Semper Fife

Ainsley invited the entire fam to a B&B-worthy spread of eggs, soy fa-con and snotsages

ew. trying to combine not and sausages there. Poor choice.

fruit salad, biscuits, coffee, tea, juice, and some yummy pecan maple pillsbury breadlets that made one lick one's fingers and anyone else's that happened to be close by.

We were going to try and see the Udvar Hazy Museum, but decided that everyone was a bit spent from traversing all over Northern Virginia the last 3-5 days, so we just relaxed at our house, watched our Wedding Video for the two who hadn't been able to come, then went down the street to feed Occoquan geese. Rick & Jeanie said their goodbyes, missing out on the evening's festivities -- a picnic dinner by the Iwo Jima Memorial to watch the "Commander's Own" Marine Band and Silent Drill Team (only held on Tuesdays).

Ryan and Erin seemed to appreciate the music (particularly the drums) but we were a bit too far away for them to appreciate the squad that came out and did the drill with their rifles. We'll just have to scope out better/earlier seats next time.

We said our goodbyes at the top of the long hill where we'd parked, with congrats all around for a successful, albeit down-a-man, reunion. We were bushed.

So thank god we have kids. Ryan and Erin kept us entertained with their back-and-forth, as Ryan encouraged his little sister to say every single word he could think of or that came into view. "Can you say 'cloud'?" "Cowd!" "Good job! Can you say...'building'?" "Bing." "Close! Can you say... 'Red Winged Black Bird?' "........." "Can you say 'Red'?" "Rad." "Wing?" "weeeng." "Black?" "Blak." "Bird?" "Bode." "GOOD JOB YOU DID IT!"

Also learned that Ainsley was teaching him about syllables. How many syllables in "Ryan", "elephant," etc. He seemed to be getting it, and his head didn't explode when I asked him how many syllables in "syllables."

Did I mention Uncle George thought he was 7?