Blogged In

Last weekend started off slow with some pizza and salad, then TV on Friday night. Jill went to bed, I was up late unpacking and moving boxes around to find stuff. Saturday I wasn’t up for too long before Stuart picked me up in the early afternoon and we headed over to Clare and Don’s where everyone was watching the US in the World Cup. We picked up Susan as it went into overtime, and headed up 95. She checked into her hotel as she’d be staying for both nights, then parked near Merriweather Post.

She headed in and we went over to the mall to get dinner (cheesesteaks sounded good), then headed back over. Even with all the people, we ran into her and some friends first. We chatted, then went off to get some Starr Hill beer before the show. Phish was better than last year at the same venue, the second set could have been transported from 1996 and we got possibly their weirdest cover ever, Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”:

Sunday it was nice to sleep in, then came more unpacking. We headed over to the Loudoun Summer Music Fest in the late afternoon. We had to wait in the car for a brief thunderstorm, then went in. It was more tolerable than the heat the day before. Our lifetime passes get us occasional perks like the VIP tent, where we chowed down on pasta, crab cakes and chips and guac, then watched Carbon Leaf play, mostly their regular set, but included this nice cover of Zep’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”:

Blues Traveler was up next, and we went back to the chairs we’d brought for that. They played a really nice set, some of the new stuff, some classics (including the last song from Four I hadn’t heard live) and odd covers (“What I Got” and “I Want You To Want Me” with a tease of “Hell Hole”). The lady who runs the fest said she might be able to get us into the meet and greet, so we stuck around after the show and sure enough, she made it happen.

Monday Jill was working so I worked late too, thawed some frozen stuff for dinner. But on Tuesday my family came out to our house (Sharon’s in town for a wedding, but not free on the weekend), and we gave them the tour, then took them over to Jackson’s for dinner (had to celebrate two birthdays and Father’s Day). Jill had the steak frites again, and I had the grouper fingers and chips, both good. We split the carrot cake and a shortbread with fruit for dessert, both pretty tasty. Then it was back to our house for a gift exchange, then everyone left as Jill had to get to bed for another long shift yesterday.

Double Al fun this past weekend. Jill had been dealing with the movers most of Friday, and they weren’t done but they were exhausted. Plus we had plans, so they left and so did we – they still have about 10% of our stuff, including my formal clothes (this is important to the recap).

We headed straight to the Warner Theatre, got there with 10 minutes to spare before Weird Al took the stage. I’d seen his last tour, but Jill hadn’t seen him since the “Poodle Hat” tour at Kings Dominion. He was great, lots of costume changes as usual and some new videos. The new songs fit in nicely, and I especially enjoyed hearing “You Make Me” and “Good Old Days”. I should have guessed that the polka medley started with “Poker Face”, though.

Since we hadn’t had time for dinner first, we tried across the street at Chef Geoff’s, but the kitchen had just closed. I remembered that Co Co Sala was open late, so we walked over there and went in. They didn’t have any tables outside, which was unfortunate as the DJ inside had it cranked pretty loud (both of us wore earplugs most of the time).

Luckily the food was good – we shared everything. We had a savory, then a sweet course. First we had the arugula salad (with a nice coffee vinaigrette), bacon mac & cheese, and an artichoke tart (our favorite, you could really taste the artichoke). We finished with a “3 course dessert experience”, the middle of which was three different chocolate dishes, small but very good.

Saturday morning the movers had said they could return, but did not (I had a feeling, but was up early just in case). Jill slept in and I started unpacking the kitchen, then we left around noon. We stopped at the Men’s Wearhouse in Potomac Yards so I could buy a suit, then we headed over to Old Town Alexandria.

We stopped at Rustico for lunch and split a spinach salad and the meatball smoked mozzarella pizza, both excellent. I sampled a number of beers, the best being Bitter and Twisted, which was neither, rather sweet and smooth. We stopped by some antique consignment shops, picked up my suit (needed the legs cuffed), then back to Old Town.

We were staying the night at the Hotel Monaco (the trip was my Christmas gift from Jill), and I’d had so little sleep I took a nap right away, sleeping until Jill woke me up at 5:30. She’d gotten a little shopping done, but it was time for dinner.

She’d carefully picked the hotel location, as it was right next to Restaurant Eve. For our second visit we again did the Tasting Room, opting again for the five course meal. For the first course I had the foie gras and Jill had the tuna, paired with the Eidos de Padrinan 2007. Second was the halibut paired with Kamptaler Terrassen 2009 for her, and the ricotta tortellini for me. I’d avoided the lobster I loved last time as it had peas and carrots with it, and of course the tortellini had peas in it. I managed to avoid most of them (and ate Jill’s tomatoes while she ate my peas).

The antelope I had for the third course was my favorite, good texture and flavor. Jill often orders squab, this time paired with Bien Nacido Vineyard 2005. For the cheese course, she had the Everona Piedmont, very nice paired with the Cade Sauvignon Blanc 2008, while I had the Tête de Moine, good but very rich (I didn’t finish). My finale was a deconstructed cheesecake, while Jill had praline doughnuts paired with the Sullin Red Malvasia 2009.

A very good night but not over yet – we had made late reservations at the sister speakeasy PX. We read in the hotel room until it was time, then walked over. I’d had a couple cocktails with dinner, and we had a couple more here, relaxing in the lounge area next to the bar.

The next morning we woke with time to spare, so read on the veranda until it was time to go. We drove down to Vermilion and parked, went inside and were seated mere seconds before Dad arrived. Dad and Jill both had the Corned Beef pork hash, while I was unable to resist the strawberry pancakes with rhubarb-maple syrup, everything was delicious, and it was good to catch up with Dad.

After brunch we did a little more shopping, then stopped by the credit union as Jill was not yet a member, and started the car loan process. We stopped at the Vienna Inn on the way back, split a Reuben and each had a chili dog. Neither of us wanted to face unpacking, so we went out on the deck and read, and later took Illa into the water for the first time – he likes it just fine. I made alfredo sauce to go with some premade ravioli for dinner, then picked Mom up from Dulles, as she was getting back from her big Mediterranean cruise. We didn’t get a chance to talk much since it was late, but we’re getting together next week for a big family dinner.

Saturday was a hot one, so obviously a good time to move. We packed up everything from Mom’s, then Jill made a run (I’d already brought a load over the night before). We packed for two final loads, then headed over and brought everything inside. The only furniture we had was two camp chairs, so we moved them around to wherever we wanted to sit.

We had a couple possible concerts, but weren’t motivated to do much. But we did require sustenance, and decided on the nearby Lakeside Asia Cafe. It was a wise choice – we shared the sauteed green beans, then i had the shredded beef with peppers and Jill had the pork with garlic sauce. It was really good, our new favorite Chinese place.

Sunday was also hot, so another good day to be outside. We were woken up by the sun (no curtains in the bedroom) and got breakfast at Einstein’s (bagel for Jill, panini for me). We went over to our storage unit and managed to find the cable boxes, some kitchen stuff, and a table and chairs (the latter I had to balance most precariously to get).

In the afternoon we thought we’d visit a waterbed store in Springfield (I love ‘em, but want Jill to try them out). Unfortunately Google Maps failed us, as the store there had moved to Woodbridge and wasn’t even open on Sundays. At least we got a nice lunch out of it at El Paso (chimichanga and enchiladas) and stopped at a library booksale. Later on Jill hit Target and I hit Safeway, then we had pasta for dinner.

Monday Jill was off and had over a flooring guy for estimates and maids for cleaning. She had really dug into her new project of stripping the wallpaper from the main floor bathroom. I made breaded chicken and broccoli, then moved the curtains from the dining room to the bedroom, then we watched some Dr. Who.

Today I turned my Indian leftovers into huevos rancheros while I waited for the FiOS installer. He was fairly early in his window, and did a great job. He ran the Ethernet drop into the basement without drilling, gave us a new wireless router and two new remote controls. He was not able to get a cable drop into the craftroom, but we should be able to run it under the carpet.

We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us, but then we can always look outside at the view to keep us going.

I feel good that the third time I moved back to Mom’s it was only for three weeks. It really hasn’t been too bad, plus she’s been on a cruise for the last week. I think Illa was getting tired of not being the only dog – before I took Tati to the kennel on Thursday, he had snarled at her a couple times, though they still were playing well.

Last weekend was the Herndon Festival, and weird to not be walking there at least once. Friday night I got there with enough time to eat a couple tacos from the Tortilla Factory before settling in top watch Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam. He was pretty good, but I left before the end as a downpour was on the way. Saturday I showed up a little after 12 as I did not want to miss my favorite new discovery, eXIT CLoV.

I stayed to watch Justin Trawick, then got a corn dog and sat with Janice until Stuart came back. He and I ducked into O’Sullivan’s, a new Irish bar. We had some 16 year old Irish Whiskey, then I saw their onion rings were called “The Rings Of Kerry” so was forced to get those (with a pint of Kilkenny ale). We ,ade it back to the fest just in time to see my other new discovery, Middle Distance Runner.

Jill had worked that day and headed to the festival, shopping first, but caught some of their set. Next up was Gabe Dixon, who played with a multi-instrumentalist, and drew a nice crowd; Find My Way was one of my faves. Jill wanted Hard Times chili for dinner (don’t have it that often since the Herndon location closed) and I tried empanadas from Don Churro Cafe, I really liked them. Finally we got to see the great Marshall Crenshaw again, who pulled an Eagles move by opening with “Someday, Someway”. He was really good with the band – we saw him solo acoustic before, and it doesn’t compare.

Sunday we relaxed, which was a good idea as the week has been crazy. We thought we might close on the new house on Monday, then Wednesday, and it finally happened on Thursday. We ended up leaving some money on the table, but it would have taken at least four days and a third appraisal to fix that, so we took it. We decided to stay at Mom’s until today as we didn’t really want ot move after work, plus we won’t have phone, cable or internet access until Tuesday (and then we finally get FiOS again).

We cooked last on Monday, trying to not bring food with us. Wednesday we got tacos from Tippy’s Taco House, Thursday I got a personal pizza from Pizza Hut (the one we used to walk to) and last night had takeout from Minerva. The Chilly Bajji was over breaded jalapenos, but the Lamb Pasanda was better. Jill enjoyed her samosas and butter chicken, and they make a good garlic naan. We thought about going to see Rusted Root at Celebrate Fairfax, but stayed home and watched Burn Notice and Paul Tompkins instead. And now we leave Mom’s and move in.

Where does the time go? Over a week since my past blog update – I guess short updates on Facebook are taking place of these, but it’s nice to have a chronicle of what’s going on (and in a space that I control).

We moved to Mom’s on the 22nd after finally finishing off packing that day (and going to a rainy outdoor show with Todd Wright and Cheap Trick). The buyers are now living in our place under a pre-settlement occupancy agreement until they can buy the place sometime next month, and we’ll hopefully be closing on the new house next week.

The rest of last weekend we settled in at Mom’s, then a busy week at work plus the much longer commute made for a slog. One bright spot was Michael Franti & Spearhead for our first Wolf Trap show this season. Opening band The Wailers weren’t bad when they broke out the Marley, but Franti brings a ferocious energy to his frontman duties, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people on their feet at Wolf Trap. Too bad we left early for the sake of sleep and beating a nasty storm.

This past weekend was a 3 day one and very welcome. Saturday and Sunday I never left the house except to walk the dogs, got to catch on TV via streaming and newspapers. On Memorial Day we went to a cookout at the Larsen’s which was a lot of fun, then came back through DC to the 9:30 Club and went to their 30th Anniversary Concert.

We got there a little late (missed Don Dixon and Marti Jones), but managed to see some of Tommy Keene (classic power pop). We’d gravitated to our normal spot on the stage right side of the balcony, and after the set ended noticed that amps, drums and a second chair were set up right in front of us. After a brief pause, The Evens (featuring Ian MacKaye of Fugazi and Minor Threat) played a short but intense set before Justin Jones played a set on the main stage.

Henry Rollins was supposed to be hosting and had been delayed by his flight, and finally arrive in time to introduce Bob Mould. He was by himself, playing some Hüsker Dü and Sugar classics, then Ted Leo came up (also solo) and played some of his own newer songs and older songs by Lungfish and Chisel (also him).

We thought that we’d wait through all the other bands before the “special guests” appeared, but next Henry addressed the big rumor – Dave Grohl was there and was taking the stage next. He played a nice version of “Everlong” and then invited on his former bandmates in Scream as they did one of their songs and two Bad Brains covers.

Lots of fun, but we weren’t done yet as ska faves The Pietasters were on and played a quick four song set including the classic Maggie Mae, then they were gone and so were we (missed Clutch and Trouble Funk, but that’s ok).

The big news first. So – disaster. We were supposed to close today but the buyers have to postpone indefinitely. Now that puts the closing of the house we’re planning on buying in jeopardy. We’re looking at what options we have.

Friday night we went out and ate at Jackson’s. The first time we’d been there, we wisely got seats as far away from the bar as possible (bit noisy). I had the roasted chicken salad and Jill had the Steak Frites, both very good. Then we went to see Crooked Still at the Birchmere.

Chatham County Line opened and we saw most of their set, pretty good and impressively using almost choreographed moves to use a single microphone. Crooked Still has a brand new CD and played a bunch of good tunes from it, as well as some of my older faves.

The rest of the weekend was all packing, and we weren’t feeling too bad. But the movers were coming Thursday morning, and we didn’t get too much done Monday and Tuesday night. Wednesday night I started packing hardcore again, and there was so much to do I just never went to bed. When I left Thursday morning Jill had gotten a little sleep after a long shift the day before, but she worked hard all day.

The day started going badly when she lost my phone (she thinks she left it on top of her car). Then moving, supposed to be over at 3, might not be over until 7. The bad thing about that was we had passes to meet Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds before their concert at Constitution Hall that night, and it started at 6. I left work early and handled the home end of cleaning up while Jill went with the movers.

We got everything taken care of, and were ready to leave Herndon at 6, but that’s when we found out closing was off. Of course traffic was terrible, and we didn’t get to Constitution Hall until after 7 and the meet and greet was over.

But that was then end of the crappy part of the day. The duo show was the best of the five I’ve seen them do, and we had fourth row seats for every strange facial expression Dave had. If I had to choose, I would’ve picked the show to attend, mind numbingly amazing.

Neither of us had eaten much that day, so we stopped at Amphora on the was home. Jill had the chicken noodle soup and a chicken salad club sandwich, and I had the southwestern Eggs Benedict. We felt we deserved dessert, and she had the rice pudding and I had a slice of carrot cake.

Today Jill picked up Illa from the kennel where we left him yesterday, and they came to work and we met with our agent. Don’t know what’s happening next, stay tuned.

It’s a been several days of a lot of work and some fun. Saturday I got some work in, then we headed over to Iota to catch emmet swimming‘s first ever “fam­ily show”. The only thing that was especially kid friendly was handing out noisemakers to the kids before “Sunblock” – otherwise it was a nice rock show, with some brand new songs. We wandered around but Jill wanted pizza, so we headed over to the Italian Store. 0 for 2 there (they stop making pizza early), and we ended up at Ray’s Hell Burger for dinner. My burger was the spiciest one I’ve ever had and Jill enjoyed hers.

Sunday I got a little cleaning and some more work done, then Mom came over and we took her to an early dinner at Amphora. Jill had Chicken Piccata and I had an Italian panini, both tasty. Later I headed over to the Birchmere to catch Keith Emerson and Greg Lake from Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The progressive rock icons played epic songs and put on a self indulgent show that I enjoyed, but it wasn’t for everyone (and made more enjoyable for me since I’d heard an earlier show on the tour). The encore of “Lucky Man” was just incredible, totally worth it.

After I got back Sunday night I started work again. I had a deadline Monday morning, and the more I did, the more I realized there was still to do, so just kept going, and soon it was 6AM. So I just took a shower and had breakfast, then went into work, staying until almost 8. We did reward ourselves for dinner as I picked up Pad Thai (for me) and green curry chicken (for Jill) at Thai Basil, very good. Happily I did get some sleep last night and everything was in better shape today.

The weekend was fairly low key, but we kept busy. Friday Jill was interested in going out but I’d worked late and was tired, and quickly grilled some sausages and then we watched TV.

Saturday morning we cleaned up the house as an appraiser was coming by. It didn’t take too long as we don’t have that much stuff out right now, then I ran some errands (shredding papers, book sale, Free Comic Book Day and groceries).

That afternoon we looked at houses at Lake Anne and took a walk around part of the lake. We went to Charlie Chiang’s at Worldgate for dinner – hadn’t been there in a while and they’d remodeled a bit. The food is mostly the same: buffet/Mongolian, always a very filling meal for me.

Later that night we watched Hamlet starring Patrick Stewart and David Tennant – great performances indeed, but I don’t think either of us would really enjoy seeing Shakespeare performed live, it’s as if it’s in a language you barely remember.

Sunday we continued our tour through the Reston lakes. We’d been to Lake Newport a couple weeks back to look at one place, this time we hit Lakes Thoreau and Audubon. One on Lake Thoreau we kinda dismissed immediately, then the idea of it grew on us – we may make an offer on it (it’s 7 miles away from our current house).

In the late afternoon we headed down into our nice cool basement and packed books until we finally ran out of boxes. I never get rid of boxes, and that had worked out pretty well for us, but we’ll have to get more now, at least 5-10 more for the books we have left.

We had Stuart and Olivia over for dinner – Janice was meeting friends. The thought occurred to us that it would be a shame if we didn’t host anyone with the house looking as nice as it does, and they didn’t have plans. I grilled chicken fajitas and the sides while Jill whipped up guacamole, then we had a nice dinner.

Wednesday the 21st we went to Hollywood Studios. Madelyn, Robin, Jill, and I headed straight to the Tower Of Terror and rode it, then headed over to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Madelyn hadn’t realized it went upside down, and got nervous enough she didn’t want to ride. Robin was going to stay with her but I volunteered to – and was glad as both Robin and Jill thought it was more bone rattling than before. We headed over to Toy Story Mania! where the rest of the family had gone on multiple times, and went on again with us. It’s a great interactive shooting game, and the boys loved it. Next we headed over to Muppet*Vision 3-D and everyone liked that, but next was the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, a very big hit, especially with the boys. We split up after that, and Tiernan, Melissa, Ava and I took in the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” Movie Set Adventure, good for little ones. Then we met up with everyone and most of us headed back.

Later in the afternoon, Jill and I headed over to Downtown Disney with Melissa, Dominic and the kids. They had lunch at McDonalds and we went to the Wolfgang Puck Express where I had a Italian panini and Jill had tortilla soup and a chicken pesto sandwich. Jill took off with Madelyn, Melissa with Ava, and Dominic and I went with the boys. Ever since I’d told them about Ridemakerz custom remote control cars, they’d been very excited to go, to the point of making sure they had enough money for it (I’d asked about prices when Robin and I scoped out the area). They were fascinated by building the cars – I joked with Dominic that we could have snuck out for a pint and they’d never notice.

Once the kids were out for the night, Sue came over to watch them and Melissa, Dominic, Robin, Jill, and I took the boat back over to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Paradiso 37 (37 for the countries of the Americas cuisine they have plus 37 varieties of tequila). Jill and I shared some queso and chips, then I had a salad and some seafood fritters while she had a trio of sliders. They also did a number of incredible tequila cocktails, especially the Corzinger (Habenero Lime Juice, muddled strawberries and Tequila). We had a long enjoyable evening as the dusk crept in around us.

Thursday it was finally Magic Kingdom time. After the big opening, Melissa, Robin, Jill, and Madelyn headed straight to Space Mountain while Sue, Dominic, and I took the other kids to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which Jill and I had really enjoyed when we were there last. The kids all loved, and we went on multiple times. When the girls had finished, Robin, Jill, Madelyn, and I went to the other side of the park and waited for it to open so we could ride the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Once done we grabbed Fastpasses for Splash Mountain for later, then I headed back to the kids. They were waiting for the Astro Orbiter. I wasn’t sure what it was (you can’t see it from underneath), but went on anyway. Not a good idea, I was queasy for a while after that. We went to Fantasyland next and the kids rode some rides, then I met up with Jill. She’d gotten both of us a Fastpass for Space Mountain so we could ride it together, but it was shut down. Instead we got a drink and did a little ornament shopping before meeting up with everyone at Splash Mountain. Everyone but Sue and Ava headed in, and it was a big hit.

Robin, Jill, and I headed back after that, Robin got lunch from The Artist’s Palette while Jill and I had all the Asian leftovers that had been piling up. We relaxed in the afternoon and I finally got the chance to do some reading. Everybody got together for an early dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Jill and I shared a salad and the BBQ chicken wrap (ok, but sauce was way too sweet). The kids enjoyed the surroundings, and we got big family photos later without too much fuss.

Everyone was scheduled to return to the Magic Kingdom, but I wasn’t feeling so great and stayed in the room. It turned out to be a good idea, as when I finally logged in for the first time in two days I found we’d gotten 7 offers, including some way below and way above the listing price (the guy we’d countered had countered again, but below our threshold). I called Jill to check in and affirm we’d take the highest, then called our agent. The great thing about house buying and selling now is you can do everything online (although not every firm does). No hunting down a fax machine, I was able to sign the contract right from my netbook. When everyone got back, Melissa, Dominic, Robin, Jill, and I headed out to the hot tub.

Friday was our day off, no kids, so of course we slept in while they returned to Hollywood Studios. Robin, Jill, and I met up with Sue and Dave and Kelley and John for lunch at Fulton’s Crab House. I had the crab club sandwich while Jill had the shrimp po’ boy and we split a salad. After lunch Dave and I took a bus, walked some, rode the monorail and caught a van to get to the Richard Petty Driving Experience, where my birthday gift to him was riding shotgun in a NASCAR stock car for several laps while I watched. He said it was his favorite part of the vacation, and I was glad he enjoyed it so much.

For dinner Sue, Dave, Jill, and I went over to Raglan Road, where after a long wait they seated us in the bar (reservations don’t seem very helpful in Downtown Disney on a Friday night). Thankfully the food was good – I had a grilled meat sampler, and was surprised with lamb and housemade sausage to like the steak the best. Jill had a burger she really liked, and they had some good beers on tap. Melissa and Dominic had made it over and ordered food outside, but Dave and I headed out.

I’m the guy who checks to see what bands are playing, and got quite a surprise this time – a band playing I really wanted to see and they weren’t really playing near here (Richmond on a weeknight doesn’t count). So after our five minute walk to the House of Blues, we got in to see Porcupine Tree on their second song. Their new CD is their second concept album in a row, and they were opening each show with it. Dave seemed to enjoy himself, but headed out after Jill showed up during the second set. I’d bought three tickets in case Dominic wanted to go, but he wasn’t interested. And after everyone else had called it a night, Jill decided to join us. I enjoyed both sets, but the punch of Anesthetize II: The Pills I’m Taking followed by Lazarus (a great song I was hearing live for the first time) was the best part. On the walk home, we picked up some Ghiradelli ice cream, the chocolate was very good.

Saturday morning we didn’t have to get up early but did to say goodbye to everyone and help them head off (they were all on the same flight). We relaxed for a while and had breakfast before packing up and heading to the lobby. We headed to the airport on an earlier bus and despite a very long security line still were at our gate with ninety minutes to kill, so went back to the next set of gates as they had better food, including a Nathan’s. A hot dog with cheese and coleslaw was new to me, but very tasty – too bad the hush puppies they had were not. The flight back was fine, although Jill’s bag was damaged. The house feels very different now – both the way it looks and we’re starting to detach (the buyers had done a home inspection that morning). Jill wasn’t feeling great, so she had soup and I had a turkey sandwich, then we watched a lot of TV.

Sunday we picked up the dog, then I headed to the National Mall for the Earth Day Climate Rally. I got there in time to see Passion Pit, nice dance pop. Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff played all his hits, then The Roots took over (I believe they’d been scheduled two years ago, but were rained out). They started with a set of their own stuff, then my favorite set of the day with all star singers, including Mavis Staples, Patrick Stump (ex-Fall Out Boy), Joss Stone, Bob Weir and Robert Randolph with Booker T on keys. John Legend came out for another set with them, but it was from a new album coming out this year and all unfamiliar. Much better was Sting with the Roots, doing a predictable setlist that was still pretty fun to hear: Fragile/Driven To Tears/One World/Message In A Bottle. Before Sting, James Cameron gave one of the more inspired speeches of the day. Then I headed back, made another sandwich and we watched some more TV.

Also, all photos are here.

I was up past 6AM on Saturday the 17th, packing books until I ran out of packing tape. Then I slept for a couple hours and joined Jill on final cleanup. Pictures had been taken the Monday before as Jill shadowed the photographer moving things around so he had a clean shot, then we’d continued to pack all week. The listing went up Friday night and there was an agent coming by at 11AM Saturday morning (first of seven), and we worked furiously to make the deadline. We did, and the agent arrived as we left with Illa. We dropped him at the kennel, then headed over to Manassas to trade in some books and ate lunch at China Jade – both of us had the buffet, quite decent as long as little kids don’t get their hands on them as one was doing to the desserts.

We ran some more errands, getting home around 5:30 (all the agents had left). I had just taken a shower and was relaxing and watching TV when another agent called, so we left again. When we got back I wasn’t in the mood to do much more than make dinner, while I was doing that Jill arranged the new things she’d purchased and kept packing. We finally relaxed after dinner – she packed and went to sleep while I stayed up packing, watching TV and surfing. There was a lot I wanted to get through and stayed up pretty late again.

Sunday morning we were out by 8AM for our taxi (the open house was scheduled for that afternoon) and soon we were at Dulles. We had a quick trip through security and finally got to ride the train to the gates (it’s so much better than the people movers). It was at the gates that I went by the Five Guys and made a marvelous discovery: if they’re open in the morning, they serve egg sandwiches and you can top it with a burger patty, still one of my favorite meals. Then we made our first (and likely not our last, as long as the first bag’s free) trip on JetBlue, a nice smooth flight into Orlando. After we got our bags, we waited for Disney’s Magical Express and were soon joining the rest of the family at Saratoga Springs Resort.

We plan our vacations far in advance with help of our resort club, and Jill had wanted to take her immediate family on a trip for a while. Now that everyone was living stateside, planning was easier and we decided to aim for the kids’ spring break. So besides us it was Jill’s mom Sue, her husband Dave, Jill’s younger sister Robin, older sister Melissa, her husband Dominic, and their kids Madelyn, Jake, Tiernan, and Ava. They were almost done with checking in, so we did too and were soon at our rooms in Congress Park, the section of the resort closest to Downtown Disney. Madelyn, Robin, Jill, and I were hungry and walked over to The Artist’s Palette for lunch, where I had the turkey wrap and Jill had a hot dog. I also had the only authentic Saratoga item there: a Saratoga Lager.

After lunch our lack of sleep caught up to us, and we napped for a while. Sue and Melissa were out at Wal-Mart with Aunt Kelley (who dropped by as she winters there), and they picked up some pizzas. I wish they’d gotten the name of the place, as it was truly the worst pizza I’d ever had – and everyone agreed. Thankfully, it was the only bad meal of the week. The nap was helpful, but we were still tired and had a big week, so we watched The Simpsons with Robin, then went to sleep (I even skipped a concert at Epcot but it had started raining).

Monday morning we headed to Animal Kingdom – we’d already purchased tickets. The last time we visited, the parks had been fairly vacant, but not this time. So we took full advantage of Extra Magic Hours and that determined the order we visited the parks. First up was Kilimanjaro Safaris and that was good as all almost all the animals were awake, then Madelyn, Robin, Jill, and I took in Expedition Everest before meeting up with everyone at Kali River Rapids where we took turns riding and getting damp (even with ponchos).

We gathered again and headed over to It’s Tough To Be A Bug with the three older kids (the boys loved it), then continued to Camp Minnie-Mickey to meet Disney characters. The older two (especially Jake) wanted autographs, and they all took pictures. Jake and I stayed behind when everyone else left to continue to get autographs.

We met up with Jill and Sue in the Boneyard playground, then got in line for Finding Nemo – The Musical. It took a while to get in, but it was pretty entertaining, a mix of Lion King and Avenue Q. Jill wasn’t feeling well (hadn’t been all day) and she went back to the resort. Sue, Jake, and I went over to Yak & Yeti for lunch where I had an appetizer explosion: Thai chili wings, pork egg rolls, and wok fried green beans along with a Safari Amber (surprising to learn it was from Anheuser-Busch because it was good). Rain was threatening when we finished so we left the park.

Jill was asleep and I joined her as I was tired. We woke up for a bit, and I checked email to learn we’d gotten two offers on the house, both more than $10K less then the listing price. I called our agent and arranged to counter the higher offer, then we snacked before Jill headed back to bed and Robin and I explored Downtown Disney to get a lay of the land, find some stores and a sweatshirt for her. We took our time getting back waiting for the boat shuttle around Downtown Disney then another one back to the resort.

Tuesday was another early day, this time we headed to Epcot. Once in we headed directly to Test Track, where some folks rode it twice. We went directly from there to Soarin’, but they already had a long wait so we picked up a Fastpass for everyone, then went next door to Honey I Shrunk The Audience (still pretty fun). Jake wanted more autographs, so Dominic and I went with him to get some.

We met up with everyone at Sunshine Seasons (the cafe next to Soarin’) where folks who hadn’t had breakfast yet did, then took on Soarin’. Jake decided last minute it wasn’t for him, so he and Dominic ducked out. It was pretty fun, but it’s not good if you’re afraid of heights. After that, Dominic, Jake, and I headed over to Innoventions to play some games. Lunch was with everyone at the Rose and Crown. Jill and I split a salad then both got fish and chips, very good choice. We met up with Alice and got some adult slushies on the way out.

Once again it was nap time after we returned. Sue and Dave had stayed at Epcot, and Robin, Jill, and I joined them again for dinner at Nine Dragons. I wasn’t that hungry after a big lunch and had the cucumber salad and sliced beef appetizers while Jill enjoyed the Kung Pao chicken. They stayed to watch fireworks while I went back to the resort – it turns out Melissa is also a Lost fan and it was the only show I wanted to watch all week (good, but not as good as the Hurley ep the week before). We got to enjoy the hot tub after Robin and Jill got back.