Washington, DC July 2011



The final leg of our US trip was two full weeks in sweltering Washington DC while Billy worked out of his office in Arlington, VA. Will attended day camp near the National Cathedral. To cool off the afternoons, we enjoyed frozen yogurt or frozen custard almost every day, as well as almost-daily visits from Kate, the best part about DC. Icing on the cake were visits from Bindy and Deb, cousin Jeremy, and a weekend visit from Billy's law school friends Julie and her family, Sean and Valerie, and Herrin's family. Elaine's family flew in from Atlanta, as well, and Pierce, Will, and Sasha tore up the town, trekking all across the Mall. As if that wasn't perfect enough, Jen also flew in from LA as a total surprise. We so appreciate the effort everyone made to spend time together while we were Stateside. You truly make physical distance seem irrelelvant.

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New York City July 2011



Next stop: four days in New York City. This time, we stayed in Brooklyn with brenda's cousins Margie and Teddy, in their beautiful new Park Slope home, where the boys bonded with baby Ethan. We were in town for brenda's aunt's 70th birthday bash and had a chance to visit the Mons' new home in Westchester, and made a trip to the Bronx Zoo with 7 of the 12 little little cousins. Without a moment to spare, we also visited with Cat's family and Manning's family and brenda was lucky enough to catch her college girlfriend, Melissa's, bridal shower. It was a packed four days, but that is what being in New York is all about - making the absolute most of every moment.

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Maryland and Pennsylvania July 2011



Our three weeks in the US this summer started off in Maryland. We stayed with Billy's cousins, Ed and Chrissy for 4th of July weekend. Besides getting together with Grandma, uncles, aunts, and cousins, Will and Sasha spent all their time in the pool with cousins Lucia and new twins Christopher and Anthony. It was a quintessential American 4th of July, with poolside BBQs every day, backyard fireworks, and icy treats whenever the kids had a moment out of the pool. Extra special Maryland touch were the fresh caught crabs, which Ed steamed right away with National Bohemian beer and Old Bay seasoning. It was Will's first experience eating crab with a wooden mallet off a sheet of butcher paper, and he loved it!

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