Summer

So far, it has been a great summer. During our time in the UK we almost forgot what it was like to get sunburned and mummified by air-conditioning. It has been great catching up with old friends, grilling out, camping, hiking, and taking a break from our nomadic lifestyle for a bit.

In June, my aunt and uncle came from Philadelphia to visit. Micah and Molly came down from Wisconsin, and Ryan invited his girlfriend, Jasmyn, and we all went hiking for the day. Afterwards, we had some pretty cut-throat badminton at our house BBQ where Molly whooped Dad, but he doesn't like to talk about it.

The next weekend was my birthday so we went to a local street festival where there were several different bands and the restaurants had set up food stalls in the streets.

We now have a car! This is a significant addage to our earthly possessions, so we've been like giddy new parents, spending plenty of car-bonding time tinkering with it (Ian's manly level is soaring these days) and washing it, and I regret to say that I think we may have even named it. Don't really know how that happened as I've always been fairly anti-car-naming. Anyhow, we've been putting our new purchase to good use by taking road trips. We've been to Chicago a few times since we've been back and last weekend we went up to Wisconsin to go camping with Micah and Molly. In Wisconsin, Ian got to try some new kinds of root beer (he's on a quest this summer to find the best root beer in America) and Ryan made a new friend.

Also last week for the 4th (Ian's first and my first in about five years) we were good Americans and got in a good game of tennis before grilling out and going to see the fireworks. Ian, Ryan, and I made this killer Italian ice cream-like dessert with pistachios, raspberries, and chocolate. Yum.