September

Sunday the 1st was Nina’s birthday party. She finally had a small scale party – this one was at our house. First she and her guests did pet themed crafts, then they had pizza. After water balloons and sprinkler fun in the backyard, it was time for cake, and then the girls played until their parents came.

Nina

Monday Jill hadn’t gotten sleep while working during the night, so Sue joined Nina and I on a trip to my dad’s house after we realized we hadn’t gone and visited him at his house all summer. We got there and headed to the beach and buried Nina in the sand before having lunch with Dad. Later Jill was up and we all went over to Glory Days Grill for dinner and celebrated Nina’s birthday with dessert at Baskin Robbins. Tuesday Jill and Sue explored Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens before Sue went home the next day. Friday Nina started Tae Kwon Do lessons, continuing on from the after school classes she’d taken in the spring.

Nina Sue

Saturday the 7th was Family Day at my work, and Nina did everything, from pony rides to face painting to temporary tattoos. We were supposed to go to the opening festival of the Reach at the Kennedy Center, but bailed after getting home later than planned (plus there were dragons to catch in Wizards Unite). Jill went out that night to catch the Legwarmers at a winery. We planned to meet Lorna & Dave at Taco Zocalo for dinner on Sunday but they were closed for some reason, so we went to Cafesano instead.

Nina Jill

Saturday the 14th Jill and I saw What the Constitution Means to Me at the Kennedy Center (Show #36). Great, even though we came in late because dinner ran long at Rasika West End (but totally worth it). Sunday we took Nina and my dad to see the Nats not get swept by the Braves. I was especially happy that my second choice for the previous night’s dinner, ChiKo, had an outpost there (too bad only the tots lived up to their reputation). I also had a Coke Icee with bourbon, which caused a weird nostalgia mash up of going to 7-11 as a teenager and college parties.

Jill Nina Kerry Bryce

Monday I was sad over the passing of Ric Ocasek (from The Cars) and tumbled down a covers rabbithole, including this great one:

Thursday the 19th Jill was off to Tennessee for her Into The Wool Retreat. It was business as usual during the week, then on Saturday Nina and I went to the REACH Opening Festival at the Kennedy Center (for Show #37). Debbie Allen hosted as the emcee for the first performance as students from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy performed, then New York City Ballet star Tiler Peck taught the crowd moves from her appearance in Charlotte OC’s “Medicine Man” music video (Nina wanted to meet her after that). We had lunch from the food trucks next, then explored the new area (anyplace you can you can get your feet wet is fine with her). She also participated in the Floor Barre conditioning master class taught by Renee Robinson. Finally we caught the sound check for Fela! The Concert while she and other kids built a fort with the boxes used for seating, then we got ice cream. Sunday we picked up Jill from the airport and missed the retirement of our favorite clerk from Safeway (we’d said farewell the week before).

Nina Tiler Peck

Wednesday the 25th was school picture day, then Saturday after drama class we returned to Queen City Mischief & Magic. It was a bit surreal to play Wizards Unite while so many people were dressed up, but cool. Nina got her picture taken with lots of characters, got treasure from a mermaid, and finally got to watch a Quidditch game. We’d stopped in Front Royal for lunch and were getting hungry by dark, but Nina voted for not eating there. So we returned to the parking lot with the shuttle and found Brother’s Pizza, which had something for everyone. Then we got to the Best Western, which seemed fine until the train rumbled by 20 feet away as we were going to bed, but it only came by once more during the night and everyone managed to sleep through it.

Kerry Nina Jill

After a nice hotel breakfast, we returned to Queen City for a couple hours. Nina had a Lego Hogwarts Express appointment and did a chalk drawing and henna, she and Jill got slices of pizza from Emilio’s while I got a Bánh Mì at Laughing Bird Pho then headed north and dropped Jill at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival. Nina and I went to downtown Winchester and she played on the splash pad there, then we hit Sonic and picked up drinks before getting Jill and heading home.

Nina