Father's Day 2012

So far, Bryant and Elise are both keeping up with their respective hobbies.  Elise is continuing to train for the Marine Corps Marathon in October, and has been taking longer and longer runs.  Bryant continues to experiment in the kitchen, cooking mostly French recipes.  He has become a devotee of Laura Calder, which will be the subject of a future post.  All that Bryant wanted for Father's Day was a few hours alone in the kitchen to cook a special meal: blanquette de veau (veal stew).  So, Elise took the kids to the playground, and when she returned, we all celebrated with a nice dinner on the back deck.  Check out the new beard!

Cousin Regan's Baptism

Bryant and Henry traveled to Huntsville in early June for the christening of our newest niece/cousin, Regan Alexis Morris, born to Kevin and Templa on February 10th, 2012.  Henry was a bit mischievous during the ceremony (that's him crashing the family photo at the very bottom) but had a great time hanging out with his cousins and visiting with Mimi and Paw Paw and the rest of his extended Alabama family.  Below are some photos from the christening.
 

 

 

Scenes from a Birthday

June was a busy month for birthdays.  On the first weekend of the month, we had four (4!) birthday parties to attend, not to mention swim class and Spanish lessons.  Gone are the days of simple backyard birthdays.  Today's kids expect something more elaborate.  The festivities in June included a tour of the Falls Church Volunteer Fire Station, a "snake party" at the Glen Echo Park Living Classrooms, an indoor moon bounce party, an outdoor moon bounce party (with a pirate theme), pony rides, and Vivian's personal favorite: a princess dress-up party.  The princess party was for Sara Powell, daughter of our friends Brad and Tonia Powell.  Vivian absolutely LOVED this party and has been talking about it ever since.  She's already made very clear that this is where she wants her next birthday party.  Below are some pictures from the afternoon:

 

 

And it wasn't just kids' birthdays that we celebrated.  Paw Paw had a birthday in early June, and Mimi Pauline drove down from Michigan to celebrate her 70th birthday with us in Alexandria.  To mark the occasion, Bryant cooked a special meal: beef tenderloin, accordion potatoes, green beans with hazelnuts and creme fraiche and, for dessert, "chocolate framboise" (basically, chocolate mousse cake with whipped cream and fresh raspberries)...and, of course, Pauline's favorite red wine, Tempranillo Rioja.  Happy Birthday, Mimi Pauline!