sports weekend

We head a lot of fun last weekend catching up on American sports. Friday night we helped our friends Kelly and Stu celebrate Stu's birthday by taking him to his first professional football game-- Redskins vs. the Patriots. Stu is a Patriot's fan so we were happy they won. Friday we switched to baseball and drove to Baltimore to see the Indians play. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating and there was a long rain delay, so we ended up leaving in the 7th inning. But, we got to see the Indian's hit two home runs, and they ultimately won the game. Sunday David played 1st base for the community softball team.


Tuesday we enjoyed dinner with our friends Diana and Matt at an English pub downtown. Christy had another doctor's appointment on Thursday--every week now. Baby Machak is head down and ready to go, but no dilation yet. Christy has 6 more days of ConGen training, so that is a good thing!

Here are some pictures:


Redskins game--it was a really hot DC-in-August evening, and a long walk from the train station to the Stadium, but it was worth it!

We have the stroller out and ready to go-- Moe doesn't want to get left behind!

At the Indians-Orioles game Saturday night. Club seats were a good choice-- especially given the rain that night!

DC Community Softball-- with the Washington Monument in the backdrop




David and I are looking forward to our last weekend get-away with just the two of us over Labor Day. We aren't headed very far, but plan to enjoy Saturday at a near by beach and then spend the night in Baltimore and enjoy the aquarium and the waterfront on Sunday. We'll be within an hour of DC so if we get any indication baby wants to come early we'll just head back home and off to Sibley.

Concert at Wolf Trap and Preparing for Baby

This past weekend we got to enjoy D.C. together. This meant more shopping, a concert at Wolf Trap, brunch with friends from Christy's A-100 class at the State Department, and softball.


Wolf Trap is the only National Park dedicated to the performing arts. The venue we were in, the Filene center, has seats up close to the stage but then has a huge lawn ampitheater. So we got lawn seats and packed a small picnic. We were lucky with the weather--sunny and not too hot or buggy. The Four Tops and the Temptations put on a great show.

We've been trying to do a little something every day to get ready for baby. Earlier this week it was putting drawer liners in the dresser we are temporarily using and putting all the baby clothes away. Moe loves to get into everything... leave an empty drawer open for one minute and he's there.

We also set up the portable crib, and the first thing Moe tried to do was jump inside. We explained to him that this is not allowed, and tried to cover the crib with a drape to prevent him from getting inside. Clearly Moe did not get the memo.

our more successful solution was to buy a cover for the crib specifically designed to keep out inquiring kitty cats (and once we're in Trinidad, it will work to keep out other bugs, insects, lizards, etc as well as work as a cabana on the beach).

Sunday we were back to softball--picking up on the same team we used to play for a couple of years ago. David sported some Berlin love with his Buckaroos team shirt.

Moe also likes the computer lap test

We love seeing all our DC friends and feel like we are finally getting settled. There is a lot to do to get ready for baby, though-- including birth class, baby care class, and a tour of the hospital coming up soon. Christy is now learning about non-immigrant visas in class--this is what she'll actually be doing at least the first year in Port of Spain.

New toys and settling in

We've been busy trying to get settled in our new place in Arlington. Our UAB (air freight) got delivered on Wednesday so that is a big help, and David will be headed to our permanent storage location to pull a few things out on Tuesday. Comcast comes on Tuesday too so soon we will have cable and reliable internet.

Christy's training is going well. We already had our first test on Passports and Nationality which went fine. Next week is immigrant visas (IV in State Dept jargon). David and I are enjoying connecting with friends in the DC area whom we haven't seen in a few years, both friends who live in the Washington area and also other State Department friends who are also passing through FSI for training. We were particularly excited to see our friends Debbie and Marcos and meet their adorable baby Lucas. We visited them when they were posted in Vienna and they will be heading out to their next post this week, so we were glad we got to overlap briefly.

Our big news is that we bought a car! It's a GMC Envoy. Plenty of room for baby strollers and luggage, and 4 wheel drive for when we get outside the city in Trinidad. Pictures are below. Moe got a new toy as well--a big cat tree, which he loves. He sits on the top level and looks out over the balcony at our view of the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the Jefferson Memorial.

The Puerto Rican dice are on the mirror!

View from our balcony. The building with the white fence on the roof is our old apartment building where we lived 2 years ago.

The real view from our balcony. The Capitol is a little hard to see but it's right behind the Washington Monument.

Big yawn. You can see where the diplocat likes to nap.

Moe is king of the castle.

This weekend David is off to Chicago and Christy will be doing some baby shopping with friend and new mommy Kelly.

Good bye Berlin, Hello Arlington

It was sad to leave Berlin, but as far as good byes go it was pretty nice. Christy was able to finish up things at work and complete her check out on Friday, so on Monday we were able to go to all three office buildings, say our good byes, and just wrap up a few small details. And the best part is, we sold the car at 3:30 that afternoon! Although the last weekend was rainy, Monday was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed lunch with friends at Bollywood. (We had our last burrito at Dolores over the weekend). Monday night we had a small goodbye party at the Lir--one last fish and chips. Below are the pics. We will really miss the great friends we made in Berlin.

and the Moe cat, enjoying the welcome kit sheets a lot more than we did.

So, we had a safe flight to DC. No delays, no turbulence. David was a really sweet husband and had Christy upgrade to business class so she would be more comfortable, even though David had to stay in economy with Moe (no cats business class, not even diplocats). It was still a long flight but the foot rest and leg room helped a lot. We had a good Dr.'s appointment this morning, no problems, and got new cell phones (email us for the number). Now we are waiting for our rental furniture to arrive. We were hoping to have our unaccompanied air baggage delivered today as well but that's not going to happen, so it will probably still be a week or two before we're fully settled. Tomorrow Christy starts Consular training. This weekend David will head to Ohio to collect Baby Machak's stuff and to go car shopping.

The diplo-cat hams it up and packing out

The diplo-cat has been super cute lately and since this is his blog afterall, we thought we'd share. Oh, and the movers came and packed up all our stuff. Hopefully we'll see it again in January. Last weekend we won our softball game. David played really well-- 2 home runs, a double, and a game-winning double play on defense. Last night we attended our last Marine House party--the Michael Jackson tribute party. This weekend we are off to softball again this afternoon, dinner at friend's homes tonight and tomorrow, and home-made icecream at another friend's house tomorrow afternoon. Plus hopefully stopping by to see the newest member of the embassy community-- our friend Stephanie gave birth to a healthy baby girl last week!


the welcome kit blanket fell off the end of the bed--making a convenient place for the Moe cat to curl up!

David cleaning up during poker at the Marine House

belly pic-- two months to go. I'm starting to feel pretty huge.

we bought the movers donuts--hopefully it worked and they did a good job packing all of our stuff

empty apartment and lots of boxes

packout day was a little chaotic

we kept Moe the guestroom with everything we didn't want to get packed. He curled up on the couch and we found him lying there with a pile of clothes on top of him.... strange cat

watching Christy on the computer

pre-packout, just hanging out

a typical flop--always wants a belly rub

4th of July, softball, and Sara and Cam's visit

It was another fun and busy weekend for the Machaks. David traveled to Landesburg with some friends for a softball tournament, camping out at the field. They came home the champions, 7-0. The team gave David the trophy since it was his last tournament.

Christy had to work on her day off, getting the decorations for Friday night's Independence Day event. It was held at the American Academy in Berlin, which is on the Wannsee, one of Berlin's larger lakes. Friday night she attended the event. Saturday it was cleaning and laundry then off to the softball fields to support our Berlin softball team, the Buckaroos. Saturday evening Sara and Cam got back from Prague so Christy introduced them to the Lir. Sunday we went to Schloss Charlottenburg then had a picnic in the Tiergarten. All summer Berlin hosts jazz performances at the English Garten, which is in the Tiergarten. We got to use our picnic set!

Sara and Cam are on their way back to DC and we are busy getting ready for our UAB packout Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately Christy has come down with her first cold/sore throat of the pregnancy, so that is no fun.

Christy had the camera all weekend so unforunately we don't have pictures of David's softball tournament, but here's what we do have:



getting set up for the 4th of July event Friday afternoon

the buddy bear, once banished, is out on display again

the marine color guard

hanging out enjoying the event with Christina and Mickie

we had a pretty sunset over the lake

the navy band

fireworks!!!

more fireworks

The diplo-cat hanging out on his scratching post--he likes it a lot better since we moved it across from the couch, so he can sit on it and watch us.

the Buckaroos fan club

Go Team!

Pregnant chicks!

Schloss Charlottenburg

Sara and Christy

Sara and Cam

view a bit farther back, from the bridge

our picnic!