Discovery Trail

This summer, Fairfax County held a promotional scavenger hunt of sorts to encourage residents to get out and enjoy their parks. Participants were given a pamphlet with a map, some information on the participating parks, and a bingo style grid with the parks' names in the squares. The object of the game was to fill in the grid with stickers. Each park had a particular sticker, and contestants had to go to eight of the twelve parks in order to get the stickers. Of course they did this in the summer because it was over 100 degrees and the only way to get a bunch of air-conditioned city mamas outdoors was to offer an "amusement package" and free bicycle for the grand prize winner.

Neither Gigi nor Noemie have bikes so with 4 weeks left of the promotion, we jumped right in at full speed. It has turned out to be a huge blessing, and a much needed respite from our frequent trips to the bank and post office, and it also helped us to scout places to take friends and family when they visit. So far we have visited 6 parks: Colvin Mill, Huntley Meadows, Hidden Oaks, Riverbend, Green Spring Gardens, and Frying Pan Farm.

So far no one has come home with any ticks or poison ivy. I only lost one child but he was eventually found. The only significant frustration has been that I have had to do all my hiking in flip-flops. Somehow, and it really was an accident, I ended up here with three pairs of flip flops and zero tennis shoes. Nothing like treading farm dust in flip flops to make you want to sterilize your feet.

Focusing on the hunt has allowed us to take our mind off of the fact that we are still living in a hotel. Seven weeks.... Dominic says, "When you think about time, it goes slow. But when you don't think about it, it zips by like a proton torpedo." So we're trying not to think about it.

Instead, we are thinking about parks. And our van. Which is dying.

We came up here knowing that we needed to buy Danny a commuter car. But apparently our drive to Riverbend Park last Saturday was the last straw for our Hyundai Entourage. While idling at the grocery store on the way back into town, the car began overheating. Now, anytime we get stuck in traffic, we watch the temperature rise and rise and rise... we could hear the radiator bubbling on our way home from errands this afternoon. Danny was turning off the car anytime traffic stopped for more than 30 seconds. It was pretty tense, my eyes darting from traffic to temperature gauge.... to dashboard clock... because, as if our car predicament wasn't enough, we were also pressed to be home within half an hour so Danny could get 3 hours of sleep before he went in for the midnight shift. If our car were to explode (as Tovi and I believed was entirely possible) then we, if we survived the explosion, would have to wait for a tow truck to come and Danny wouldn't get to sleep before work and then, I am convinced, he was going to die of sleep deprivation. So as you can see, there was a lot of life-or-death stress happening for me this afternoon. And I am still not recovered.

But Gigi was never phased. Because she is never phased. She will be in mid-air of a scary fall shouting, "I'm ok!" She may have one of those falls soon as she is at this moment jumping on the bed in her underwear singing, "I am Aly Raisman. Aly Raisman doesn't like spankings." 

We finally got a townhome out in South Riding. My parents are flying up this weekend and, Lord willing, our household effects arrive on Monday. As for the cars, we are praying that God provides something awesome. Specifically, two somethings awesome, really really soon. 

Finding a home

On the drive home from a restaurant tonight, Danny was giving the kids bedtime instructions for our return back home, when his words sort of struck me .... "When we get back to the hotel...."

We are living in a hotel. I had forgotten my reality, that we are in fact on our 5th week of living in hotels. This is a rather unusual hotel because a significant number of the guests work in the same department as Danny. Most people here have just come back from living in a foreign country and are staying here for several months while they prepare for the next assignment. The kids here are different. They speak several languages; they climb trees and wander unsupervised, walking around with their heads held high, opening doors for others like tiny little diplomats. On the playground, they act out intense battles with nerf crossbows, sometimes dressed as obscure Star Wars characters. Nobody comments, as if that were common playground attire. On the tennis court their game morphs fluidly into one involving scooters, balls, and walkie-talkies. Most of these self-confident kids don't live anyplace long enough to waste time trying to figure out what is cool or who is in the in-crowd. They live in the moment, personalities without the filters of self-consciousness, and any kid who jumps into their imaginary scenario is carried right along into the action. I feel like I am surrounded by Dominics.

Kids aren't the only unusual thing around here- Danny called me into the living room a few nights ago, alarmed that he had caught a creature that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings. He seemed genuinely concerned that this creature was not earthly. It was in fact, a centipede. Centipedes aside, things are better than I expected. Our kids are getting older and that makes life easier even if it makes me sad. People are less likely to stare at me with four kids trailing behind me than the four babies that I brought the first time we came to live near D.C. Danny leaves for work by 5 am to take the first metro into town. He's in bed before 10 every evening. But he's home by 3 in the afternoons and the kids love that. That's an extra three hours of Papi per day! We miss our familiar routines though. Gigi peeing the bed is an ordeal that includes calling in room service. A lack of routine means more chances for mishaps. Gigi took advantage of my distraction the last time the maintenance man came and hid my phone in the pantry. I was in the middle of a text conversation with my friend so I was anxious to find it. In the meanwhile, Dominic was yelling, "How do you spell 'equatorial?'" over Noemie complaining that Dominic took her pen, over Gigi whining that she wanted a snack... So thankful for these soundproof walls. Thankful for the new carpet too. It looks like bean sprouts, which reminds me of my friend Heather. I miss my friends. Not in the home-sick, blubbery, crawl-up-in-a-couch-and-eat-nothing-but-icecream-for-days kind of way, but sometimes I get close.

I've been reading a really great book on education lately, the kind that crosses your mind when you watch the Libertarian political debate or when you brush your teeth. It's a paradigm shifter. I would recommend it to everyone, especially educators (which most of us are in some capacity, I think). 

Noemie is now singing the Star Wars theme song to block out Dominic's voice who is arguing that she doesn't respect him. The book is "A Thomas Jefferson Education" which obviously, my children lack. 

We spent our first two weeks here house hunting. Day 1 of house hunting was a bit discouraging. We were in Burke, about 17 miles from Danny's office, where homes in our budget average 1500 sq ft, are built in 1980s and generally carpet top to bottom with few updates to kitchen and lighting. The next day we focused on Ashburn, about 25 miles from Danny's office, an area developed within the last 10-15 years. By our third day of searching, we had dragged our poor, pregnant real estate agent up and down through countless flights of stairs at over 20 tri-level properties. She didn't seem the worse for wear but I was starting to hate my own indecision and pickiness so I picked the loveliest of the bunch, signed off all the paperwork and submitted the application fee, then went home and had an anxiety attack. We waited out the week and gladly surrendered our claim when the owner tried to negotiate an earlier move-in date. I had not trusted in the Lord to find the perfect place and I had settled too soon.

The next week our agent went on vacation. Maybe my fault. So we got a substitute agent and went out again. Too dark...too much carpet...no outdoor space... One occupied home had an Indian family staring silently at us as we walked through- the entire middle level smelled like curry, and the bottom floor had a room full of utility shelving overflowing with shoes (that smelled like fish), and a very large, glowing Hindu shrine. A friend of mine tried to comfort me saying, "You'll only be there for a year!" But then what? Maybe it's Bangladesh! Maybe it's... more D.C.! We found a place yesterday that seemed perfect. We are still waiting to hear if we got it. Ultimately I know God is in control.

These are more of my friends and I miss them. But I'm not crying.

I also miss having pedicured feet. Not...crying....