The Phillies

The weekend after Richard and Avril's visit, Chris and I made the 2 hour journey along the I-95 to Philadelphia to watch a Phillies game.  They were playing the Tampa Bay Rays and although we're not fans of either team we were interested to visit the ball park and were hoping for a good game.  We were not disappointed by the game - the Phillies won 7-6 with a walk off home run.

Powells do DC (and NY!)

At the beginning of June we were very excited to welcome our friends Richard and Avril from the UK.  We were lucky that the first full day of their visit coincided with the Jubilee bank holiday so we were able to spend the day together doing some touristy things.  We started the day at Arlington Cemetery before heading downtown to the the Washington monument, White House and American History Museum.

In the evening we headed to a Nats game, it was Richard and Avril's first baseball game.

After a couple of days with us in DC, Richard and Avril headed up to New York for a few days on their own before Chris and I went to join them over the weekend.

We spent Saturday morning wondering around the city then in the afternoon we went to the Guggenheim Museum.  It was the first time that we had been and we all really enjoyed it.

On Sunday morning after breakfast at our favourite diner we visited the aircraft carrier Intrepid which is located on the Hudson river.  The week before they had delivered the Space Shuttle Enterprise to it's new home on the carrier.  They're going to take a few months before you can actually get up close to the shuttle but we could see it from the side of the river.

We went on board both Intrepid and the submarine USS Growler, both were really good fun despite being busy.  Before we headed back to DC we introduced Richard and Avril to one of the best cupcake shops - Crumbs.

Our guests spent their second week back with us in DC.  Unfortunately I had to work all week but Chris managed to take a few days off to act as tour guide.  

We decided to go over to Baltimore to watch another baseball one evening.  Before the game we went for a quick look at the harbour and found that there was a festival on and lots of visiting naval ships from different countries.  Avril and I went on the ship from Mexico and had some very handsome naval officers welcome us aboard!

Diamond Jubilee

With so many people in the UK throwing street parties to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee I decided that we should have our own celebration in DC.  Unfortuately a street party wasn't very practical so we settled for a party in our apartment.

I had been planning the party for a while, I even started collecting bits and pieces while back in the UK at Easter.  I made a few decorations and my lovely friend Katie even sent me over a parcel of jubilee goodies too!

I didn't take very many photos once the party started but managed to snap a few of the amazing food that our guests brought with them.

And even though it's not really in keeping with the British theme Chris insisted on the getting a keg much to the excitement of all the British guests!