A Visit from Grandma Julie

Grandma Julie arrived on a stormy Sunday evening, but she brought lots of sunshine into our lives.  

The first day we drove to Annapolis to sight-see and we treasured the Chesapeake on a fun mini-cruise.

We basked in the sunlight.

We shopped and ate the beloved frozen yogurt.

The next day we shopped some more and visited some sights around DC.

Wednesday we ate with Rye-guy and Kenna and shared memories.

Friday we visited Ford's Theater.

Then we went on a mini-vacation to Cambridge, Maryland for Jeremy's firm retreat (or as the red personality lawyers called it, the "firm advance").

We had a great time and the resort was beautiful.  This is a view from our hotel room.

The kids loved having their Grandma Julie around.

Their extremely beautiful Grandma Julie, that is...

While on retreat Tennyson got to miniature golf for the first time.

I *love* Grandma Julie's new do.  I'm so relieved that I no longer need to worry about my gray hairs because, well, look at my mother!  I'm one of the lucky ones who will get to go "sophisticated silver"!

And then all too soon the fun was over and Grandma Julie had to take her flight back home.  We miss you Grandma Julie!

U-Shaped Happiness

If this is true, oh snap.  For those further along the curve than us, any thoughts?

DC Sirens and Sensory Travel

Has anyone noticed the new sirens on emergency vehicles in DC?  They sound so European.  Every time we hear them (which is very frequently - we live near the "Beautiful H Street Corridor"), we instantly feel like we're in Europe and we get excited because that means we're going to eat good food soon.  But then we come back to reality, and then we take another bite of mac 'n cheese (homemade, though, so it's not too bad).

It reminds me of when I worked at Chevron and one of my responsibilities was to clean the car wash bays every day, which I didn't mind because the car soap smelled like the streets of Jerusalem and I could close my eyes and think of happier times.

Funny how a sensory recall can instantly transport you to another time and place.

Fun new ways to view Ye Stewart Clan

For those who don't know about this already, there are five new ways to view Ye Stewart Clan (or other blogs hosted by blogger).  We point this out especially for those of you (hi mom!) who check in multiple times every day no matter how frequently we post -- this gives you some options for mixing things up a bit.  Links to, descriptions of, and sample screenshots of the five new formats are below, and we've also put links over in the sidebar.

1.  Mosaic

2.  Flipcard

3. Sidebar

4.  Snapshot

5.  Timeslide

What matters

Midnight in Times Square

Shot just after midnight on a recent business trip when I was walking back from the office to my hotel.  

Perfect 10

Our angel baby is almost not a baby anymore.  Ten months already.  He's walking around while holding onto furniture, he's eating more than Tennyson, and his favorite activity (besides eating) is chasing Tennyson around the house while screeching like a pterodactyl.  And he's forced us to be more social because complete strangers are constantly approaching us to tell us how cute he is, and "oh, just look at those dimples."  (And it's evidently impossible to look at dimples without touching them.)  The funny part is that there's almost an exact 50/50 split in whether people think he looks "exactly like" his mom or dad.  We're not ready to call that one yet, but this much is sure:  those are definitely Suzanne's feet (a trait passed on for hundreds of years starting with Suzanne's raccoon ancestors).