March

On Saturday the 4th, Dad and Patricia came over for lunch and brought pizza so I could fix her laptop. Thanks to Jill’s gym’s parents night out, we got dinner and a movie later: tasty Turkish food (at Anatolian Bistro) and Black Panther. 10/10, would do again. Monday I found this and a selfie of my daughter on my phone. That’s why I don’t let her hold it.

toilet

Friday the 9th Nina’s school was on lockdown after police received a report that a student with a gun was at the nearby high school. It turned out to be untrue and she thought it was just a drill, but it made me more certain than ever that guns need to be restricted, and in fact I’m perfectly ok with melting down all the guns. Saturday I finished Nina’s first mashup request: “Look What You Made Me Do” and “Skip to My Lou”. Sunday Nina did not want to wait for Last Jedi to arrive on Blu-ray, so she saw her first Star Wars movie in a theater. Now she loves Rey even more.

Nina

Tuesday the 13th was concert #6: I’m With Her with Andrew Combs at the 9:30 Club. On at 9:30, 19 songs later off at 10:45 with a much more enthusiastic crowd for a Tuesday than I would have thought (and sold out, to boot). I’m guessing I was the only one there buying a ticket for Steven Wilson the next month. Illa had a vet visit on Thursday and lost 10 lbs – his kidneys aren’t doing so well. Dad came over again on the 17th for more laptop help, so we celebrated St. Patricks Day with corned beef and cabbage for lunch. Sunday we had Red Snapper for dinner – Mmmmm, very tasty.

Jill Kerry Patricia Bryce Nina

The night of the 19th I was at Nina’s school because Fairfax County proposed turning South Lakes Dr. into 1 lane each way to allow for bike lanes. Traffic isn’t horrible now at rush hour, but that would be a disaster. Thankfully the majority of folks were opposed to the idea. Tuesday night we trusted the Capital Weather Gang and were rewarded, as they said there would be a long window between winter storms early in the afternoon and after midnight. Jill and I had dinner at Green Bamboo in Rockville where I couldn’t resist getting moar red snapper (still very tasty) before concert #7: Weird Al. I finally got to hear “Nature Trail to Hell”, plus “Albuquerque” a second time.

Weird Al

Nina wanted to do something “special” Friday the 23rd, which turned out to be her first dinner in a Chinese restaurant at Lakeside Asia Cafe (she can now eat a little bit of egg in anything, so cross contamination isn’t an issue for us anymore). Saturday the 24th I noted that Amanda Palmer had summed up how 2 years of Patreon has gone. Well, I think. We also got an amazing care package from Shelly. There was another parents night out at the gym, so Jill and I finally used the gift certificate to Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm – a really nice dinner (I had the duck and Jill had the trout). Sunday Jill made some delicious Asian lettuce wraps, then Monday night we’d promised Nina we could go to the new Tacos and More in Reston (owned by the dad of a friend of hers) for her first taco (she’s a fan).

Nina

The finale of The X-Files Season 11 was not as bad as the premiere, but it wasn’t great. It’s a shame because the rest of the season was pretty good. I’d be ok with it ending. Treat it like Star Trek Enterprise. Some episodes must be skipped.

Nina

Tuesday the 27th, Jill, Nina and Maddie drove up to Massachusetts for spring break. They celebrated Jill’s mom’s 60th birthday, went to the Dr. Seuss museum, and Nina got her first tick. Meanwhile my week was fairly dull until Friday night when I went out for concert #8: San Fermin with Gracie and Rachel. Great baroque pop, improved by the fried chicken sandwich on an Old Bay donut from Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken earlier.

Nina

Saturday the 31st I took Illa to the kennel (after I cleaned out my backseat and found a cup used to have milk in it), then drove to Dulles and had a breakfast pizza and beer at &pizza.com. Jill picked me up in Hartford, then we got Nina and went to visit Memere and Pepere. After we got back the kids all came over and decorated Easter eggs; later Sue watched Nina while we went to concert #8: Cry Cry Cry at the Calvin. Only had to wait 15 years for it, but totally worth it. Pre show dinner at Coco and post show ice cream at Herrell’s were excellent.

Cry Cry Cry