The Great Thanksgiving Gathering of 2013

There were a few visitors for Thanksgiving this year:

Pictures around the table are Sarah, Sam, Ashleigh, Stacey, Aiden, Eddie, Allen Michael, George, Vickie, Christy, [Mike], Pete, and Tori.  Yes, that makes a lucky 13.  Everyone enjoyed a nice buffet dinner.

The sleeping arrangements were: Nana and Poppy at the condo, Pete/Sam/Sarah/Tori in Pete's room, Mom/Dad in their room, and everyone else in the basement.

Then there was the small matter of the Steelers/Ravens game after dinner.  Note a certain gender gap in the following photos:

The ladies were happy that the Ravens squeaked out a 2-point victory.  A few people missed the end of the game while they were fighting out in the front yard.

On Friday, the out-of-towners headed downtown to visit some DC museums, and then on Saturday things quieted down quite a bit as everyone went to IHOP and then headed home.

This weekend also featured the installation of a new toilet, refrigerator, and dishwasher.  Followed by the equally challenging removal of their predecessors.

Old Rag 2013

Once again, Pete and Dad did their annual Old Rag hike for his birthday.  They went by themselves this year.  Of course, they brought along plenty of sugar wafers, and some Subway sandwiches for lunch.

Pete also hiked Old Rag again a few weeks later with Christopher and his family.

Virginia Diner Fundraiser

Pete did a great job busting his tail for the "Virginia Diner" fundraiser for Farmwell Station Middle School. He went out with Dad and Sam a few times in the Fall, when Sam was selling popcorn for Cub Scouts.

These nuts (ha!) were much harder to sell than Sam's popcorn. They were overpriced and Pete did not have the cute little hat to wear like Sam. Pete did discover that when he wore a nicer shirt the second time he did a lot better. And when he struck up a conversation with the customer, such as noticing a bumper sticker on theiir car and offering a related product.

Here is all of Pete's inventory before making the deliveries:

A few deer spotted in Lansdowne during selling:

Pete ended up in second place and won some gift cards. If only he had known, he would have sold just a little more to win the iPad.

The Teenage Years

Pete turned 13 this year.

His presents included a Pepsi shirt and some other stuff that we can't remember.

Everyone celebrated with a trip to Nagoya for dinner.

Sky Meadows Astronomy Night

Sam went with Mom and Dad to Astronomy night at Sky Meadows.  This was the night before the big Perseid meteor shower.

They saw a lot of cool telescopes set up in the field after dark.  They could even see Saturn through one of them.  Sam also saw the moon and a lot of other stars.

Mr. Dave Weitzel was also there from the Cub Scout Pack, and he had his telescope set up.

It was fun trying to find the car in the pitch dark.

Summer Flowers

Pete and Sam planted the flowers from their Christmas stockings in the flower box, which led to a colorful display throughout the summer:

Unfortunately, Mom could not see the flowers from the kitchen because the window is a little too high.  (This is the diplomatic way of stating it).  But at least now she can see what they looked like on this web page.  Next year the boys will need to find some taller varieties to plat, so Mom can see the tops of them.

Also, their sunflowers grew nicely in Dad's pumpkin garden (better than Dad's pumpkins).

Pohick Bay Family Campout

Pete and Sam enjoyed the family camping trip this summer to Pohick Bay.  It is the first time they camped there in the regular campground.

After setting up camp, they walked on a nice path to the Pirates Cove water park.  When it started drizzling, they headed back to get the campfire started.  They pitched the big family tent and all slept in there.

There was a nice playground across from the site.  Below is Pete atop the climbing apparatus.  See if you can spot the rainbow in the background.

After dinner, they made some firestarters from dryer lint and candle wax.  There was a bit of a ground fire, but nothing to worry about.

In the morning, they played some mini-golf and then headed home.

Lemonade Stand

Although Pete and Sam did not get to do a lemonade stand this year, here is the list for future reference.

Sam Premature 10th Birthday

Sam got to celebrate his 10th birthday quite a few times. The first was with a cake from grandma and grandpa in late November:

And of course a trip the next morning to IHOP.

The above was the legendary breakfast where grandma said "pick a language - spanish, german, or french". We picked german and with a few waves of the hand she said "Guten Tag" and had completed the task. Then we picked French, to which she paused and said "take it, Mel". Then grandpa said "Je m'appelle Mel". The conversation went further South from there.

Virginia Cookie

Dad had fun one day when he volunteered to go into Sam's class at school (Mrs. Staub). Fourth grade is all about Virginia. Below are Arman and Sam working on their Virginia cookie.

Note the detail on the regions, rivers, etc.

Sean Sullivan enjoyed the candy to its fullest extent.

Unfortunately Daria slipped and had to be taken off to the hospital by her Dad for some stitches. Other than that, it was a fun day  for all.

Flag Football Playoffs

Pete was on the Redskins with Coach Mario and Brea this season. They did not win the championship, but (hint hint) it set them up for something special the following year.

The team party  was at Greene Turtle:

Pictured (l-r, t-b) are Elson Hsia, Anthony Cannata, Scott Buermeyer, Colby Buzzelli, Aryan Awal, Adam Love, unknown, and Kevin Madison.

Elson, Pete, and Anthony. They were also in Farmwell band together and stayed with the team in 2014.

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.