We're back!

Yes, we are still alive over here. I apologize for neglecting my blogging duties - we've been ridiculously busy the last few weeks and, well, what can I say? I'm just slack. So here, for your reading pleasure, is the CliffsNotes version of what we've been up to.

(Note: I've just realized that I haven't updated this thing for TWO MONTHS! How outrageous! Why have you people not been yelling at me?)

SEPTEMBER

Also known as, "The Month Rebecca went gallivanting with Kate, and left poor Jeremy at home". Yes, I was gallivanting. First, it was in Las Vegas, the city of bright lights, smoke-filled casinos, and dirty people. It was a blast - we stayed out until the early hours of the morning and slept until midday. We danced the night away in some swanky clubs, and drank $15 drinks. We also decided that, while Vegas is a fun place to visit, the novelty soon wears off. After 3 nights of partying, we headed back to DC for a brief respite. Then it was off to New York City, the city that never sleeps. I think we were partied out from Vegas, and we spent a lot of our time in NYC cruising around on a double-decker bus, seeing all the sights. I believe we walked about 10,000 miles in the 4 days we were there. It was fun but, once again, we were both glad to leave. We headed back to DC and, after a day of sightseeing, Kate left me for the relaxing portion of her trip - Hawaii. :( It was an awesome couple of weeks. Very tiring, but awesome nonetheless.

The weekend after Kate left, Jeremy and I decided to go camping. Well, we tried to camp, but it turned into quite the fiasco and we left after only one night. Let me just say that if you plan on going camping when it's forecast to rain, you had better be prepared. We weren't, and we were miserable. Our $30 canopy from Target broke into pieces when we tried to set it up, so we had no real shelter from the rain aside from our tent. Our tent is a small, 3-person dome - not the easiest place to just hang out when you can't go outside. It poured rain the entire night - I'm talking big winds, thunder and lightning, and buckets and buckets of water. Our tent leaked, and we woke up with big puddles in each corner. Water dripped down from the ceiling onto us while we were sleeping. Miserable. We tried to start a fire the next morning, with hopes of it warming us up and drying us off. Alas, it was still raining on and off, we had no dry kindling to get the fire started, and we ended up smoking the campground out. So we threw everything in the car (literally, we just chucked it all in) and left. That weekend got a big, giant FAIL.

Which brings us to...
OCTOBER

Otherwise known as the "The Month that Rebecca and Jeremy were so darn busy, they barely had time to scratch their hoo-ha's".

The first weekend in October we drove down to South Carolina for Melyssa & Dave's wedding. It was a gorgeous wedding, and we're so incredibly happy for the newlywed's. Yay Melyssa & Dave! Here are the photos:

2008-10-06 Melyssa & Dave's wedding

After the wedding we had a week of downtime, then we ran a local 5k race. All I can say about that is...BLAH. I ran pretty horribly, which I partly blame on all the food and wine I consumed at my boss's Octoberfest party the night before, and on my lack of running now that the weather is cooler. Oh well.

The next week, the BEST part of this year arrived in the form of my mom and dad! Yay! Here's where you'll really get the CliffsNotes version, because I know that mom and dad have been sending everyone email updates that could double as novels.

Thursday, October 23rd
Mom and dad arrive shortly after midnight - everyone's tired and ready to hit the hay

Friday

We reluctantly go to work, knowing that mom and dad would need to catch up on sleep. We get home at lunch time, and off we go to Wegman's for some groceries. Get home, put turkey in the oven for dinner, go out again to pick out pumpkins for Halloween.

Saturday

Into DC to pick up Marine Corps Marathon 10k race packets. Fight with thousands of people also picking up race packets. Afterwards, spend a couple hours wandering around Tyson's Corner mall.

Sunday

Up at 5am, on the train, then off to run MCM 10k in 70 minutes (boo). Home, shower, drive for 7 hours to get into New York City. Meet up with mom's friend David and his wife for dinner. Jeremy and I are buggered so we go home. Mom and dad go off exploring.

Monday

Pick up sightseeing tickets and spend the day riding around on top a double decker bus. Order pizza in hotel room for dinner, because everyone's too tired to go out.

Tuesday

Home, James! Then back out to watch the DC Capitals vs. the Nashville Predators. CAPS win in a shootout, we get home around midnight.

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

Back to work. Mom and dad explore DC on their own (and successfully master the DC Metro system). Friday is also Halloween, so we get to run up and down the stairs 10,000 times to give kids candy.

Saturday

Drive out to Shenandoah National Park for lunch and to see the pretty sights. Take lots of photos of lots of trees with lots of changing leaves.

Sunday

Brunch at Harry's Tap Room - we eat too much and complain about it the whole way home. Meet Bob, Marianne and the whole crew out at Cox Farms. Have fun on slides and hay rides.

Monday & Tuesday

Work again. Mom and dad leave on Tuesday to ride the train down to Florida.

Wednesday thru Sunday

Disney World. I'm convinced that Disney World is the child-appropriate offspring of Las Vegas - lots of bright lights, lots of crazy characters, and purposely built to be huge and confusing so that you to get hopelessly lost, never find your way out and live there forever, spending lots of money on useless trinkets. But it was fun. Jeremy especially loved riding the "It's a Small World" ride. We had to lure him away with cotton candy, otherwise he would have ridden that thing all damn day.*

Saturday night we said our teary goodbyes as mom and dad were leaving super early. :(

And that brings us up to now. Jeremy started a new job on Monday, and I think he's pretty happy with his decision so far. We're both back at work, and glad to be back on our regular schedules. As much as we LOVE having visitors (hint hint), it's always nice to have things go back to normal afterwards. So now we're just relaxing, kicking back, and moving along with our usual lives.

Phew.

*This is actually not true. Jeremy loathes the "It's a Small World" ride. I just like to make fun of him for it.