A Visit With Michael's Family

Michael's sister Paula and Terri left today to go back to Boston, capping the end of a two week stint of company. The house is oddly quiet today!

We had a great visit with Paula and Terri--it was their first time here since we'd moved. It was kind of tough moving from Acton, since although we never saw them, we were right down the street, and just knowing they were there was enough during the hard times.

We took them to all the most important Mike and Susan sights. We started off with dinner at Joe's Pizza in Fairfax, which they loved. Of course, George, the manager, was thrilled to see us, and they put on quite a spread.

Saturday, we took them all around Fredericksburg to see what was in our little town. Upon getting home, Terri and I spent the afternoon hashing out Princess Diana memorial talk and trolling Ebay for items we didn't have yet! We found several and although we lost 2 auctions, we got a couple awesome things off Amazon.com, including a CD of "Princess Diana: the Musical". I also got "Eating Royally"-a cookbook by Diana's personal chef. Since my new mixer arrived this weekend by some miracle/error in shipping, I intend to spend all next weekend creating recipes that Michael won't eat! :) The CD hasn't arrived yet, but I just know it's gonna be amazing. Paula and Michael spent the time watching the Red Sox.

Saturday night we drove them up to DC to see the FDR and WWII memorials at night. Anyone who has been to DC knows that night time is the time to come and see those two memorials in particular. We also took them down to see the Tidal Basin and the Capitol building. Paula said it was an experience she will never forget. It was a gorgeous night and definitely we couldn't have picked a better time to do it.

Sunday was relaxing. Paula wanted to do some yardwork for us, as it is one of her hobbies and she likes to be outside, so she did that. Terri spent the day relaxing. I did some grocery shopping and that night we cooked a bit and then watched the Princess Diana documentary on TLC, which I have to say was pretty well done, actually. I felt like it was mostly accurate.

Monday, I had to work and of course see Dog, so they were left to their own devices for a while. Tuesday they went to DC, and they took a picture of the Die Hard stuff at the Smithsonian for me! WOO HOO!! They had a lot of trouble with the VRE (Very Rarely Express) so I wound up driving them to Springfield that morning and then they took a train two trains later than planned back to F'burg. We were going to go to the Melting Pot for my birthday dinner, but it was getting late and so we decided to go to Melissa's recommended place in F'burg, J.Brien's. It was perfect--pretty empty and quiet!! We had a great dinner, and then headed out to watch the Dog special.

This morning they packed up and my person cancelled, so we all decided to have lunch together. They wanted to take me to the English tea shop for my birthday, which is what we did. We all had Victorian afternoon tea, which was to die for. Terri said she felt like she was back in England and Paula wanted to buy scones to take on the plane :) Finally, it was all over and sadly I had to take them up to Dulles. It was over much too quickly and didn't feel like they were here for 5 days. So hopefully they'll come back again!

It was a wonderful visit and they were great houseguests. I don't think we're due any company for a while, so we're just trying to relax now and take it easy. It's hard to believe it's all over... Come to think of it, where did the summer go!?

I'm off to read a book and fall asleep early. G'night!