A Walk in the Park

Greetings all,

On Monday, we went to old town Alexandria. We drove instead of taking the metro because Nicole's stomach wouldn't handle the odors of public transportation. We started off at the Free Mason memorial for George Washington. It was closed. So we walked around the grounds and decided that we would come back when Tyler comes out to visit. They have a large collection of artifacts that were donated by George's family.

From there we went to the Torpedo Factory. We drove down king street which Nicole thinks is very long. Nicole thinks that any street that we drive down is long because the truck is bouncy and it makes her sick. Luckily we were able to park by the torpedo factory. The Torpedo Factory is a collection of artist's studios inside of what used to be a torpedo factory. The first artist we met was a sculptor from Italy. She talked to Nicole and introduced her to some other artist. She kept introducing Nicole as a "Budding Sculptor". Nicole got hungry and as she is pregnant that meant she had to eat something immediately. As we perused the street we caught a wiff of something delicious. We wandered near and far to locate it but were we unsuccessful. We did find a tasty little bakery and got a raspberry cheesecake brownie. Nicole's hunger crisis averted, Clayton insisted on a quest to find the yummiest restaurant in Alexandria. After two hours of wandering in the heat, Nicole put her tiny but never the less powerful foot down. We found a disappointing but "acceptable" place to eat. Clayton still mourns the lost opportunity of eating at a Cajun restaurant where the daily special was alligator soup. After one wiff of the place Nicole refused to continue reading the menu. So depressing Italian it was. We were both shocked to learn, upon reading the history of the building, that the restaurant was a former brothel. We gave it 2.2 on the Niclay sweet treats(Reagan) and personal pleasures(Cailie) scale. After lunch, we walked around a park and the pier until it started to rain. We found shelter near the Torpedo Factory, where a man played music on crystal goblets. According to the man, distilled water works best. After that we called it a day.

Tuesday- Nicole dropped Clayton at the slug line (he finally caved after experiencing the joy of sleeping in again) then stayed home and worked on her website. This is what the house looks like. It Rained

Wednesday- Nicole stayed home again and worked on her website. More picture of what the house looks like. Clayton came home late because he had a meeting. It Rained

Thursday-The RS pres. came and visited Nicole in the home. Nicole tried not to be nauseous. More pictures of what the house looks like. It kept raining.

Friday- Nicole made Butter Chicken. One of her favorite (dot) Indian dishes. When Clayton got home, late again. Nicole was devastated that she could not eat the butter chicken she spent hours making because it made her nauseous. Clayton got to not only eat but enjoy it.

Saturday- We went to see the Battle Field of Manassas. We did a five minute quick tour because Nicole started feeling nauseous. We thought it would be better not to vomit on hallowed ground. We would prefer not to be haunted by civil war ghosts for desecrating their memory.

Sunday. Church. Clayton made tamales. Yum.

Peace and Blessings