gabriella & jd (and alex! and vincent!)

pictures more pictures Not once but twice this week we found ourselves on the DC Waterfront, eating lunch at Cantina Marina , which has great views of the water, and many airplane and helicopter flybys - an yes, that's Marine whatever (probably not One or Two, but still, pretty cool). pictures more pictures Z and GG are docked at the Capital Yacht Club so we had a nice visit when them on Saturday.  The Pride of Baltimore II was in town also.  Alex again got a chance to drive the dinghy, and see a water cannon off the DC Fireboat.  Did we mention the weather has been phenomenal?

Alex's desk and homework.   Alex is enjoying learning to read and his homework.  We've set up Papa's old work desk for his homework(devoir) station - note the soldering iron and old morse code machines among other things. Week at school, playgrounds, the zoo. We have been exploring all the local playgrounds after school, and went to the zoo since it is so close to Alex's school.  Vincent also had his 15 month check-up and four shots.  Ouch.  We had some more great food, Los Toltecos for Mexican, and Mykonos for Greek. Weekend, tricycle, playground, pho, Rosh Hashanah. Fantastic weather, and another playground. even more pictures

pictures Finally the weather turned nice and cool.  We had lunch last Saturday at Chevy's where Vincent enjoyed the chips and had his first ice cream cone.  Alex devoured his lunch of tacos.  We then headed over to Carrie's to meet their new dog Axle.  He is a very sweet dog and we're glad he's part of their family. more pictures

Alex's classroom pictures - Wednesday was back to school night. more pictures snacks and standing We've spent a lot of time on the back porch having snacks this summer.  Vincent took his first steps (2 or 3) on Saturday and will walk holding on to our hands.  He is close to being mobile.  Watch out!

Labor Day Weekend.  We had a great day on Saturday visiting Z and GG who are docked in Eastport in Annapolis.  It was very hot and humid (of course) so we ate and drank and drank and ate.  Alex drove the dinghy, and played a mean game of war with GG.  Vincent even napped on the boat.  A great meal was had too at Davis Pub .  Alex had a lot of question for Z about the boats and barnacles and stuff.  Oh, and the movie everyone was staring at?  Down Periscope .  Good stuff.  We didn't have time to watch "Captain Ron". pictures

Vincent's hair was getting pretty long so we took him for his first haircut.  We were driving back from Pennsylvania and hit the mall in Columbia, MD, and there was a Cartoon Cuts and I had a coupon, so it was meant to be.  Vincent was very good.  The haircut was nice until she put gel in his hair and spiked it. Funny! pictures The other big event was buying the step-up-step-down convertor for our Nespresso machine.  Not sure why it took us so long to do it.  But those capsules cost more here than in Europe! a few artistic shots by JD

Et voilà ! Enfin c'est la rentrée ! (Translation: It's back to school time!) This year Alex begins first grade in the French school here in Washington (Lycée Rochambeau primary school). We decided to do this for several reasons, not least of which was that we want him to maintain his exposure to French as we will one day – sooner rather than later, hopefully – return to France to live. It seems like a very nice school from what we can tell. We meet the teachers and tour the building tomorrow evening. Alex's maitresse, Madame Monique Curioni took a slightly nervous Alex under her wing immediately and shepherded him along to meet his classmates. Click here for the pictures from this morning

small camera big camera The free breakfast at the hotel was sparse so we headed to Perkins where Alex ate two orders of pancakes.  We then spent the day at Dutch Wonderland.  Alex's favorite rides were the simulator, the Space Shuttle, the cars on the Sunoco Highway, and driving the small boats.  In the evening we drove back into downtown Lancaster for some really great Thai food at Sukhothai .  On Thursday there was breakfast at Denny's and back to Maryland.