This ended the work portion of my summer, such as it was, and so we set off the next day for Potomac, Maryland to see the new babies. We stopped at Champps in Columbia (because we liked the way it was spelled) and Suzanne Jane and Ben were there but there were retakes of Suzanne first with an interlude of me and then Suzanne again the then of Ben before we all were served out burgers of various sorts. We stopped at L L Bean in that mall and Suzanne tried on a hat and thought better. I tried on this hat and made it my beach wear, for better or worse.

Our next stop was at Betsy's house where we were greeted by Emma and Jack as Ben and Jane posed with Betsy and Emma and Jack did and showed us many aspects of their lives

before we went upstairs to see the new ones and for reference, Suzanne is holding Tess and !! is holding Kate which is the guide for the rest of the pictures. as we played pass the babies though Suzanne seemed to have the lion's share of holds even when Jane joined

and then Suzanne and Betsy held a baby apiece as Jack and Emma came in to see their siblings and a play period evolved

before we went outside to see Emma ride her bike and Jack get ready to ride his as Ben was shielded from the sun and the double stroller was assembled for the babies walk through the neighborhood in the sweltering heat.

Back from the walk, books were read to Emma and Jack

cheese and crackers were served and as the book reading died down everyone admired the little ones as they did the things that babies do including putting things in their mouths crawling and bouncing around

playing with remote controls and navigating the territory

before Emma returned and posed with Jane as Jack played to be joined by his sister and then Jack posed with Tess and then Emma, Tess and Jack posed before we left to head to our hotel where we met Syl and Larry and eventually headed to dinner where Jane and Larry sat together as did Suzanne and Betsy and Syl, me and Ben