This morning we went to a bowling alley for a get-together with a bunch of folks from all the kindergarten classes at McKinley (there are four). I almost didn't go; I was tired, I knew we had a full day of clothes shopping ahead (in anticipation of the day I get a permanent job, I need to wear clothes that are more suited for D.C. and less fleece and jeans, which I was able to get away with in my old job) and I wasn't feeling very social. But, I went anyway. And, boy, was it worth it. Rachel got to BOWL (and she did pretty well!); Drew and I chatted up a bunch of parents and had a long conversation with the parents of one of Rachel's friends, Simone, who apparently talks about Rachel all the time and refers to her as "one of my best buddies." Simone's dad is a public policy lawyer for Bank of America and his wife is a professor in the communications department at American University (and knows a former colleague of mine from the Oregonian who teaches there). She teaches about social media and is very interested in the work Drew does. I told him on the way back that he should really offer to teach a class there about working with data as a journalist. They would totally eat that up.
Rachel has been wanting to play with Ivy for the last day or so, and we were all set to go shopping at an outlet mall about an hour away, when Ivy's mom called and asked if Rachel wanted to come over. We ended up taking her over there and Jenny, Ivy's mom, graciously offered to let her stay most of the afternoon while Drew and I raced out to Potomac Mills. It helped that Billy, Jenny's husband, said he loves that mall and has gotten great bargains on clothes, and after we repeatedly asked Jenny if she was SURE she was OK with Rachel being there the whole day, we left. At the mall we bought cookies for all the kids as a thank-you, and then Drew bought jeans and I bought a bunch of things that will serve me well when I fully rejoin the working world. Before we knew it was 6, the mall was closing and we raced back to retrieve Rachel. Jenny had some work to do (she's a freelance technical writer) and so she was happy that Rachel kept Ivy occupied (Ivy's brother Liam was at a Scouting meeting). Ivy invited herself over for breakfast on Sunday, and Liam chimed in that he wanted to come, too, so...we'll have waffles and cinnamon tortillas (which Rachel will make) and bacon and orange juice, and I will probably make homemade hot chocolate. Maybe if it's really cold, Drew can build a fire....
It was early enough when we got back so we could have family movie night, so Drew got pizza and we settled in to watch a couple of episodes of "Angelina Ballerina," a British cartoon series about a mouse named Angelina who loves to dance. Then Drew took Rachel up for a bath, she said a teary good night to me (more on that later), Drew went out to grocery shop and I am about to put away my new clothes and go to bed. We are so fortunate to have neighbors who will volunteer to watch Rachel when we really need to go somewhere to get stuff done. And it's astonishing that it has happened so fast in a place where we've only been living since August.
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