National Zoo

We spent most (6+ hours) of today (Sunday) at the Smithsonian National Zoo - top pic. As was true in most cases, Linh & Long were fascinated by the animals, how well landscaped (lots of shading trees) the zoo was, and how clean & spacious the animal enclosures were! Again, Long took 100's of pics!
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National Monuments 1

Saturday we spent late afternoon/early evening visiting national monuments:
Top Pic = Lincoln Memorial
Bottom Pic = Long and Washington Monument.
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National Monuments 2

Top Pic = National Cathedral. Long was really interest in everything associated with Cathedral - especially the "Moon Rock" stained glass window!
Bottom Pic = Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Like most things in DC, Long was very interested in everything he saw here - spent 4+ hours looking at stuff - and - he took 100's of pics!
Fyi - US Capital was covered by scaffolding and no good pics were possible.
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Better Pic of Us @ Vietnamese Restaurant!

Above is a much better (than below) pic of us!
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County Fair & Olde Town Alexandria

I returned to Morgantown, WV yesterday and took Linh & Long to the Monongalia County Fair - their 1st such fair! Linh's and Long's favorites were the animals = rabbits, sheep, pigs & calves!
Top pic is Long doing the bare back bull ride!
Linh, Long and I drove to Olde Town Alexandria today. We will be here in DC until Monday. Bottom pic (l to r) are me, Long, Linh, Mike (Anita's brother from Buffalo, NY), Anita and Jeff @ Linh's favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Alexandria.
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Linh's New Beau & Church!?

I finally got to meet Linh's new "friend" = Thomas (Investigator, WV Department of Revenue) - top pic from l to r = me, Thomas, Linh, Long (Linh's 15 year old brother).
I also finally had a chance to go to Linh's favorite church (City Church). They always have a 5-piece band (bottom pic), lots of songs/music, short sermon with short, small-group discussions interspersed throughout the sermon. The congregation = 60+ and the service was very interactive and interesting!.
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Linh Awarded Tuition Waiver & Her Brother "Long"

For "meritorious student achievements" (graduate GPA = 3.88), WVU awarded Linh a 6-credit (= $7,000) tuition waiver for Fall 2015. To date Linh's WVU scholarships & grants have totaled almost $15,000! I am very proud of her!
Linh's brother, Long, arrived in the US on June 11th. He will be returning to Vietnam on August 8th.
Long spent his 1st week attending a 4H summer camp near Morgantown - he and 7 other teenage Vietnamese students were given "grants" to attend the 6-day camp located near Morgantown.
I visited him and Linh this weekend. We took Long to Kennywood amusement park (see www.Kennywood.com) on Saturday - it was Long's and Linh's 1st visit to a US amusement park (top pic)!
The highlight of our Kennywood experience was the Phantom's Revenge roller coaster (see https://www.google.com/search?q=kennywood+phantom's+revenge&biw=1205&bih=535&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCgQsARqFQoTCMDJyrKW58YCFcLUgAodYDwFtA&dpr=0.85 and http://roller-coasters.wanderbat.com/l/292/Phantom-s-Revenge-at-Kennywood) - they were terrified (235 feet/75 meters drop, 85 MPH/136 KPH) - note my reaction (see bottom pic)! This was Linh's 1st roller coaster!
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Boston/Harvard

I just found out that Linh made a surprise 3-day trip to Boston and Harvard (see above pics). One of her US dreams has always been to visit Harvard & Boston - which she now likes more than NYC or DC. She stayed in a Vietnamese community, Dorchester, and enjoyed Vietnamese food that she hasn´t had for a long time! She leaves Boston @ 5PM today and will be back in Morgantown tomorrow afternoon.
I am very proud that Linh organized, paid for, and made this trip completely on her own. She is truly growing up and becoming independent!
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Spring 2015 Final Grades

Linh has received her final grades for Spring 2015 = 3 A's, 1 B and 1 "P" (for a "Pass/Fail" course)!
Linh had a very heavy course load this past semester = 15 credit hours. She worked very hard and received terrific grades.
Linh has now completed 2 semesters of her MSW program and her graduate GPA = 3.8+!
Linh will be taking 8 credit hours this summer (May 18 - August 7). Completing these summer courses, she will only carry 13 credit hours per semester during the last 2 semesters of her MSW program <-- much easier than 15+ credits per semester!
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Updates & "Boy Friend"

2+ months have passed since my last blog update - and - many of you have asked what's happening.
Linh has been very busy wrapping up Spring semester - primarily writing many papers.
Last Friday Linh received a Meritorious Student Tuition Waiver for 5 credit hours (= $6,155)! So - this summer she will be taking a total of 8 credit hours.
Linh has also been "seeing" a male friend for the past couple of months = 26-year old, ex-Marine (5+ years). I had lunch with them today. He is a very nice, intelligent guy. Linh refers to him as "baby" because he is slightly shorter than her. Above pic is Linh and "Baby" (name = Jesse Shiver).
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