We've been in our place in Alexandria, VA for about three weeks now, and are still getting to know the surroundings. We really enjoy "Old Town Alexandria", which is a pleasant walk from our place, and centered around King Street. All along this street, until it ends at the Potomac River waterfront, are shops and restaurants which we still have not yet explored fully. One block of King St. is almost fully occupied by stores with some sort of French connection - furniture, clothing, food. And speaking of food, we've been really pleased with what we've found in the neighborhood so far. We are still eating most of our meals at home, but it's nice to know that we have such a good variety of places nearby.

Tasman's been getting used to his new digs as well. The house has a small backyard, and yesterday we set up a little inflatable pool for him to splash in. There's also a sandbox and small play structure back there, so he's always wanting to go to the backyard, and it's hard to get him in from there. Today we took a trip to a demonstration farm about 45 minutes away, and Tasman really loved seeing all the animals.

Crystal's pregnancy is now starting to show a bit more now, and though she still has a fair bit of energy, things are getting a little more uncomfortable for her. She putting a lot of time and energy lately into researching child care options for the time around the birth; so she can have a breather from toddler demands, but also so that she can take advantage of other opportunities that are available to her, such as taking Bengali language lessons to prepare for our time in Dhaka.

Adham's training is now on Consular work - this includes aiding Americans overseas who need help, and working on visa applications from foreigners wishing to visit the US. There are a lot of law and regulations to learn and understand, but it's also very interesting in a human sense, when the instructors start to tell stories from their overseas assignments. One interesting coincidence has already come to light: when Adham was born in Cairo, his birth certificate was issued by the US Embassy there, and signed by a consular officer as part of the standard operating procedures. Well, it turns out that although this officer has since retired, he is currently back working for the State Department in DC on a contractual basis, so hopefully he and Adham will get together soon and share stories of Cairo circa 1961!