Old faces (& old places), bringing in a New Year (and decade)

We finished out 2019 at my parents' house in my "hometown" (HS town) of McLean, Virginia.
We have been here for visits and some holidays a few times in the last decade (Christmas 2017, Fall 2015, and December 2010, although our rural west coast rural location, my work/call schedule, and our larger family of four (plus a dog) makes travel here pretty challenging (we were in OC for Christmas in 2015, and other years we've hosted Kelvin's family and/or I've been working). 


While a few of the friends with whom I'd hoped to meet were unavailable while we were in town, we visited with my godparents, sister/Marco, and were able to spend time on two different days with Mindy, my (senior year) college roommate and great friend (who was a bridesmaid in our wedding), who just happened to be in town from South Africa with her South African husband Riaan and almost 9-month-old son, Xander.

On our first day here, the boys opened a few more family Christmas gifts, which gave them some toys to play with while here instead of just destroying my parents' living room.

The magic set from V and Marco was a big hit!

 Stripy Niall loves his uncle Marco and asks for him frequently!

Iver demonstrates his multi-column math to auntie V

Fun with animal masks

Dinner at my parents' dining table

Laundry basket antics

Iver, my mom, and I went to a cute Nutcracker puppet production in Glen Echo Park, MD.

We were supposed to meet Mindy and Riaan at the National Zoo but due to rainy weather on Monday, we headed for the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum instead (but were also able to join them at the zoo the next day!).  I was super bummed to not be able to make it to their wedding in South Africa, and the last time we saw Mindy was in 2013 when we visited her in Moscow, but we didn't miss a beat in picking up conversation. Mindy is one of my favorite people in the world (and a great person to travel with-- we had a quality decade-ago 2009 Peru trip together, which is actually about when Kelvin and my relationship took off!), and I so wish we lived closer to one another (i.e. on the same continent!).

Kelvin mostly watched the boys while Mindy and I caught up strolling around the (crowded) museum.

We stayed dry and enjoyed some lunch at a Korean rice and noodle bar nearby The Mall.

We were blessed with the sight of a double rainbow over the National Monument leaving the city on GW Parkway (I wish the phone-through-a-window quality of this photo could have been better, as it was a spectacular sight!).

On Tuesday, the sun was out and we visited the National Zoo (our last visit there was in 2017 with then three-year-old Iver), and met up again with Mindy and her family (alas, we took many photos of animals but no photos together!).

 

The kids loved the pandas

A red panda, like we have in Eureka

 Big cats!

Cheetahs

 Tigers!

(Iver learned that an adult tiger eats about a 35-pound amount of food for a meal. "That's my exact weight!" he exclaimed with surprise [and horror]).

Lion (who gave us a roaring demonstration).

Fennec fox

Snapping turtle, posing!

An orangutan was free to climb across some ropes to his enclosure

The kids enjoyed several trips to the the amazing playground, Clemyjohntri, near Langley in McLean.

(there was even some warm-ish, winter-in-California-like weather) to enjoy

Kelvin took the boys to roam around nearby Tyson's mall.

The next generation, visiting my old alma mater

There was time spent "learning" to play the piano

I even played some tunes after a long (years' long) absence from playing the piano!

 

Playing "animals" and reading with Grandpa ("Dampa" is how Niall prounces it), Grandma ("Damma"), and Auntie "Vayessa"

On New Year's Eve, John & Inara (my godparents) and Vanessa & Marco joined us for snacks, drinks, and stories.

("Happy Ne(phe)w Year," Vanessa quipped!)

 

None of us made it up until midnight (it was about a 10:30 p.m. bedtime for me) but we had some good food and conversation.

Next-day New Year smiles

While I tend to blog about fun adventures and post lots of smiling photos, this is a reminder that times are tough for many (myself included) a lot of the time.  I am breathing a sigh of relief that December is over, and I am looking forward to and hopeful for more joy, less frustration and anxiety (about the environment, world events, our country's politics, parenting, work, and other) in the new year and decade. I am constantly reminding myself that progress, not perfection, is my goal in all areas of life.

May your year and days hold more sunshine than rain...

Happy New Year (and new decade!) to all.