National Pride

Until this past weekend, I had never been to Washington DC before and given my love of politics (although that love might be dimming in the recent past), I was excited to check out our nation’s capital.  We arrived Wednesday night and had two full days to enjoy Georgetown (our home base) and the capital before heading up the Potomac for Jason and Lauren’s wedding.

While I loved Georgetown, with its cobblestone streets, cute restaurants and local parks, the overall two days were somewhat jaded due to the current political events compounded by the fact that I am reading "The People’s History of the United States" which doesn’t always paint politics and those in DC in the most favorable light.  Instead of feeling pride when looking at the Washington or Lincoln Memorials, I saw another rich old white dude doing everything within his means to keep and expand his wealth and power.  And when walking past Capital Hill, I thought back to the vicious cycle our government continues to drive us through: the wealthy control everything resulting in social and class unrest; laws are therefore passed to appeal to the crowds (e.g. labor laws and civil rights) however in realty these laws do little to change the problem and are only put in place to avoid mass riots; when these laws fail we go to war and deny people their basic rights such as free speech; once the war is over we target and blame the immigrants and then we repeat the process. Yes, unfortunately unlike Martin who had a strong sense of national pride when in Berlin, I was left feeling empty.

This Little Nugget helped bring some joy to the day!

I did have a moment of awe sitting out front of the Supreme Court where women were given the right to make their own decisions about their bodies and marriage equality was confirmed.  But I suppose even worse was I had a sense of excitement and potential foreshadowing when walking past the Watergate Building. 

Having fun on the steps of the Supreme Court

Politics aside, we also had some fun including exploring the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, and a really fun wedding, celebrating Jason and Lauren with all of our old friends from Zurich.   

Heading into the Smithsonian

Checking out the BIG elephant

All dressed up!

Family Photo Shoot

I am not very good at taking photos and I am my own worst critic when it comes to photos of myself.  So while I have hundreds of photos of Oskar and Oskar and Martin, there are very few photos of the whole family that I love.  Our first attempt at professional family photos ended with both Oskar and I in tears and our second attempt for family photos resulted in our hungover friend to taking a quick photo for our Christmas card.  In an effort to find a compromise between the overly staged professional photos and the unfinished/amateur photos (sorry John), I turned to my photographer friend and fellow new mom for some help.  And like all good plans, this one was hatched over a few drinks. 

We decided to do a lifestyle shoot!  Nothing staged, nothing unusual, just Heather coming over to our house to capture our night time routine.  Below is the link to her blog and some of the amazing photos from the evening.  They are gorgeous and capture a normal night at the Breuer household… except for maybe the skirt and pearls. 

Breuer Family Photo Shoot

Thank you Heather!! 

Let Construction Begin!!

Almost two and a half years ago we bought our property at Timber Cove and I innocently blogged that we hopped to have the house built by that following fall.  Clearly my expectations were a little out of line with reality.  With 7 months to get the coastal permit, 5 months to get the building permit and Martin working full time; the process took a little longer than I had hoped. 

But that is the past and I am excited to announce that we have broken ground!   

We went up to Timber Cove a few weeks ago to meet with the contractor and things have been moving fast since then.  Excavation began on Wednesday and the foundation should be poured and set in the next two weeks.  And while the exterior walls should be up by early June (thanks to the pre-engineered SIPS panels we opted for), I have learned to tamper my enthusiasm and hedge my expectations on when things will be complete.  I am hoping for early fall...Martin is planning for late November. 

Stay tuned for photos and updates!

Note: Silly me, I should have known by now to hedge my bets.  I originally wrote this post back in April and was yet again, full of excitement.  It is now June and, after a quick trip up there this past weekend, it looks like we might already be behind schedule as the panels have yet to  be installed. However the foundation has been poured!  And I call that progress!