May

Saturday the 6th Nina and I went to the Lake Anne Farmer’s Market to meet up with another family to sell restaurant coupon books to raise money for tee-ball (she did pretty well, cleared $108). Then we went over to Vienna where she had a Frosty and french fries at Wendy’s because she’d turned her nose up at the kettle corn she asked for. We checked out Free Comic Book Day at Big Planet Comics, then Jill took her to a ballet themed birthday party. Sunday I took her to another birthday party at Jumping Jack Sports.

Nina

Nina was excited the next week to start her writing journal in kindergarten and to go on a field trip to Imagination Stage to see The Jungle Book (although her favorite thing about the field trip was the nearby playground they went to when they showed up early because of light traffic on the way to Bethesda).

Nina

My mom and David came to visit on Thursday the 11th and got to join Nina and me for dinner at Flippin’ Pizza for our weekly trip Friday. They were hoping to see Nina play tee-ball Saturday, but the game was rained out. They got to see her at her swim lesson instead. That night was the 50th anniversary concert of the Reston Chorale, so Nina went to babysitting at school while the rest of us attended that (Jill and I also snuck in a nightcap at Red’s Table).

Nina Mom

Sunday a neighbor turned 4, got a new bike, and learned to ride it in 10 minutes. We were concerned because since Nina got a bike and scooter for Christmas, she’d only wanted to ride her scooter while the kids her age were learning to ride bikes. Turns out we didn’t need to be worried – it took her 5 minutes to learn to ride. In the evening we had a nice Mother’s Day dinner at Gregorio’s Trattoria.

Nina

Tuesday the 16th I went to see Heather Nova & her brother Mishka at the Birchmere, then Thursday listened to a lot of Soundgarden as Chris Cornell had passed, then downloaded videos from the last solo show I saw. I can’t believe I only saw him 4 times. What a powerful voice. R.I.P. Nina got to go bowling with her teachers and her friend Abby that day (we’d won the outing in a fundraising auction).

Nina

Nina was excited on Saturday as she finally got her booster seat (in Jill’s car) after her fun run with Jill and her tee-ball game. That evening was her final Daisy Scouts meeting of the season as families were invited to roast s’mores and sing songs around the campfire at the Walker Nature Center Campfire Ring. Sunday we met up with the Norwoods and another family and had brunch at Silver Diner, then went over to the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival.

Nina

Since I’d been listening to a lot of sludgy progressive metal for some reason, I followed it up on Wednesday the 24th by seeing Tool. Too bad my friend (and superfan) Jay wasn’t here, they were rocking.

Nina

Memorial Day weekend was fairly rainy on Friday and Saturday, tee-ball was canceled and Jill and Nina reorganized the living room. We also listened to a lot of music: The new Barenaked Ladies album is their best since Snacktime, and then we got the news that Gregg Allman had passed on Saturday and I knew what I was listening to that night, the 2004 Allman Brothers Band show Stuart and I saw. Memorial Day was sunny and we went over to Viva Vienna where Nina got the henna she’d been wanting, plus got to see her friend Abby.

Nina