Touristing Fun

This morning we got up and headed into the District for brunch with friends and a little sight seeing.  Que fun!!

Look!  It's the US Capitol!!

I heard about a Huichol Indian art piece in the Nation Museum of the American Indian that we had to check out!

This bug is totally done up in beads, Huichol style.  It is impressive, those beads are *tiny*.  The steering wheel and dashboard were all beaded too.  Unbelievable.   It will be there until May 5th!

Look!  It's the Washington Monument!!

 

Washington Monument Unicorn?!

Now THAT is a well stocked purse!

And We're Back!

Well, we're back!!  We made our triumphant return to Virginia on Saturday.  We're getting the hang of living in the US full time again while we throw ourselves into Portuguese studies.  Oi!  Meu nome e' Autumn.  Qual e' seu nome?  Good start, right???

Upon arrival in Dulles we were greeted with this unusual and very cool sight.  This is the space shuttle Enterprise loaded up on a 747, ready for its trip to New York.  Pretty cool!

*heart*

That is what 300+ lbs of luggage looks like.  It's kind of a handful.

Spring is in full swing in Virginia.  Everything is so green!  :)

Don't worry everyone, I have found a new delicious cupcake shop!

:):)

Good Bye WA!!

Before our crazy early flight, we went down to Spokane to spend the night.  Coincidentally, and most awesomely, my dad and Lynn also had plans in Spokane over the weekend.  We met up, walked around and had a great final dinner.  Thank you guys for everything!!

Cheese!

The Spokane River was RAGING!

General consensus was that this building is no longer really operational, but no one really knew for sure. 

Like I said, REALLY RAGING!

Looking straight at this rock was really disorienting.

Good bye Spokane!

Last Looks at Home...

We've had a great 3 weeks visiting the great(est) state of Washington, seeing the family and resting.  It's been super fun, and we're very sad to go...but it is (almost) time to get back to the real world.

 

View of the ever disappearing lake.

A damp and misty day.

Steaming molcajete after a good cleaning...hey, where'd that come from?!

Here I am, winner of the Miss Tumbleweed Competition.

RUN!!

Tiny spring flowers.

Things are starting to come back...

Cattails by the pond.

Our search for turtles came up empty handed, but it made for some good pictures.

Sky in the pond.

One last look up the river.  Until next time Kettle Falls!!

Paul's!

Today we made the long (30 minute) journey to Chewelah to go to Eric's uncle Paul's new coffee shop!  It's called Paul's: A Coffee Bar and is located in downtown Chewelah, in case anyone is interested.  :) 

 Here it is!  It is so cute!!

DELICIOUS coffee!  And an excellent cookie too!!  Paul even made me a decaf mocha.  Yay!!

West Side

This weekend we took off for a trip to Western Washington to visit family and celebrate my cousin's baby shower!  Our family is growing fast this year, for sure.  As usual, the lure of cupcakes was too strong for me to resist....

Neapolitan and  Tiger Tail....

...Lemon Meringue...

 Now I'm seeing double!!
Vanilla and Snickerdoodle!!

 Then it was time for fun fun fun in the number one place for fun!

We even won!  I was having amazing good baby luck, I think.

My aunt put Eric and I in charge of the baby shower game.  This amazing trophy was our fabulous prize!

And here is our game!  Much more dignified than any kind of diaper game, no?

Showeryness.

On the way back to Kettle Falls we caught some gorgeous views in the Cascades.

Such a pretty drive through the mountains.

Big sky over the fields of central Washington.

Eric & Autumn's Photo Safari!

My dad had the day off work, so Eric and I went out to the farm for a photo safari!  We hiked around all parts of the property looking for pretty things to take pictures of....for which there were no lack!!  We are pretty lucky to call this beautiful part of the world our permanent home...even if we don't get to spend a whole lot of time here.

Dad and I preparing for the big hike.

A Ponderosa Pine in all of its glory!

Spring is springing all over the farm.

Buttercups popping through the winter debris.

May Flowers on display.

Tiny plantlets sprouting.

Here I am, showing my true colors!

I love this kind of tree.  It grows however it wants!

The million dollar view.

We found this old piece of machinery amidst the old homesteads.

I almost stepped on this frog, it is so well camouflaged.  Can you see him?

A leaf on snow.  That's right, we walked through snow.

Snowy path...

A look into the woods.

The creek ranging down the hill.

One last peek down the hill.