Moments from May

After a year of a somewhat normal schedule for Phil, May brought a full month of travel. While Dad was away, we were fortunate to have grandma with us for a few weeks – what a treat! The weekdays were filled with work and school, but grandma got to see lots of Will’s baseball games…

Early Blooms

Normally an April event, the peak cherry blossom bloom this year was predicted to be 22 March by the Park Service thanks to a moderate winter and some early season warming. I can’t remember if we had been back since 2017 but I was up to my usual pre-blossom viewing grumbles this year. Rain all…

All of the Gluten

I’m not sure what prompted it, maybe a post-holiday / post-vacation rut, but I spent an unusual amount of time working with dough and trying to figure out sourdough levain in February. The intent was for the two activities to be linked. Step one: perfect a levain. Step two: use it once a week to…

New Year, Old Haunts

You may stick us on the East Coast and not give us a flake of snow for the winter but you can’t keep us off the slopes forever! Well, three of us anyway. We’re still working on the skiing part for Mere but she enjoys the quiet time and beautiful views during the days and…

Ho Ho Ho

What’s better than Christmas with family? Not. A. Thing. Well, maybe Christmas with a little bit of snow on the ground but that is kind of splitting hairs. The lead up to the end of the month was spent listening to Christmas music, taking evening spins through the neighborhood to see the lights, and prodding…

A Full House

Hooray for visitors! The house of four (plus one Lucy) swelled to ten for our first Thanksgiving in Alexandria. Dad and Elaine flew in for a few days with us then Gabe, Laura, and crew joined us for the big feast. We spent our time playing outside during the day and finding reasons to start…

Weekend Adventures

If you live in DC (we’ll count those of us on the west side of the river in that group – blaspheme!), you know you need to escape on the weekends to soak up all the area has to offer. This weekend escape was hatched from a confluence of ideas. We ain’t no strangers to…

August in the DMV

Crab cakes and football are a Maryland thing so I guess crabs and baseball can be a Virginia thing. Summer in the DC area is sure to be one thing: humid. If you want something besides the humidity you need to venture out into the humidity and grab it! We did our best to not…

On The Road Again

Busy schedules at the departure spot and the destination meant separate road trips for the Wiktors. Sophia volunteered to go with dad (and Lucy) and took the lead planner role. After a quick intro to Google Maps, she got to work figuring out good stops on the drive and picked all the hotels. I had…

Sun-downing SoCal

Never enough time seems to be a common theme. June put the exclamation mark on that statement as we readied for yet another move (number six since 2006!). We did our best to spend our days doing the things that make Carlsbad stand out as one of our favorite spots on the map. Sophia closed…