Mamma Randa Visit to DC 4.10 - 4.13.09

Jill's mom, Randa, came to visit for a long weekend in April. Jill had found cheap airfare online so her dad, Kurt, purchesed her tickets as a surprise. We really lucked out while she was here with some great weather. Randa had been here a couple of times so didn't have much touring she wanted to do. However we did have some great outings to the US Botanic Gardens and the National Arboretum. Both were equally impressive.

The Botanic Gardens are in the green house of our dreams right off the National Mall by the Senate building and the Native American Museum. This place is large enough that is has an actual rainforest inside with a second level platform so you can walk around and see all the plants from higher up.

An impressive orchid room -

Food & medicinal herb gardens -

We were definately taking mental notes on what we think we could pull off in a cooler MN/WI climate if we had a green house.

D&T Andrist's Visit 4.1 - 4.5.09

Two weeks after Lindsey & Daryl were here, our good friends from home, Dustin & Tara Andrist, were able to visit in early April. Unfortunately for both of us, there was no excape from work for their first day visit, but Stuart was able to tour around DC with them on their second day taking in a lot of the mall as well as the Museum of Natural History. Jill tried to meet up for a tour of the Botanical Garden, but with a 6:00 closing time, it was too late, so we headed to Brickskeller in Dupont Circle for some drinks before returning ho me.

The following day, after a late brunch at the Silver Diner in Clarendon we headed to Georgetown and window-shopped. Always a little overstimulating, it's still fun to bring guests there and just pretend we're well off enough to shop and or live in that area. We did, however, splurge on some killer cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake renowned for the best cupcakes made with premium ingredients. In the words of Dustin, "A cupcake is a cupcake, but that shit was goood!" ... The Hansen's agree Dust

After leaving Georgetown we walked along the river down to the Tidal Basin area. Dust & Tara were lucky enough to be here during all the Cherry Blossom festivities. All the beautiful trees were in full bloom, which meant the crowds to see them were also on full patrol. A number of times we commented on how great of pictures you could get, if you could just have the whole place to yourself. Soo many trees, but soooo many people, getting a good shot was a rare thing in deed.

That night after a long day of walking, around Clarendon, from Rosyln across the bridge to & thru G-town, along the river & Tidal Basin through cherry tree central, we were tuckered so just grilled up some yummies, watched some college B-ball & played Wii. It's always great having good friends come to visit!

Lindz & Daryl Visit to DC 3.18 - 3.22.09

Stu's sister, Lindsey, & brother-in-law, Daryl, were able to come visit in March. They had done some touring before in DC about this same time last year, so didn't need to take in all the sights. They got out and saw a bit of the city their first day here while we had to work.

The rest of their time was pretty relaxing. The first night we gorged ourselves on some delivery from our favorite little Indian shop. The following night we found a nice Italian place in Crystal City and had our friends Trish & Dan over for dinner the next night.

Unfortunately we were a little too relaxed and didn't take any pics so this little blurb will have to do, but it was great getting to see family!

Mamma & Pappa Hansen Visit to DC 2.4 - 2.9.09

It was nice having the opportunity for Alan & Jolene to come visit. They were able to make it out for a nice long weekend. Since they've both done quite a bit of site seeing in DC, the only touristy thing on the agenda was a tour of the capitol building.

Stu had Friday off and took his parents around the Clarendon area for a bit of shopping, errands, lunch and note taking on possible new woodworking projects from Pier 1.

The rest of our weekend together was spent buying & eating food & wine... which is just what the docter ordered. The weather was great so lunch & happy hour on our deck was quite a treat in February. Alan made sure all had plenty of spice in a shrimp dish with excessive chipotle & adobo. A couple of nice meals out as well, just to mix things up. We were able to introduce Alan & Jolene to our favorite hole-in-the-wall Indian for take-out.


It was an aggressive schedule with some tirps to the dog-park, coffee sipping out in front of the Shirlington Library, re-stocking at Harris Teeter along with some other shopping in Pentagon City. All in all a very good visit, we're hoping to have them out once more this year in the fall sometime.