It's now about four months since we arrived in the Washington, DC area, and it finally feels like we're getting to know one little bit of it and settling into some sort of rhythm. We're still really enjoying life in Alexandria, and fortunately the more moderate summertime temperatures we've had lately have meant that we've taken a number of wonderful evening walks with Tasman through the streets of Old Town.

Adham finished his Consular training, and now moves on to an interesting couple of months before beginning to focus on training for his assignment in Bangladesh. A bit of background: the State Department aims to set up new FSO's with experienced officers who volunteer to act as mentors, so Adham was set up with a gentleman who is currently working in DC with the department's office of environmental and science issues. This office happens to have a current project in the works called "Two Bays, One World", which will bring together schoolkids from the DC area with those from Bangladesh to look at the similarities and differences between Chesapeake Bay and the Bay of Bengal. This project happens to need an extra hand on board to get it up and running in time for the fall semester, so Adham is happy to be doing that off and on for the next couple months. Also sprinkled into the next couple months is additional short-term training, on topics such as diversity issues and basics of public diplomacy. Never a dull moment!

We're also involved in getting Tasman set for some sort of regular pre-school like activity come the fall, and believe we have found a program that he can do at least a few half-days per week. We didn't realize that pretty much all of the more full-time pre-school programs required applications way back in February - before we had even arrived in DC! Now we're languishing on a number of waiting lists, so we'll see if something comes up by September. If not, then he at least has something to do with other kids on a regular basis that he should enjoy.

We're planning a couple short trips over the summer, from a trip back to California to attend Suzanne and Steve's wedding, to weekend trips to we hope to make to Chicago (Crystal's parents' old home town) and Cleveland (where a former SIT friend and workmate will be getting married). Of course we have to get these plane trips out of the way before Crystal reaches the point in the pregnancy when the airlines will no longer board her. Not that we want to push it; it's hard enough finding a good OB/GYN in Washington DC - it would probably be impossible on an airplane!