Luau

The YSA had their annual Luau on July 9th and know what was the best part ever!? Valory and Julie were both visiting and were able to go with me.

we ate some food

played some badminton

Valory and Julie did some dancing...

they are hard to keep under control sometimes

Emma joined up in posing for the camera - I love the crazy things I can make people do for a camera...

Sittin' the dock of the bay...

this was my I'm playing with my camera and Emma is a willing subject.  She's so cute

I love spending time with Valory and Jules and other friends!

Mount Vernon

My most wonderful college roommates came to visit.  Being the tourists we are we went to Mount Vernon

Either due to the time of day (8::30 am) or the time of year (the Monday before the 4th of July) there wasn't a line in sight, but we pretended to wait anyway

After our tour of the house we enjoyed some time on the back porch overlooking the Potomac

A posed with the house...

people don't often get me on the other side of the camera so when they do I go a little crazy...

we then wandered around the grounds...to the Potomac

and through the woods

we got very thirsty along the way....

It was good times for everyone!

June - Sailing Trip

Annual RS Sailing Trip

We met great friends

we went crabbing

even managed to catch some...

then out on the boat

jumping off and swim around

and then we played on the rope swing

SO much fun!

Sticking out the tongue helps you concentrate

a wet Amy

go Mel, go Mel!

All the girls - look my tongue is sticking out again...

we're so beautiful!

Thank you Bishop Mason and friends for taking us out to play on the water!

Photo Recap

I'm a slacker.  And in an attempt to set things right I'm going to several photo recaps of the events of the last almost 6 months since I posted last.  Hope you enjoy them!

Roommates, roommates, never been such devoted roommates...

This summer my visitors came in twos :)

My college roomates Valory and Julie came to visit!

Valory came out for a conference for work and stayed some extra time to spend time with me.  She was here for the 4th of July (as noted in previous posts) and then was joined by Julie (stateside for a few months from teaching English in Russia for the last few years.) on July 7th.

We had SO much fun together :).  I miss those girls.  I had forgotten how well we get a long and how much they bring out the silliness in me (dancing in the kitchen for example)

I had a great time playing tourist with them. A luau, visiting Mount Vernon, Old Town, etc.  Posts to come.

Photography Class

Jess and I are taking a photography class through Fairfax Country rec center.  The teacher's teaching style dosen't really match my learning style, but I'm still learning and taking pictures of things and in ways I wouldn't normally. 

Here a few of my favorite shots from our Shutter Speed assignment we had over the Fourth of July weekend



 and from our first

assignment on aperture.

More pictures to come :)

F/A-18 Hornet

(this post is provided by Ghost Writer Mel)

The F/A-18 Hornet has been used by Navy & Marine pilots since 1983.

It can serve both as an air-to-air fighter and as an air-to-ground striker on the same mission.

The F/A-18’s typical assignments include suppression of enemy air defense, fighter escort, reconnaissance, close air support, forward air control, and day & night strike missions.

It is a twin-engine aircraft.

The Hornet has a 20-mm gun mounted inside its nose & can carry up to 13,700 lbs of external ordnance. This ordnance tends to come in the form of 2 Sidewinders combined with other air-to-air or air-to-ground weapons depending on its mission.

There are 2 models of the F/A-18. The C model has just 1 seat for the pilot while the D model seats both a pilot and a WSO (weapons/sensor officer).

We were lucky enough to have a demonstration of the F/A-18 before seeing in participate in the Navy Heritage Flight. It is an aircraft that has served America well over the last (almost) 30 years and has seen combat around the world.