HI ALL!! Well, my being able to attend Shawnna's baptism was a 'whirl-wind mini vacation' for me! Ed convinced me to go 'JetBlue', which actually was pretty nice. Their seats were wider and had better leg room than some of the bigger airlines. The only problem was we were a couple hours late getting off the ground, so made getting into Dulles Airport kind of late but Andy was there to pick me up and we got home around 10:00pm. It was so nice because the kids had stayed up and were waiting for me with lots of hugs and kisses when I walked in the door! Shawnna was a sweetheart, giving hugs and kisses right away, with little Drew not quite so sure at first - really took him most of the weekend to warm up to me, but that was okay!

Shawnna's baptism was at 10:00am, Saturday morning. Afterwards, we all piled in Andy's car and were off to Applebee's for some lunch. Then, Andy had picked up some FREE passes to the Auto Show in DC, so we parked at a local Metro Station, got on the Metro and were soon dropped off close by the DC Convention Center where the show was held. The kids love riding the Metro and it was fun to see them trying to 'surf' (standing while the train is going) like all the BIG KIDS!! It's always fun to 'people watch' when you take public transportation and these trips on the Metro were no exception - strange, weird and funny people were all around us!

The car show was HUGE!! and we only saw one floor. Fortunately, we just happened to pick the floor with the 'foreign cars,' which included the VW's, of course!! The kids are standing next to a famous celebrity - can you figure it out who it is? It's the 'talking German VW,' which was talking to any one and every one that would talk to it! Really a fun surprise, made me jump a couple of times when he would speak!! If you look closely, you can see the microphone in front by his hood!

Here I am next to my dream car - A CORVETTE!! Which will have to be in another life time!! And it's almost the color of my hair - heehee!!

Again, on the trip home on the Metro, there were some 'interesting' people, like the girls in the pictures below. The car we were in was getting filled up with each additional stop we made, but I had a seat next to me near the window that was empty. When these two young girls got onboard, they looked over my way, I could tell they were wondering about how to get to the empty seat, considering it was against the window. I moved over against the window and motioned for them to sit down, which one of them did with the other taking a spot on the other girl's lap. They were busy talking, checking their making, laughing, all those things girl's do!! But I couldn't get over the one girl's hairdo with the BIG BOW in front that reminded me of BamBam from the Flintstone's. Pretty soon, I'm looking over at Ninha and she's cracking up laughing hard, trying to hide herself behind Shawnna and pretending to talk with Andy about the camera while taking pics of the two girls. Of course, I'm starting to laugh at Ninha, whose laughing at the girls and it was so funny - a funny situation!! I had to finally look away because I knew I was going to really 'guffaw' which I do very loudly and that would be too rude!!

Isn't that a 'BamBam Bow'if you ever saw one!! All it needed was a bone wrapped up in it!!

Here I am turning my head so I won't keep laughing!

We rode the Metro to the end of the line, got the car and were off to Johnnie Rocket's for hamburgers and hotdogs and then, a movie next door 'Coraline,' which I thought was pretty weird (Tim Burton is always weird to me) but everyone enjoyed! We got home late, all of us exhausted but happy!

Sunday morning, Andy, I and the kids had breakfast at the Silver Diner. All that really bad-for-you breakfast comfort food - YUMMMMEEEE!! By the time we finished there, we came home and were able to spend a couple hours together working on Shawnna's 550 piece jigsaw puzzle. By the time I had to get ready to go, all of us had worked on the puzzle and had gotten the border and about a third of the inside completed and we had fun doing it - even little Drew helped!!

Here is Shawnna all dressed and ready for Church!

Then it was time for me to leave, trying to get my last hugs and kisses from everyone. They have Church late, so Andy and I drove towards Dulles - Ninha and the kids were off to Church!

Drew isn't upset I'm leaving, he's just not too happy about going to Church and he doesn't like the shirt he's having to wear! Already he's worrying about how he looks!!

Me trying to get a 'smooch' from Drew but he wasn't having any of it!

These last two pics were taken by Drew while Andy and I were getting my bags in the car and ready to leave.

All in all, I had a great time - too short, of course, but maybe that's the reason it was so good. You know what they say about 'fish and company' they both begin to stink after two days!

Love you all - Till next time,
Cassy / Grandma TaTa