So three years ago (holy stink), we had a chance to visit two of our favorite people in the whole world down in Washington DC: cousin Ember and her husband Vishal.  And three years later to the day, we got to do it again!

Yep, we left last Friday after work, and drove the 4.5 hours to Bob and Leah’s house in northern NJ.  It was great to see them again, and hang out in their natural habitat.  Lucas has gotten so big, and I had a great time horsing around with him while we were there.  He’s a big fan of chocolate milk, so he’s got my vote as one of the coolest kids ever.  It was the first time we got to see the semi-new little one, Andy, a cutie by any standard.  We had fun playing Bible trivia, checking out Bob’s mancave, and enjoying a leisurely breakfast of bagels and taylor ham from the local deli.  Thanks to Bob and Leah for putting us up!  We left around 9:30am on Saturday, and after hitting some darn stinkin ridiculous happy traffic, we arrived at Ember and Vishal’s apartment in Alexandria, VA.

We got to spend some real, quality time with those two, who took us around to some of their favorite areas, like the walk around the pond by the Jefferson Memorial where cherry blossoms line the water.  Other highlights were the FDR Memorial, an open air market (where we found some unbelievable build-your-own crepes; nutella, banana, and cinnamon-sugar anyone?)  Iwo-Jima Memorial, a cookout along the river on Memorial Day, and of course, loads and loads of tennis.  Vishal and I must have played a good four or five hours during our visit.  We also had two nights of Settlers of Catan, mixed with ice cream both nights.  Oh baby, what a time.

They also cooked us fantastic food.  Angela and I are really enjoying enlarging our tastebud vocabulary, and we were not disappointed.  I wish I could remember all of what we had but let’s just say that we’re both excited to try adding those Indian recipies to our home menu.  Monday night, we were able to take them out to an Asian bistro that featured many types of Asian cuisine, including Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Indian.  Yeah, we’ll soon be walking dictionaries of world food.  Oh baby, so tasty.

Anyway, we had a truly enriching experience with them, as we always do.  Thanks to Ember and Vishal for such a fun time, and we can’t wait to see you both again in the fall!