Friday, September 02, 2011

It's September already!

PCS time (Permanent Change of Station) is always a "fun" time of the year. I can't believe that it's September already! Where did August go? We are into our second day of unpacking in our new home and are taking it all in our stride. I have been rather tired these past few days and Zev has been awesome in moving boxes and setting up the (many) shelve units and tables etc which got dismantled by the German movers. There are always plenty of "war stories" during a military move (because we move so often) but let's just say that the big ones for us are that a box of our clothes got soaked (and mouldy) and that the table top on our dining room table is now in two pieces (that broke on the German end). The main thing is that all this stuff is really just that- stuff. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things and we just need to be patient as the military reimburses us or fixes our stuff.
We were very fortunuate in being able to visit Zev's family and friends in upstate NY after we left Germany and then spend some time in northern Virginia (just outside of Washington DC) at the end of our trip. Our time in NY involved a lot of visiting with family including an Italian dinner with Zev's grandma Anna; going to a baseball game with Zev's parents and his uncle Joe; going to Ithaca and out on the lake with Zev's best friend, Mike and his wife, Deanna; visiting the waterfalls in Ithaca and just hanging out.
Here are some pictures of our Italian lunch/ dinner at Grandma Anna's. She is 97 and still looking good! She also has a great sense of humour!
Aunt Barbara showing us her yummy tomato sause.
Zev's beautiful mum, Judy, with some fresh greens.
These cherry tomatoes were straight from Judy's incredible garden. She has so many veggies and greens; and they all taste delicious. These tomatoes were so sweet, they were like candy.
GOTTA have Italian Bread.
The star of the show surrounded by some of her favorite men.
Dinner time!
After our 12 days in upstate NY we then headed to DC and stayed with our old friends, TJ and Julia and their sweet baby boy, Alexander. We had to go to DC for me to do my annual refresher training for my business and took advantage of the opportunity to do some sight-seeing. I really liked DC and would like to return and visit the Smithsonian museums. Here we are in front of the White House.
Zev even took me out for some Japanese food during the lunchtime break in my course!
Zev visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum while I was in class.
Our last stop before heading home to Virginia was to catch up with my cousin, Lizette, who was here on temporary duty with the Department of Navy. She is an electrical engineer for the Navy and one of the smartest people I know! She is based out of California, so it was great to catch up with her on this side of the country!
We were so blessed to not have experienced any damage from Hurricane Irene. We have met our neighbors and are very happy that we are surrounded (once again!) with really friendly and outgoing neighbors. They have already brought us over homemade banana nut bread and homemade bread. Zev is running the Virginia Beach Half Marathon this weekend, so I will be sure to post pics!
Have a great weekend and God bless.
Zev and Fi xo

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