February in Review.

Man, thank God for google photos. If you had asked me about the furious and fleeting month of February, I would have called it exhausting, work-filled (world events not really helping out with the work-life balance these days), and stressful. (Although I don't know if even Pentagon crises could reach the level of exhaustion attained by these boys after two early morning hours at a trampoline park.)

But when I scroll through my photos on a rare "down" evening, I run across snaps like these 

that remind me that life with F+F (largely thanks to a Grandma Jayne who makes a whole lot of dinners and sews character costumes) brought a whole lot of belly laughs and a fair amount of joy, too.

Apparently (according to google photos), this month we also found time for date night (Marc Cohn at the Birchmere, which was incredible) and jousting,

game night and conning little brothers into playing Polly Pocket,

and celebrations for everything from Chinese New Year's to Valentine's Day

to Mardi Gras.

Birthday parties came back with a vengeance

and we enjoyed every second.

The most important of which was, of course, the big guy's 39th. Which included, per usual, an impromptu celebration with DJ & crew, 

and also an amazing getaway to beautiful Smith Mountain Lake with the entire menagerie

for fishing and swimming,

hiking and 1980s arcade games,

Bert Kreischer and, randomly, alpacas.

We wrapped a whirlwind couple weeks with a Teacher Workday I managed to get off work, which we spent finally checking out the International Spy Museum (it was awesome and totally worth another trip, hint hint Lisa),

and eating our way through the DC Waterfront.

Who knows what March will bring? We are bracing ourselves and finding joy everywhere we can. The world is a crazy place these days. 

Even so, cheers to February, and a happy Valentine's Day/ 39 to the guy who keeps us in giant steaks and big laughs.

Oh, and also this, courtesy of Thrasher's Rum but basically also, everybody.