Rambling Around Reston

Yesterday my husband Chris, our son A.J., and I spent the afternoon exploring the town of Reston, Virginia, with our friends Chris and Alexis and their son Robert. We attended Reston's "Taste of the Town," which offered food samples from many of the city's restaurants and included a "Kids Corner" with a Lego model of Reston, a caterpillar-shaped "moon bounce," and a face-painting booth. We also played for several hours at a local swimming pool, then capped off the day with a leisurely dinner at the Macaroni Grill.

A.J. takes a close-up look at a Lego train while Robert muses

I think our time at the pool was everyone's favorite activity of the day. It was a really hot day -- in fact, we cut short our time at the "Taste of the Town" event because of the heat -- so it was really nice to cool off in the water. The pool we played in also has a really interesting system of fountains and pipes with holes for water to spray through or drip on people. A.J. and Robert had a lot of fun splashing everyone and sitting on a small fountain to make the water puff up their swim trunks. For my part, I enjoyed just cooling off. I also was very happy when another of our friends, Laura, showed up with her parents and her two daughters Riverly and Annie. Laura and her husband Charles just moved to Reston last week and are still busy unpacking. I'm glad she decided to take a break and come play with us at the pool, even if she was too busy or tired to join us the rest of the day.

Both Alexis and my husband Chris noted that yesterday was the first time in months that either of them had spent the day just enjoying themselves. My husband Chris recently received his Master's degree in public policy, and Alexis is in a distance-learning program to become a pharmacist. We all commiserated with one another about the challenge of juggling work, school, and childcare. My husband Chris and I are still trying to get used to the idea that he has finished school, that taking time to have fun no longer means we are stealing time from his studies. Alexis, though, still has several years to go before she finishes her program. Despite that, I hope we will all have a chance to have fun together again soon.