The first week of school was kind of cool and rainy and that trend continued on Saturday. We started off the day going to the community Fall Festival. There were a lot of "tastes" offered by the local restaurants, but we were there for the inflatables and ponies. After consulting the ticket prices, Geek Girl decided on the bounce house, the obstacle course, the Kid-a-pillar, and the Pony Ride. She really wanted cotton candy, but we managed to avoid the sugar high.
Later in the evening our plan was to go to the simulcast of the opera at the Nationals Ballpark. In preparation I had read Geek Girl the summary of Barber of Seville and we watched the Rabbit of Seville on You Tube. The gates were supposed to open at 5:30 pm and I thought leaving our apartment at 4:45 pm would have been fine. Oh, how much I missed reliable Zürich pubic transportation. It turns out they were doing track maintenance. Thus, a usually 40 minute ride took over an hour. We were waiting at security when they showed Rabbit of Seville on the big screen.
We met colleagues of Daddy Geek on the outfield about halfway between second base and where the center fielder hangs out. I left Geek Girl with popcorn and water and went in search of Chicken Tenders for her dinner (I had packed a sandwich for myself). After waiting 15 minutes in a line that was barely moving, I decided that I really didn't want to wait another 15 - 20 minutes longer and ended up buying her gelato. Yep, instead of buying her protein, I bought her dessert. At first she complained that she was too cold to eat ice cream, but after bundling her up in her hoodie and rain jacket, she managed to finish the chocolate gelato.
Here she is watching the opera.
And here's a view of the screen.
The sound and picture were really quite good and I was able to see a lot more than I normally can back in the cheap seats. We left at the intermission (the 7th inning aria) and hoped that the Metro ride home would not be as long as the ride there. However, we stopped for long times at each of the stations and it took us longer to get home. Oh well. Next weekend we have tickets for Walking with Dinosaurs and we might have to consider driving in if they plan to do track maintenance again.
Sunday the sun decided to shine again and my brilliant plan was to go to Potomac Overlook Park. However, I didn't count on a company picnic taking over the park (when cars are parking on street you know that's not a good sign). So we decided to go home to drop off the car and walked to our local cafe for a snack and then to the nearby elementary school to play.
Sounds like a fun weekend!
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