Making a Difference 5K

Everyone in the family participated in the "Making a Difference" 5k. It was dedicated to the deceased Principal of Sanders Corner Elementary, Kathy Hwang, who used to be Mom's mentor when she was starting out many years ago.

Dad and Sam ran the 5k in a  respectable time of 33:40. Mom and Pete took a more leisurely pace and finished soon after.

Looks like Sam beat Dad out by a nose. Must be nice to be 34 years younger.

Thanks to Poppy for dropping everyone off and then picking them up for a ride to IHOP!

Into The Woods

Tonight was opening night for "Into The Woods". Pete participated in this play as the narrator, with an excellent cast and crew from the Sterling Playmakers.

Although there were a lot of late-night rehearsals, it was a very rewarding experience for Pete and a most excellent production of which they were all very proud.

Jamestown Field Trip

Dad had the honor of being selected as one of the chaperones for Mrs. Staub's class on the 4th grade field trip to Jamestown, Virginia. So he headed over to school with Sam at 6am for the long bus ride.

Here is Sam hanging out on the bus with Brett and Jackson. 

Dad got to sit with Arman. He also got to call Arman's Mom to ask if he should loan Arman money since he forgot to bring his.

Here the kids learn how to fire their muskets:

Lower quarters of the slave boat:

And the best part of the trip; lunch:

Rejected Halloween Costume

Not all of Sam's Halloween costumes live to see the light of day (or night in this case). Often the topic doesn't come up until about October 30th, and then there is the desperate scramble to come upp with something. Below is one such example -- I believe this is actually three pairs of shorts:

The above idea was scrapped, and Sam settled on this:

We don't have a picture of Pete in his costume, but imagine Sam's costume above but replace the green with red, and replace the Dodgers hat with a large horse's head.

Mall Night

There were a few days that Sam and Dad had to take Pete from flag football practice to play rehearsal, while Mom was off doing something. You would think this would be a chore, but they made a little "Mall Night" tradition out of it.

Step 1: Pizza from Sbarro:

Step 2: Ride on carousel (Dad rides free for "safety" purposes):

Step 3: Massage chairs in Brookstone

117 Hours

Here is  a screen shot of Sam completing one of his Pokemoon games. Note the caption in the lower right. Yes, he spent 117 hours and 5 minutes. Of course this is only one of his Pokemon games. There was plenty of time spent on the others as well. 

And then of course there is League of Legends...

Math Team Sombrero

Sam did the Math Team in fall of 2013. Dad would pick him up at school twice a week around 4:00. One time, for reasons still unknown, Sam was wearing a tiny sombrero.

Columbus Day

Pete and Sam were home from school on Monday for Columbus Day.  They went with Dad to Ledo Pizza for lunch.  Dad had been telling Pete that he needed a haircut, even more so after seeing how much longer it had gotten over the long weekend that he spent with Mom in Las Vegas.  When Kimberly said to Pete: "I see that your growing your hair out", he decided that maybe it was indeed time for a haircut after all.

On the way home from lunch, Dad asked Pete to pick up the stick on the floor and give it a name.  Pete decided on "Stan".  Then Dad drove around until he found a suitable playground for a game of "Find Stan".  It was a perfect day to hang out outside for a while.  The boys played quite a few rounds of the game, as well as some "Swing Olympics", and then it was time to head home.

Later in the day, they would need to head back to the park with a flashlight to retrieve Pete's Farmwell sweatshirt.

Dominion Trail Tribune

Sam chose to do the "Dominion Trail Tribune" as an after-schoool ASEP activity. He looked forward to joining a staff of tallented writers and helpful editors as they crafted a Pulitzer-worthy newsletter. The reality fell a bit short of these expectations.

But Sam did write a killer article about socks.

Star Student

Congratulations to Sam on being named star male PE student in his grade for September:

And congratulations to Dominion Trail Elementary School for finally realizing that you can put full last names in a newsletter and the world will keep turning.

NFL Flag Football

Pete is playing in a different flag football league this year, NFL Flag Football.  He is on the Redskins, which Dad is not very happy about.

Below is a picture of his team, getting ready for a game after their one hour practice.  Left to right is Kevin, Adam (back), Aryan, Pete, Anthony, Elson (back), Colby, Coach Brea (offense), and Scott (seated).

This was quite an entertaining game, including the fact that Pete caught and threw touchdown passes.  Pete's QB stats were 1 attempt, 1 completion for 65 yards and 1 TD.  He also got a chance to play defense in this game, because they were ahead by 26 points.  He had a nice pass defense where he batted a ball in another zone right before it was caught.  This also was the only game that Sam didn't come to (for unexplained reasons).

Pictured below is Pete getting ready to run a pass route in the 1st half.

The Redskins are starting to peak, which is good since the playoffs are coming up.  They have a rather sophisticated offense, with about 40 plays.

The Fox

One night Dad, Pete, and Sam saw a rather unusual sight out the back door.  It almost looked like a fox.

Pete/Dad/Sam: "Whoa, look at that!!"
Mom: "Oh, right,  The fox."
Dad: "What do you mean, THE fox"?
Mom: "Yeah, apparently there's a fox that has been roaming around"

Well, Dad/Pete/Sam found it thoroughly amusing that Mom referred to it as "the fox".  This was the running gag for a few days, which was rather amusing (except for Mom).

Sam Dad Day

Pete was feeling a little sick today, so Sam and Dad walked over to the playground behind Andrew's house.  It was quite a glorious day outside, and Pete had been out for several hours in the morning at his flag football game.  They threw the football around for a while.  The goal was to get 6 catches in a row, which was harder than you might think because after Dad caught the 5th one he seemed to give Sam a pretty tough throw to catch on the 6th one.  When Sam caught the 5th one, he always seemed to suffer a "panic frenzy" or "calm attack" that was severely impacting the quality of his throw.

Sam threw a pass over a high tree that Dad was able to catch.

They went on the swings.  Dad was giving Sam a safety lesson about never stand in front of someone swinging and talk to them.  Unfortunately, he was trying to demonstrate this concept by standing directly in front of Sam, which was causing a number of brutal collisions and minor injuries to Dad.

There was a slide race, and then it was time to head back home.  On the walk home, they reminisced about some other great Sam and Dad days from the past.

First Day of School 2013 - Bus Stop

Pictured are Joseph, Sam, Ethan, and Jacob waiting for the bus on the first day of school.  Note: Dad did not take this picture, since Sam has wanted to walk to the bus by himself since the latter part of 2011.  You can see that collared shirts are no longer the official first day attire.

This year the bus is coming 10 minutes earlier than in 2012 (about 7:27am).  Sam is in 4th grade, and his primary teacher is Mrs. Staub.

First Day of School 2013

Pete and Sam are ready for their first day of 8th and 4th grade.

Back To School Night 2013

Mom dropped Pete off at his rehearsal for Into the Woods and then met Dad at school for Back To School Night while Sam stayed home.

Dad was busy this year - he signed up for a parent/teacher conference, wrote a letter to Sam's teacher (Mrs. Amy Staub, and left a puzzle for Sam per their annual tradition.

This year's puzzle was the following:

Sam solved the puzzle on Friday morning.  He went in with Jackson and his Mom, since Dad had to work the Cub Scouts recruiting table out in front of the school.

Fireworks Trash Pickup

Pete and Sam had a great opportunity to pick up trash around the lake with the Cub Scouts, after the Ashburn Village fireworks.  It was very hot, but no one complained and they picked up a lot of trash.  The neighbors seemed to appreciate the effort as well, as they drove by.

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Everyone also got to see their picture in the Villager newsletter a few weeks later!

Horseback Riding

Pete and Sam had an "interesting" outing for horse riding on July 5th.  

Dad had scored what he thought was a good Groupon deal at Middleburg Polo Academy.  However, the whole thing turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as they all sat out in the sun for about an hour due to a severe lack or organization, personnel, and horses at the Middleburg Polo Academy.  Pete and Sam didn't enjoy the riding much either, which essentially wound around the edges of a few fields for about 45 minutes.

Overall, it was a memorable family bonding experience.  Perhaps the best part of the day was stopping at Giovannis on the way home for some pizza.

Spring 2013 Crossover

In June, Sam crossed over to a Webelos scout and Dad also "crossed over" to Cubmaster.  He also collaborated with Mom to run the Crossover ceremony and picnic lunch.  A good time was had by all.

Pete also chipped in by helping to assemble the bridge for the event:

An August Saturday

Dad took Pete to Algonkian Park for his flag football evaluation.  When he arrived there, Pete was happy to see that Elson and Anthony were playing too.  The evaluation had several stations, including: passing/catching, 40-yard dash, and flag evasion/pulling.  It was a bit like the NFL combine.

The evaluation went until 12:30, and Pete had his "Into The Woods" audition at 1:00, so Mom and Sam brought Wendy's to the Sportsplex and everyone grabbed a quick lunch under the Pavillion.  Mom and Pete went to the audition, and Sam and Dad hung out at the playground for a few hours.  They played some stickball, catch, and did a lot of juggling practice.

Sam is really starting to show some progress with his juggling.  Here is a video that they shot on his iPod and posted to Instagram:

Ice Cream Social

A little rain did not dampen the spirits of Sam, Pickle, Mason, Ethan, Joseph, and Jacob at the annual end-of-year ice cream social.

Cobras Flag Football

Pete played flag football in Spring 2013.  He was on the Cobras with Coach Dre Coffee.  The other people on the team were Kamron (broken finger), Cody Lockhart (speedster), Fionn, Dawson (QB), Nicoy (superstar), Will, Alex (carpooled with Pete a few times), and Austin.  Will quit about half way through the season.  Pete had a fun time and is going to play again in the fall.

Sam 3rd Grade Awards

Mom and Dad went to Sam's awards assembly in June.  Sam received the prestigious 1st place award and medal for WordMasters.  He also received the Math Award for his class and a fitness award.

The time he spent reviewing his words and analogies for Word Masters certainly paid off.

Sam Spring 2013 Ashburn Bandits Lacrosse

Sam did an awesome job at Spring Lacrosse on the Bandits.  His Coach was John Delaney's Dad (John).  Sam was actually one of the better players on the team and really enjoyed the season.

The above pictures are from the last day tournament at Mill Run.  There were supposed to be three games, but they cancelled the third game because it was "too hot".  Anyhow, Sam scored the last goal with seconds left in the second game, the game winner.

The other players on Sam's team (pictured above l-r) are (top row): Harrison Graham, Gavin Sailor, John Delaney, Chase, Ryder, Ethan, (bottom): Ryan, Logan, Brandon, Connor, and Sam.

Farmwell FACS Brunch

Dad pulled Sam out of school for a bit one morning and they hopped over to Farmwell for Pete's FACS Brunch.  Free food!  And pretty good too.  The food included fruit salad, monkey bread, and a few other things.

And they got to sit with Pete, Dongyoon, and Detwaun.

Dad and Pete worked out a special scheme where Pete met them at the side door for convenience.  Dongyoon and Pete volunteered for the job of side door greeter.  "Sadly", no one came to that entrance except for Dad and Sam.

STX Gear

One day Sam got out some paper and started writing a letter.  Apparently it was a letter to STX President Jason Goger, telling them that he could really use some new Lacrosse gear.

Sure enough, a few weeks later a package arrived from STX headquarters with a personal signed letter from Steve Henneman and about 4 shirts and a cool pair of socks.

Here is the picture that Sam took and posted on Instagram:

DC Field Trip

Dad was not selected as a chaperone for the Spring 2013 DC field trip, but Jackson's Mom sent along this picture from the bus ride on the way.  The boys had a good time touring the Capitol and some other DC landmarks.