What have I been up to?

I know...it's been a while...again.

The only excuse I have is that my life really isn't all that exciting right now.  We are in the holding pattern of waiting for placement with the adoption and other than that, I mostly just work.

There are a few exceptions.  The week of my birthday in May I took one of my guaranteed weeks of vacation.  I used almost all of it to visit my little sister Anne in Maryland and New Jersey.

And look who showed up to hang out with us for the weekend...

Elizabeth!!!

We had a great time.  We went to New York City and saw Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

I don't know if this is just me, but I had absolutely no desire to get off the boat and walk around on Liberty Island.  But it was very important to me to see the statue from the water, the way it was meant to be seen.

I went to a couple of Anne's classes in Delaware with her.  We went to Philadelphia so that I could see my very good friend, who has lived there for a little while now, and we wandered around the historical areas.

This is Anne, Elizabeth and Alexandra in Elfreth's Alley, the oldest residential street in the nation.  I love the carriage road running through it.

 

This is Benjamin Franklin's grave in a cemetery in Philadelphia.

We hung out in Maryland, which is one of my top 3 favorite states in the country, so it was very nice to be back there.

And, one of the best things about my trip, I met him...

my nephew Brian!  Anne and I drove from her school in Delaware to Virginia one day just so I could meet him.  He is super cute!  This also means we got to spend a few hours with Nate and Alicia.

Okay so this is a picture of Nate and Anne.  Sorry, Alicia, I don't think I got a picture of you while we were out there.

All in all it was a pretty great trip, and a very nice birthday present to myself.