Call It Year 1 in DC

In retirement, a bench is nice ...

This Memorial Day marks a special DC anniversary for us. It doesn't seem possible, but one year ago this weekend we were moving into our Crystal City apartment. That means we have spent a full year living in the DC area.

When we moved to DC, we were sure we would like it. But we didn't realize how quickly that like would turn to love. Washington is the prefect place for us to retire. It is filled with so many of the things we value - art, book talks, history, politics, music, theater, great walking, interesting people, and marvelous food.

We decided we wanted to share this love of place. One way was to create and publish The Prices Do DC blog, where we could document all the things we were doing. Of course, a blog is a learn-as-you-go experience. I decided to spend the month of May redesigning and revamping the blog to make it better. In fact, we have not published an entry since May 15. We thought our 1-year anniversary would be perfect to unveil our new effort so here is the 1st post of our Year 2. (If you are reading this post by email, you can check out the complete revised blog by clicking here).

... no matter where you find yourself

But we wanted to more directly continue the strong ties with family and friends we had established during our 6 decades in South Jersey. That's why we decided to host all our family and friends who wanted to come to DC. Some stayed for 2 days; some for 2 weeks. We enjoyed them all. We hope they don't mind, but as a small sign of how much we value their friendship, we're going to include as list of those who stayed with us.

• Chuck and Lynn Timberman and their grandson Ethan (3 times including New Year's Eve)
• Bob and Marion Spence (2 times)
• Bob's brother Bill and his wife Claudia, who spent their wedding anniversary with us.
• Ronnie and Theresa Fooks
• Brian and Ronni Weinstein
• Jack and Kathy Neff
• Layne Ball and Sandy Morrissey
• Shoshana Osofsky and her husband, Frank
• Jim Boner and his daughter Jells
• our friend from high school Gary Peacock
• our son Michael and daughter-in-law Shannon, who gave us our greatest gift ever in our grandchildren Audrey and Owen.
• our niece Tara, our grand-nephew Devin (congrats on your brand new driving permit) and our 2-year-old niece Kylie.
• our sister-in-law Sandy Knapp and her daughter Anna, who was checking out colleges in the DC area
• and our 1st visitor Kerri Motil, who stayed with us for a week while she engaged in a master's  program at the Hilton just down the street

Then, while they didn't stay with us, we were able to spend some time with friends and familywho were staying in the DC area. They included:

• Don and Sandy Olbrich
• Irv and Esther Marshall
• Bronnie Sewall and John Connolly
• Joe and Pam Garwood 
• our cousin Linda, her daughter Jennifer, and her husband Sam

We also dined with 3 of my former students who are living and working in DC..

• Michael Brooks and his wife Chiquita
• Kate Sheppard and her soon-to-be husband Dean
• Art Sewall and his wife Jen (We also got to attend their wedding in October in Philadelphia and visit their new home in Virginia)

Finally, there were some dinners and other events with 2 long-time friends who live and work in DC

• Bruce McCulley, who went to elementary school with me and marched around the stadium track with Judy and me at our Bridgeton High School 1969 graduation
• Steve Ferrara, who was my roommate at Villanova University.

So year 1 is history. We are convinced that year 2 will be even better. We will continue sharing our experiences with you in this blog. And remember - if you don't live in the DC area and would like to spend time with us, there is a guest room and separate bathroom that we hope will get even more use between now and next Memorial Day.

Tales, Tips, and Tidbits
As I mentioned, we didn't publish much in May because we were redesigning The Prices Do DC blog. But that wasn't the only reason. We spent more than half  the month in none-DC activities.

We traveled to New Orleans for 6 days for the Jazz and Heritage Festival. You can check out  our experiences ion New Orleans by clicking here.

Can you find Judy and I in this Jazz Fest crowd?

Then we flew for a 3-day weekend in rural Indiana for the wedding our our niece Lisa and her husband Tony.

Another Snyder wedding. Congratulations Lisa and Tony

Finally, we spent 6 days in Knoxville so we could attend our 3-year-old grandson Owen's birthday party and then watch Owen and his sister Audrey while their parents went to Atlanta to find a new house for their July move to that city.

Owen at his cowboy-themed birthday party...

... while Audrey celebrates in song

And, oh yeah, in between the traveling, I also had all 4 of my wisdom teeth extracted. Ah, the joys of aging.