Jordan and Robin's Engagement Party

Recently, we went to NJ for our friends Jordan and Robin's engagement party.  We stayed with Robin's parents and got to meet her childhood friends, which was great, and I got my first ride ever in a limo.

Before we went, we met my cousin Sixtine and her friend at Union Station for a coffee.  She's on an exchange program at UNC Chapel Hill from France and was in DC for the weekend.  It's too bad we were out of town, but great to see her even for a short while.

30th Birthday

For my 30th birthday, Sohail organized a picnic at the foot of the Key Bridge with our DC friends.  Almost everyone made it and we had wonderful weather after a week's worth of rain.  It was great seeing everyone, including Caleb, the newest and smallest addition to our group of friends.

France

We spent the last two weeks of August in France visiting (or in Sohail's case) meeting family. I'm always so happy when I'm with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and, now, little cousins. And even if Sohail's head was ready to explode from French overload, I think he too had a nice trip.

Family reunion at my uncle Bernard's house

For August 15th (holiday) my cousins organized a fireworks display for the kids.

Here they are all lined up and waiting for the action.

Then we went sailing on my grandfather's old boat that now belongs to my uncle.

This is where I learned to sail!

Exploring ile de Houat - the island to which we sailed - with my cousin Nicolas.

Sohail and two of my cousins went swimming. When I saw their faces after jumping in, I decided to stay on board. Apparently the water was freezing!

Sailing back with my uncles and aunt.

One day we randomly ran into this couple I met when I was living in Argentina. I knew their family vacationed in the same town as mine, but had no clue they'd be there at the same time. It was great catching up with them.

Then we were on to Brigitte's house for more cousins...

And Sohail's first real crepe!

Walking to Carnac plage

With Amandine at the ice cream shop we used to go to as kids. Soon Amandine will have a kid of her own who can eat this ice cream.

Antoine and his family took us to another island were, yet again, my cousins went swimming and I opted for the dry option -- biking.

Crepes at the Pressoir, where we would go as kids.

The rock formations left year (lots of them) ago. We used to play on these after dinner as kids.

Then we went to l'ile d'yeu to visit Francoise and her family.

These fishermen sell fresh fish off the boat.

A new little cousin trying on Sohail's shoes.

One day we biked out to this old fort with Segolene.

Sohail and Gaspard celebrated their birthdays on the same day and on the same chair.

One night Baptist made this amazing Paella

And Sohail went windsurfing (or at least tried to...)

On the way back to Paris, we stopped in Nantes to visit Etienne and Sophie (who was also celebrating her birthday)

More crepes but in Versailles this time with different company

Home sweet home

Summer Recap

So much has happened since I last blogged. Here's a quick "greatest hits" of the past few months:

Daniel P was in town for a wedding and we visited the monuments.

In July, I was in London for work and I went a few days early to visit my cousin Delphine and two of her three boys (the other one and her husband were in France).

All of us at the National Gallery

Gaspard at home.

Nate and Nerys came over for dinner. There were lots of other people, but Nerys was the most photogenic, I guess.

Nerys loves olives!

My Maman came to visit and we went to a tennis match and the Textile museum.

Then we celebrated Sohail's birthday by reliving his youth. Barney and Nate joined in the fun.

A weekend away in the Shennadoah

Sohail and I wanted a weekend away, so we rented a cute little cabin near the Shennandoah forest.

Our cabin

The first night having shrimp and veggie kebabs

Inside the cabin

On Saturday we did a 9 mile hike that involved a lot of scrambling around rocks

Our view during the lunch break.

Squeezing my way through some rocks.

Scrambling down some others.

Sohail stopping this boulder for rolling away.

A crack in the mountain along our way.

More beautiful views!

An old shack on our way home from the hike.

A well deserved dinner about to go on the grill.

After dinner, we sat around the fire.

Sunday morning we explored the stream that runs by the cabin.

And took a drive past more beautiful farmland.

We had brunch at a place that serves mostly (or maybe only) local food.

The pancakes were delicious!

Then we headed to Luray caverns. The bottom half of this photo is a reflection of the ceiling in about an inch of water.

This is a wishing well and all the pennies have turned the rock around the water green.

We took Skyline drive home to enjoy a few more beautiful views before getting ready to go back to work tomorrow.