A quiet weekend

Drew and I had an unexpected date night on Friday because Ivy was finally back in town after three weeks in California, and her mom agreed to let Rachel come over for a sleepover. So, Drew and I managed to get a table at the Green Pig Bistro in Clarendon, which I have been wanting to try for a while, and then dessert at a place next door called the Bakeshop, with out-of-this-world cookies and ice-cream sandwiches. And then we saw the new Mission Impossible movie! It reminded us of when we used to be spontaneous in Portland, pre-Rachel.

This whole weekend was more relaxed than usual -- we had to ditch plans to go to Philadelphia because of financial concerns, and Rachel's brownie troop was holding a get-together at a local playground, anyway, so we decided to stay in town. I took Rachel to the get-together, following her on her new bike with gears and hand brakes (thanks again, Grandma and Grandpa!), and she insisted on doing some practice loops in the grass at the park. She fell a couple of times, but at least it was on grass. The get-together was okay; there is a new girl in the troop named Daggie (after an Ayn Rand character, her mom said, hastening to add that she doesn't agree with everything that Rand has to say) and Kira and April (Kira is Rachel's bestie) brought their dog, Sparky, that Rachel kept wanting to take for a walk -- she really needs a pet, but the owners of our house have vetoed all animals, including guinea pigs, hamsters and the like.

After the get-together, Rachel and I went to Tyson's Corner mall to shop for Drew's 50th birthday, which took most of the afternoon. When we got back, we were so tired that we fell asleep for about two hours. Then we decided to bike to a nearby playground, where we stayed for a half hour. We went to the Stray Cat for dinner, then tried a new ice-cream shop in Falls Church, which turned out to be EXCELLENT. And when we got home, it was so late that we just crashed.

On Sunday we had a lovely, if brief, visit with Uncle Dan and ended up spending most of the time talking about...computers, which was way more interesting than it sounds. And then Drew dropped me off at the Shady Grove Metro, and I took the train in to work. Had never taken that route before and it was interesting -- it's literally at the end of the line. Got into work a few minutes late, but otherwise, it was an uneventful night. Sundays usually are.