Two smarties

Oh, Karissa, how we miss ya!

A friend from Ft. Knox is in town for some pre-Fulbright training, so we picked her up at the airport, took her to breakfast, and hung out until it was time for her to go to her hotel:



That's one thing that I love best about this area: If you stick around long enough, plenty of friends from other places wind up passing through!

Happy birthday, Mike!

Every 22-year-old needs Corgi socks:

Company picnic

For the past couple of weeks I've been reminding Mike and Annabelle to keep this afternoon clear for my company picnic. They've been brought up in in the world of Army picnics, which are lovely but are also basically outdoor potlucks. I'm sure it seemed odd to them that I was making such a big deal out of this one, but it definitely lived up to the hype.

The company had rented out this entire farm/park venue. Everywhere you went there was food, beer, wine, etc. This, for example, was the wine tent:



They had activities like building your own stuffed animal, which was a surprising hit with big kids:





We had a great time, and everybody was impressed that I work for such a cool company:

Metro swag

The Silver Line is getting ready to open, so they were handing out promotional materials during the commute home tonight:

Seen at the food trucks today

Look! It's a dog in a bag:

Twilight Tattoo

Annabelle had to work tonight, but Mike went with Fred and me to see the Twilight Tattoo up at Ft. Myer. It had rained all day, so I expected it would be moved inside, but the weather decided to cooperate. It was all very impressive!

Secret squirrel

I pass these posters every day on my way to work, and they always remind me of Fred:

Three days of DC

Here's an assortment of photos snapped over the course of several days.

The Pentagon:



The 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon:



Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:



The White House:



Dorothy's shoes:



Miss Piggy:



Baseball game:

A Capitol (and capital) Fourth

We have a full house for the 4th of July festivities! Mike's friend Ben is visiting, as are Teresa and the boys.

Annabelle set out this morning looking adorable in a vintage top I bought in Germany in 1987:



She met up with some Leavenworth friends who are in town for a school event:



Then she met up with Teresa, Ethan, and Elliott to do some exploring of museums and monuments:



Fred and I headed into the city in the early afternoon to set up camp at the Capitol in preparation for the evening's concert and fireworks:



By late afternoon, our group had assembled, and the crowd was getting thick:



Here's a throwback to 1996 when Frank and Teresa visited us for the 4th (Annabelle stayed home with a babysitter):



This Capitol selfie that I took in Ethan's sunglasses is my favorite photo of the day:



After the show, we got on a very crowded subway train home: