Wedding Weekend in D.C.

We were excited to head to D.C. for the wedding of Brian's good friend Will Sherlin (aka the Pearl). He found love with a great Venezuelan lady, and it was time to celebrate. But first we needed to celebrate a certain Mimi who was coming to town on her birthday! 

Mimi and Baba were so nice to come to Raleigh to watch the girls for us- especially since they were doing it on Mom's birthday! She assured us she would love to spend her special day with Collins and Addie so we decided a burger dinner at Bad Daddy's would be the perfect way to kick off the birthday festivities...

She loved her chocolate praline torte and gardening-themed present...

and then we were off to the nation's capital! First stop? The Supreme Court....had never seen it and was glad to check it off the list.

I told Collins we would send her pictures of what we were doing throughout the weekend and she should do the same...it was hard for us to leave each other because the girls and I hadn't spent any time apart this summer yet. But it was a good thing for all of us to separate a little bit. I thought she would be interested to see how we got around the big city...

The rehearsal dinner Friday night was a tasty dinner at a nice restaurant with an after-party that was really well done. We had a good time, and Brian gave a sweet toast. He told Will he was the type of guy he hoped his girls would one day marry. But by the end of the night, I was done. Standing on heels for hours on end is not easy, pregnant or not! Tried to get some rest so we could take on sight seeing the next day...

Slept terribly, but forged ahead with a full day of activities. Excited to start off at the White House...

then we walked over to the monuments and turns out it was really hot in D.C. that day.

Checked off the World War II monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial when I realized I was not going to make it much further. Between the crowds, the walking, and the heat, I was fading fast. But then I had the idea- why not bike it? Turns out you can rent bikes by the hour and see the sights that way. We went for it, and it was so much better! We both really enjoyed biking over to the Jefferson Memorial which we had neither one seen before. It was so far away, we would have never made it on foot. 

It's a beautiful monument, and featured some of the most inspiring quotes. We both agreed it was our favorite out of all the ones we had seen. 

We were returning the bikes b/c Brian needed to go to lunch with the groomsmen when we heard some loud sounds overhead. Turns out it was Marine One (the helicopters) heading to pick up the Obamas at the White House. We made a beeline towards the excitement wanting to see what was going on. Turns out, the Obamas were heading to Martha's Vineyard on vacation and this was their ride. We didn't get to see them come out of the White House, but I later saw them flying over the Mall with the President in tote. Pretty cool!

At this point, I was pretty tired but decided all I needed was a seat and some lunch. I found both at the Natural History Museum, and then toured the dinosaur exhibit, the National Geographic photography exhibit and saw the Hope Diamond. It's a neat museum! I got soaked on the way out the door and then had to walk five blocks in the rain to the Metro. At that point, I couldn't make it back to the hotel to lie down fast enough! 

I eventually rallied and got ready for the wedding which was being held at a nature preserve in Maryland. It was a pretty setting and a fun wedding, but it was HOT. It was the main topic of conversation, and by the end of the night, we all were struggling. 

Look how sweaty we are! And this was not even the end of the festivities! Brian headed to the after-party after the wedding, but the pregnant lady headed home. I am learning that heat and pregnancy are not a pretty combo...

Here's the high school crew looking tough...as usual they can't help but strike a football pose.

It was a fun weekend! It was nice to get away and see a pretty and historic city and catch up with people we had not seen in awhile. But we missed our girls who turns out were having quite the time with Mimi and Baba...

At Marbles...

at Coconut Charlies'....

at Ben & Jerry's...

and at Isabella Cannon Park/Rose Garden. As you might have noticed, Addie has the same dress on in every picture. Turns out Aunt Alli picked out a winner! Addie wore it every day while we were gone. :)

It was a good weekend for all of us!