Knowing What is Important

Knowing what is important: Elia and Albert had a spontaneous lunch date yesterday after staying home for the plumbers and stair people. Albert asked if she wanted to go to a fancy restaurant, she said that she wanted me to wear a bow tie (which she means a tie) like hers. So we dressed up and went to a fancy restaurant for lunch. where she had chicken fingers with a fruit salad that had a blood orange. Albert had blackened catfish and we shared a side of fries. Elia later told Erin that she was Hermione and Albert was Ron (because they are together) and that we wore the same red tie, black top and white shirt. Of course now Albert owes Curie her own date.

Knowing what is important part 2: The next day, Albert was working from home and needed to take the car in to get an oil change. Realizing it was late in the day, he decided to pick up Curie early and called EMA. When he arrived, Curie bounded forward and the instructor saying that Curie was ready for her date. Albert suddenly realized that though he hadn’t planned for this to be Curie’s date, he needed to make the time special for her because the date with Elia obviously was on her mind. The problem was that there were no fancy restaurants near the car dealership. Albert told Curie they could either go to the buffet ( Curie loves a buffet) for a snack(we had dinner plans with Julie), or because it was snowing, they could get a snack at the vending machines but they could spend the time watching and drawing with each other. Curie opted for vending machines and drawing initially, but when they arrived, she was hungry so wanted to go to the buffet even though it was snowing pretty hard.  They trudged through the snow hand in hand and went to the buffet joking all the time that it was a big snack, or dinner 1 before dinner 2. Curie did not mind that it was not a fancy restaurant, all she cared about was equal time with parents and spending time with Albert; that is the lesson here. 

Montreal Urban Hiking and Food Crawl 2018

Montreal Food Crawl. Not shown, the most expensive Roy Rogers at rest stops on the way up and back, the club lounge breakfasts and appetizers (including duck and smoked salmon), the museum cafe, some of the other food court purchases and other snacks. Otherwise, from upper left to right,1) Hakata Ramen – one of Albert’s favorites, 2) Nudo – and tossed noodles, and a bit of a disappointment, too doughy and too sweet, Continue reading “Montreal Urban Hiking and Food Crawl 2018”

Pretty in Purple

The new house has gotten a little in the way of family time. Thank goodness for a chance to do something together Labor Day weekend. We tried Yang Kang Street Food in Pentagon City with Susie, Isabella, and Olivia. We had a great time, food was okay, pottery painting was fun, but ice cream and Doodlehoppers took the cake (see Olivia’s dinosaur tail). Photo credit to Isabella stabilized by Susie.

Bobby McKey’s at National Harbor with the Nunez’s

Isabella’s family invited us to Bobby McKey’s make sure you see the video of Erin dancing to YMCA!

The National Harbor merry-go-round is the best deal in the DMV, It went up to $7 per kid (adults ride free) but it is all-you-can-ride

The Peep store is the only one in the country purportedly. The kids don’t need much to have fun, just a wall and their imagination. Olivia is under the cover. Pictures of Elia jumping are posted separately.

Sunflowers at Burnside Farms

The last time we were at Burnside Farms was in 2015 for on our friend Emma’s recommendation for tulips in the spring. We went yesterday for Sunflowers in the summer and realized that Elia here is the same age as Curie then. Here are some similar pictures for comparison.

Girls doing the quick turn, picking flowers and running to the jumping thing. If you decide to go, don’t put in GPS for the Burnside Farms Flower Fields as you will get lost and frustrated like we did) it is a different field than their tulip fields. Go to their website and get the right one somewhere in Haymarket.

Spoils of our trip.