A Visit to Alexandria

We hadn't seen Amy, Andrew, and Elijah since Christmas.  They find travelling with an 8-9-10-month old to be difficult, and our calendar has been jam-packed full of obligations.  So we were delighted when it turned out that all of us were available for part of this weekend.

We didn't get off as early as anticipated on Friday; it was close to three o'clock when we left, and we expected the traffic to be just terrible.  But we were fortunate -- it really wasn't dreadful and we arrived Alexandria after about three and a half hours.

Eli is a real sweetheart.  He isn't at all shy and he's very engaging.  Obviously, he's a good eater, and he gets around quite easily using the famous Army crawl.  He didn't hesitate a bit when I wanted to feed him, and he went to Joe without a qualm.

His early weeks had been stressful as his parents dealt with some digestive issues, but he's emerged as a happy baby who goes to sleep without argument and absolutely loves the family dog.

I don't believe I've ever met a baby as energetic as Eli is.  He'll bounce and stamp for longer than 20 minutes when he's in this contraption, which he's nearly outgrown.

Andrew and Amy were terrific and gracious hosts.  Saturday morning Amy made a delicious brunch and I indulged in a piece of her amazing chocolate chip coffee cake. They'd invited another couple and their baby daughter to join us and it was nice to see their friends again and to meet their little girl.  Saturday night Andrew grilled pork chops for us.

After lunch on Saturday Andrew drove us all into D.C. as it was about the peak bloom of the cherry blossoms.  There were, as someone observed, about as many people as there were blossoms, and the weather was kind of iffy, so we didn't get out and walk around there, but came back to their neighborhood and walked there.

We left for home around seven o'clock on Saturday night and, again, were blessed by a dearth of traffic, arriving home safe and sound at about ten-thirty.