July

This is the first in my "Back in Orbit" series, after the busiest summer ever. As for June... well I don't even remember June. There was a June this year, right? If it weren't for the pictures I'd forget everything.

Now, back to July...

Back in Arkansas, we had two big parties at our house every year, the first of which was the annual 4th of July "McSplosion". The fireworks laws in Arkansas are much looser than here in Virginia, which nicely complemented the pyromanic tendencies of yours truly and his youngest son. In fact, when Calvin was told that Virginia didn't allow mortors and rockets, his response was immediate: "That's it. We're moving back to Arkansas"

This year we were in search of a new family tradition for Independence Day. And it needed to be one that (dare I say it) will rival the McSplosion party in the hearts and memories of Calvin and Hobbes. So, along with half a million others, we hit the road for our nation's Capitol.

... and here is a picture of Calvin and me with Bei-Bei for her first Metro ride on our way in.

The Air and Space Museum is a required stop for every trip to DC

Bei-Bei heads up the steps of the Museum of Natural History

Once the rain stopped, we had a great view aside the Washington Monument.

The day was a hit, although the kids were a little freaked out by the crowd in the Metro afterwards. Next year I think we will stay the night.

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A couple weeks later, Grandma R came for her first visit since our move...

...and of course we had to go to the beach. We do love the beach.

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And we love the water, too, you know. So... about that pool... No commitment yet, but the land does need to be cleared.

'nuf said.

Hot enough for ya?

Try 100 degrees hot. That's what we got today. K-Mom and the boys are really missing the pool at our Bentonville house, so she went to Sam's Club and bought something to hold us over until we get an in-ground built here (no timeline on that one).Grandma D. Looks on while K-Mom, Calvin, and Bei-Bei wave for the camera. Hobbs shows off his gills.

Bei-Bei unsure of the "big tub". Calvin... not so much.


Calvin shows Bei-Bei how to do it.


Hobbs and Bei-Bei share a happy (and cool) moment.

Hey! I'm walkin' here!

Here is our Bei-Bei, taking some of her first steps today. Hard to believe.

Harder to believe is all that’s happened since last I blogged… we celebrated Bei-Bei’s first Easter, she got a bunch of teeth, we moved to Virginia, we unpacked, and unpacked, and unpacked. We had a garage sale (which sucked) and then donated that stuff to Diversity Thrift so that we could continue to unpack, unpack, and unpack. I must give credit to K-Mom for doing most of the heavy lifting with the unpacking (except the actual “heavy lifting”).

One challenge is that our previous house in Bentonville was a builder’s home and loaded with all the built-ins you could imagine, which we had loaded with “stuff”. We never had to get rid of anything… there was always a place for it. Now we have more stuff than places.

Another big project is the Garage. The Bentonville house had three bays, about 30’ deep, an 18’ double door, and a 9’ single… 1,200 square feet (imagine Tim Allen grunting here). The new house has two and a half bays, a 16’ double and an 8’ single… 600 square feet. More stuff without a space, yes, but we have a finishable attic (now crammed with “stuff”) and a basement. The basement, for the most part, is filled with Grandma D’s “stuff” as she waits for her house to sell in Pea Ridge, AR so she can begin looking for her own place here in Richmond.

In the meantime, W-Corp is going through a restructuring that involves lay-offs and changes in strategy that isn’t making life at the office quite what the brochure made it out to be. No worries, though… this is the nature and cycle of things.

Last weekend, Memorial Day weekend, was our first non-unpacking weekend since we got here (which is not to say we are done with that… but, hey, it’s a holiday). Our niece, Madison, who lives with her dad in Raleigh spent the weekend with us.

Saturday we spent the day at King’s Dominion amusement park, which is about 20 miles from our house. Sunday we hung out at the house and went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Then on Monday we braved the crowds at Virginia Beach. I’ll close this post with some pictures from our day at the beach.

First is a sequence of Hobbs' showing off his most excellent boogie boarding skills...

Yep. He's under there.

Here is Calvin, happiest near one of his two primary elements (the other being fire).

SPF 150 works just fine for Grandma D and me...

Cousin Madison takes a break from the waves...

And finally, this shot of K-Mom introducing Bei-Bei to her first wave.