Mami's in DC, Papi's in Charge!

I'm on the KIPP 5th grade trip to Washington, D.C., which is a lot of fun. Today we had the chance to meet with civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis, and because of the rain, we got to go into the Capitol and meet with him in the committee meeting room for the Ways and Means Committee, which he serves on! Pretty cool. Overall, the trip has been great, we've done the usual monuments and tourist sites like the Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, Arlington Cemetery, Air and Space Museum, Holocaust Museum . . . the list goes on. I'm really enjoying being with the kids and the other teachers, but I miss Wendy and Fer and Chris! And I would love to do a trip here with them -- the girls are so curious and interested in everything that I'm sure they would just love it. I think we'd be answering questions all day long every day and for weeks after. Maybe next Spring we can do a long weekend and get started -- there's just so much to see.

Chris is doing a great job back home. The menu has been a bit limited (it appears that dinner has consisted of popcorn and hotdogs for the last two nights!), but it sounds like the girls are happy and enjoying their time with him, and I can't ask for anything more than that. I've been able to speak to them every night and tell them I miss them and love them. Fer's response last night: "Me too." Wendy's: "I'm going to give the phone to Fer." Oh well!

I can't believe it's been more than 3 weeks since my last post. We have been busy! We have been up in Tivoli for several great weekends. Matt and Christine and Jack visited for a week in late May and we had a really fun family weekend with them and the rest of the Lankenau clan. Memorial Day weekend we were in Tivoli again, and the girls enjoyed swimming and spending time with Amy's son Henry and the twins, as well as with Gigi and Grandad -- they had their first overnight away from us that weekend and it went really well.

Unfortunately, the girls have become a bit camera-shy, so it's a little harder to get pictures these days. I do have a few to share . . .

First, Field Day! They were so excited for their first Field Day ever which was on May 21. Fer was on the red team and Wendy the blue. We spent quite some time the week before being sure they had their team shirts, new sneakers, sunblock, lunch planned and ready, etc. Finally, the big day!




We also went to a new hair salon, Kissed by the Sun, in Harlem. I had found it online and it turns out that several of Chris's colleagues at KIPP go there. First we went for a consult and she suggested a new product to help make cute ringlets for Fer. Then we went back for a full appointment for twists for Wendy. We then tried to go to the African hair braiding place for Fer, but they were really being sloppy and she was miserable at having her hair pulled, so we left and I did them myself -- yay Mami! Here are some pics of their 'dos.