Summer Nights

I couldn't help myself from taking these photos...what a beautiful place we live in! Thanks mom and dad for letting us always enjoy the pool!

Lil Guys at the pool

Its true... I have THE CUTEST NEPHEWS EVER!!! Just recently we had an "Evans Family Reunion" with all my extended family in Bend, Oregon. This meant all my siblings and there families were in town for a few days before the big reunion hit. That being said, we took full advantage of Nana and Papa's pool and the beautiful weather that Oregon has offered. Below are the cute boys playing in the pool as I snapped a few shots of them enjoying each other and the cool water.

Papa with the grand-boys

Brady, Papa, Calvin

Liz's twin sister came to visit with her lil guy Owen and her husband

What every mom needs...sunshine, relaxation, and a cute pair of shades :)

Brady

Lil chunksters always eating...

Mama and Brady

Calvin

Guess thats a goodbye!

East Coasters

Summer....I hate that is almost over already! Ugh. But I can't complain, this summer has been nothing short of incredible. Even though Ky and I are on opposite sides of the country we have still been fortunate enough to travel and visit one another and do some pretty fun things together. With Kyle being in Baltimore he has had the opportunity to experience a completely different life style and I too know that I NEVER want to live in a place where the murder rate is higher than the birth rate (not really, but it sure seemed like that when I was there). Here are a few pictures from my visit to Baltimore, and over the fourth of july in Washington D.C.

We kicked off the first night in B'more with a trip to Cambdin Yards to watch an Orioles Game. It was so much fun, and had GREAT seats! Thanks to the team being not very good it was a "sit anywhere you want, not matter your ticket price." Wahoo!

When you go to the ball park you gotta embrace the entire atmosphere...so the means the food too! Here you have our healthy and delicious meal...but seriously, it tasted great!

You can only imagine the sheer happiness that shot through my entire body when I saw this GIGANTIC 5 as we were walking into the stadium...not to mention Kyle bought us official gear for the game and happen to find not only a #5 on a shirt but has Robinson on the back too! How awesome is this! Not only a favorite picture now, but a favorite shirt!

The next night we met up with some friends who are also out in B'more for the summer who are from Las Vegas. Baltimore has a great Harbor that its HUGE! Lots of fun things are always going on and its fun to just walk around and sight see.

Here we are with the original Washington Monument in the background, as we are walking to the bus station. It was so nice navigating around town because they have free...yes, FREE public transportation for anyone all over town. You would think the buses would be nasty and gross, but they were all brand new and were all electric making them good for the environment too!

Here we are at the Inner Harbor, it was such a perfect night for a leisure stroll around town. It was so nice to be back with Kyle for this trip, I truly cannot wait till these next 5 weeks are done and he is back home for good!

The crew- Zack, Ziarah, Kyle, and myself after dinner.

The next day we were lucky enough to borrow a grad student's car from Kyle's lab and drive to Washington D.C. My I might add....I had to do all the driving because someone couldn't combat with the over aggressive driving! Haha it was hilarious sitting in the passenger seat in a manuel car with Kyle driving in down town Bmore. Lets just say Im sure glad I've had previous exposure to big city driving. In the end we made it safely there and back and had a great time venturing off together for really the first time.

When we finally were able to check in to our hotel and settle it was late afternoon and thought it would be a perfect time to set out and check out the main monuments at night time under the lights. That being said, we were able to capture some pretty amazing pictures. Above you can find our dear friend Mr. Abe!

This is the Lincoln Memorial with the WWII memorial reflecting pond in front of it. Beautiful.

At the WWII Memorial, representing the state of Oregon proudly.

One of the top condentors for our favorite photographs from the trip...it was unreal in person, but the picture does a wonderful job of capturing the moment.

Washington Memorial, its the best at night time for sure! It was great because we just set out and walked everywhere in DC. We ended up finally finding a map towards the end of our wandering around and found out that with out knowing did the actual walking tour that was mapped out for tourist to do. Looks like we are pros at this thing!

Happy 4th of July!! We were lucky and made it

in time for the big Parade and had the once in a

life time experience of being in the nations

Capital for the day. We came away just

amazed at how gigantic the crowds were and

how incredible the fire work show was at

the National Mall. So much fun!

These people were EVERYWHERE trying to sell anything and everything from hats, to 'sun-brellas' to ice cubes. These two were my favorite...

During the day before we headed over to claim our spot for the firework show we went to a TON of Smithsonian's. It was great because it was so stinkin hot that it would have been unbearable to be outside. Thankfully all the museums are air condition. We got the best of both worlds. This is me, you can call me president Ashley, I stand for world peace...obviously! :)

Here we are at the capital, as you can see because it was the 4th of July, they had a lot of it all blocked off to the public for safety and so this was as close as we could get.

Also this is the beginning of the crowds on the national mall. It was absurd by the time dusk hit..

Took a little stroll by the White House. It was amazing all the squirrels we saw...man they are fed good around there! Some were so fat they could barley run across the grass.

Here we are in the heat of the late afternoon pick out spot out for the firework show. It was so hot the fire department got out hoses and began spraying people walking on the side walks...I thought I was in the ghetto! haha it was great fun though!

During the firework show...

Here we are after the firework show....the streets of DC were indescribable! I thought I was going to die right there, no joke. The crowds were so big and the traffic control was non-existent. Not to mention they shut down the subway system for safety, but when they got turned back on after the show, there were such huge masses trying to get on that they shut them back down because of all the medical emergencies. Im so glad we made it home...after walking an extra 3 miles to find an alternate route back to our hotel. Wow, what an experience!

This is the last evening we had, and what better way to spend it then heading back to the Inner Harbor eating the all too famous Crab Cakes of Baltimore. They were fabulous!! I think we found our new favorite thing to indulge in! Yumm!

Well, hope you all enjoyed this marathon of a post. Thanks for hanging in there and checking it all out. There is more to come soon...