Visiting Matthew

My birthday was last week and I turned 28.  Sure don't like being that close to 30!  However on my birthday I was able to fly out and go visit Matthew.  Matthew has been in Rhode Island the whole month of June and then will be in Virginia the whole month of July.  It was kinda funny when people on the airplane asked me where I was going and I would respond, "Oh I'm going to visit my husband."  And then I had to explain our situation.
 I should probably mention I went without kids!  My wonderful mother in law Sara and my sister in law Aubrey were so gracious and willing to watch my kids while I went.  They are so good with my kids that I was totally comfortable leaving them and knew they would have fun and be well taken care of.  I can't even explain how nice it was to travel without my sweet children!  Just little things like being able to read or sleep on an airplane instead of entertaining kids was just amazing!  Plus with a layover and about 9hrs total of travel time, it was heavenly to just worry about myself!
It was so nice to see Matthew!  This was our first trip without kids ever and we just couldn't get over how much freedom we had.  However I did feel bad for Matthew since he hasn't seen our kids in over a month now and he was really missing them.  The first two days, Matthew still had to put in 10-12 hour days at the hospital and he felt really bad that he was leaving me all alone at the hotel but really two days to myself to do whatever I want?  Yes, I will be just fine!   Both days I was able to work out and take a nap-- two things that kids make it hard to do.  One day I drove out to the Boston Temple.  It was over an hour away but I had plenty of time.  I love visiting other temples and especially when I am in an unfamiliar place by myself I loved the feeling of coming to such a place of beauty and comfort. The other day I spent some time in the Providence Mall.  It was seriously huge, like 5 levels huge, and I took my time shopping, and looking around.  So very fun!

Boston Temple

Me and the Atlantic

My view from inside the mall

Then on the weekend we made our way down to Virginia.  Oh my traffic!  We hit some really bad construction and congestion around New York City and a couple of other places along the way but I loved driving along the east coast and seeing the scenery.  And oh my toll bridges.  They were really cool to cross over but we probably spent over $40 just in tolls.
We stopped in Annapolis, MD to see my roommate Laura.  I never thought I would make it to the East Coast to visit her but this worked out perfectly. We were able to go on a date night with her and her husband and they showed us around the town and took us out for some awesome seafood and homemade ice-cream.  So fun to see her new house and cute kids too!

On our last day we were able to tour around Washington DC. I had never been there before so we decided to hit as many monuments as we could.  We first started out at the Arlington Cemetery.  It was huge and really neat but it suddenly started pouring rain on us. It was overcast but I didn't think it would pour.  We were in the middle of the cemetery with no where to take cover, no umbrella and I was wearing white pants.  We decided to just go with it since there was nothing we could do about it and I'm glad we did because we made it to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time to see the changing of the guard which was really cool.

After that we rented bikes and rode all around DC looking around and taking pictures.  This was probably our favorite day of the trip since we got to be together the whole day doing fun touristy things.

Waiting for the DC metro

Martin Luther King Monument

 "Holding" the Washington Monument :)

Lincoln Monument

White House

Bikes. I was only a spaz on it a couple of times :)

This was such a fun and needed trip for both of us.  Matthew is working so hard at the hospitals and has such long, long days.  And for me it's so hard knowing that my husband is not coming home tonight, night after night.  But this trip has given us a little break from both of our daily responsibilities and real life.  Loved it!