July vacation, part 2

If I'm careful, I can spread out the photos from last week's visit and get three blog posts for minimal effort. My niece had done a report last year in school on Arlington National Cemetery, so that was on our can't-miss list. Of course, it's summer in DC, so after about two hours in the heat and humidity we were wilting. Arlington National Cemetery is is weird place for a pacifist to visit. It's like an atheist visiting a cathedral - a chance to learn about a belief system different than my own. At times like this, I'm always happy to have been an exchange student, because that's where I gained the valuable skill of learning about other people's beliefs and cultures without needing to align them with mine.

Remember the ice cream party? A party's not a party without a piñata. We didn't have a good place to hang it, so my brother held it suspended. The problem with this method is that my brother is a stinker, and it is likely he lifted it out of the reach of some people when they were swinging.

My sister-in-law and brother are always the ones behind the camera, so right before they left I asked them to pose for me. I thought this was an awfully nice picture of them. I feel pretty lucky that I not only like my brother, I like the woman he chose to marry. 

After their visit, I reflected on what a tolerant family I have. I have a one-bedroom apartment, and all four of them stayed in my small space. I don't have a lot of extra stuff, so when we went to the beach, we all used bath towels because I only own one beach towel. Then, when we returned home, it took two days for the bath towels to dry (because I don't own a dryer and it won't stop raining). In the meantime, there were only hand towels available. As you can see, my house isn't exactly a four-star resort, and yet there was nary a complaint.