Local time, 9.15pm

Well, back to normal, more or less, tomorrow. Dad and Nancy went back Sunday - a short visit, but nice to see them, even for a little while. Steve goes back home tomorrow morning, much to the delight of his fiance, Christine, who really missed him this week - perhaps more than she expected to. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to join us, as she couldn't get the time off. So I've yet to meet her. Not that I don't trust my brother's judgement, I'm just curious...

Anyway, tomorrow should be a nice relaxing day - nothing much planned other than taking Steve to the airport. We've been doing a lot of shopping (Dad & Nancy wanted to buy the kids some gifts, and then today we went to a mall as we needed something indoors to do), which gets tiring after a while, especially for the kids. They've been very good but it's a bit boring for them.

One thing we did that was fun & different is we visited the Patuxent Wildlife Reserve Visitor Centre & took a tram ride around to look at the wildlife. Didn't see a huge amount, but it was still interesting, and made a nice change from all the indoor activities we've been doing. Normally, I'd feel compelled to complain about the heat here, but frankly, not only has it not really been as hot as expected (only in the 80s), but if we were home in England, it would be insanely hot, so I don't feel I can really get away with it at the moment. It's a bizarre thing, having it be hotter there than here. I'm glad we're here, though, as I think the kids would find it really hard to sleep in that kind of heat, without the air conditioning. Not to mention their mum.