Summer of '19

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…" A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens.

In keeping with the theme of in-between times, we have done a lot in our first three weeks in Washington. We are now at the halfway point of our six weeks in D.C. It's all down hill from here until we board that 14 1/2 hour flight to Seoul en route to our final destination. Like Evil Kneival, suspended in mid-air, wheels on the motorcycle turning in slow-motion, as he hangs above the chasm in between the precipice he leapt off and the cliff where he hopes to land, we  are floating. 

Last week, Peter and Clementine attended tennis summer camp at Cherry Hill Park near our old house in Falls Church. While Peter and Clementine were working on their forehand, Sam filled in as Elise's workout partner, riding his scooter beside her as she ran on the W&OD trail and even joining her on the gym downstairs in our building, riding the stationary bike for 20 minutes while she slaved away on the stairmaster. 

This week is Sam's turn for tennis camp, and Peter and Clementine got to go to Jumpin' Joey's, an indoor play place. Elise has told me I took Clementine to a birthday party there, but I honestly don't remember ever going. 

Both Peter and Sam took turns making dinner. Pete made homemade pizza while Sam made a lovely steamed snapper wrapped in parchment paper.

We've had to do a lot of shopping in preparation for our three years in Sri Lanka, including two trips to Costco to date with more likely to come. Prior to previous tours overseas, Elise and I have been able to knock out the preparatory shopping in one massive haul (we may have been rented a cargo van to get it all home. I remember distinctly the look on the cashier's face as we checked out, racking up a $3,000 plus tab in the process!), But since we economically rented a Ford Ecosport to get us around town for the six weeks we're in D.C., we've had to make several smaller trips, much to the kids' chagrin. Each trip is topped with a trip to the Costco snack bar for giant slices of cheese pizza. I even let them have their first taste of Mountain Dew. 

We also made a trip to REI in search of industrial strength mosquito repellent. The passage of time has mostly blurred the memories of the heat and mosquitoes we suffered through in Chennai. We expect more of the same in Colombo, only -- hopefully -- less so. Nonetheless, we want to be prepared.

Next door to the REI downtown was a Red Bear Brewing Company which definitely had west coast connections, so we spent the hottest day of the summer sampling microbrews, eating pulled pork tacos and chicken wings, and playing Monopoly.

And of course, no summer in D.C. would be complete without numerous visits to the free museums.