On the Mall with Nate

To keep Nate hopping, Cote secured tickets to tour the Washington Monument. Lily was a bit under the weather - so Alex, Nate, and Joe hit the Mall.



Viewing the Lincoln Memorial from the Washington Monument.



Alex at the base of the Washington Monument.



Statue of Washington at the base of the monument as you enter the elevator.



View from the top - the murky color is due to the windows at the top.

Great view looking into Arlington National Cemetery.

The Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Monument.

Capitol Hill view.

The small museum at the top.

View from afar.

On to the Jefferson Memorial, whether the kids wanted to or not.

His enthusiasm is overflowing.

They almost look dejected. It was a rather hot & humid day.

Alex takes some pictures of me.

On to the Natural History Museum.

Nate by some cool bones.

Chomp, chomp.

Nate and Alex were enthralled by the gems and stones. Go figure.

Glassy cheese.

Meteor-head.

What is must have felt like to be the prey.

Nate was reading the passages to Alex.

He is kinda cute.

Group shot.

I wonder if anyone took their pictures with Dumb Dumb before the Ben Stiller movie?

Genuine enthusiasm.

Udvar Hazy with Nate

What cousin trip to NoVA would be complete without visiting the Air & Space.



Nate gets some attention by the SR-71 Blackbird.



A forced pose, but pretty.



Big nozzle = big blast.



Alex gets her turn.

The group shot.

Six Flags

When cousin Nate joined us in August for a few days, we hit Six Flags in MD for some play time. The water park area was a big hit with the kids.



Alex braves the big water slide.



Lily looks exhausted by the heat. Must be time to hit the water.



Super Alex.



Lily finds her happy place.

Dad and Lily head into the deep.

Alex loses the training wheels

Alex decided the time had come for to lose the training wheels and ride like the big girls. Perhaps it was the safety camp earlier in the summer where the older kids rode free - or possibly the neighborhood girls riding around with reckless abandon. Whatever the source of motivation, it was powerful as Alex nailed her first attempt and never looked back. And so Alex proudly joined the growing ranks of the neighborhood "biker" gang.



Dad releases the grip and watches his little girl grow up before his very eyes.



Gaining a full head of steam.



No stopping her now.



Felipe busts out his ride.

See the video of Alex taking off on her own.

Baltimore Weekend

In early August, we hit Baltimore for the weekend and a Red Sox game. While Camden Yards is quite nice, it still lacks the character of Fenway - even if it does provide for their second home venue (based on the crowd support). Ry-Ry came up with us early to play tourist and the rest of the Yates joined us for the game.



Alex & Ry-Ry by the fountain across from the Inner Harbor.



Cooling of the feet.

Now that is wacky.

They can appear so sweet.

We toured the USS Constellation (the rebuilt Constellation, not the original) in the Inner Harbor.

Pose pretty.

A nice, crisp salute from Ryan - Alex on the other hand...

Group shot.

Great view with the Aquarium in the background.

Ry-Ry wanted a picture all to himself.

Game time with our Monstah.

Happy Ryan.