Virginia SOL Test

Pete took the Virginia SOL (Standard of Learning) test this year in 4th grade. The tests are a big event at school, as they represent the culmination of a full year's study. These are used to determine the school performance ratings, etc. The subjects this year were Mathematics, Reading, and Social Studies.

Congratulation to Pete for getting all 135 questions correct (3 days of testing) and getting a perfect score of 1800.

Notes

Sam's best ideas usually seem to spring up randomly.

"Hey, I thought of an original idea that will make us a lot of money: You're Welcome notes!"

Parade at the Pavilion

Since Pete was still in Chicago with Uncle Steve, Mom and Dad took Sam over to the Pavilion for the Ashburn Village July 4th festivities. It was on a Sunday this year.

Sam arrived at the path at 10:30. No one was around this year. It was too hot. Sam waited patiently for the parade to arrive. He skipped some stones and rode around on his scooter.

Finally, the parade arrived. They were led by Pete's cub scout troop. The scouts were handing out lollipops to everyone cheering on the parade. Since this was pretty much just Sam, there were several people offering lollipops to Sam - which he gladly accepted.

Sam joined the parade for the short walk around the lake to the Pavilion.

Sam saw several friends at the Pavilion. He had breakfast with Garrett:

He rode the train with Dad. It looped around the circle in front of the building.

Sam and Dad went swimming in the Pavilion pool, did the dunk tank, went on some blow-up rides, took a canoe out on the lake, walked over to BK, walked back, and got cotton candy.

Later that evening, Sam enjoyed the fireworks on the hill. No one on the street was home, but Sam had visitors from the Broadlands - Ben, Josh, Daniel, Jackson, and Mason. After the official fireworks, Sam and Dad set off some fireworks out on the street by themselves. It was a bit quiet and surreal, but they had a good time.

Crawfish Boil

Everyone had a great time last weekend at the annual Merrywood Crawfish Boil. There were 4 servings of crawfish, corn, potatoes, mushrooms, and sausage, the first around 3:00pm and the last around 10:00pm.

This year, the kids each got to take 2 crawfish. Sam's "2" were Pingzing, RedClaw, and ??. They were the President, Governor, and Mayor of the Crawfish States of America. They also ended up living in our bathtub for 2 days.

Of course, everyone watched the USA / Ghana soccer game on several laptops hooked up to Sling Box.

This year, the kids also enjoyed a late-night movie on the lawn.

Apparently, a group of teenagers slept out on our trampoline. As you can see, they did not all make it through the night.

Birthday Swing

Mom was excited to see her new birthday swing under the maple tree in the backyard.

Sam and Dad assembled the swing while Mom was at school cleaning up her classroom over the weekend. Pete helped them carry the swing to its final location.

Swinger

Sam was hanging on to the doorknob of the basement door and swinging from side to side. Regarding this, he commented: "This never gets old".

Charleston Trip - Day 3

Day 3 of the Charleston trip was the big wedding day.

Dad went off to do some Geocaching and hiking all around town, while Mom and the boys went to the beach with Joey and Sarah.

Then everyone partied hard at the wedding.

Charleston Trip - Day 2

Day 2 was a busy day on the Charleston trip.

First, the boys went swimming with Joey and Sarah at the hotel pool. Here is Sam demonstrating a trick he learned on America's Funniest Videos:

Next, everyone headed off for the Children's Museum of the Low Country in downtown Charleston. Joey decided to come with Pete and Sam.

First, everyone enjoyed pizza that Dad brought back from Zappos:

Pete discovered that he's now officially tall enough for all of the rides at Busch Gardens:

Mom squeezed through the door to get in:

The boys got trapped in a series of unfortunate predicaments:

Pete did his best Jackson Pollock on the water painting area:

And the boys flooded the city of New Charleston (as well as the museum floor) quite a number of times:

Then it was off a few blocks down King St. to dinner at Jim 'n Nick's Barbecue:

Sam especially enjoyed the chocolate cake for Joey's birthday, that was apparently flown in from the Royal Palace on a very warm plane. He was also struggling to figure out the following word that Dad gave him in Hangman:

Finally, it was back to the hotel for the reception in Steve and Sabrina's Presidential Suite:

Charleston Trip - Day 1

About a month after Uncle Steve and Sabrina's Jamaica Wedding, it was time to head down to Charleston, South Carolina for the "stateside" wedding.

The drive was about 10 hours down on Thursday evening and 13 hours back on Sunday. Dad brought an MP3 player full of stories form storynory.com, and the boys each had a bag of goodies to occupy themselves on the trip. Overall, it actually went pretty smoothly.

Dad picked up Pete early from school and the Pavilion. Then Pete, Sam, and Dad grabbed some lunch and picked up Mom at school around 2:00. They stopped for dinner in North Carolina, and arrived at the hotel by around 11:00.

Fishing Trip

Pete and Dad went on an all-day fishing trip on the Chesapeake Bay, with some Dads and kids from Pete's Cub Scout group.

They went down Tuesday night and stayed here. They had dinner here.

The boat set sail from here, and they fished all around the Chesapeake, including here and here and here.

For more pictures and captions, click here.

Paper Frogs

Mom: "Sam, why do I keep finding little paper frogs and swords all over the floor?"

Sam: "It's what I do"

Ice Cream Man

The good news is that Pete planned ahead and was ready with his own money this evening when the ice cream man came down the street. The other news is that he purchased so much ice cream, the guy gave him a cardboard box to carry everything back to the house.

Halloween 2009

We thought June 2010 would be a good time to post our pictures from Halloween 2009.

Pete carved a pumpkin for his school pumpkin carving contest. His was different from the others, because he worked on it himself. You have certainly figured out that it is a dead guy with spikes in his head.

Below is Sam ready for trick-or-treating. You have certainly figured out that he is Spider Man.

Pete had a hard time deciding what costume to wear. He didn't decide until about October 17. You have certainly figured out that he is the grim reaper. The only candy he got was the Three Musketeers bar in the picture. (Plus another 12 pillow cases full.)

Here are Sam and Mason chillin' in Mason's garage. You have certainly figured out that Mason is a pirate.

In conclusion, this was a great Halloween. And if anyone wants some candy, we still have more left over.

Strikers Soccer

Sam played his second season of Ashburn Soccer in the Spring of 2010. The last game of the season was on June 5, about an hour after Pete's bloody baseball game. Sam's co-coaches were Mom and Coach William.

His teammates (see picture below) were Luca, Noah, Elijah, Miles, and Ian. Most teams had 8 players, but the Strikers only had 6 so they got a lot of playing time and exercise

The Strikers won the game 14-1. They ended up undefeated on the season, including 2 ties. The playoffs are on June 12. However, Sam will be in South Carolina for Uncle Steve's second wedding reception.