Washington, DC (USA)

[Mollie woke me up on the way to Disney World! - work - Vie until 1800 - Poste (inside, because of rain) - Eileen called from Alaska - lots of farewells (more company "alumni" - stayed at pub until 2115 - Shake Shack (strawberry milkshake) with Ian, Sabrina and Joey - back to car via Metro - home very late again - some reading, then sleep]

Woodbridge, VA (USA)

[work - Vie until 1815 - Kelly drove me to Travinia (Woodbridge) - called my kids on the way - stayed for several hours - lots of drinks and dinner (celebrating Andy's birthday) - departed around 2200 - used an Uber to get back to Huntington Station - got home very late - bed immediately]

Arlington, VA (USA)

[normal work day - went down to Ballpark/Navy Yard - took tour of our new office building on M Street (SW), walked there and back - lunch with Eric at DOE - worked late - took Metro and bus to RedRocks on Columbia Pike with Joey - stayed very late (had a good time) - Joey drove me back to Huntington - got home around 2200 - bed]

Falls Church, VA (USA)

[with kids - cooked breakfast (eggs, bacon and fruit) - baking red velvet cake with Mollie - kids mostly doing homework - took Mollie to CCD - went walking on Accotink Cross Country Trail again - drove back to house and spent a few more hours with the kids - Erin drove them home a little before 1700 - drove to Falls Church for dinner at Kim's (with David, Fred and Evelyn) - stayed until around 2000 - drove home - reading until bedtime (early - 2145)]

Washington, DC (USA)

[worked all day - around 1630, I walked east to SW Capitol Metro Station and took the Blue Line to Eastern Market - walked down the avenue (a place I visited before - see SEP 2013) to learn more about what kind of places they had for happy hour - stopped at Lavagna (Italian) and entered the bar (empty) - had a few local beers and tried the ravioli frito (ok) - eventually, the place filled up with some more people - by then (1800), though, I was getting tired - headed home via Blue Line to L'Enfant and then got a Yellow train to my car - got mail - after arriving at the apartment, I went out again to finish my 10,000 steps for the day - bed around 2200]

Washington, DC (USA)

[worked all day - happy hour at Vie - walked with Sean to watch "Out of Controllers" play softball on the Mall near the World War II Memorial - then walked back to L'Enfant - Metro home - paperwork at home - reading until bed (late)]

Beltsville, MD (USA)

[slept later than I usually do and took my time getting ready - headed up to Beltsville to visit Brother Jim (arrived at 1000) - stayed to chat with him for about an hour - then drove back via I-495 (north side of city), George Washington Parkway and I-395 (with mix up that required me to use Glebe Road to pick up Stephanie) - I wanted to thank her for helping me during my recent surgery - we first went to lunch at Bangkok 54 on Columbia Pike and had a good meal - then (1230), we drove (via I-395 and New York Avenue) to the National Arboretum - it was packed when we arrived (around 1330) - we found a place to park near the Conifer Collection and also visited the Fern Collection, the Asian Collection and various other flowering tree areas near the Anacostia River - before we left, we stopped at the old columns from the Capitol - I walked over to get close up views of the azaleas while Stephanie rested - the funniest part of the day was when I listened to what I presumed to be an Italian family (the father was fussing at his children because they wouldn't speak Italian, only English) - after that, we left the partk drove east on US-50 and took the Beltway back to US-1 - we stopped for ice cream at Baskin Robbins (1600) - after that, I dropped her off and drove home via I-395 - more walking at the apartment (to achieve 10,000 steps for the day) - TV with Bob - bed late]

Eastport, MD (USA)

[up early - texted Chris at 0700 - paperwork in the AM - he didn't get back to me until around 0945 - left the apartment and drove to Edgeport (via several unmarked back roads) - found Chris and Bridget at the Marina (1115) - examined "Banshee" and "Little Banshee", played with marina dog and looked at other people's water toys - then followed Chris to Eastport and ate lunch at the Boatyard (good gumbo) - nice food and a good visit - finished around 1300 and then walked over to see Ashley at Charthouse - walked to the other end of the boatyard area and had some drinks at the Davis Pub (1405) - enjoyed the nice weather on the patio and along the waterfront - then followed Chris through downtown Annapolis (uggggh) and visited for awhile at his place on the north side of the city - left around 1700 and drove back via US-50, I-495, I-95 and US-1 - arrived at Kelly's around 1830 - visited with Emma and Aidan before all the rest of the guests arrived - it was a pretty fun party (crab legs and other good finger foods) - the highlight of the evening for the adults was when I volunteered to take all of the kids (seven!) to the playground for about an hour - they weren't the best behaved, but didn't make me run a lot (after my surgery, that was a relief) - spent a bit longer with the grown ups before heading home on I-95 and the Fairfax County Parkway - arrived home around 2200 and went right to bed]

Arlington, VA (USA)

[first day back at the office after my surgery - worked a relatively short day - took Metro to Pentagon City - walked around for a bit and then stopped at Costco to get a gift for my friends, Jimmy and Mary, who will be married in a week (1800) - considered getting a drink but headed home instead]

Springfield, VA (USA)

[Mollie made us breakfast this morning (pancakes) - watched some movies, read some books and did some other paperwork while the kids did homework - later (1230), Erin drove us over to Huntington Metro Station to move my Explorer (I left it over the weekend) - once that was done, we stopped by Nicky's house to pick up some items for the Chrysler - after that, we headed to the Springfield Mall to go shopping at Forever 21 - I had a nice time with the kids, walking around in the improved mall (first time ever for me) - I also got lots of birthday ideas and we chatted about the summer and future weekend visits - we ate a snack/lunch at Auntie Anne's (pretzel shop) - when we finished, Erin suggested we go visit the Accotink Lake Park (Mollie and I had told her about it) - we drove back into the neighborhood where it is located and couldn't find the entrance - we parked at Brookfield Park and walked around for a bit until we found the access road - returned to our car and then drove to the parking area near the dam (where Mollie's field trip had been in April) - as we walked up to the levee, I had no idea what we'd see at the crest - it turned out to be a real lake with paddleboats, canoes, lakeside carousel and mini-golf course (!!) - we were all very impressed and decided we'd need to return for a weekend of fun - we called Brenna after that and told her we were on our way to pick her up - arrived at her home around 1645 and went to Mass at St. Lawrence - afterwards, we ate at Magic Wok again (mmm...) - after a nice dinner, we dropped Brenna off so she could study some more (for big tests in the coming week) - then the rest of us headed back to the apartment - we watched movies for several hours before bed]