Decorated cookies

Last weekend was a lot of fun. We had Tanner's friend Evan down from Maryland. We ate fried chicken for dinner, decorated holiday cookies and watched a movie. It was very festive.

Then after dropping him off at Washington D.C. we stopped and had dinner with the Keys family on our way home.  It was nice to see our friends here for the holiday.

Bonus Pie! Evan made us a sweet potato pie! 

We decorated for Christmas

We didn't bring any of our holiday decorations with us. We knew we wouldn't have room to store it here. I miss it!

But we did decorate, with homemade stuff, and a few things we did have around the house. Only cost $6 at the dollar store!

Ornaments Olivia and Owen made for us 

No where for presents, kind of piled up, also used whatever wrapping paper scraps I had

Since I last posted photos of the apartment, I tacked dark blue fabric in the glass doors to the bedroom. We had friends spend the night. But it also keeps the light out when I got to bed and Tanner is still up 

The fish is wearing Craig's Christmas scarf 

I made the bow for the front door, not as good as my mom's bow 

We accidentally saw a holiday parade!

I will just lead with the most topical float in the parade. It was a club for Star Wars Fans! Rebel Legion, they dress up, hang out, and do charity projects. This was the local chapter. http://www.rebellegion.com/

This parade goes down Broad, just a block from our apartment. We weren't going to go. We went out to our car, and the battery was dead.

(Aside about the battery: We had a 7 year extended life battery, it was like 5 years and 6 month old. And our mechanic in Seattle had been telling us to get a new one for about a year. But Tanner really wanted to get his money's worth, so we kept it. We called AAA. We also checked the prices of batteries with installation at Pep Boys, and what our mechanic told us. Turns out AAA's prices for batteries and installitaiton is right in the average. So we had them do it! It was so easy, we just sat in the car, while he tested the old battery, took it out and installed the new one. The Subaru is over 192,000 miles at this point. So we very grateful it is so reliable.)

That's right, sunglasses in December! Last weekend I hiked a few miles through town to a park, and then around a pond, and back to our house. I got sunburned, in December!!

Well's Fargo wagon and horses!

Lots of high school and college marching bands 

On the way back to our car the parade had started! We couldn't cross the street by our house. So we watched some, then walked to the end of the route, crossed, came back up and went home. We just weren't excited enough, and had not had breakfast, so we didn't watch the whole parade.

Seriously? This is a giant fruit cake, such an ugly float!

They really have military schools here, for high schoolers

We were impressed though. It was much bigger than we thought it would be, lots of people were out watching too.

Fancy dance troupe. 

Traditional Ecuadorian dance troupe

Local high school marching band. The crowd was fun at this point, shouting at kids and families they knew

 We also saw Nikki-Dee Ray, a local meteorologist. I am fascinated by her. She is southern, she has a southern accent, blonde, and pretty. She wears some really ugly dresses for the weather. She has a little white floofy dog who she takes with her to events and things, he was at the parade too, in a little dog Santa outfit. But Tanner did not get a picture of her. She just seems like a walking stereotype, but she is fun on the news and seems good at her job. Here is her Facebook, featuring her little dog and all! https://www.facebook.com/nikkideeray/

My favorite float was the Peppa's!  They are the pep band for VCU. They were playing Turn Down for What!  It was hilarious. The whole crowd started dancing. Tanner's good friend Jon was in the UW Pep Band. We really need to go to a few sporting events, just to have fun and take advantage of Tanner's student discount.

Yay holidays!

Post Thanksgiving trip to Tredgar Iron Works

Saturday after Thanksgiving we decided to get out and do something, before we spent the rest of the weekend lazing around. We walked down to Tredegar Iron Works. This was a huge factory that very important during the Civil War. Most of the facility is run by the Parks Department, and is free. It was sunny and in the 50's. 

Giant press

Really pretty brick ruins

Part of the canal system and a water wheel. The factory was all powered by water, then steam, and eventually electricity

Got to take some awesome industrial, distopian, steampunk photos

You can see the history here. The large stone blocks are from the initial flour mill that was here, then the older bricks from the Civil War era iron works, then the brighter red bricks from contemporary rebuilding

We took a lot of photos of gears and stuff. There are giant pieces of equipment that are just hanging around. They no longer work. Some of them had signs explaining what they had been. The inside of the museum was much better done, the outside needs updated. 

Inside the museum. It was really well done. They had great exhibits, videos, and artifacts. There was a focus on both the war, where to find nearby battlefields, and how the iron works made cannons and rifles that affected the war effort. But also good explanations of how average people in the area coped, how they were affected. Also how the war affected the cityscape, economy and history of Richmond. As the Confederate government moved out, they set fires, and a huge swath of the city burned. 

The Iron Works are right on the river, the canal was built up hill, then the water would flow downhill through the water wheels and empty into the river. 

We walked around the canal walk area and Brown's Island. It is a nice public area, kind of like Greenlake. People are walking, some kids playing, etc. 

This is the most purple plant we have ever seen!

A train went over while we were there. Tanner wanted me to walk under it, I was not having any of that. Also, this has to be the worst outfit. I have lost weight since I have been here, but you wouldn't know it from this outfit. 

Tanner always looks surprised in selfies 

You can see the Tredegar Iron Works in the background

Then we walked home. We stopped at Perly's, the modern Jewish delicatessen across the street form our apartment. I took some crappy photos, since we never posed any before of this place. We got an appetizer and beers. So it was an affordable date.

Tanner had Hardywood's Gingerbread Stout, which is a HUGE deal here, there are release parties every fall when they put it back on sale. He really liked it. 

Funky wall paper and family photos. Real wood booths. 

Hang your coat! Also out the window on the far left is our building. 

Part of the menu, sorry it's not really legible. 

Anyways. I learned a lot about Richmond. And I think I cemented a lot of things I had learned, but had not really put into any context. I took AP U.S. History in high school, which was a really good class. So a lot of things are coming back to me about Independence, the Civil War, Reconstruction, etc. 

I really want to do the driving tour of the area now, and visit all the battlefields and museums. We have to wait until it warms back up though, there are more places open in the summer.