Summertime
Stephanie has had her last day of school, so that’s enough to call it the official start of summer. With that, Lily said a final goodbye to her friends at daycare; it was really just another day for her, but Steph and I couldn’t help but feel bittersweet about it. She’s had two incredible years there, and it truly helped shape her little personality in wonderful ways. But it also means our baby is growing up! Everyone is eager and excited to see what adventures await in preschool in the Fall.
We’ve been having some fun now that the weather is warm and daylight hours push right into bedtime. As seen in recent photos, Lily has been spending a ton of time at Hidden Pond Nature Center, a little park just down the street. In addition to the usual pond/woods/mosquito fun, the Nature Center has exhibits and educational programs that Lily has really taken to. It’s a tiny little place, but it seems like there’s always something new to do.
Last weekend, we went to the annual Celebrate Fairfax festival – a huge community fair that we had been hearing good things about. It was a blast, and Lily had a great time playing games, eating junk food, and screaming with glee on some of her first carnival rides. From a mommy/daddy perspective, it was a success – decent price on tickets, very kid-friendly atmosphere, and good entertainment even for the 3-year-olds.
Finally, as seen in the thumbnail above, my eagerly-awaited inaugural homebrew recently emerged from the basement, and I’m happy to report that it was actually drinkable! The one gallon batch yielded about six and a half 16-ounce bottles, each of which were consumed selectively over the course of the past two or three weeks. Hopefully this is a casual hobby that I can continue – despite the effort, it was fun and rewarding. Also, it appears that Whole Foods sells various grain packs, so another batch is right around the corner.
