July was busy and very, very hot. In fact, it was the hottest July on record in the Washington DC area, with temperatures regularly in the high 90s and sometimes exceeding 100 with the humidity. Despite the heat and increasingly ferocious mosquitoes, the kids enjoyed playing in their new backyard. The swings have gotten much use, as has the plastic kiddy pool that we bought at Walmart for $12. Vivian is particularly fond of stripping to her diaper and taking a dip.
Over the month, we welcomed several visitors to our new home. In early July, Mimi Pauline drove down from Michigan and brought several pieces of antique furniture for our living room. Thank you, Mimi Pauline! She also gave us a new handheld vacuum, which Bryant quickly fell in love with it, much to Elise’s scorn.
At the end of the month, the Baker-Brown family (Dawn, Emily and Alexander – we missed you Stokes!) paid a visit. To keep cool, we hung out at the pool and went for a boat ride on the Potomac. At noon, the local river boat company does a pirated-themed cruise around Alexandria Harbor, which involved donning eye patches, brandishing plastic swords and accosting the local yachtsmen with “Ahoy, there! We be Potomac pirates. Prepare to be boarded. Aaaaargh.” Not sure if it was the heat or the ridiculous pirate costumes, but Henry didn’t seem too impressed. He did, however, enjoy spending time with his cousins, and was particularly excited to show Alexander his action figures, cars and dinosaurs.
Between visits, we also celebrated July 4th with friends from our daycare center, hosted a BBQ with the Powell family, and celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. To mark our anniversary, we had dinner (sans kids) at the Columbia Firehouse restaurant in Old Town. There was a slight break in the heat, and we were able to eat on the restaurant terrace. It was a nice, low-key meal, during which we enjoyed trading smug comments about the childless couples seated next to us. They seemed blissfully unaware of what lay ahead! Afterward, we strolled down to the river where Alexandria city was having its founder’s day fireworks celebration. We lingered on the waterfront to watch the fireworks, which seemed like a perfect way to end the evening.
