Getting Out of Trouble

Pete and Dad have been playing some racquetball recently at the Pavilion.  Pete has gotten a lot better.  Dad has started teaching him some more advanced techniques and strategies.

Today Dad was teaching Pete about the ceiling shot.  "The ceiling shot can be very effective, especially when you catch the opponent by surprise.  Also, it is the best shot to use when you are in trouble.

Pete squeezes his nose and yells out in a nasally voice:

"Pete Berman, will you please report to the Principal's office"

"I need to use my ceiling shot!"

Sam Sick

Sam has been sick for the past few days.  Or as he puts it, "the sleeves of my shirt are a biohazard".

The only major implication of this so far is that his basketball team only managed to score 14 points without him.

Wait Til Afternoon

Pete and Sam were home from school one day, which was a concern since Dad had to teach an online training class for work.

Dad: Now remember guys, I have a training class today.  What does that mean?

Sam: We can't fight until 12:30

Colonial Day

Sam had Colonial Day at school. Below is the video of him "dancing" with his partner.

Vice Presidential Campaign

Sam ran for class Vice President this year.  Dad helped him take a few pictures to put together his poster.

It seemed like Sam had a great chance to win, since he was running against 3 girls (who would split the girl vote) and since he used the work "ubiquitously" in his campaign speech.

Unfortunately, however, Sam lost the election to Dori.

Cub Scout Campout at Pohick Bay

Sam did not want to go to the Cub Scout Fall Campout, so Dad and Pete headed off to Pohick Bay for a fun day of adventure.  

They went on a hike, did a great version of Calamine Lotion (with Alex) at the bonfire, played some kickball, and had some tasty hot dogs.   Dad was a bit concerned that 90 people showed up for the site that was for 26 people and 4 parking spots, but they worked everything out in the end.

Pete did a great site clearing out the campsite:

Pete also enjoyed the Scavenger Hunt:

Of course Pete and Dad were the last two people to leave, after putting out the fires and taking care of the trash.

Egg Security Capsule

Pete had a Science project to design a capsule that would protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a height of about 6 feet.  He could only use a limited set of materials, including scotch tape, cotton balls, paper, toothpicks, and paper clips.

The first outdoor test was a moment of great sadness captured on the video below.



If you listen carefully, you can hear Pete say "awww" while Mom says "oh yeah".

Dad was pleased that after a while Pete decided to just make something that would qualify him for completing the assignment.  And no, the egg did not survive when it was dropped by Pete's teacher in his capsule.  But Pete got most of the points for the assignment anyhow.

Belvedere Pumpkin Patch

For the first time in many years, the family went down on a Saturday afternoon to the Belvedere Plantation Pumpkin Patch.

It was an unseasonably hot day for October, so no jackets or hot chocolate were needed.

The zip lines were not too good this time, and the rope swings in the barns were pretty crowded.  The pig races were meh.  The corn maze was ok.  The best thing was probably the chicken tenders and root beer.

The family had to leave early before the campfire, since Pete had a previous engagement to meet up with his friends.

Broad Run Homecoming Parade

Dad managed to convince Sam to join him this year and march in the Broad Run Homecoming Parade.  It was a lovely Autumn day, and there was quite a turnout.  Sam enjoyed walking from Lotte Plaza to the High School, and he managed to save his candy much longer than most of the other Scouts, so he could toss it into the crowd along the parade route..

Loom Bracelets

The big craze of the last few weeks has been rainbow loom bracelets.  Sam has made several dozen of them, and Pete has made a few too.  Sam did some with his bare hands, but now they are much easier to make since he got his loom.  It is not uncommon to find little bands lying all about the house.

Sometimes the bracelets Sam generates are "non-standard".  Here is one that you will not find illustrated in the instructional booklet:

Who knows how long the bracelet fad will last?  The answer will clear a few months from now when we see hundreds of rainbow looms selling for 25 cents on ebay.

Wounded Bird

One day, a bird flew into the front window and lay wounded on the porch and unable to fly.  The boys brought the bird to Ethan's house and got a shoebox.  His new home was in the gazebo.  This is where he would eat bird seed and get nursed back to health.

Sadly, the bird seed was not enough and the bird did not survive much longer than Sam and Dad's visit the following morning.  But we will remember him fondly.

Cub Scout Hike at Red Rock Overlook

The boys had a fun family hike in October with the Cub Scouts at Red Rock Overlook Regional Park.

Try to find Sam in the second picture above.  Hint: you won't see his face.

Pete Pokemon Drawing

Pete had some time over the summer to do some cool Pokemon drawings.  We will leave it to the reader to identify the names of the Pokemon in the comments.

Pete also has a book labeled "Gotta Sketch 'Em All", which is intended to ultimately have drawings of every Pokemon.  He got off to a good start with it, but let's just say that he still has several more to go before the book will be complete.

Scrabble Game of Questionable Appropriateness

Sometimes Dad walks into the family room and notices that someone has started playing a game of Scrabble, but he decides not to ask any questions about it and in fact may choose to just pretend that he never saw anything. 

BBQ Chicken Thighs

A new dinner options this summer has been grilled BBQ chicken thighs, usually with some barbecue sauce.  

Thanks to Nana and Poppy for getting Dad a new grill for his birthday.  His old one served the family well for about 15 years.

One of the running jokes with Sam is that if doesn't like what's for dinner, he'll try it with a "truckload of barbecue sauce".

First Annual Froyo Tour

Just before going back to school in August, the family started a new tradition with the first annual Ashburn Froyo Tour.

It started at 11am at Sweet Frog.  Then there were visits to FrankiBerri, Zazu, Zinga, Frozen Fantasy, PinkBerry, and LuvbBerry.

PinkBerry was a bit of a disaster, so that was replaced by a final trip to another Sweet Frog.  The favorite of the group seemed to be FrankiBerri.  Now we will see how many of these places survive to next year for the 2nd annual tour.

Hurts To Look

Which is more painful to look at in this picture - Sam's spine angle, or his mismatched socks?

Proper Haircut

This picture was taken several months ago.  It was back in the day when Sam had a proper haircut:

Now we are approaching Christmas and New Years and his hair is completely out of control.  Here is what it looks like at the moment, on a good day:

Math Team

This was a classic bit of scratch paper that Dad and Pete discovered from Sam's participation on the math  team. Note the exquisiteness of the drawing.

This begs the question of how much of the 4 minutes did Sam use to make those drawings.

He did get the answer right, so Sam gets the last laugh on this one.

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).