Happy New Year!

I was fortunate enough to have New Year's Eve off from work, and we made the most of it.

Drew had to work that day, and so I decided to take Rachel to Rebounderz (we pronounce it "Rebounderzzzzzzzz), a trampoline place in Manassas. I resolved to participate instead of just watching her at the playground, which I often do because it is so exhausting to try to catch her as she shimmies through the tiny openings in the various play structures. And I did -- I jumped, at times, more than she did. I even mastered running up the walls a bit. (And I paid for it for the next two days -- sore wrists, shoulders and stomach muscles, of all things.) We played the arcade games, too, and she actually did better than I did -- but graciously gave me one of her prizes, a puzzle-piece eraser. And she talked me into buying her a sugary drink that was a shade of blue not found in nature.

Meanwhile, Drew was being interviewed by Cox TV's Washington station for use around the country, for his posts on Congressional productivity! He was very excited, as am I.

And THEN we met back at home and headed for "Watch Night," a family-friendly New Year's Eve celebration in Falls Church. Rachel and Drew had gone in 2014, when I'd had to work, and they said it was definitely worth it. This year, of course, it was much warmer so we could do outdoor activities, which consisted mainly of inflatable slides. And in an astonishing coincidence, I ran into Ed Stephenson, a friend of mine from high school who used to live in McLean but moved away to Massachusetts just as we arrived. He, his wife and son were visiting old friends and he said he had a feeling he'd see me at the Falls Church event. We had a nice time catching up, although Rachel got bored after a while listening to the grown-ups talk.

We ended the evening at the Presbyterian Church, which had an excellent swing band (Drew and I even danced a bit), hot cider and cookies. We didn't stay to watch the drop of a mechanical star; instead, we got home around 11, got Rachel to bed at 11:40 p.m. and Drew and I stayed up long enough to wish each other a Happy New Year, then turned in.