Saying Goodbye

The worst thing about having your cousins come for the summer is that at some point they have to leave.

Zula and I helped see Ben and Noah off at the airport.

Luckily, Noah and I know how to have fun anywhere.

Here, we're practicing for the band we'll start someday.

The Rolling Stones have nothing on us.

  

Wouldn't you agree?

Camp

Everybody did great things at camp this summer. Here's Zula at the curtain call for the play she co-wrote and starred in at art camp. It had something do with bunnies, heaven and Robin Hood.

Aviva was in a play at TIC, too. She got turned into a vampire.

Carissa, playing her sister, had to help save her.

Noah played Bumpers the Whale, who helped out, too.

It was very exciting. 

They did a great job!

Afterwards, we went to the classrooms to see their projects. Here's Aviva playing the electronic music she and her partner wrote.

We all loved hearing the songs.

 Aviva explained a little about how she wrote them.

But I wanted to know more.

Afterwards I cornered them so they could tell me the secrets to composing music.

I should probably ask Grandpa about that, too!

Zula's Birthday Boat Trip

Guess what Zula wanted to do on her birthday this year?

Ride on a boat down the Potomac! Who cares that it was over 100 degrees outside?

Hey, look, ducks!

At some point I decided to liven things up.

I put on a little show, which I think the captain enjoyed.

And hey, look!

I cracked up the birthday girl, too!

The Summer of Cousins

Can you believe how much family we had in town this summer? 

We couldn't all fit at Grandma and Grandpa's regular table!

After dinner Aviva and Will played music for us.

I had the best seat in the house, with my Aunt Esther!

Later, Will and Carissa helped Uncle Ben with some Chinese translation for a book he's writing. 

And Grandma read with Aviva and Zula, 21st century style.

But as everyone knows, the most important part of summer...

...is eating popsicles on the porch!

Beach with the BEANs

It's almost October, so high time we got our beach pictures on the blog, don't you think?

Daddy and I had a lot of fun playing in the waves this summer.

Zula got into the fun, too!

The first step to learning to bodysurf is judging when the wave will break.

At least that's what my big sister says!

Look who else went to the beach with us -- Esther and Aviva!

and Uncle Ben, what's he doing?

He and Noah were deeply involved in building a habitat for a horsehoe crab.

All in all, a great trip to the beach!