Lincoln Memorial

Museum of natural history

Just as we were ready to go to the Museum of natural history (from the American museum), it started pouring. We got mom a poncho and just ran for it. The three of us were soaked by the time we got inside the museum. Here's Emily freezing while posing with the African Elephant!

Lunch with uncle Tim

Visit to the CIO's office

We went into the Department of Commerce where Tim hosted us and gave us a tour. He also took us to a wonderful place nearby for sit down lunch. We had lasagna, pizza, roast beef sandwich and a huge salad! Tim dropped us off at the Museum of American History and then went back to work.

Washington DC

A short and sweet visit to Virginia. We saw Eiling and family, Tim and took mom with us everywhere. David made a huge family dinner for us on Saturday night and we enjoyed family time together.

See How They've Grown!

We went back to Great America Park where we went together 10 years ago andit's just incredible to see how the kids have grown! We missed Will who will be going to college in September.

Cousin Courtney's visit July 2010

Since living overseas the kids have had very few opportunities to play with their cousins. Emily and Courtney are close in age and they've always enjoyed each other's company. This is the first time Helen and I notice how similar the girls look in apparence - they can pass for sisters!

Derek and the two women

We joined the Munks for dinner at the Cheesecake factory. We made record time on this occasion. Derek actually finish his last Ninja basketball tournament around 2pm and then he took Mariah to Raging Water for the afternoon. I picked them up at 5.30pm and we sat down for dinner (noticed we all changed into our finer stuff for dinner!). We were going shopping afterwards however the mall was closed to Memorial day so we all went to see Shriek 3D.

It was an incredibly full and fun day for all of us! We are so looking forward to the summer! I got everyone season tickets to Raging waters so we will be going there a lot on the weekends!

more fun in the sun @ Emily's party

Party time!

Emily turns 13!!

It's hard to believe my little baby is a teenager! This is the first party Emily planned from beginning to end. Emily came up with the theme (beach party), made home-made cards (with purified sand we bought from Michaels), selected very unique goodies for the party bags (they were great!). She designed games and activities and the menu and even baked the cake! We also wrapped special gifts in "pass the parcel" which continues to be one of her favorite activities!

This time I was merely a facilitator - we did get her a little pool since it was so hot outside - it's a small 12' x 36" pool, just enough for 9 girls to sit in and play water fight!


Games she organized include: Water balloon toss, Dress & Dash, Musical beach towel, singing and dancing contests, tag...etc.

Activities include: mani-pedi party with OPI, decorating flip flops and snow cones!

Mi Amor

Kathy's Bday celebration

We were invited to celebrate Emily's BFF Julia's mom's bday on May 22 and we all dressed up! We went to see Wicked downtown and went to a super nice restaurant called Harris. We had the best filet mignon and the cheesecake was to die for!