Photobomb

Picture takers of the world beware - Sam has certainly embraced the Photobomb concept since he learned about it. Below is an example from the trip to Swallow Falls:

Colorful Breakfast

One day, Pete made his own fruit assortment for breakfast. It was so colorful, he had to take a picture.

Deep Creek Activities - Around the House

Activities around the vacation house at Deep Creek included:

Pete and Dad walking to a local Geocache over by the Adventure Sports Center.

Playing frisbee, football, baseball, and Eric's random games around the yard:

Dinner around the big table. Sam tried several new foods over the course of the weekend, including lasagna, cheeseburger, and hot dog:

Dessert:

Hot tub:

Sauna:

Lots of pool in the rec room:

And (eventually) some sleeping:

Deep Creek Activities - Around the Town

Pete and Sam enjoyed lots of activities around the WISP resort area at Deep Creek.

On Friday evening, they played a full 9 holes of frisbee golf with Mom, Dad, and Eric just before dinner. The "holes" were actually on the ski slope, which made them challenging just to walk through.

Saturday morning, Pete did the mountain coaster. On his second run, he proved that the brakes are truly optional - even at the end of the ride.

At Swallow Falls, Pete jumped from the high rock many times, including a front flip. In the picture below, he is jumping in with Steve and Eric:

Sam enjoyed climbing and swimming all around the area:

Sam also found a private cave in the rock formation:

Everyone rode the lift up to the top of WISP mountain, which passed tantalizingly close to the house before the ride back down:

Also, on Saturday morning Mom did some kayaking on the lake and Dad played golf at the resort course with Steve.

Deep Creek Lake

Pete and Sam had a great time at the first annual trip to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. There were 22 people staying for the weekend in one house.

Pictured from left to right are Tom/Katie/Jackson/Reagan, Thad/Kristin/Charlie/Colin, Steve/Laurie/Eric/Grace, Dad/Mom/Pete/Sam, Brian/Patti, and Gabe/Lora/Emma/Caroline.

Pete's 10th Birthday

Pete had a great 10th birthday party at the A.V. Symington Aquatic Center in Leesburg. This was the first party for Pete or Sam that was not held at home. The attendees were Pete, Sam, Corey, Mason, Pickle, Niloy, Brandon, Liam, Blake, Chris, Mitchell, Alexander, Sarah, Mom, Dad, and Nana. Click here for a short video taken on the lazy river.

Vacation Day 7

On the last day of vacation, Dad did some geocaching while Pete, Sam, and Mom went para-sailing with Nana.

While Mom packed up the car, Dad took Pete and Sam to the Woodstock skate park. Sam did a little bit of skateboarding. Pete and Dad also played some kickball.

Then it was off to Fredericksburg. The hotel in Fredericksburg was the Holiday Inn, which was right next door to the Holiday Inn motel where they had stayed before. Of course, Pete and Sam sang this song as they walked through the parking lot. This hotel was much nicer, and was a full suite. Pete and Sam said the vacation next time should be a 7-day stay at this hotel.

Vacation Day 6

It was a bit rainy, so Pete and Sam went to the Cape Henry lighthouse. After making it through the military checkpoint, it was off to the old lighthouse. The old brick lighthouse is the one people can climb inside, and from the top you can see the new black/white lighthouse across the street.

Pete showed us how to use the timer on the camera:

Sam holds up his lighthouse from the gift shop in front of the real deal:

The sun came out, so everyone headed back to the oceanfront for a final day of swimming. The red flag meant that there were dangerous swimming conditions, which meant good waves for Pete and Sam. They spent several hours, and were in the water almost the whole time.

Ashleigh came over to babysit, so Mom and Dad treated Nana/Poppy to dinner at Primo's. Ashleigh took the kids to Rita's for some Blendinis.

Vacation Day 5

Day 5 began with the first ever trip to Motor World. Pete and Sam arrived just after they opened at 10:00, and had the whole place to themselves. This may be because the forecast called for rain. Sure enough, pretty soon it started raining and the rides were closed. During the rain delay, Dad made the ill-fated decision of encouraging everyone to go on the NASCAR slide. So everyone was drenched by the time the rides re-opened about 30 minutes later.

The day continued with a trip to the Oceanfront for 3-D minigolf, North-End Pizza (and ice cream), and finally the beach.

Vacation Day 4

Day 4 of the Virginia Beach vacation started off with a fun trip to Kempsville Family Skating Center. To give you some idea about this place, their website is a Facebook page. Sam tried the roller skates but after a brief meltdown, and a $1 upgrade, he was happy to skate around in rollerblades. Once Pete and Sam found out that the music guy takes requests, it got even more fun skating to Dynamite, Billionaire, etc.

After picking up Sarah, it was off to Sandbridge for the first beach time of the trip.

That last picture is Brayden. He helped with building the sand hole. Sam asked him "what letter does your name start with?", to which Brayden replied "I thwee".

After dinner at Golden Corral with Sarah, Stacey, and Tim, Sarah slept over and everyone watched the new iCarly:

Old Rag - Year 2

Pete decided to climb Old Rag Mountain again this year for his birthday. He went with Dad, Jonathan, and Jonathan's friend Peter.

Pete made it all the way to the "Rock of Doom" before taking his first break. This is about a mile up the trail, just before the rock scramble:

Pete paused for another break at the first false front. The good news is that, although it has been a very hot summer, on this day it was cooler and very misty. It was even a bit chilly at the summit. Everyone got pretty wet from climbing through the clouds, and there were intermittent sprinkles as they climbed out of one cloud and into another:

Pete enjoyed the rock scramble as much as ever. He even made it leaping across the "crack of doom" this time. Here Pete pauses as he traverses another tricky gap:

At the summit, Pete was sad to see that his "bed" had water in it. But Pete and Dad had lunch in the bed area.

Pete went off to search for Peter, and was gone a while. When he returned, he told Dad that he had made friends with a deer, and he was petting it. Dad was not sure about this, but then the deer came back looking for Pete, and Dad snapped a picture:

On the trip down the back of the mountain, Pete needed a few more breaks. The descent is very hard on the knees. Dad noticed a leaf during one break, which they entitled "Happy Leaf With Bullet Hole in Forehead":

Finally, Pete began the final 2.5 mile hike down the road to the parking lot. Jonathan had already run ahead to the parking lot. Pete and Dad passed the time playing some Poohsticks, 100-ball and 50-ball:

Total hike was 10 miles, with 2,500 feet elevation gain.