Andrew and Rita came up from the Cape to spend the weekend of July fourth with us. We had a cookout on Friday night and Mom, Amy, Joe and Justin joined us. Andrew and Justin were fast friends and it was fun for the rest of us to watch Justin run around the house saying “Andy coming” which is his way of saying ‘come on.’ For the rest of the weekend Andrew and Aaron played video games, watched movies and ran a few errands while Rita and I kept busy in the garden. It’s nice for us to finally have a place where people can come and stay comfortably. On Monday, before Rita and Andrew headed back, we had sundaes at Putnam Pantry, a local candy and ice cream parlor that features a smorgasbord sundae bar. The above picture of Aaron and Andrew enjoying (?) their ice cream was taken there. Click on the photo to see the album from the weekend.

So this is just a small collection of photos of Justin from June, highlighting some of my nephew’s current fancies: (1) School buses, (2) His remarkably real toy kitchen and (3) STOP signs. Although he has many stop sign related toys, his favorite seems to be the one pictured above that he treats like a friend. He gives it sips of water out of his sippy cup, he holds it up so that it can look out the window with him, he introduces it to his other toys – it’s pretty damn cute…not that I am biased or anything :)

If Aaron needed any further confirmation that the house we bought last fall is the right place for us, he got it in June when a Chipotle, Aaron’s favorite chain restaurant, opened less than 3 miles, and less than a 10 minute car ride, from our house. They don’t recognize him as a regular yet, but I think they will soon. And I’ll even admit that the food is pretty good.

Back in the beginning of June, we traveled to DC to celebrate Andrew’s Bar Mitzvah and his 13th birthday. It’s hard to believe that Andrew who wasn’t even a year old when I moved to DC right after college, is now 13 years old. We had a busy weekend with lots of celebrating, eating and family all around. Andrew wrote and read an insightful and moving speech – that was both inspiring and clearly personal. We’re both proud of Andrew and can’t wait to see what he accomplishes next.