Butterflies and Pumpkins

First, because we know everyone wants to find out, we still don't know for sure the gender of baby. Apparently we have to wait until she is 20 weeks along to get that joyful news. So far, mom and baby are doing well.

We had a great week with Reagan, Brittany and Roxanne.  Missed you David, hopefully you'll be able to come with next time.

On Monday, Clayton studied for his midterm, while Nicole and entourage visited Georgetown. They ended up driving through a couple private gardens by accident and were scolded by the groundskeeper. They also got some delicious cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake. They picked up Clayton after he was finished studying and the whole group went to Alexandria.

We got shut down at the Free Mason Temple, again. It closes at 4:00pm, we missed it by fifteen minutes. From there we took everyone to see the torpedo factory. We had dinner at a pizza place called Bugsy's. It is owned by a former Habs and Caps player. (Hockey). The restaurant is a tribute to the American melting pot. We ate Italian food in a restaurant owned by a Canadian and were served by Hispanics.  As you can imagine the food tasted good on the way in but caused lots of problems on the way out. With only one bathroom in our apartment, the competition was fierce. 

 Nicole is super grateful for all the meals that Roxanne cooked while she was out here. When you are sick and not feeling well there is no substitute for mom.

On Tuesday, Clayton took his midterm. Everyone else was sick so we stayed at home. We forced Reagan and Brittany to come with us to the Asian market. They were good sports. Especially when they were drastically disappointed by the not so sweet, sweet treats. (we forced them to pick something to try). Clayton liked the Tomato Candy.  We also got some pumpkins and had a pumpkin carving competition. Clayton and Brittany were one team and Reagan and Nicole were the other. Roxanne was the judge and in true maternal fashion, everybody won.  We had lots of fun.

 Wednesday, Brittany and Reagan hung out with their cousins. Nicole and Roxanne went shopping for maternity clothes. Clayton didn't want to go shopping so he tried to fulfill an assignment for his Civil Procedure class that requires him to go to a court proceeding. After waiting for two hours at the DC superior court. He was told that he would have better luck if he came back the next day... He didn't.

On Thursday, we all went downtown. We went on a driving tour of the monuments that ended when we ran out of gas in the middle of DC! We pushed the car to a parking spot. Clayton ended up taking a cab to find a gas station. Apparently to dissuade the potential terrorist there are no gas stations near the National Mall. Nicole took Regan and Brittany to see the natural history museum and Roxanne stayed with the car. After Clayton and Roxanne got the car sorted, we all met up and went through the butterfly bubble. It is a cool room inside the Smithsonian that has butterflies floating around. It was really cool, because they land on you! Nicole had a butterfly that stayed on her the whole time we were in the room. 

On a more somber note, we toured the National Holocaust museum. It made us really grateful for all that we have. It was interesting to be there with Nicole and Roxanne, because they visited some of the concentration camps while they were in Europe.

On Friday, We said goodbye to Reagan, Brittany and Roxanne. Then we went to the doctor and got to hear baby's heart beat again. We also drove out into the country side to go to a corn maze. The maze was super simple.

On Sunday, Nicole played the piano in primary. She felt a little rusty but did well.

Check out our pumpkins. The pirate ship one is Brittany's and Clayton's(they were particularly proud of the pirate ship shadow they made. The Flaming Tree roots is Nicole and Reagan's.

Here is the piano Nicole found on Craig's list. It plays a lot better after we took the shower cap, drill bit, markers, and lip gloss out of the inside!