This year in review (part 2)

The week after we got home from skiing, we had an adieu rendezvous with our friends, Matt & Christina, at The Melting Pot. We are very fortunate that Matt & Christina also got orders to Ramstein AB. They left about 2½ weeks before we did (and you will see them in pictures from my older posts). We all LOVE to eat out at yummy places (including hibachi), and we needed to have one last eat-out before we all left the US and all its wonderful American restaurants. There was a couple sitting across the aisle from us who kindly, upon leaving, gave us a melting pot picture frame for the pic they saw us take (I plan to put this pic in it). Matt is a hilarious person--he cracks me up! This pic is SO "Matt".
That next weekend I went up to D.C. for Sisters' Weekend. I look forward to this every year when Julie, Emily, and I pick a town/hotel and shop, eat, watch movies, and basically kick it for the whole weekend. This year we decided to stay at Emily's new apartment and tour D.C. We explored the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which we thought would be a snore, but we were happily wrong! I'm not typically into modern art, but Duane Hanson's piece, "Woman Eating" deserves some kudos. It got so much attention from us that other people in the museum wanted to look too! We had a lot of fun snapping pictures and a security guard came over to see what all the ruckus was.
It was a cold winter's day outside, but we managed to pack in a lot of sites. We also toured the Pentagon Memorial, which was very humbling, the American History Museum, where we saw Old Glory, and the Spy Museum, which was very long but interesting and entertaining. I enjoyed each place immensely (and the subway too)!
After walking around all day we were really hungry! Thankfully, Emily had made reservations at The Melting Pot (you can never eat there too much)! YUMMY! Their food is so delectable and I was with good company so it was easy to have a great time. We laughed, ate, and snapped more pics. I love my sisters.
When the weekend came to an end, Julie's husband, Steve, met us with the kids for dinner. It was nice to spend a little more time with them before saying goodbye. I love my nieces and nephews so much. They make me happy.
Some more highlights: 1. The next weekend my coworkers had a surprise going away party for me at Uno's. I really like the girls I worked with and I miss them. 2. Our friends, Jon & Briane, FINALLY got hitched. It's about time! Hopefully we will see them next year at their reception/ceremony in Alaska (she just got orders there!).
After another week or so, we finally left Langley AFB and drove up to Emily's to stay the night. Our flight was out of Baltimore. It was nice to see her one last time. Jer and I picked her up in D.C. from work and we drove most of the way to Baltimore (traffic!). We had about an hour to kill so we went to the mall where, coincidentally, I first went out with Jer when he was in the Army. We ate some good grub then Emily dropped us off at the airport. One last opportunity for a snapshot of the 3 of us!
Our flight wasn't as long as I was expecting. We arrived at 11:00am local time and there were Matt & Christina waving at us through the glass windows!
So started our adventures in Germany. Zippity!