A funny stop at the DC waterfront

Aunt Tirzy's next car

Ah, the Met

We are spoiled, though, really.  After saying good bye to the van Berlos, we headed to the Oleksiuks for a little more sister/cousin/brother-in-law time.. and took the kids to the Met!  We were not able to get ourselves out of the knight exhibit.. but then, why would you want to??

We did escape briefly to go see the Seurat!!  And the Degas!!!  And some Van Goghs and Gaugins, and other that I had never seen in person.  It was lovely.. too short.. and lots of running past things we wanted to stop and look at, but it just means that we'll be back!

NYC and the van Berlos!

So... one of the great things about living overseas is meeting like-minded people and making deep friendships.  (There are a number of things to complain about, too, and many of you have been victim of recent emails packed with whining.. but never mind that for now.)   On our drive south from the Cape, we stopped in Rye to see the van Berlos, who we hadn't seen in about a year.. after having spent lots and lots of great times together in Jakarta. It was great to be reunited, and to have some time to catch up.

Meera, Jaffa, and Jade.. girls reunited!

 

We even had time to catch a show together on Broadway!

and to explore a little of Times Square..

not missing the four-story ToysRUs, of course..

with the Lego Statue of Liberty, and a half floor of Skylanders!

We hunted down some much-sought-after silly putty too.

We <3 New York!

 

 

Boy birthdays

Hooray for August birthdays!  Once again, we found a reason to make cake.

Happy Birthday Bill and Eben <3 <3

 

Jaffa gets her ears pierced!

First, we went to a tattoo and piercing place.. because they are apparently cleaner than the mall kiosks.  We chatted with the guy who would have done it like I would have done it.. with a needle.  The chances of Jaffa leaving the shop with one ear done (if that), were high, so we decided on the other strategy and headed to the mall.  Very excited!!  Of course, big nervousness set in when she was in the chair.. so we had a pep talk.

 

 deep breaths..

 

The ladies were great!  They were clearly experienced at this.  There was one on each side, and they told Jaffa that they were just lining up the piercing guns with the dots they made on her ears.. and then BOOM!  It was done!!  Dolphins with diamonds in place.

 

Happiness ensued..

Ice Cream Sandwich

There are lots of ice cream places on the Cape, but the Ice Cream Sandwich in the town of Sandwich s our tradition and we try to go as much as we can.  (After all, we're walking it all off on the beach, right??)  We found out later that Billy went THREE times (two of them without the rest of us) in one day.  Ha!

 

Where else but Massachusetts are there 'wicked good' flavors??

 

After we finally chose what we all wanted, there was the usual fight over who pays. 

The boys had Mom in a body block..

 

 

And, the mandatory picture with the ice cream bear.

Cape Cod!

We love Cape Cod.. we missed it last year, and we were happy to be back.

Cousins!!

Memere rented boards and kayaks.. great idea!

As usual, good eats and much drink..

Elliot and Duke made friends.  So cute that Elliot was so excited about this big handsome dog.  Duke liked Elliot a lot too.. probably because of the goldmine of food that appeared on the floor beneath Elliot's chair whenever he was at the table. 

Sandcastle strategizing

Love!

 

In celebration of Bill's birthday, the boys went golfing..

Family shots on the beach, happy to be together!!