Friday the 2nd was Nina’s birthday. She got the entire collection of DC Super Hero Girls in the morning (including Katana, a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive), then we went to Disney In Concert at Wolf Trap that evening with Sue and Dave for summer concert #26.
The next afternoon was Nina’s birthday party at Goldfish Swim School, and truly the best run birthday party we’d ever been part of, plus Nina had a blast with all her friends. My dad and Patricia came over for lunch, and Mom and David were over after the party for dinner, as well as brunch the next day.
Monday the 5th we went into the city with Sue and Dave. We visited the Natural History Museum, then walked over to the Old Ebbitt Grill for an early dinner. Tuesday school hadn’t started yet, so Jill took Nina apple picking. Wednesday Nina was excited for her first day of kindergarten.
Nina got a Luigi figure at school, and wanted to know all about him. She was excited when she learned he helped rescue princesses, and wanted to know all about them (and we downloaded an emulator and Super Mario Bros. to her tablet). Then she ran across this image and had me read it to her, and wanted to know why Princess Rosalina was good. #sheisnotoldenoughforthisconversation
Sunday the 11th I took Nina to see Cheap Trick and Joan Jett at the Lube. She had an ok time, but it would have worked better on a Saturday night or a closer venue. That was summer concert #27 and a wrap on summer concerts; Nina was with me at 18.
Friday the 16th I finally got to the top of my concert bucket list: Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra. And they’d been there for a long time – when they were going to tour in 2001 they weren’t scheduled to hit the DC area, so I’d planned my first trip just for a band. I was going to fly to St. Louis to see them, but ticket sales were bad and they scrapped the whole tour (later that year I flew to Seattle for 1 song from someone else, but that’s a story for another time). There were two small shows last fall for the new album that sold out instantly, so the 3 shows last week in LA and 2 this weekend in NYC felt like my only chance.
But the show was worth the wait (and the trip). His voice hasn’t let up one iota, he’s got a crack band, and a killer set list. The weirdest part was noticing the bassist is the same one that’s playing in the mini Yes reunion next month. The trip up and back was easy, took Amtrak as usual, had a quick early dinner at Antico Noè and stayed at Pod 51. I can’t see me in this picture, but I’m in there somewhere.
The next morning I stopped at Ess-a-Bagel to get a breakfast sandwich for myself and a dozen bagels for Jill before catching my train. In the afternoon we met up with a lot of Shantytowners at Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern for the Stuart Jewell Memorial Concert. Lots of locals and friends on stage to honor his memory in the way he would have enjoyed the most. We had made no special plans, and belatedly realized a babysitter would be a good thing. Luckily Sarah, our regular, was available and we joined the crowd at Lorna and Dave’s for a bonfire after the show.
Friday the 23rd Nina had her first field trip of the year – back to Stribling Orchard where she’s gone apple picking before. The next afternoon I took her over to a friend’s house where most of her class was gathered for a get together. Later she started going down hills on her balance bike.
Wednesday I saw an interesting question on a message board: Longest span between seeing same band/artist?
My response:
21 years apart seeing Mr. Big (open for Rush, than at M3). Yeah, so uncool, I know. Oh, wait – 22 years apart seeing Joan Jett. Much better. And Veruca Salt would also be 21 years.
Friday the 30th, my nephew, Jake, came to visit, and his first event was with us at Nina’s school birthday celebration (which I had to leave early because a contractor at my mom’s house showed up early).
