President Lincoln's Cottage

This afternoon we visited President Lincoln's Cottage. It's in DC about 3 miles from the White House in the grounds of the Soldiers' Home where retired soldiers still live. President Lincoln chose to spend most of his time living in the cottage rather than in the White House especially in the summer when downtown DC is at its hottest.

We had a guided tour around the cottage, it lasted an hour and was really interesting but so hot! It's easy to forget what it's like to live without air conditioning, we have ours on all the time at the moment. They provided us with palm fans to fan ourselves as we walked around but it didn't help much. It was a really interesting place to visit but I wouldn't recommend anyone going in the middle of the summer!

St Michaels

On Sunday we drove over the Bay Bridge to St Michaels. It's about 1.5 hrs away and as it's on the coast we were hoping it might be a bit cooler. It wasn't.

When we arrived we went straight to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. It was really quiet, I guess no one else was stupid enough to be out in the heat! We climbed to the top of the lighthouse for some lovely views around the area but after being outside for about 15 minutes we decided to head inside to one of the air conditioned exhibitions.




After cooling down we went back outside to board the museum's boat Mister Jim for a trip around the bay. We had a lovely 25 minute journey out into the bay, Chris and I were sat at the front of the boat and we had a gentle breeze keeping us cool. But as the boat turned back for the 25 minute journey back to land, the breeze disappeared and we were just sat in 100 degree heat. It was pretty unpleasant. We were glad to get back to the dock and headed straight back inside to another exhibition to try to dry out and cool down again.


Our next stop was next door to the museum - the Inn at Perry Cabin where some of the scenes in the movie Wedding Crashers were filmed. It's a beautiful hotel and has a great spot right on the edge of the water. We had a delicious afternoon tea then had a quick walk around the garden.





Before driving home we had a quick walk around the town. There were some nice shops and some cute buildings. If it wasn't so hot we would have spent a bit longer walking around. We got back to the car at 5.30pm and the temperature had cooled down a few degrees, it was now only 97! We got home at about 7pm and went straight down to the pool to cool off.

DC United v Everton

In the last few days we've been having a heatwave with temperatures hanging around 100 degrees. The humidity has been really high too so it's been pretty uncomfortable.

On Saturday Chris and I spent a few hours by the pool trying to keep cool. Then in the evening we headed over to the DC United ground as we had free tickets to watch them play against Everton. We arrived a couple of hours before the game to have a mini tailgate in the car park with some friends. It was so hot, even as it got later into the evening, it just didn't cool down. The Everton players looked like they were really struggling with the heat but they still managed to win 3-1.

Does this guy look familiar?

A few months ago Chris said to his colleagues that you know you've made it when you've got your own bobblehead. This week was Chris' manager's last week in DC and before he left, he gave Chris and the rest of the team their very own bobbleheads! They're really funny, it was a brilliant idea and Chris absolutely loves it.

Giant Burger!

In honour of Chris' manager's last day at work we ordered a nine pound burger for lunch. It is supposed to feed 10-15 people but if one person manages to eat the entire thing in one sitting you get it free. Between 12 of us we managed to eat about half of it!

Chris' Best Monday Morning Ever!

Chris got a lovely surprise at work on Monday morning. His manager gave him a signed shirt from one of the Chicago Cub's pitcher's - Ryan Dempster. His friend is friends with the Cub's Pitching Coach and he very kindly managed to get a match worn shirt for him. Chris spent the whole day walking around with a massive grin on his face, proudly showing off his shirt!



And yes, it really is that big!

Our Favourite Cake

Chris and I are in love with this cake! It's chocolate cake with seven minute frosting from a cake shop called Something Sweet. The shop puts their menu on their website every week and I always check to see if they are selling it. We've been waiting for ages to have it again and finally this weekend they were selling it. The frosting is like marshmallow, it's amazing and definitely the best cake we've had out here.

Civil Servants Can't Jump!

This week Chris took part in a basketball game between his colleagues and one of the US departments as a surprise for Chris' manager who is leaving post soon. The night before the big game, we went for a bit of practice at a local court where they proved that civil servants really can't jump!


They lost on the day, but only by 10 points which I didn't think was too bad!

Independence Day

Monday was the 4th of July - Independence Day. Last year we were in Chicago so this was our first one in DC. I think this is one of my favourite American holidays simply because of the themed outfits that Americans like to dress up in, it's hilarious! Next year I'm going to have to walk around with my camera all day to try to get some photos of the red, white and blue outfits. My favourite is when the whole family dresses up in the same clothes, it's just brilliant!

Everyone puts out their American flags and all around our neighbourhood they stick flags in all the hanging baskets. Very patriotic.


In the early evening we headed with some friends over to the Virginia side of the Potomac river near to the Iwo Jima memorial to find the perfect spot for watching the fireworks. It was a really hot evening but we found a great place with a few hundred other people on a lawn looking out over the Lincoln memorial, Washington monument and Capitol building. We met up with some more friends and between us we had put together a bit of a picnic.



After a couple of hours waiting around for it to get dark, the fireworks finally started at 9.10pm. Last year we were really disappointed with the display in Chicago, but this year was brilliant. It's pretty difficult to take photos of fireworks especially without a tripod so I only took a couple before giving up.

Georgetown Cupcakes

Cupcakes are huge business over here. New cupcake shops keep popping up all over the place but the famous place to go in DC is Georgetown Cupcakes.

They have two stores - one in Georgetown and one in Bethesda and they now even have their own TV show. Every day there are huge queues going up the road of people waiting to buy their famous cupcakes. They are good cupcakes, I'm not convinced they're the best, Baked and Wired is also very good. We would never stand in line to wait for them but this morning we were in Bethesda and we noticed that there was no queue so we took the opportunity to treat ourselves with two each! The top two are Chris' - mint julep and chocolate birthday, the bottom two are mine - Chocolate Lava and Red Velvet.

Potomac Nationals

Last night we went with a couple of friends to watch the Potomac Nationals a minor league team affiliated to the Washington Nationals. They play about 45 minutes away out in Woodbridge, Virginia. It was a really warm evening, perfect baseball watching weather. The Nationals played really well and won easily 14-1. It was very different experience to watching a major league game but we really enjoyed it.