The Marine Corps Marathon!

 Happy Monday, Y'all!  This was a pretty exciting weekend for us as Jon completed his very first marathon!:)  I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but not Jon.  He was ready to go.  I have to admit that it was a super fun and exciting experience.  I've never been to a race, let alone a marathon.  I think the thing that impressed me the most was the insane amount of spectator support.  There were tons of fans lining all 26.2 miles to cheer on the 30,000 runners...mind-blowing, not to mention the absolutely beautiful weather in our nation's capital.We woke up at 4am, drove to the metro, and dropped in to meet the start of the race at the pentagon.  As the sun came up, runners pinned on numbers, stretched and downed power snacks and water.  After a beautiful opening ceremony of paratroopers in sky, the race began. 

I kissed Jon goodbye and found the nearest Bruegger's Bagels to try their amazing pumpkin bagel, pumpkin cream cheese and pumpkin spice coffee.  Y'all have got to try them! Yum!  I wandered around DC enjoying the beautiful morning, sipping coffee and snapping photos with hopes of remembering the day.  I tried to track Jon at various points in the race based on his speed, but wasn't sure exactly where I would catch him. Nonetheless, I enjoyed joining in to cheer with the crowd.

Just over 4 hours after take off, I spotted my Jon approaching the finish line.  I have never been so proud and relieved (except for when he returned from deployment of course).  He was clearly sore, but still smiling.  We sat and chatted, caught the metro out of town, and ordered our favorite food: pizza.

Today I'm joining Biana for her link-up, 'Weekending'.  How was your weekend? 

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

 One thing Jon and I have been trying to do since we posted at our new duty station is travel. We love seeing new places and trying new things, especially food. Rehoboth Beach was so fun.The drive wasn't bad, about 3 hours, perfect for a weekend getaway.  We got there Friday evening just in time for dinner at the Dogfish Head Brewery.

 

We then ventured out to walk Rehoboth Avenue and see the sights.  Rehoboth Beach was the perfect place for me since I have a ridiculous sweet-tooth, and it has the largest amount of sweet shops and ice cream parlors that I've ever seen on one street. If you love the beach, food and shopping, you'll love Rehoboth.  Just posting this makes me want to go back.  The first dessert we tried was this amazing hot sugar-crusted belgian waffle with ice cream at Nonna's Sweet Treats.  My oh my was this thing good.  Jon's not a big sweet eater, but he's a good sport about it.:)

The next morning we headed over to The Pointe Coffee House and Bake Shoppe.  If you should know anything about Jon and I, it's that we LOVE our cafes.  I'm pretty certain we've spent more time together in coffee shops than anywhere else.  I got the oatmeal (I'm a huge oatmeal fan), and Jon got the breakfast croissant.  Both were wonderful.  We wanted to try some more of their gorgeous pastries, but we had to pace ourselves for the day ahead.  However, I did find one thing I had been looking for for a long time: a coffee sack to add to our home decor.  The Pointe was selling them for $5.  Made.my.day. After breakfast, we ventured out to explore the shops, the Rehoboth Beach Museum, and of course, the beach!  It was lovely.  Things were pretty busy as this was one of the last weekends of the summer, but the atmosphere was great. 

For lunch we ate at Dos Locos Fajita & Stonegrill Mexican Restaurant. We love mexican food.  Jon has the same relationship with chips & salsa as I do with ice cream: love. I ordered my favorite dish, the chilequiles,   which was amazing.   

 
One of my favorite discoveries was Kilwin's, which happens to be a chain sweet shop.  I fell in love with their gigantic candy apples.  I love candy apples.

After a bit more time on the beach, we took a quick power nap before an early dinner at Fin's Fish House, a recommendation of some locals and a super popular spot.  We went early (around 5) to avoid the crowd, and were able to be seated immediately.  We deemed this a winning move as there was a tremendous wait when we left.  The food was great, everything people had said. We tried several things to include the calamari and the oysters. Both were wonderful.  After dinner we strolled Rehoboth Avenue a bit more and enjoyed watching live music at the beach bandstand as we ate our Cold Stone ice cream cones.
  

On our last morning Jon and I visited another cafe, Cafe A Go-Go.  We got coffee and bagel sandwiches and sat at the bar in the window to people watch, sip our coffee and read our bibles; a perfect last morning at the beach.  We went for a quick final stroll on the boardwalk and headed home.