Hometown tourist, snow and so much more

Its been another crazy week around here. Mike was in Boston one night and then another night he stayed in DC. In between hes been working some very long days. And unfortunately hes not the only one--tis the season for poor Maizy to wonder if her family is ever coming home.

I had wanted to go up to Jersey to visit the kids--Amanda and I had decided it would be great fun to go into the City and see the holiday lights. I mentioned it to Mike and got that look... we tried we really tried... but without leaving early there was no way we would be able to do the trip--we kicked around staying til Monday but again our work schedules were getting in the way..... So last night he came home picked me up and we went and stayed in DC for the night. He has a hotel room there for the month (thats how crazy his schedule has been) and Maizy and I were going to along for the ride!! No time to think about packing--I still had my skirt and dress coat on from work-- a pair of jeans, a sweater, gloves and dogfood in bag-- and we were off!

The Hotel George is right around the corner from the Capitol and Union Station--perfect for alittle sightseeing! Nothing like being a tourist in your own backyard-- Lets just say that taking Maizy into the city was alittle ackward.. shes not a big fan of concrete -- but she made the best of it for her evening walk. Being in a hotel room was A-ok for her.. she didn't miss a beat.

We woke up anticipating alittle snow...the weather forecast had lead us to believe we might see an inch on grassy areas but nothing much for the roads... but ofcourse in the city it all started out as rain.... I choose to climb back into bed after running Maizy out to find alittle grass in front of the Capitol. After eventually getting motivated-- the snow began to fall and we started planning what kind of adventure we would undertake for the day... most tourist attractions in town are anit-Maizy so our list was kinda short. But we decided to venture out the Whitehouse to see the National Christmas tree.... With Maizy in her sweater and me in my cap we strolled the streets... The sky was gray-- the snow was falling and the wind was blowing.... not exactly tourist weather... Needless to say the streets were pretty empty... no pushing or shoving to see the trees!!

Maizy reminded us over and over that she was not a fan of winter... She wasn't interested in any grassy areas... she shivered and shook the whole way...but then so did we!!
Of course on the way back to the car the wind was in our faces... but that didn't deter me from sheepishly suggesting we go to the monument-- I figured we would go half way up the hill--take a picture and get back to the heat of the car... but when your half way there you might as well go all the way...

A few photos and we turned around (as did the umbrella Mike was carrying). I have to say that the guy running the elevator poked his head outside to let the few people milling around know that today you didn't need a ticket to get up-- seems no one was touring the city today!! Again no puppies were allowed so we missed out!

No one was happier than Maizy to get back to the car-- heat blasting wasn't enough to get her warm-- she burrowed into my coat and fell asleep.

Back at the hotel all I could think of was getting out of my wet clothes-- eating some lunch and taking a nap---Hurray for us they were serving hot chocolate in the lobby!! but adventures always have strange twists and turns don't they?? We chose to eat first-- a lovely three course lunch-- fancy stuff that you see on TV-- no burgers on the menu-- it was good and made me realize how much better that nap would be on a full stomach! I got to the room-- changed into the only dry pants I had-- Jammie pants and asked Maizy if she wanted to go for a walk... no response... so I snatched her up-- threw the leash on her and took her out... lets just say we didn't have to go the patch of grass-- she quickly did her business on the decorative bush next door-- I guess she had enough of the snow for one day!

No sooner did I get back to the room (again thinking about that nap under a warm down comforter) did Mike announce he was called in to plow snow.... hmmm did I want to stay in the city with Maizy??? well if I had known what I know now I probably should have said yes... but I was already feeling irresponsible for running away for the night knowing I had lots of chores and xmas duties waiting for me at home.. So we all headed home.

Mike hopped out of one car and into the Big Green Truck-- and Maizy and I unpacked from our little get away-- shoveled the walk and were just about to settle into our chores when the lights went out... yup 6:30 the lights went out-- its Dark-- really dark... we lite every candle we could find and stared at each other for awhile... after about a half hour I realized time is a ticking and we needed to get busy-- so moving from room to room with our brigade of candles we set about to put all the laundry away--go through the mail that had piled up-- put the clean dishes away-- and wrap the xmas gifts... at 9:30 I was running out of projects to complete in the dark... yes 3 hours later it was still dark-- and our candles were burning low-- Just as I was about to start replacing them with new the lights popped on at 9:50!!

I never did get that nap.... but it was an exciting 26 hours---