Washington, D.C.

So our trip to DC was very cool! We had a great time. Here's me and Trav, on the steps of the Capitol, looking out across the Mall to the Washington Monument. The street off to the right is Pennsylvania Avenue, and the White House is down there somewhere. The tower on that street is the Old Post Office, and we took the elevator to the top for an awesome view of the city.
















We also saw the monuments at night, which I highly recommend. This picture was taken from the WWII monument. Underneath the very bright light is the Capitol, in the distance. Directly behind us is the Lincoln Memorial. The fountains look funky because Trav used the longer exposure to get a good picture. I love it!

We had a great time while we were there, although the flight back turned out to be an adventure. Basically, due to Northwest's screwups, we got booked on a flight out of DC to DSM connecting through MSP instead of direct, and I got the last first-class ticket. It was probably the only time in my life I will ever get to fly first class, and I couldn't have any free booze!!! Of course, as I tried to get to my window seat, I managed to trip over the guy on the aisle, which is normally just embarassing but this time it was particularly awful. It turns out this guy was flying to Minnesota to have multiple back surgeries at Mayo over the next 4 months to relieve chronic back and leg pain. Nice, Kristin, trample the cripple!! He was very forgiving, though, and turned out to be a really interesting guy. I will think of him when I'm in labor and wishing I would die from the pain, and think, it could possibly be worse. He was in agony every second of that flight.

I bought my first pairs of maternity pants tonight. I hope they don't shrink in the wash, but I never have good luck with stuff from Target. The more I think about it, I should get over myself and just go return them for the larger size. I would thank me later. And I am SO glad that baby-doll shirts are in style! They look so cute on me, and I actually look pregnant instead of just fat! I bought four very cute shirts tonight, none of them maternity but all very flattering. It's funny, because in that picture above I hardly look prego at all.

And the last bit of news: Today was my 6th anniversary of working at John Deere. Six years ago, I showed up at the the back door of the Tech Center in Moline because the Mississippi had flooded out the front entrance, and proceeded to fumble my way through the summer, keeping my head above the metaphorical water. Now, after six years and 3 successful job positions, I've been rewarded with the opportunity to re-interview for my current job. To quote my manager, it's "just to make sure we can justify hiring the best candidate." I'm not even sure what to say that would express how exasperating this process is.

Baby says Hi! or, Kick! rather. :)