we didn't always eat right or exercised properly, so we didn't meet our healthy living goals.... and guess what that's LIFE. The dance. You have to bend or you are going to break. SO that is my advice, bend, dance and know that not everyday will be perfect, know that in the back of your mind you are always learning and rolling with the dance. It's ok if this summer your weight loss goals weren't meant, that you stayed the 'same'. Because you were meant to pause, take care of your family, shift focus from yourself to them and now  Fall is just around the corner. A new month and a new vision for love and self -care!

So what does this have to do with D.C. ? Well, part of taking care of my family meant that we had to do a bus tour of the city, Brent couldn't walk alot... in fact, barely! So this is how we adapted. Look at what we saw and discovered...

... taken from the roof top of our double-decker bus- the Pentagon.

 

Brent and the Big Bus... cute, all B's.

It's really a good deal, you get to ride buses all day, hop on and off and see the sites. Good times!

Pretty gardens.

Pretty tourists.

Smithsonian Castle.

The Washington Monument, under repair because of the earthquake 2 summers ago.

Brent and the beautiful architecture.

Brent loves everything American, so walking down the National Mall, that he has seen so many times in movies was a great big deal for him.

In front of the Museum of Natural History. Fantastic place! This was my favourite place to see. I love gorgeous pictures and look what we stumbled upon....

An exhibition of the best nature photography in the world. All credit goes to them, these are fantastic!

La grenouille, look at those eyes.

Yup, we had to get a wheelchair for Brent... just part of the dance!

One of my fav's, this is a photographer taking a  picture of herself in the reflection of the colourful bubbles.

Colours in nature are awesome!

Monkey love, this one's for you Julie!

Cool exhibit about the population of the world, the numbers actually kept on creeping up as we stood there. The map of the world was illuminated with the population density.

The Hope Diamond, the largest diamond in the world... So my hope for all of you is that you will take the time to 'dance' with life and not get hung up on the end goal, life is a journey, a living breathing journey, along the way you will find diamonds... cherish those moments and try know that even better times are ahead for you!

Virginia is for Lovers

Well that's what they say... Lovers of Sam and Max that is! Our lovely Reston, Virginia hostess and mini host. Welcome to part 2 of our amazing East Coast Trip.

First thing we loved... being so close to Washington, D.C. and being able to catch a Washington Nationals game. There were a few challenges (traffic, traffic, traffic, parking, rain ), but we still had fun!

Sam got us super close tickets... amazing for baseball fan Brent! And junior baseball fan, Max loving 'uncle' Brent and all his baseball knowledge, and Brent loving imparting that wisdom upon his young mind.

There's Sam! Awesome tickets, thanks for your special connections!

There's the cool American Ballpark! You know, the Nationals were once the Montreal Expos.

Here are their mascots. Giant, old President heads. There's 4 of them- can't quite remember who, but get it... Washington, D.C., old Presidents.

Ok, next came an evening out with Sam and Max, a 'thank you' dinner. Here were Max's picks... Cafe Rio for authentic Mexican and Sweet Frogs for desert. Good job Max!

Check Cafe Rio's disclaimers in their windows.

...and this one...

Oh, but this was the best, this fresh 'beverage bar'. Sam's favourite was this Horchiata which is a sweet milk, cinnamon drink, my favourite, sugar-free strawberry lemonade- fantastic.

OMG, here's my crazy dinner. Sweet Pulled Pork quesadilla with mounds of pico de gallo, cilantro and by the way.... that's a fresh home made tortilla!

Oh yeah, we had fun!

... at the Mexican Grill.

Now off to the other side of the parking lot for some Sweet Frog. This resembles Yogurty's in Canada. Max and Sam's favourite spot - they love candy... you'll see why!

So, here's how it works. You choose your cup.

Choose, your yogurt flavour. I chose raspberry.

You can top your fro yo with fresh fruits... or candies/cakes/gummies/sprinkles...

So here we have Melanie's 'everything but the kitchen sink', Sam and Maxes orange delight and mine, raspberry on the bottom and chocolate and berries on top.

Ok, it was Brent's first time... he got a little carried away. $9 and an aching belly later, he learned to tone it down next time eh!

  Ok, so it's all about balance... so when Sam invited me to her Sunday morning aquafit class I was game! A girl can't eat all that Sweet Frog and sit on the couch! This was the best class ever! The instructor was dishing out so many tips and meanings behind the purpose of each move! I wish I lived with you Sam, I would go to this class every day!

Our little kids also enjoyed some late night swimming. Melanie is a fish who just loves the water and Max was a little dare devil who went onto the big slide at least 8 times... falling into my arms, because his mom thought 82 degrees was too cold to come into the pool. Oh, Sam, you have been away from Canada far too long. Just this week, Melanie and I swam in 69 degree water! You guys were the best hostess/mini host and we are so grateful for your kindness and hospitality, thank you!

Beach Holiday Food

Back again, this time with some yummy food photos taken around my trip to the Beach. Here's what I realized. That this healthy living/eating, is a lifetime journey. It's not a race, it's my life. So, in my life, I will be going on vacation and trying new foods with regional flare. And that it's ok to indulge once in a while. Especially when you balance that with hours of outlet shopping! It's really all about balance, isn't it!!

So here are the first steps on my culinary adventure. We stopped at an American (my family is sooo impressed with all things American!) chain called Chili's (similar to Kelseys). So here's the restraint... Brent and I shared this fajita platter with chicken, steak and shrimp.

Sharing is caring, even the tortillas are 'branded'. We shared all the fixins and lots of pico de gallo!

We arrived at our hotel and look what we saw... we were just steps away from the ocean. That's really the ocean at the end of this street.

Here's Melanie in front of our hotel. We were happy and comfy and loved the roof top pool!

First lunch time, so we had to try a local legend. The Starboard.

Scary shark coming out of it, so you know it's gonna be 'scary' good!

They are famous for their crab cakes. It came as a ball of crab on a bun. It was interesting??? But when in Rome, do like the Romans do... when in Dewey Beach, Delaware, eat crab!

Brent kicked his up a notch and had a hamburger with crab meat and cheese melted on top. Whoa!!!! He enjoyed the massive feast. The best though, were these sweet potato fried in a bucket. Delish!

Next night... another classic corner stone of East Coast cuisine. Grotto Pizza. See the Napkin?, when something's been around for 50 years, you know it's gonna be legendary....

Well there it is... the Grotto meat lovers and guess what.... it was legendary!!!! We are still craving it and talking about how good it was. We shared a medium pizza and had big salads before (that's the way to do it!). This pizza was baked to perfection with a crispy thin crust, fresh ingredients and their signature swirl of pizza sauce (fresh and tomatoey) on top.

Then, you know we had to visit another legendary American establishment... Carvel's ice cream spot, and at least we walked to it from our hotel. Good job!

On our shopping trips to the big stores we found the most intriguing chip flavours. This is what they have in the US- Chicken and Waffles...

...and Cheesy Garlic Bread... no thanks!

We stumbled upon a fantastic find in our last evening at Rehoboth Beach. Such a cute little downtown right on the beach.. with these wicked good restaurants.

This place was a German beer house...

...just look at those messed up sausages!!!

...and the menu... filled with interesting choices. I knew I had to stick to seaside favourites...but Brent had to try the 'Parrot Poop Dip'. Really????

It does look like it, doesn't it? He loved it, one of the best dips ever!

Melanie and I shared our favourite.... coconut shrimp, they were giant!

Brent loved it. Gross, right???

Brent ordered a pasta alfredo with shrimp and spinach, mushroom and garlic. He loved it, he mentioned it's one of the top 5 dishes he has ever had!

As for me... I tried fish tacos for the first time. Right from the sea! it was Baja fish lightly dusted and fried with a tangy spicy Thai coleslaw, cilantro (my favourite) and some jalapenos. Holy Portions!!! Just had 2 and then others picked off my plate. They were delicious and spicy- my sinuses were cleared right up!  What a culinary adventure indeed!