Random Cake

In the spirit of Pete's "random" birthday party back in August, we're reminiscing about it at the end of October.

Below is the cake that Mom and Pete baked and decorated for the party:

Come back Monday to see if you can match the games to the photos.

Ground Zero

Pete and Sam went to Chuck E. Cheese's last night for Spirit Night for Mom's school. This was a dangerous endeavor, since a kids pizza/game parlor is ground zero for the great Swine Flu epidemic of 2009. Statistically, a safer place to be was probably the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in August of 1965.

Top 10 Most Swine Flu Infested Surfaces at Chuck E. Cheese's

10. Steering wheel - "Mario Kart"

9. Button on ticket muncher

8. Glass window display case at the prize redemption area

7. "No Deal" button on "Deal Or No Deal"

6. Door handle on exit door

5. Button on "Bubble Up"

4. Thumb triggers - "Top Glo 2"

3. Touch screen of "Flamin Finger"

2. Moist palm of guy walking around in a rat suit

1. Hand sanitizer dispenser

Book Bag

Pete had the following items in his backpack today for school:

• large purple binder - assignments archive
• large reading book
• book - Grubstake (reading)
• book - Pendragon (return to library)
• book - can't remember title, something like "Sylvia's Bell Jar" (return to library)
• lunchbox - apple slices, juice, string cheese, muffins, "cold guy"
• container of orange pieces for snack
• can of food for food drive
• house key
• random red pen
• blue homework folder
• pair of shorts to change into for Running Club

Well, that is all I can remember. Note, if you forget anything that should be in there he will be miserable for the day.

A Little Light Reading

Pete still has 20 AR ("Accelerated Reader") points that he needs to accumulate in this quarter at school. Dad was joking around with Pete that if he were to read Ulysses by James Joyce he could probably get about 4000 AR points.

So the next day Pete brought home the following two books from the library:

1. Melvin Beederman, Superhero, by Greg Trine

2. Ulysses, by James Joyce

Hopefully he'll stop reading #2 after the part where Leopold eats a kidney for breakfast.

Garage Band

Sometimes Pete, Sam, and Dad bring their guitars into the garage and write some songs. Here are the titles of some of the songs they they have composed:

• Life, Death, or Death
• Freedom Rocks
• Kill the Sniper
• Crazy Airplane
• Trash Boy
• Demon World
• Bad News Blues
• Sombrero
• I Like Pie
• Heaven's On Fire
• Eight Feet of Snow
• Cat Boxing

Unfortunately, no documented lyrics or chords exist for any of these songs. However, the "Bad News Blues" is very catchy and they can usually remember some of it.

Up Early

We were all a little bit surprised when Pete woke up at 6:30am so he could finish the homework assignment he was working on when time ran out last night.

Discovery Museum

Everyone got in free to the Discovery Museum, thanks to a pass we received in the mail. This is the museum with the golf ball incline room, hospital area, indian reservation, rock wall, craft room, bunk bed / animal room, toy tables room, microscope, apple baskets, optical illusions, spinning chair with bike tire, and funhouse mirror.

Pete and Sam built a house with a new friend, Matthew.

Pete climbed the rock wall.

And everyone built with sticks.

Mom was also pleasantly surprised that her friend Kimberly was coincidentally at the museum with her family on the same day.

The next time we come back, they should be all moved in to their new $10 million building. Hopefully they will have some new exhibits also.

Luray Caverns

Pete and Sam took a final mini-vacation on Labor Day weekend before the first day of school. They went to Al's Pizza in Purcelville, the Discovery Museum in Winchester, Denny's, swimming at the Holiday Inn, Luray Caverns, and the Garden Maze.

This was Sam's first trip to Luray Caverns, and Pete's first trip since they installed the new audio-tour system. You can see from the pictures that the boys enjoyed the audio tour.

First Day of School 2009

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for Sam, and the first day of 4th grade for Pete. Since Mom is teaching 5th grade this Fall in Sterling, Dad helped Pete and Sam wake up, get dressed, have breakfast, and walk to the bus where they saw their friends.

Pete sat with Sam on the bus and walked with him to the cafeteria.

After school, Sam takes a special bus to the Pavillion where he does fun and games until Mom finishes teaching and picks him up. He had a fun day at school and the Pavillion. His teacher is Mrs. Boyd.

At 7am tomorrow morning, the process begins again.

Old Rag

On August 16, 2009, Pete and Dad celebrated Pete's 9th birthday by hiking Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park with a group of Dad's friends. It was one of the best days ever.

Pete and Dad drove to the lower parking lot in a caravan with Dad's friends Brian and Eric. As they turned the final corner toward the West, and the mountain first came into view, Pete realized that this was not going to be an ordinary hike. The warnings that Dad had given him each day for the previous 2 weeks were now beginning to make sense.

Dad dropped Brian, Eric, and Pete at the upper lot and then drove down to meet Jonathan, Nick, and about 8 others. Dad hiked about .8 miles to the upper lot and then Pete joined for the hike up the mountain.

Pete and Dad hiked with Brian and Eric for the first 2 miles, up to the first vista and the start of the rock scramble. Pete and Brian played some games during this stretch of the hike to help keep their mind off of the grueling steep climb up the mountain. Pete wanted to climb some of the rocks along the trail, but Dad tried to convince him to save his energy for later in the day. Finally, they reached the first scenic overlook.

The rock scramble is the most challenging part of the hike, but was also Pete's favorite. It was about 1 mile of tight passages, hand-over-hand climbing, and rock hopping.

Finally, they had reached the summit and it was time for lunch.

Pete did a little more free-climbing at the summit before they began the long hike down.

On the hike down, Dad had a hard time keeping up with Pete and Jonathan, especially if he stopped to take a picture. Can you see Pete's orange shirt in this picture?

After 2 miles of hiking down the rocky path, when they made it to the bottom of the mountain, they were greeted by a sign that said "Old Rag parking lot: 2.5 miles --->". The last 2.5 miles were mostly flat, but very long, so Dad and Pete tried to find some interesting distractions.

Pete made it all the way to the parking lot, about 15 minutes ahead of Brian and Eric. Brian's GPS showed a total hike distance of a little over 10 miles, with about 2,500 feet of elevation change (not counting the extra free-climbs).

Pete and Dad stopped in Warrenton on the way home to play a little tennis with Dad's friend Tom.

Then it was off to Friendly's to meet Mom and Sam for Pete's birthday dinner.

North End Pizza

This year, Pete and Sam spent one day of their Virginia Beach vacation at the oceanfront. For lunch, they walked over to North End Pizza. They played some football in a vacant lot while waiting for the pizza. Then back there later for some ice cream.

Go With the Flow

An important philosophy when adventuring with Pete and Sam is to go with the flow. For example, if you ask them what they enjoyed most after a day at the zoo, the answer will likely be something that happened in the car, or maybe the bathroom.

Now that we have reviewed this principle, the picture below should come as no surprise. At the local airport Open House, Pete and Sam can walk on the runway and see dozens of planes - climb into the cockpit, ask the pilot questions, etc. Perhaps they will do this, as soon as they are done playing with the grasshopper.

Pilots Everywhere

On their way to the Open House at the Leesburg airport, Pete and Sam noticed something in the parking lot. It seemed as if half of the cars there were Honda Pilots. They decided that this was probably not a coincidence.

They should have done this same experiment last year when they went to the Open House at the new National Weather Service building in Sterling. Perhaps that lot was full of the Chevy Equinox.

Real Golf

Dad took Pete out on August 2 for his first round of golf on a real course. Although it was very hot and humid, Pete played great and had a fun time.

On the back nine, Pete found a few distractions, such as the following attempt to modernize the name of one of the sponsors:

Rainy Date

Since it was pouring rain, Sam and Dad had to find some indoor activities for their date on the Virginia Beach vacation.

First they went to play 3D indoor mini-golf

Then it was off to Chuck E. Cheese's for some Basket Fever

Beach Football

Pete, Sam, and Dad enjoyed playing football this year on the beach.

In the picture, you can see Pete (orange) running back to catch a pass from Dad. The building in the left of the picture is the Ocean Beach Club, one of the nicest resorts in Virginia Beach. Dad had a friend staying there the same week, and they all went up to visit him and his family later in the day.

In Case of Separation

We took the above picture of Pete and Sam upon arriving at Busch Gardens. The purpose of the picture is for handing to the police for identification purposes after the inevitable moment when Pete and Sam run off into the crowd 11 minutes after we walk into the park.

For those of you who haven't seen Pete for a while, this is the first picture of Pete on this blog with his short haircut that he got on 8/2/09. This was just in time for two of the hottest excursions of the year - golf and Busch Gardens.

Poppy's Boat

Pete and Sam had a fun time this year on Poppy's boat, although Sam did start to get a little groggy toward the end of the trip.

This year they did a little bit of fishing off of the boat, but found that to catch any fish they will probably need some heavier sinkers or to find a way to stop the boat from moving.

Traffic Jam

On the way to Poppy's boat in Hampton, Mom and Dad were careful to listen to the traffic report and go around the long way to avoid the 5 mile backup at the Chesabeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. However, a last minute accident before they entered the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel left them sitting in traffic anyhow.

Pete and Sam were not too happy cooped up in the car.

Pete got out and put his skates on, but just then the traffic started moving again. Our neighbor car suggested that Pete hang on to the rear bumper and skate through the tunnel.

Fishing in Hampton

After returning to the dock from a nice trip on Poppy's boat, Pete, Sam, and Dad walked down to the edge of the dock at Salt Pond Marina and fished for quite a long time.

They did catch one small fish, which you may or may not be able to see Pete holding in the following picture:

Dad told Pete and Sam to be very careful not to fall in, as this is what awaited any unfortunate soul who ended up in the water:

Forty Two and a Half

The best part about this year's trip to Busch Gardens was that Sam was 42.5 inches tall. A lot of the cooler rides have a 42 inch minimum, so he was able to ride them. The above picture was taken outside of the "Flying Machine". Sam also used his new eligibility to ride "Big Bad Wolf" (gone after this year), "Curse of DarKastle", "Escape From Pompeii", and "Flying Machine.

Unfortunately, Pete was still an inch and a half short of the 54 inch minimum for the Griffon and Alpinegeist, so he will have to wait to ride them next year.

Beach Ball Tragedy

As we walked back to the car from a day at the beach (Virginia Beach Oceanfront area), we came upon an exhibit of some concrete spheres that were painted as beach balls.

Pete immediately came up with the idea for the following photo sequence:

Note Sam sitting on ball in the background of the second picture.