William at the parade 

Olivia at the parade 

Nothing says "4th of July" like a parade. We discovered that going to the Oreland parade is better than halloween. You can collect a bag full of candy without moving an inch. 

My Nephew arrived in Philadelphia with hundreds of World Cup stickers and a couple books to paste them in. I started putting the duplicates on Mr. Cressman's head. 

Nothing makes me hungrier than a restaurant shaped like the food it serves. I think some day I'll open up a meatloaf restaurant with a similar theme. 

As a tourist in Philly, you need to answer one really tough question. Will you queue at Pat's Steaks, for the tradition and the glory, or will you go over to Geno's to enjoy your meal from the Microsoft of cheesesteaks. We chose Geno's this time and didn't regret it. 

Zhanar and I went to dinner at a place called XIX on the top floor of a fancy hotel in downtown philly. We went there because the guy next to us on the plane was raving about it, and bashing San Diego fine cuisine for being too lowbrow. Well, this place was no great shakes either. I still think 150 Grand in Escondido is pretty darn good. 

This isn't an ad for Country Time Lemonade. Really. It's just some kids having a little fun on a wagon. Actually, these kids were earning some money at the Auction by helping people tote the old junk that they bought out to their cars. 

Hey Ma check out my horse shoe! This little guy reminds me of Max Thoman when he was that age.  

We just happened to drive by an Amish auction while we were meandering around smaller roads of Lancaster County. Ok, this might be a menenite wagon, based on the sign in the window advertising "LED Tailligts, LED rear top braking lights..." These wagons are some real pieces of craftmanship, and new ones sell for around $ 6,000 USD. No kidding, these things are not cheap! 

Note to self - always review the photos that you ask a stranger to take... even if he seems to know what he is doing. Case in point. I didn't want to see dad at all in this pictue but you can definitely see him back there, peering out from behind my head.  

Zhanar was looking cute on the train, as usual. 

Riding the train... 

We took a day trip to ride the Strasburg Railroad when we went back to visit my parents in Philly.  

We took Dina for a picnic at Fort Washington State Park, and ate Hoagies from Rich's Deli. Good old Rich's. That place hasn't changed in 30 years. 

The moon, taken from my apartment window with a 200mm lens on the Canon Digital Rebel. Neal and I were experimenting with the lens. I was surprised at what we could get with such a simple setup. 

Check out this old guy. I wanted to chase him around and take a whole bunch more photos but I thought it would be rude. 

The old calligripher 

Old french truck at the beach side in Hoi An. We had a pleasant sunday drive one night, out to the beach and back. 

Easy rider and her old man. 

Driving down some of the alleys in Hoi An, I was glad I didn't rent a chopper with big handlebars. 

The ICE Man Cometh, bring refreshment and much needed coolness to all of Hoi An. I could hardly believe it, but it was hotter than Singapore. 

We visited the ruins at My Son outside of Hoi An. It was unbelievably hot, even we got there as late in the day as possible. The ruins were interesting - mostly made of red bricks. I guess humans have been using red bricks for a lot longer than I thought. 

At the doorway of Kali Silk store in Hoi An. We spent many hours there, making, re-making and re-re-re-re-making Zhanar's dresses. I think that they're not accustomed to such exacing requirements. But the stuff looks great now. 

It was super hot in Hoi An. We rigged up Dina's buggy with an extra sun-shade and a battery powered fan. She thought it was "Phat". If only we could have put on a big subwoffer, ground effects and lowered it down a bit.