We've been here before...but there's always something new

It's hard to believe that May is already coming to an end! Around here the kids have one more day of school before school is out for the summer...and that means our summer library programs are just getting started.
It's been a fun year with my Story Time kids. I've had pretty consistent numbers all year, which is always a plus. I have enjoyed the group of regulars who have been coming. Many of them will start Pre-K next year...so I won't see them much after the summer ends. Thursday we had a little end of the "year" celebration. I read a few books and then we enjoyed a few little snacks and watched a movie "The Caterpillar and the Polliwog". I had little bite sized cookies and crackers and some carrots and watermelon. We let the kids scoop out what they wanted onto paper plates and then they sat down for the movie. It was fun.
Earlier this month we headed up to Virginia to visit Megan and Marcus and Rob & Shane. Virginia is beautiful in the spring

The weather was wonderful...warm, but cool in the evenings and sunny for most of our trip.
We were going up to check out Megan and Marcus's new place. They bought a condo back in February and we wanted to see it. They have a few projects in mind for John to do...so he was checking them out and making future plans. We also got to visit with our nephew Ryan, who just started a new job in DC

There were a couple of tasks he wanted to work on while we were in town, so while Marcus and John got busy working on the projects, Megan and I made plans. They had to make a trip to the local Lowes (or was it Home Depot?) for supplies. They got what they needed and started to work... Meanwhile....Megan and I decided to act like tourists. There is always plenty to see in DC. I have been to the area many times, but I had never been to Georgetown, so that was our first destination.

We took the metro to the  stop closest to Georgetown ...and then we walked across the bridge.

I embarrassed Megan along the way by snapping photos everywhere....but she humored me.

          There were many boaters, paddle boarders, etc out on the water (you just can't see them in this picture...hahaha)

I'm not really sure what I expected the town to be like...but it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be like. I loved the feel of the place...the old buildings, etc. It was busy on that Saturday. Lots of people out and about shopping, eating, walking around. When you stepped out of a store...you kind of had to jump right in with the flow of the pedestrian traffic...or risk get bumped around. We saw LOTS of people with Georgetown Cupcake bags....and were it not for the fact that the place had a line out the door and halfway around the building....we might have stopped in ourselves. No thanks...there were plenty of other options. We shopped around a bit. Stopped for a snack or two and then made our way back to the Metro and home. John and I stayed at the Hilton hotel right around the corner from Megan's place. It was very convenient.

The next day Marcus had to work part of the day and John was going to finish up on the door change out project. This time Megan and I headed out to the National Zoo. It had been a looooong time since I'd been there...and Megan thought it would be fun...so that's where we went. Again, we took the Metro part way and walked part way.

          It was Mother's Day weekend...so we didn't know how crowded it would be...but it wasn't bad. There were plenty of folks there...but not overly crowded.

We got a map and came up with a plan (sort of) and made our way around.  It was the middle of the day, and warm...so a lot of the animals were taking it easy in the shade or out of sight. No problem...we just went to see the ones we knew would be out and about.

                   Naturally, we had to stop by to see the Flamingos! Megan's favorites.
   We saw all kinds of birds and then stopped for lunch at one of the plazas.

Our next stop was the carousel. I don't remember the carousel from past trips...and of course I was more than happy to hop on an animal for a ride.

Someone in front of us snagged the Flamingo damn them hahah so Megan hopped on the Ladybug (since she was wearing a ladybug skirt). I think I got on the ant eater. As we were getting off...we did get a picture by the Flamingo.

it wasn't till I looked at this photo that I noticed the unfortunate pair of pants on the woman in front of us...hahaha kind of looks like tire tracks on her rear end

                   We left that area to wander around some more. Everything was so green! It was
a beautiful afternoon at the zoo.

We left the zoo and headed towards another part of town I'd never been to. Lots of bars, shops, entertainment and nice housing in this part of town. The downtown area reminded me of Park City, Utah, the way it was laid out.
We were on a mission to find a Gluten Free Bakery that Megan had heard about. They have GF Chocolate Croissants...which are not easy to find, apparently. We found the place and sat in the nice cool shop while Megan enjoyed her tasty, warm, chocolaty treat. We decided to walk to the Metro station at Dupont Circle that was not too far away.

in case you forget where you are...you can spot the landmark in the distance

We lucked out with our timing and were able to hop right on a train and make our way back to Arlington in no time.

We had plans for dinner out with M & M and Marcus's parents later that evening. We stopped by to check on John and say Hello to Rupert

                                                        Rupert was glad to have us back.
We relaxed back at the hotel and then got ready for dinner with everyone. It was great to see Tom and Laura again.

We celebrated Megan and Marcus's anniversary and Mother's Day and just the fact that we were all together again. Then we went back to M & M's place for a glass or two of champagne.
Monday we had plans to meet up with Megan for breakfast, before she headed up to NJ for work. We checked out of our hotel and made our way back to Rob and Shane's house. We had plans for a cook-out at Rob's with Rob, Shane, Ryan, Laura, Tom, Marcus and my brother David (who had just gotten into town early for the Reston Art Show the following weekend) and his friend Auggie.
David went to one place and then we all met up at Wegman's (love that store!!) I was dying to go to a favorite Pie place in Leesburg...but knew better than to suggest it to John...he doesn't like to venture off the beaten path...especially when he's not sure  (or more likely I AM not sure) exactly where we need to go. But luckily for me David came through!!!! Hahah,...  when Auggie told me David had made a trip to the pie shop...I was so happy! hahaha I knew I could count on him!  :D
Dinner was nice...we enjoyed the evening, got a re-cap of Ryan's first day on the job, and then the usual stories from the group.
Our last day in town we planned to head out to the Air and Space Museum on our way to the airport. John had been with Tom during his last trip up...but I hadn't been to the new facility.

I took so many pictures there that it needs a blog of it's own.......but just have to close this one out by saying what a great city DC is. All the museums, the National Zoo, etc all open to the public for free admission! You just can't lose!

We'll just take a quick walk around....

Saturday, May2nd, was Founders Day in Melbourne Beach. It's a day full of fun activities, music, food, arts and crafts down at the local park. Last year it was a total wash out...it poured all morning and storms just kept rolling in...so they finally just called it quits and everyone went home. This year however, made up for it. The weather was beautiful. A little cooler than average and sunny, clear skies all day and into the evening.

I had great plans to get up and go down early in the day to check things out. Josh and the Electric Car group were there with a tent; so I thought I's top by to see them and check out the arts and crafts. A couple of my friends had booths. Welll...that plan never materialized...the day slipped away from me...and suddenly it was almost 5pm. We were watching a variety of sports events on TV...the Kentucky Derby, golf, basketball, which was fine, but it was such a nice afternoon/evening I hated to be inside. I suggested to John that we go "take a quick walk around" the park. He was a little reluctant, because while we both knew we'd see a lot of people,  we also knew there was a good chance most of them would have been enjoying a few beers over the course of the afternoon. Not that it's a big problem...but if you're NOT drinking and everyone else IS...sometimes it gets a little annoying. hahah
After a little hesitation, he agreed. So we went down and got there as most of the booths were closing up. We strolled through the park and walked out onto the pier.

Back in the 70's we used to ride our bikes down to pier to watch the sunset. Can't tell you how many beautiful sunsets we enjoyed there.

 John worked at the restaurant  right near the corner...so Martha, our friend(s) and I would stop to say Hi on our way to the pier or the park.
We paused on our way out to the end  to have someone take our picture.

Then we figured we'd slowly walk through the park one more time and head home. This time around we started running into all kinds of friends. The thing is...on Founder's Day everyone comes out for the celebration. The kids have a blast running around the park and playground and older people (like us...hahah)...stop and chat with everyone along the way. The town itself has a population of 3175 people...which doesn't include all the people not technically in the city, but in the Melbourne Beach area. So...it's easy to see how you could spend the whole evening talking to one person after another...hahah

We ran into neighbors, people from the library, and lots of old friends. More than once we said..."Well, we're going to head out" only to stop again a little further along to chat with someone else. Our last stop to talk to some friends we've known since Jr. High School; we ran into a good friend's  son. We knew Austin's dad was in town for the weekend; but we had been unable to get in touch with him. Chuck has been working in Shanghai for months and was home briefly. I have to give him credit...he was not worried about checking his phone for messages, etc. He figured, he was in town and people would find him. He wasn't going to spend all his time trying to make sure he got around to see everyone who wanted to see him. So...we were very happy to run into Austin on our way out...and find out that Chuck and a group of friends were actually at the street party. We turned around and managed to find Chuck and friends in the crowd.

(John was one of the people who had been trying to message him...but figured Chuck knew   where we were ...if it worked out we'd get  to see him...  so I'm glad it did)
The "street party" was scheduled from 5 (or 6) to 8pm. In past years it went later...but a couple of years back some of the crowd had a little too much fun...and there was a big fight...so town officials decided 8pm was a safer bet...hahah. The band...some locals, including a father and son...was great! They played a lot of songs from the 80's...my kind of 80's...not the top 40 stuff. People were dancing and it was a lot of fun. I'm so glad we stayed.

good friends from Winter Park/UCF in town to see Chuck

hamming it up for my picture

All in all...it was exactly what a good  hometown party should be. The weather was perfect (cooler than the week before...and not as hot as May can sometimes be in Florida). The music was great, all the locals were there,everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves...and no one got out of control...hahaha. We finally did leave at dark...happy that "our quick stroll around the park" turned out to be such a fun time.