taxation without representation!

we didn't really understand humidity until washington dc. fortunately for us there were freedom pops! walking in the humidity is totally worth it in dc. did you know that the people of dc don't get to vote, except in presidential elections, because they aren't part of a state? they didn't get a mayor until 1975!

we stayed with my aunt maggie, who was in town getting ready for her new foreign service job in tanzania! she left the very next day. we scatter around the world and it becomes smaller and smaller. best buddies in london, friends in australia, aunts in tanzania. it boggles the mind. distance is measured by how long it takes to get there in an airplane. we talk on the phone via the internet in a video chat. technology!

we said hello to president obama's future home,

paid a visit to one of my favorite americans in the capitol building,
were wowed by the supreme court!

we were impressed by the revolutionary act of the signing of the declaration of independence!!!!
saw some crazy airplanes,
went to a marine parade at iwo jima!

and then we hopped down to our first colony, jamestown!

we happened upon a revolutionary war re-enactment at colonial williamsburg,

and were blown away!!! ha ha ha.

with broad stripes and bright stars

road lunch in the south.

delicious!

fire island

it was hot and it was saturday, so we opted to head to fire island where eddie's family has a house. fire island is only an hour away from the city, and there are no cars on the island. the whole island is about 500 yards wide, and you get to your house by boardwalk. it is awesome!





this is my favorite picture of eddie and lauren. thanks guys!

i never sleep, sleep is the cousin of death

we took a ferry from connecticut to long island and drove into manhattan. (it should be noted that where a ferry can be taken, we have done so.) what can you say about new york? you can say that it is fiercely busy and fun and beautiful and full of people that we love and art and music and bankers and parks. the best part being the people that we love.

justin, new transplant.
natural history museum. if i were a kid in nyc, i would have lived here.

the displays are perfect. and as a side note, jess' great grandparents were commissioned to hunt most of the african mammals displayed.



alec, in his office!



and edward cooper. edward cooper!!!!

jammy's house

since you all know my family, you know that there are a lot of us, and if there is anything going on, we are all there. (on a side note this is the best of my family: unfailing, stubborn, predictable love and affection for each other. truly, it is the best thing about us.) one of the excellent perks of having my brother marry into the davison family is that by proxy i gain a whole new family. being surrounded by family in boothbay was so wonderful. we got to spend quality time with tyler's new parents, getting to hear fun jess stories, be part of the sunday burger tradition. and in true familial style, as we were packing our stuff up, nan and chip insisted that we go stay with jammy in connecticut. jammy is the davison matriarch, and jess has told us a million amazing jammy stories. a call was made and we headed south!

jammy, (i cannot believe i didn't take a picture of her!! shame on me!!), who is in her 80s, greeted us at the driveway: "should we go hiking or kayaking? kayaking, great lets go!" she has a working farm, 400 acres that juts up on a nature preserve, with untold amounts of waterways. there is a little lake that jess' grandfather made, jammy took us swimming, we attempted to catch frogs, we grilled fish. it is so easy to imagine being a little kid, going to spend a week and grandma's house, what unbelievable fun would come? nan told us a story about how kate (jess' older sister) wrote an account of her summer vacation with jammy for school when she was young, and the teacher called nan up with concern that kate had made it all up.

we had some quick and unbelievable fun here.
and by some good fortune, these davisons are going to be my family too.
isn't that just magic?