Good morning sweet friends! Hope you’re having a great Monday! We were so fortunate to have the time and means to travel quite a bit this summer. One of the places we visited was Washington D.C. and we had such a great time. We went for two reasons: 1) Greg had never been to D.C. and 2) Our friends’ Ross & Kelly were getting married in Maryland.

When we visit new cities on a trip like this, we try to find a few unique things to do in the evenings. We basically googled ‘Things to do June ___ – July ___ in DC’ on our phones and ended up not only going to the Nationals Game, but we also saw Ben Folds’ Unplugged show at The Kennedy Center. This was such an awesome venue! And something fun to do after a full day of sight-seeing. Since I’m a 5th grade teacher and we teach U.S. History in 5th Grade I also spent a lot of our trip nerding out over old artifacts that I could share with my kiddos in the classroom this fall (Don’t worry, I didn’t share all those pictures with you!).

So here are just a few images from our trip and of the sights we saw…

One of the things I always take away from sight-seeing trips, like when we went to Europe a few summers ago, is the sense of being present. We (myself included) are all so attached to our phones and social media so much of the time and traveling to a new city & being so busy seeing all the sights always makes me think of a quote I’ve seen: “Do more of what makes you forget to look at your phone”.

I talk about in my About Me section that summer is a time of renewal for teachers and I have been working hard to reflect on my life this summer and find that sense of renewal. One way I think we all find more time is by putting our phones down, for me it’s plugging my phone in in the other room, and really reminding ourselves of how we like to spend downtime without Facebook, Instagram, etc. When I do this, it’s amazing how much longer my day seems. I’ve read 8 books this summer (working on number 9 — I’ve read more this summer than I have in a long time — All the Light We Cannot See By: Anthony Doerr) and I’m watching a girly Netflix show just for me (Heart of Dixie). I’ve worked out more and spent time in the yard — just enjoying the world around me instead of the world on my screen.

Now all this being said, I love Instagram and love everyone’s posts and stories — Instagram is by far my favorite social media outlet, but I think taking trips, like our trip to D.C., serve as a reminder to be present and enJOY the moments more, something I am committed to working hard to do this school year.

Hope you enjoyed a little sneak peek of our trip! It was a fun city to visit during a beautiful time of year! Thanks for stopping by the blog today! (T-minus 6 days until my 5th graders arrive and #teacherwife returns!)