More Fun with the Smiths

Sophia really appreciates her home and family, and we have pretty much stuck to that during the day.  On Tuesday, July 5, we went to Marion Park ( just across the street) for a sketching session and to play in the playground.  I started what I thought would be a nice sketch, but overworked it.  We bagged that and went to "Good Stuff" for lunch.  They have great milkshakes, but were out of chocolate--my favorite.  We ordered malted milk, but also got a free strawberry shake because of an order mixup.  After that, we spent time at home doing puzzles and playing Candyland.  We also had some art sessions. Sophia really loves those.  I just love her sunflower painting.

It was a Tuesday...so, of course, we had dinner at Mr. Henry's.  It's getting to be even more fun for me as I meet more people. 

Wednesday, Peter went to work early and Louisa worked from home, so I walked Griffin to soccer camp.  Coach David is great, and I watched the guys warm up: 

They work hard and won a tournament match they had later in the week.

Later that day, Sophia, Griffin and his friend Griffeth set up a lemonade stand and made some pretty good money.  They also gave away outgrown clothes and used donations they got from that for an animal rescue fund.  Here's how the lemonade stand looked:

Sophia and I are both fans of gelato.   There are two main reasons.  One is that gelato is ice cream and is cold and creamy and delicious.  The other is that we like to discuss Italian things, and we know that Italians call ice cream gelato.  So on Thursday (July 7) we went to a new gelato place.  I had dark chocolate and Sophia had banana.  I tested both and they were great.   Something went wrong with my pictures, though.  Trust me, we had happy faces.

In the late afternoon, we went to the Folk Life Festival at the Smithsonian.  Actually, they hold it on the Capitol Mall.  I was very impressed.  It really is TOPS.  The themes this year were Columbian Culture, Rhythm and Blues, and the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps.  I spent most of my time at the "Motor City Stage," where there was great R&B.  Here's a picture of the kids enjoying it:

We also played drums and games in the Columbian village setup and had great food.  The Folk Life Festival happens every year in early July, and has different themes each year.  In addition, it was close to the carousel, so here's a picture of me and Sophia on the carousel:

On Friday, Louisa came home at lunchtime and took Sophia and me to a great neighborhood place called Zest.  I had a smoked turkey sandwich that may have been the best turkey sandwich I have ever had.  It was amazing.  We planned on going to either the Folk Life Festival or Yards Park Friday evening, but we had some pretty bad storms come through....so just took it easy at home.

I went to my sketching class on Saturday morning, which was at the New York Trapeze School.  It isn't in New York, but actually near Yards Park.  That was amazing, too.  I had trouble getting good sketches because it was so interesting....and the trapeze students moved so fast!

After that, I went to the National Gallery of Art and saw a show assembled from the Chester Dale collection.  What an amazing collector he was...with the help of his wife.  Picasso, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Casset, Dali, Matisse, Degas, etc.  And it is first class work!  I was most impressed with Modigliani.  I must have seen originals before, but the ones in this show had amazing skin tones.....the figures seemed to glow.  Mr. Dale bought at a time when prices weren't as high as they are now, but he set a record when he bought Manet's The Old Musician in 1930.  His gifts to the National Gallery have definitely contributed to making the National Gallery the institution it is today.   I had a great Italian buffet lunch.  Just like being in Bologna!  Later, I had a great Italian dinner with Louisa and Chantel.  An excellent culinary day.

Sunday we went to the Torpedo Factory, and that was fun.  We saw a great guy playing music on the plaza there, and he asked Sophia to be in his band.  She played marimba.  I didn't get any good pictures of that, but here's her band leader:

Still having fun....more to see and do.