Thank goodness there were no incidents on Box Hill

Wouldn't it be nice to think that we had something fun to record every weekend this summer. Somehow I doubt that we'll be able to keep it up, but this weekend we did do something very fun, and new, at least for us. We went strawberry picking. Our outing almost ended before it began. After doing some due diligence of you-pick farms, I settled on one near Markham, VA since we know the area generally. (I think Naked Mountain vineyard in Markham produces some very nice reds!) All was well until we got to the farm and faced a large sign saying to try again on Tuesday, 2 June, since all the ripe strawberries had already been picked. I think I was more disappointed than the kids. Fortunately, an enterprising competitor posted a large sign adorned with only a strawberry and an arrow at the intersection down the hill from the strawberry-less farm. Eureka! We were in business.

Here are some of the results- Pretty, huh?

A taste of summer

Again, I've been slacking off blogging. Things really are going on in our lives. It's just that I don't seem to have the energy these days to recount them. All that being said, we had a fine holiday weekend. I worked from home on Friday and picked the girls up early afternoon after their school closed early. We made a Target run for diapers and then treated ourselves to Dairy Queen. (Yum!) At Izzy's suggestion, we had a tex-mex picnic on our front porch, complete with chips, salsa, and margaritas. Saturday, after the farmer's market, we all lounged in the girls' inflatable pool, which Izzy has aptly christened the cold tub. And damn, was it cold. Nothing like hose water when the weather is really only in the high 70s/low 80s. The real treat of the weekend came over the following two days. Sunday we drove to Sandy Point State Park near the Annapolis to go to the "beach." I say "beach" because the sand is weird (kind of orange in hue) and it's on the Chesapeake Bay, not the ocean. On the positive side, it's only an hour from our house. You would have thought that I was Tinker Belle and Peter Pan all rolled into one given Izzy's reaction. She was in heaven. It wasn't too crowded, the waves were wee, and the weather, despite being somewhat overcast, stayed dry. She proclaimed it better than FL, which is high praise for a kid who has been angling to live there since she was 2.



Lottie enjoyed herself quite a bit as well, although her effusiveness was measured by the occasional demand for tommy and wa-wa. (As in go in water NOW!)



The beach was my idea, but the real coup came from Ryan. On a "daddy downtime" bike ride after we got back from the beach, Ryan discovered that Vienna, VA was having its annual town pride celebration. "Viva Vienna" meant a carnival. And the girls have never been to a carnival. And despite having just announced that she wanted to live at Sandy Point State Park, Isabel decided she instead wanted to live at the carnival. I have to say, it was fun and very old school- down to the glittery dune buggie cars under the stripped umbrellas to the Scrambler (here called the Sizzler), the giant slide, and even bigger boxes of popcorn and bags of cotton candy. Lottie was a little put out that she couldn't go on all of the rides Isabel did, but in the end, she was satisfied that she got to ride the "Wiggly Wurm" (kid you not) and had a fiesta Dora that Ryan won for her in balloon darts.







Welcome back summer! We missed you.