Two Brothers in DC

Since we got the news on Friday about where we're headed next life has not slowed.  If anything things are picking up speed quickly!  R's brother was in town for the ceremony & to just hang in DC and we were so blessed by time with him.  He is the kind of guest you love to have: he does the dishes after a meal, he's happy to sit and do next to nothing on a Saturday, but he's willing to tromp around museums & botanical gardens on Sunday before heading to church.

We started the day at Eastern Market grabbing delicious Cuban sandwiches & empanadas.  Loved walking around such a cute part of the city- wish I had taken more pictures, but I couldn't resist the flowers!

Then we leisurely strolled towards the National Mall and checked in at the botanical gardens.  I was spoiled in Atlanta and a bit disappointed in the National Tropical Botanical Gardens but we made it a quick stop anyways.

Just a lovely October day near the capitol

A highlight of the day was definitely the AiWeiWei: According to What? exhibition at the Hirshhorn Modern & Contemporary Art museum.  Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist who makes some really interesting observations about Chinese modern culture, government & society.  Outside the museum in the sculpture garden he has an installation of the heads of all the animals in the Chinese zodiac.  This was a commentary after the Chinese government responded pretty negatively to some Chinese artifacts being put up for auction outside of China.

I insisted on each of us taking a picture with our respective zodiac animal.

The year of the Ox.

The year of the horse.

The year of the rooster.  

The pieces on the inside of the museum were excellent.  They challenge you to think about the issues facing modern China in some new ways.  Go see it if you can!

The rest of the weekend was filled with good food (we stopped for gelato & espresso AGAIN!) and good laughs.  I even had a solid shopping partner on Monday while R was in training- starting to look for sweaters on sale at every turn!

Brothers!

Loved having this guy around!

R's mom got in town yesterday & my very own parents are in flight en route to DC for R's swearing in ceremony as I type so we'll have more to share next week.