The Lygers » Washington DC

DC on the 4th

Ryan — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:24:11 +0000

People started gathering early in front of the Netherlands Carillon for the DC 4th of July fireworks. I arrived around 6:30pm and met up with Patrick and Cassandra. Sundown wasn't until around 9pm so we killed some by playing Scrabble. Cassandra and Patrick are what I would call "Scrabble Grand Masters". I am what I would call a "Scrabble Trainee". Needless to say, the score was a bit lopsided. I guess all those hours of getting my ass kicked by iPhone Scrabble really didn't help improve my skills. Still, it was a good way to kill some time. A few others joined later so we had a decent group by the time the fireworks started. It was a good show, but I think I've got my fill of fireworks for a few years (unless, of course, I'm the one shooting them off).

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G40 Art Summit

Ryan — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:59:28 +0000

Katie and I visited the G40 art summit - mainly because it was right across the street from us. The exhibit took up 5 floor in a office building. There was definintely some interesting art. A couple of my favorites are in the slideshow below.

Click here to view the embedded slideshow.

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DC Car Show

Ryan — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:03:10 +0000

Click here to view the embedded slideshow.

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Saving money at “The Teet”

Ryan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:54:09 +0000

Katie saved $167.00 tonight as Harris Teeter by using her VIC card. Go Katie!

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Mount Vernon

Ryan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:39:14 +0000

Today – President’s Day – we decided to visit Mount Vernon. We decided on today because it is the one day all year that admission is free. We got there right at opening time to be sure to beat most of the crowds (and be able to get a good parking spot). Despite this it was still busy, but less so than a summer day I imagine. Both Katie and I have been to Mount Vernon, but it had been a while for both of us. All I remember of the grounds was the large lawn in front of the house (currently buried under 2 feet of snow). As it was George Washington’s birthday he was present for the event. Apparently there was a “surprise” birthday party for him taking place at 1:30pm which we didn’t bother staying around for. I did get a word in to him – I said, “Hey George, you’re looking good for your age!” He gave me a glare and responded, “Not even my wife calls me George.” Doh!

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Snow Castle on the Mall

Ryan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:28:06 +0000

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Snowmageddon, Feb 6th, 2010

Ryan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:33:53 +0000

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Katie being Katie

Ryan — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:28:03 +0000

Yesterday Katie recieved a letter from Delta Airlines with an Atlanta return address. Inside the envelope was Katie’s driver’s license. Katie didn’t even know she had lost her license. It has been three weeks since she was in Atlanta. That’s just Katie being Katie.

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McDonalds is “No Open”

Ryan — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:44:48 +0000

Apparently correct grammer was a victim of the recent DC snowstorm.

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2009 Christmas Brag & Gag Letter

Ryan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:02:02 +0000

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin

So the Christmas season has come yet again. I know this because CVS has already pre-staged their Easter decorations. So another year has gone by. It has been an exciting one for The Lygers.

In January we attended the Inauguration of President Obama. It was about 20°F and it took us 5 hours to walk 3 miles … but it was a good blog story. We’re glad we went, but we’re not sure it’s something we want to do again. It’s much easier just to watch it on TV.

We had both sets of parents visit us in DC. We marched them all over town until they were dead tired. Some of us (Ryan) did this to maximize the time to see attractions. Others (Katie) did it because she got lost.

Katie secured a full time teaching job at Washington- Lee High School in Arlington, VA. Since taking the job she spends most of her free time grading essays. Ryan makes sure to look conspicuously lazy while she does this.

Katie spent the summer in Santa Fe, NM at one of the Bread Loaf campuses. She has only one summer left before she is a Master of English. After classes ended Ryan flew to New Mexico for a week of traveling. They visited Ryan’s aunt, cousin and grandfather – all New Mexico residents. K & R also managed to squeeze in a day at the Ten Thousand Waves spa in Santa Fe and White Sands National Park.

While Katie was in Santa Fe Ryan visited Cairo for two weeks. While there he learned to walk like an Egyptian and relive all his Indiana Jones fantasies.

In August Congress decided to give free cash to Americans who had strategically purchased gas-guzzling vehicles in years past. Not to be left out of the cash bonanza, Ryan was a loyal American and traded in his Mustang GT “clunker” for a Japanese Toyota Rav4. Katie added in her Camry as a straight trade-in so we went from 2 cars down to 1. Our first trip with the new car was to Sunset Beach, NC for a vacation with Katie’s family.

During the year we also visited The Homestead Resort (mooching off some lawyer friend’s free perks), Charlottesville, Baltimore, and Thanksgiving in MA.

Three days before Christmas and DC is still digging out from 18” of snow. This caused a big brouhaha with Katie getting stuck in Atlanta because of closed airports in DC. Eventually we got her home but required 5 hours of driving by her mother and 8 hours by both her brother and Ryan. This pretty much ruined Ryan’s day of napping and playing Xbox games.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanza, and Happy Festivus for the rest of … you. Oh, and also a Happy New Year.

Katie & Ryan

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