I can't believe it's been a whole year since our wedding!! August 22, 2010 caught up with us quick and we made plans for a hot air balloon ride in rural Virginia to celebrate. Unfortunately, bad weather forced us to postpone the flight, but we had a backup plan and headed to the restaurant at Patowmack Farm for brunch instead. We had a chance to reminisce about last year's first swim, hilarious officiant, and hot weather while eating one of the best meals I've ever had. The restaurant has a produce-driven menu and grows many of the ingredients used. Nikki started with goat cheese waffles topped with Serrano Ham and I had foie gras (my first time - turns out it's delicious and not disgusting! Who knew?). For the main course, I had grilled Escolar (fish) and Nikki had a summer veggie medley - mmm, wax beans... The owner herself came out to serve dessert (peach blueberry gallette and a custard) with little happy anniversary signs - nice touch! Oh and we tried this delicious Spanish wine - Txakoli. All in all - it was fantastic. We digested a bit while walking around the farm and playing with the goats before jumping in the car to head home (Nikki was anxious to get back and play with her new Ipad that she got as an anniversary present!).
Tomorrow is a very big day - Nikki takes her Vietnamese language test!!! She will find out whether 7 months of hours upon hours of studying has enabled her to speak with moderate proficiency (i.e. as a third grader). As I sit in this coffee shop, Nikki is reviewing flash cards across from me and maintaining a very zen attitude (some may be surprised by this!) and I think she is going to do great (her classmates and teachers agree). We have a karaoke party at one of our teachers' house tomorrow night and then plan to head back to rural Virginia on Saturday to go ballooning. We've got another fancy meal at the Inn at Little Washington planned to celebrate.
And then that's it!!! Our year in Washington is coming to a close. Next week we have two days of "security overseas" training, we pack everything out and ship Hina to San Diego Thursday, rest Friday, and fly to SFO Saturday. It will take us two weeks to actually get to Saigon (we arrive Sept 16), as we are taking stops in San Francisco, Maui, and Hong Kong on the way. We've had a fantastic time in DC and both agree it's a place we can imagine living in the future. But for now, we're starting our worldwide adventure and won't be back for a while. How exciting!
Tomorrow is a very big day - Nikki takes her Vietnamese language test!!! She will find out whether 7 months of hours upon hours of studying has enabled her to speak with moderate proficiency (i.e. as a third grader). As I sit in this coffee shop, Nikki is reviewing flash cards across from me and maintaining a very zen attitude (some may be surprised by this!) and I think she is going to do great (her classmates and teachers agree). We have a karaoke party at one of our teachers' house tomorrow night and then plan to head back to rural Virginia on Saturday to go ballooning. We've got another fancy meal at the Inn at Little Washington planned to celebrate.
And then that's it!!! Our year in Washington is coming to a close. Next week we have two days of "security overseas" training, we pack everything out and ship Hina to San Diego Thursday, rest Friday, and fly to SFO Saturday. It will take us two weeks to actually get to Saigon (we arrive Sept 16), as we are taking stops in San Francisco, Maui, and Hong Kong on the way. We've had a fantastic time in DC and both agree it's a place we can imagine living in the future. But for now, we're starting our worldwide adventure and won't be back for a while. How exciting!
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