Author: Ruth

We had a very nice week-long visit with Lunn’s parents in Fairfax.  The girls each picked someplace to visit during the trip. Ana picked the Dulles Air & Space Musuem, and Jenya wanted to visit the Woodrow Wilson House and the National Cathedral.  At Jenya’s request, I also took her to the Holocaust museum.  It was intense, of course, and Jenya seemed to find it a bit overwhelming but very worthwhile.

The girls and I also had a nice visit with my friend Lynch and his two boys.  We spent the day at a local waterpark.  The girls got on well with the boys.  The twins had fun running around with his youngest, and Jenya bonded over ‘droid games with his oldest.

We also found time for Dale and Lunn to give the girls a lesson in guns and gun safety.  Our Wexford neighbors have teen boys who had been running around shooting bb guns in our neighborhood, so we figured it was high time the girls learned what guns really are, how they work, and how to handle them safely.

All in all it was a very nice week.

Test day today.  Ana took her Preliminary Moves in the Field, and Jenya took her Pre-Juvenile Moves.  Ana did a great job and passed.  Jenya also did a nice job — it was her first 3 panel test — but did not quite pass.  She got one pass and two retries. 

Part of Ana's test:

 

And Jenya's test:

 

The girls found a snake today, and they and their friends spent a good bit of time playing with it.  It was a very patient snake, and was quite tolerant of the kids’ attentions. 

Ana and I spent the morning at the local courthouse.  She got to meet two judges, a court reporter, and several policemen.  Everyone was very nice to her, and very willing to explain things about how the court system worked.  She got to see the equipment they use for video testimony, and watch several cases get tried.  A very nice "field trip."

Harvesting good compost from the big municipal leaf compost pile.  We made several trips, filling up big buckets and bringing them back to mix with peat moss and vermiculite for the garden.  We've started our own compost, but it won't be usable for a good while yet.  And it also probably won't be nearly as much fun.

Big project over Easter weekend — Lunn’s parents came up to visit, and Lunn and Dale spent a good bit of time working on putting in a tiered series of raised garden beds on the edge of our steep hillside.

The girls and I have been planning a nice garden for the summer, and starting all kinds of seeds indoors.  We’ve been doing research on gardening, and settled on trying square foot gardening, with raised beds.  Lunn and Dale got a good start on building the first two beds, out of 4×4 landscape timbers, anchored with stakes and reebar.

Jenya's been asking for more tennis lessons, and now that synchro season is (finally!) over, we have a bit more free time, so we've signed her up.   Unfortunately the nearest tennis place we know of is the Y in Robinson.  I couldn't get very good pix through the windows and netting, but you get the idea.  (She's the one in pink…)

Did our spring/summer clothes shopping for the girls at a great local consignment /swap meet kind of thing, called "Just Between Friends".  Sold off some of thier old things, and got quite a lot of new-for-them things — including the lovely new dress up clothes they are showing off here.

Synchro end of season party, and a good time was had by all.  Lots of dancing, music, food, and other goodies. 

Jenya won the hula hoop contest – she won her team’s contest, then went on and won the winner’s contest across all groups.  First time she’s gotten real mileage out of that skill — she even got prizes!

They had nice presents for all the kids, plus trophies for all the Little Blades.