On The Beach

Pete and Sam played some fun games on the beach.

- Finding fiddler crabs
- Hole-digging
- "I'm not going to make it"
- Makeshift GPS hunts for buried football / frisbee
- Dive-ball
- Foot Washer
- Dig pool for Sam
- Green / Baltor / Balravia / Balraptor

Pete and Sam making sure their hole has an adequate "water exit tunnel":

Looks like they're going to need some help re-applying sunscreen:

Virginia Beach Children's Museum

We had a great time at the Children's Museum of Virginia in Norfolk. It is probably the best of the many Children's Museums we have been to.

King of Dinner

One night at dinner, Sam was wearing a crown that he made earlier that day in Vacation Bible School. We proclaimed that he was King of Dinner.

By the way, surprisingly he actually ate something that night for dinner. Although it was only Ritz crackers.

Lego Room

Everyone had fun in the Lego room at the Virginia Beach Children's Museum.

Sam built a structure he called "China":

Dad built one he called "Dexter":

And Pete and Sarah built a pyramid:

Bookmobile

After playing tennis, Dad and Pete took a quick stop at the Virginia Beach Bookmobile on the way back to the house. Pete had never heard of a Bookmobile before, and Dad hadn't been in one for about 25 years.

Pete got a book for himself (The Adventures Of Super Diaper Baby) and a book for Sam (Spider-Man Versus Doc Ock).

Vacation Tennis

Dad and Pete played tennis two times on vacation (three times, if you count stopping to go home and get a Band-aid for Pete's blister). Pete is working on extending his racquetball skills to a court with more challenging boundaries, with mixed success.

A few games they played were:

1. Mini-game - Only uses the half of the court closest to the net.

2. Dad tries to hit Pete with a forehand. (This one brought strange glances from passers-by)

3. Real game - Needs work.

Sam tried to play also, but that didn't go so well.

Lot of Bikes

We wanted to see how many bike riders out in front of the house we could get into one picture. I think the most we got in the frame at one time was 7, even though there were at least 1 or 2 more.

Note, Pete and Sam are in the foreground on either side of the fire hydrant.

Wii Miis

Pete and Sam like to play the Wii at Nana and Poppy's house. We took a picture of the Wii Miis that we have created on the system. See if you can guess who some of them are.

Hint for Sam and Pete:

Sign #382

Sign number 382 that Pete and Dad are obsessed with Guitar Hero:

When Pete asks Dad to turn on the fan in his room, he specifies whether he wants it set to "Easy, Medium, or Expert".

Virginia Beach Vacation

We had a fun vacation last week in Virginia Beach.

Sunday - Go to beach (Oceanfront)
Monday - Library / Skate Park / Geocaching / Beach (Sandbridge) / Sam's Magic Show
Tuesday - Tennis / Sailing on Poppy's boat
Wednesday - Tennis / Bookmobile / Ocean Breeze
Thursday - Children's Museum / Geocaching / Hiking at First Landing / Dinner at Bubba's
Friday - Beach (Oceanfront)

And somehow it didn't rain once the whole week.

Sam's Magic Show

August 4 was a memorable day, as Sam brought us an event remarkably similar to Pete's 2006 Dance Contest.

After an afternoon at the beach in Sandbridge, we grabbed dinner at Sonic and ice cream at Handel's. Sam didn't get any ice cream, since he had not eaten his dinner.

We proceeded to a free show down at the Oceanfront, featuring the antics of Wacky Chad and the magic of Krendl & Company. When Krendl asked for a volunteer, he said he was looking for the best dancer. Everyone in the audience started dancing, and he looked around and said "who's the boy with the white t-shirt who's jumping around without a care in the world?" Of course, it was Sam.

Sam was up on stage with Krendl for a good 10-15 minutes. They did a whole routine, including various tricks. Sam got a pink balloon dog and an autographed Krendl poster, which he will put up in his room.

Sundial

There is a cool human sundial outside of the Discovery Museum in Winchester. Here Sam is standing on "July", so his shadow is on the correct time of 2:35 (plus 1 hour for Daylight Savings Time).

Discovery Museum - Other Stuff

Here are a few other things Pete and Sam did at the Discovery Museum.

Discovery Museum - Mirrors

Discovery Museum - Rock Wall

Pete and Sam had fun climbing the rock wall at the Discovery Museum in Winchester. It was a whole room - much nicer than the one in Harrisonurg. It also had those rubber pieces on the floor, for a smooth landing. Pete and Dad also played a game of climbing "HORSE" on the wall.

Winchester - Heading to the Museum

Pete and Sam had a fun day trip to Winchester in July.

Day 1:

- Drive to Winchester

- Swim in indoor pool

- Dollar Tree

- Boomerang at local park

- Dinner at Denny's

- Watch movie in hotel room

Day 2:
- Discovery museum

- Dinner at Al's Pizza

Here is a cool alley full of murals that we found between the parking garage and Loudoun St:

Here are Pete, Sam, and Mom walking down Loudoun St. towards the museum:

How To Play with Bubbles

How To Play with Bubbles
by Pete and Sam

1. Pour bubble solution into bubble tray - 1/8 full
2. Blow bubbles until tray is empty
3. Pour additional bubble solution into bubble tray - 1/4 full
4. Blow bubbles until tray is empty
5. Pour additional bubble solution into bubble tray - completely full
6. "I'm tired of bubbles, let's go do something else"

Wordle

A new web application called Wordle will take a block of text and create a word cloud that shows graphically which words appear most often.

We submitted the history of this blog to Wordle, and it came up with this:

Guitar Devil

Pete and Sam have been greatly enjoying Guitar Hero 2 (Dad's Father's Day present) and Guitar Hero 3 (Nana and Poppy's house, pictured).

Based on the picture, Sam is presumably playing "Shout at the Devil".

Pete has surpassed Dad in ability on GH 2, which Dad is bittersweet about. Pete has completed every song on Easy and Medium, skipped Hard, and is now working through songs on the "Expert" level.

Sam is also doing great - he has recently finished a number of songs on Easy level - using only his thumb for all notes on the fret.

Like a Hole in the Head

One day Sam fell on to the carpet in the family room and felt a sharp pain. Apparently, he had crashed directly on to a jack that was lying stealthily, point up, in the carpet.



Dad told Sam that he had a hole in his head, which Sam did not believe. So Dad had to take a picture to show him:

The good news is that it does not appear that any of his brain came out.

Towel Test

Mom seemed to like the towel she got for her birthday. Pete and Sam were willing to take a break from dessert to test it out also.

Fireworks at Mount Trashmore

Pete and Sam enjoyed going to see fireworks on July 4 with the Orlowskis near "Mount Trashmore" in Virginia Beach.

We arrived several hours before dark, so there were various activities to fill the time.

Finally, the fireworks started.

Red Rock Wilderness Overlook

On Father's Day, we had a nice family hike in Red Rock Wilderness Overlook Regional Park.

Peaceful Playground

One hot afternoon, Sam and Dad enjoyed the surreal experience of being the only people at Dinosaur Park.

Can you spot Sam in the picture?

True Story

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,

A tale of a fateful trip

That started from Virginia Beach

With a drive to Poppy's ship.

The mates were Sarah, Pete, and Sam,

The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day

For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew

2 ME's would be lost, 2 ME's would be lost.

The ship set ground on a sandbar,

100 feet from the dock,

With Pete

Sam too,

Dad, without his wife,

Sarah,

The professor too,

Here on Hampton Isle.

So this is the tale of the castways,

Stuck there for a long, long time,
They had to make the best of things,

It was an an uphill climb.

The first mate and the Skipper too,

Did their very best,

To throw some rope to some guys on shore,

In the tropic island nest.

They tugged with all their might,

And pulled the boat away,

Thanks to their Cub Scout skills,

A tight knot had saved the day.

That is the end of the tale my friends,

We hope you had a smile,

From five stranded castways,

Here on Pete and Sam's Isle.

Three Years

Today marks the three year anniversary of this blog, started on July 22, 2005.

Challenge: see if you can guess which picture is from July 2005 and which is from July 2008.

Skateboard Camp

Contratulations to Pete for making it through two Skateboarding Camps this summer with no major injuries. The first camp was for a week at Crittenden Park, and the second was a week at Claude Moore.

Pete started in the lowest group of the first camp, and moved up to the highest group in the second camp, where they do the vert ramps and all of the tricks. One of the instructors at Crittenden broke his ankle on the last day of camp.

Mark of the Beast

The above picture, captured in Winchester VA, should eliminate any doubt that Sam is the devil incarnate. Observe the rare double chicken McNugget, which creates a perfect triumvirate of evil along with Sam’s shirt and the expression on his face.

Movie Night

Pete and Sam watched a movie with Caleb, Brandon, and Nick, a final event before Caleb's move to North Carolina.

As you can see, they are watching the 3-D version of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

Too Early

Pete greets Sam after waking up:

Pete: Sam, how did you sleep?

Sam: Good

Nana: Pete, that was a nice question to ask your brother

Pete: It's too early - I don't have the energy to fight with him yet.

What Smells Like Soap

Conversation between Sam and Dad in the bathroom:

Sam: What smells like soap?

Dad: I don't know.

Sam: Maybe soap.

Bear Scout Informal Crossover Ceremony

After the formal Crossover Ceremony, Pete's den had a second gathering to get their new books, neckerchiefs, and slides.

Dad helped Pete get his new neckerchief together:

Then everyone had ice cream (I think this picture was taken before the ice cream):

Sam was up to his usual hijinks on a hammock:

They also got their flints at this event, so if you see Pete approaching you with some kindling - look out!

Bear Scout Formal Crossover Ceremony

Pete crossed over to Bear scout at a ceremony in Algonkian Park.

After the main ceremony, there was another ceremony where they burned flags that were ready to be retired.

Pete and Dad were the last people to leave the event, about an hour after everything was torn down and the last of the leaders had left.