Village at Shirlington, Arlington, VA

On our way back from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, we stopped at Village at Shirlington, close to our Airbnb apartment.  It was a cute little main street style area.  We walked around for a while, had a delicious dinner, then some frozen yogurt.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Although we have been here for over a year, we still hadn't seen the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  The rain subsided today, leaving nice cool weather, so we decided to go.  It was pretty impressive.

New apartment for the month of August: Shirlington Stay

We moved out of the NW DC basement apartment yesterday and are now living in an apartment in Arlington, VA in the Shirlington area. We'll be here for August. 

This place is much more urban than the DC apartment, which was in a quiet suburban neighborhood. We park in a small lot, then go to the lobby door, unlock it, then go up to the 3rd floor to our front door. We have two bedrooms and a loft. It's in the middle of a bunch of (nice) apartment buildings, so we'll have to refigure our routine and find some new stores, libraries, (we're closer to our pool now) for the month of August. Just another way we're sampling different ways to live here in this area. 

Rock Creek Gardens

We went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening and saw the Rock Creek Gardens -- a community garden area.  There were so many varieties of flowers, vegetables, and herbs growing.  Despite the rabbit fencing around most of it, we saw several small rabbits hopping around enjoying the feast.  Adjacent to the gardens are some of the horse stables.  Pretty area to have in your neighborhood.  Amazing that this is in the middle of a large city.

Our Nebraska Avenue DC home

Right through that white door

Main common area with couches and table (Tucker and Savannah are looking at a little remote control robot car on the ground)

Small kitchen area

Carson's Time at Goshen Scout Camp

I went to scout camp two weeks ago. It was fun. I earned five merit badges: Rifle shooting, Robotics, Canoeing, Space Exploration, and Chess. We woke up at about 6 in the morning and ate at 8. Then we went to Rifle shooting then Robotics. After that we went to lunch. Then we went to Canoeing then Space exploration. Lastly we went to Chess then to dinner in the dining hall. Then we had open hour and then we went to sleep in cots.

Rifle shooting was fun. I got 7 shots in the circumference of a dime with a bolt-action 22 rifle. It was kind of hard. We had fun instructors.

Robotics was fun too. We made line following robots out of lego mindstorms. Ours was almost done but it ended up not working.

Canoeing was fun. We learned how to canoe and how to jump out of it. We also learned how to capsize and flip over the canoe. It was my favorite.

In space exploration we launched rockets and made plans to go to Earf, Pluto's fake solid gold moon. My rocket was one of the few rockets that deployed its parachute.

In chess we learned the history and rules of chess. We learned the 'En Passent' move with pawns and castling with the king and rook.

Scout camp was really fun. Near the end we went to a watering hole that had a really strong current
that was fun to go down. We saw a snake swimming around in the water but it swam onto land.

Walking around the neighborhood

We went for a walk through the neighborhood this afternoon and caught this candid picture.

Tucker's Birthday

Today was Tucker's day; he couldn't contain his excitement as his birthday party approached. We decided to celebrate his birthday this afternoon.

Instead of a birthday cake, he decided that he wanted to make his own piñata.  With Angela's help, he made a paper mache piñata, which he filled with his favorite candies.

It survived several hits from each of our children before candy filled the patio.

Afterwards, he opened his presents and has been playing with them since.



















Tucker received this great geode kit from Grandma and Grandpa Aksland.

And Tucker was very excited to receive his favorite book from Aunt Andrea and Uncle Brent:




Carson and Tucker both used some money from Grandma and Grandpa Knight to help pay for a Nintendo Switch.

Pi Pizzeria, Bethesda

We love trying out the restaurants as we explore new areas.  Last weekend we went to Pi Pizzeria in Bethesda, MD.
As we entered, the scent of the baking dough assured us that this place was going to be great.

I've never looked forward to pizza with zucchini on it, but Angela ordered one and it was delicious.  I ordered the deep dish with the sauce above the toppings.  It was equally amazing.  We finished dinner off with their dessert which could not have been better.

Yes, that is a radiation symbol that we ate into the deep dish pizza.

Lafayette Elementary School Playground

We were shocked when we saw the local elementary school.  It was a large beautiful building.  Angela said that it looked like a college campus.  We are accustomed to the typical utilitarian schools so common across the country.

Lafayette Elementary is a few blocks from our airbnb.  

The kids loved playing at the community park next to the school.  It's pretty rare to find a playground that actually is fun and challenging at our kids' ages.  It seems like all of the parks now are so risk adverse that they have become boring.  This was a nice exception.

They even had some nice swings and a splash pad.

Family Workshop at the Peirce Mill at Rock Creek Park

While visiting the Peirce Mill, some generous volunteers hosted a Family Workshop.  They offered to help children make various old time crafts outside of the Peirce Wagon House.  Savannah decided to make her own corn husk doll.

Peirce Mill at Rock Creek Park

Peirce Mill is a water powered gristmill built in 1829 in the middle of what is now Rock Creek Park.  It operated continuously until 1897 when the wooden turbine shaft broke.

Several years ago, they completed the restoration and now operate it briefly on Saturdays at 11:00am.  We were fortunate enough to be there while they started it up.  What amazing engineering!



Well greased wooden gears and belts powered the machinery across all three floors of the mill.





There were several knowledgeable and friendly volunteers to help you learn about the history and engineering of the mill.







The creek looked so refreshing.  It was nice to sit by it for a few minutes.