Emily mugshot for passport

Emily was not too thrilled about taking her passport pic.  Classic.  It's on the fridge now.  Mom, Dad tells us that you have some official government photos you'd like to scan and post.  Let's have 'em!

Polish Immersion Trip

Last week Em, Caroline, and I tagged along on Ben's Polish immersion trip to Dewey Beach in Delaware. Whoever goes to Delaware and who knew it was such a beautiful state? Despite it being crummy weather 3 out of the 4 days and everyone only speaking Polish, I had a great time! Something about getting out of the house. Below are Ben's three native Polish instructors and three of his state department classmates. Can you tell who's Polish and who's American?This is V-tek (Polish derivation of Victor). He was truly one of a kind, to put it mildly. He would often wander from the group and we would find him throwing big chunks of wood across the beach (I guess he once was a discus thrower) or else picking up litter. He picks up trash as a hobby. He's eccentric, but according to Ben a genius. Ben thinks he's a fantastic teacher . As a linguist he speaks several languages and spoke to me in French.

Em's first time to the beach. She was terrified of the ocean
Em discussing Polish politics with V-tek
More of Em sipping lattes with the State Dept folks.
Can you tell what they are doing in this pic? They are actually singing a Polish song. I guess the Poles are really into singing. As you can tell, Ben was a willing participant. I am scoffing at him in the background.
Em soaking in the sun and V-tek's words of wisdom. By the end of the trip she had them all wrapped around her finger.

Who knew Delaware was such a beautiful state? Can you see the boats floating in the Atlantic?
The impressive bridge crossing back into Maryland. Notice that the sun finally came out the day we went back home!!

Two months old

I can't believe how much Caroline has changed in just one month! She is so much more alert and smiley. It's so much fun!
Katie inspired me to put curlers in Em's hair the night before church. It didn't really work since they all fell out in her sleep. BTW, she loves Where the Wild Things Are. She's obsessed with Max.

Some Good Stuff

Well, since all my siblings have contributed, I think I will do likewise. Here are a couple of links to some awesome videos. This one is a classic Clouseau scene (watch the actress, she cracks up constantly during the scene, especially at the end).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMqgj20r874&feature=PlayList&p=E6EA4795AB12C4E1&playnext_from=PL&index=180

This one is mostly for Ben, but everyone should enjoy it, and also serves as a tribute to the late great Ronnie James Dio. This was the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal community to that lame "We Are the World" thing...this raised a lot of money for famine relief in Africa...and it ROCKS \mm/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZktrrqT1A0

Squirrel secret agent

Awesome stuff here. This squirrel is on a mission.

Do you think they look alike? Em at about 1 month.

Happenings

Caroline in the bathroom sink Ben calls C the anti-Emily since she is such a smiley happy little girl

Big day for Em... so much older and wiser.
On the subway... classic Em expression
Georgetown campus
Katie and Shea come to visit! We went out for yummy food to celebrate Katie's b-day. Don't you just love her new haircut?
Sweet view from Robert E. Lee's mansion at Arlington
Em's expression here shows her angst over Natalie invading her territory. Em wasn't such a great hostess during their visit.. she was possessive of her toys (which she never wants to play with, btw, until someone else wants them) and went to pieces when Natalie came too close. They actually started to hit it off really well the day before they went back home (of course).
Sorry Nancy, we really did try to get a good shot with them in their matching dresses, but as you can see they were both quite uncooperative... plus the lighting was bad. Maybe Shea can post some of the ones he took; I think he had better luck.
Ben looking cooler than ever
I'm really proud of this picture: huge accomplishment for me to be out at the monuments with the two little ones. It's such an ordeal to go anywhere!

Nicole's Dave story

Katie, Shea, Marinda, kids and I visited the Eads family from Panama up at Tim and Kathy's little ranch about an hour from here.  It was sweet.  Beautiful place.  Nicole told a hilarious story about David of which I had no recollection.  Apparently I was driving the Vanagon when we were in Panama, taking Nicole and Katie home from something and Dave was along.  He must have been what, 6 years old?  He was horsing around in the back and Katie and Nicole were telling him to put his seat belt on.  We were on Ft. Amador, and as Nicole tells it, when she informed me that I had passed her house, I slammed on the brakes sending Dave from the back back seat closest to the sliding door into the rear of the TC/passenger seat.  If your remember the Vanagon, there was nothing in between those two seats for about 5 feet, a pretty good travel distance for a 6 year old small fry.  As Nicole tells it, Dave was unconscious momentarily after his collision with the passenger seat.  It was a pretty funny story and I wish I could remember it.  I imagine the unconscious part may be some embellishment.  Dave, do you remember it?

Miss Independent

Lucy is to the stage where she wants to feed herself. I don't know if more of the yogurt got inside or fell outside her mouth. But she was happy the whole time.

Lucy

Our little monkey of a daughter.
Our little messy daughter.

Sunday Pictures

Thank you Aunt Katie for the cute dress.

Steve posts some stuff

Hello all, I just wanted to put a few things up here.

This is for Joe, who seemed more curious about the beard I developed while in the Hospital than my overall health. It was a beast, I had to lather up three times to shave it off.

The photos below are for Wendy, this is a Groundhog that lives on the way to the Clinic. I saw it with three or four baby Groundhogs in it's burrow a couple of days ago but only saw the adult this time (when I had my camera).

Last but not least, I saw a movie through Netflix that I really liked called "Joshua". Mom and Dad already know about it, for anyone whose interested the link below is for the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvFPKuJzJh4

Take care, Zeppelin Rules Up the Irons Rock the Casbah \m/

Sweet telephone remake courtesy of Mom and the Afghanistan troops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haHXgFU7qNI