Glen Echo

Here's where Ali and I would have met if we'd lived in Washington in the 1940's or 1950's. We almost met there in 2000. I was taking Swing dance lessons there at the Spanish Ballroom - hoping to meet Ali. As it turned out, Ali was just about to move to DC and didn't know anything about the Spanish Ballroom. If she did know about it, I'm sure she would have signed up for the same class I did. We ended up meeting in September 2000, shortly after I'd finished my series of Swing dance classes. I asked her to go to a Swing dance night at the America restaurant in Tysons, figuring I could impress her with my skills.

The problem was, in class we'd only practiced to pieces of the same songs over and over. And I'd grown accustomed to those little song segments. We'd never danced from start to finish and I'm a terrible dancer anyway, so after Ali I started dancing that night, I quickly realized I was in trouble. Plus, we were surrounded by all the Swing dance pros that go to all these Swing dances and make sure the amateurs know they are just amateurs and should probably get out of the way, which we did.

I don't know why it took us until today to finally visit Glen Echo park together. But they had done so much to renovate the park since I last saw it, so it was almost like we were both seeing it together for the first time.

A bit of background: Glen Echo was an amusement park at the end of a streetcar line that was pretty popular in DC from the time streetcars were in operation until the late 1960's. The National Park Service has been slowly renovating all the Art Deco-style buildings.

We had a great time today with Jake and Sadie, walking around and checking out the Spanish Ballroom, the Arcade, what's left of the Crystal Pool, riding the little train and the beautifully restored 1921 carousel.

Here's Sadie with the lights of the Carousel behind her:
And here's Jake riding the Carousel:

Bathtime

We've had to give Jake a bath almost every night this week since we've been playing in the giant dirt pit across the street where Jamie and Craig's house used to be. They've dug out the foundation, and finally started pouring some concrete today. The guys usually clear out around 4pm, and then neighbors all come out soon after, either checking out their progress, or playing in the dirt (the two groups are usually broken out by age, but not always.) Jake loves climbing on the dirt piles, and then loading up his little dump truck while making this face and dump truck noises. Sometimes he and I walk down dirt piles holding hands, and if he slips a little he says excitedly: "Jake has roller skates!" He's a little obsessed with roller skates. He can spot a kid wearing heelys 10 Target aisles away. "ROLLER SKATES!!"

Countdown to June 25

Here are some of the custom-designed, limited edition finger-painted birthday party invitations that Jake delivered to the neighbors yesterday. I thought Jake did a great job (and I think Ali might have helped too). We're getting excited for Jake to turn two, but he seems uninterested so far. About this time two years ago, we were probably sitting around analyzing Braxton Hicks contractions and wondering whether we were having a boy or a girl. Time flies.

Happy Father's Day!

Jake was SO excited for Father's Day that he woke up bright and early at 5:30 this morning! He knew I wouldn't want to sleep in and waste a minute of this day. Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there - especially Mike and Jack.