Congrats to Mark and Amy

Congrats to my kid brother Mark and his new bride, Amy. They were married yesterday in Salt Lake City. We think they make a great couple and we welcome Amy to the family.

The Broadbents are headed to...

Manila, Philippines
Woo Hoo! We are all super excited. It will be almost exactly 10 years since I left the Philippines when we get back there in September.

Happy Birthday, Pete!

Happy Birthday from us all:

"Da. Da-Da." ~Lucy

"I love Dad. Dad works with me and plays with me and reads books with me. He's funny. He tickles me. I like when he is home." ~Love, Laird

"I like Dad because he is very fun! And he likes to read with me. Dad is very silly. He tells realy good jokes. Dad is my friend. I love my Dad." ~From your son, Jeffrey

I think 31 things about Pete are in order, but we are going to have a lot of posts this weekend. So here are 13 things you may or may not know about Pete:

• He has a very nice baritone/bass voice.
• He is very perceptive and honest. He says things like they are, and people love him for it.
• He would rather eat a meal at home than go out to eat. For multiple reasons.
  
• He is constantly thinking about how to make the world a better place. (Example: great ideas blog.)
  
• He makes up silly songs for his children.
  
• He is very competitive - at board games. He is usually the banker because he memorizes all the rates and rules quicker than everyone else.
• He does not like to watch the same movie twice, unless it was an amazing movie, and provided it has been a very long time since watching it. (See his review blog.)
  
• He enjoys cream pies as well as milk chocolate.
  
• He has a gift for choosing top-notch friends. It doesn't seem to matter where he lives, he can find them - and keep in touch with them when he moves.
  
• He thinks a 3-5 mile run is an easy day.
  
• He has a knack for buying and selling and seems to intuitively know the best time for each.
• He regularly scores over 350 in scrabble.
• He is a kind husband, a fantastic father and an entertaining friend.

Happy Birthday!

The sea was angry that day my friends

Well the big news of our first post will come in tomorrow, but in the meantime, I thought I would give our few faithful readers something to read.

Last Saturday we decided to go on our first excursion into the "District":


Overlooking the mall


Jeffrey at the George Mason Memorial


Sheralie and Lucy relaxing at the George Mason Memorial


Pete and Lucy at Jefferson Memorial

We took in the Lincoln, Vietnam, FDR, George Mason and Jefferson Memorials. And walked about 6 miles in the process.

In other news, the NBA ended its season with the Celtics winning their first title since the mid-80s.



It just goes to show that having three all-stars on one team is preferable to having only one. Everyone was just kind of waiting for the Celtics to win all year. I wonder why more all-stars don't decide to team up so they can actually have a winning team. Probably the egos are too big.



Tiger won the US Open at Torrey Pines (where we had our post-wedding luncheon) in thrilling fashion, but then announced he was having season-ending knee surgery. Interest in golf promptly fell 90%.



Super Jeff and his trusty sidekick, Loquacious Laird, are keen on superheros, thanks to Grandma Broadbent, who we will miss having in close proximity.


Jeffrey pays homage to his good friend Rebecca


No post would be complete without a new picture of our favorite little girl

Got-no-Green Lantern

The big news is that the Broadbents are back together again. It feels great to come home to a family again, and everyone is happy. It is like we are taking a summer-long vacation, except that I do have to work to finance this vacation.

So here we are at our new place. Jeffrey and his travel scooter will give us the tour:


It reminds us a little of our apartment back in Chicago.



It's actually pretty nice. Jeffrey rides around the parking lot.


More of Jeffrey on the sidewalk.

We have no pictures of the pool, which is unusual, since Sheralie and the boys are trying to hit it every weekday of the summer, which I think they can do. But I guess when you go to the pool, you have enough stuff to bring.

Also featured in northern Virginia are the Phil and Jen Broadbent family and their newest addition, Wade (pictured with Lucy):




The more nimble Lucy pins big-boy Wade down.


Uncle Phil, president of the East Coast Broadbent Society, and his nephews

More to come in Summer of Fun in DC 2008. Stay tuned.