Mitochondria

Sam had his Troop meeting tonight. Dad dropped him off and then went to do a Geocaching presentation to Troop 966 in Sterling. At bedtime, Sam and Dad finally got to the section of the Science book about creating energy in cells. Sam was pretty upset that item #333 said "mitochondria are the factories of the cell" rather than "mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell", a phrase that they had been hoping to hear for several weeks.

Profundity

Dad was putting Sam to bed. After reading the nightly passage from 1001 Things everyone Needs To Know About Science, Dad said "If we go to visit Bill and Becky again next year, everyone will be a year older". Sam said that was the most meaningless statement he had ever heard. So Dad paused and decided he would say something so profound that it would make up for the previous statement. After a few seconds, he said "Did you know that your eyeballs rarely touch each other." Now Sam was so shocked by the immensity of this statement that his eyeballs grew wide, emerged from his head and clicked against each other. Well, maybe not quite, but almost. All of this gave Sam the hiccups, which could not be remedied even after holding his breath for 20 seconds, and then 30 seconds after that.

Bill and Becky's Annual Get-Together

Mom and Dad spent the afternoon putting up Christmas lights. Then Mom went to Charles Town with Katie, while Dad and Sam went to hang out and play games with Bill, Becky, Amanda, Meg, Trent, Michael, Sage, Emily, Marian, and Mrs. Smith. After watching Penn State get crushed by Michigan State, they had some pizza and leftover turkey and then played "Heads Up!" and round-robin ping pong.

Thanksgiving Getaway - Return Home

The day after Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad played some shuffleboard, walked along the beach, and grabbed a Munzee. Then everyone woke up and piled in the car for the drive home. They had planned to stop at the "perfect" Friendly's that Dad had found in Lumberton, but apparently it was no longer there so they brought Wendy's to Arbys. Then they drove the rest of the way home by 7:30pm so Pete could hang out with his friends who were home from college for the holiday break (Chandler, Giuliana, Alexandra, etc.)

Thanksgiving Getaway - Day 3

Thanksgiving was a nice day to walk over to the clubhouse for some bocce. Aunt Jo also brought her Pickleball equipment and taught Dad and Sam how to play. Dad beat Aunt Jo a few times and then Sam won a tight and spirited game against Mom. Dinner was full of spirited political discussion with Joanne and Dave. After dinner, Dad grabbed a few geocaches while the boys played some Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Thanksgiving Getaway - Day 2

Wednesday was a relaxing day. Mom went to hang out with Nana and see the new house. Dad and Sam went swimming in the "heated" pool, hot tub, and played some ping pong. Dad got some pizza and brought it back to the room for lunch. Around 3pm, they headed over to Nana's to play some Wii and then go to dinner at Lincoln Park. Pete had two funny comments about the Kids Menu at the restaurant:

1. "I'd like the 'or' please"
2. "I guarantee that 'Lincoln Park Kids Menu' text is in 72 point font. That's the largest size you can select from the drop-down list without having to know how to actually use Word."

Marriott OceanWatch

Today was the start to the great Thanksgiving getaway. The group departed at the scheduled time of 4:30pm for the drive to Myrtle Beach. This despite the news report saying that 5pm - 6pm on Tuesday before Thanksgiving would be the "worst traffic hour of the year". After a few hours, they had made it most of the way to Fredericksburg, so they stopped for Chick-fil-a and Coldstone. After a few more traffic jams and accidents, they made it to Richmond and it was smooth sailing after that. They checked in at the Marriott Ocean Watch around 2:30am. The room was very nice - a big room for Pete and Sam with separate bathroom, bedroom with bath for Mom and Dad, and full main suite with kitchen and lounging area.

Here is a picture taken from the balcony:

Super Mario Bros. 3

Dad came down to the basement to keep Pete company while he completed the entirety of Super Mario Bros. 3. He did the "every level on every world" option. Still a classic. Even though they agreed that they have been pronouncing "1UP" wrong for all of these years.

Fredericksburg Tournament

Sam's basketball practice was cancelled today, so he went with Dad to a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg:



They left at 1:45pm and returned home at 8:45pm. It was a "2-hour" tournament, scheduled from 4pm-6pm at the Hurley Convergence Center in Room 327.



Traffic was good, so they arrived early (3:30pm) and met Matt while the crew was setting up. Sam played some friendly practice games before the tournaments started:





Registration was to start at 3:45pm but it was delayed quite a bit while they waited for late arrivals. Dad took off around 4:00 to look for 4 geocaches. Sam registered for the singles ($3). The doubles tournament was first. Sam didn't get to play his first match until around 5:30pm. He lost to Joak (who was in the finals in the doubles tournament) in a tight match 2-1:






Then he won his first match in the loser's bracket 2-0:





Finally, he was knocked out of the tournament in a 2-0 match (Shiek):



Overall, Sam played mostly Marth and went up against Peach, Shiek, and 1 or 2 others. Dad found a pizza shop on campus, so they stopped there before heading home. Sam was pretty hungry and scarfed sown two slices while they watched the Packers/Vikings game. This school seems pretty into video games - they even had N64, PS2, and Xbox consoles for open play in the pizza shop:

Basketball Season

Sam had two scrimmages today to begin the season of 6th grade basketball in FSBL. He is on the Celtics. The first scrimmage was his best game ever. He played point guard, and deservedly so. He scored about 12 points and had about 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals. This was in a very short game with a "running clock". His second scrimmage was against the team with Ethan, Joseph, and Dylan Gonzales. Sam's team won both games. So they are off to a good start for the season. It is probably good that he chose the basketball scrimmages over going to the Webelos-o-ree to help with the monkey bridge, since he was an important asset to his team.

Donuts With Dad

Sam and Dad went to "Donuts with Dad" early in the morning at Farmwell Station Middle School. Some mornings can be tough ones for Sam (see photo). Dad called Pete from the event to wake him up at 7:40am (as requested). Pete went in early to reason with his Math teacher for some extra points, but she is an idiot so unfortunately that did not result in anything. After school, Sam went to Jack's house for a few hours, while Pete played in the pep band at the Broad Run / Stone Bridge playoff game. It was about 35 degrees and Broad Run lost 35-10. So it was a long day for Pete all around.

Bull Run Festival of Lights

Tonight was the annual trip to the holiday light show at Bull Run Park. The boys actually agreed on Popeye's for dinner, so that was a bonus (even though Mom and Dad were so perplexed by the menu that it took them forever to figure out how to order). There were two funny things this year at the light show. First, they changed the path to go right past the gun range, and there were guys actually shooting. Let's just say it affected the ambiance of the event a bit. Also, there was a car in front of us who lost track of the path and ended up in the parking lot at the Atlantis water park. Pete said the driver must have "rage quit". Also, there was a lot of fog and it had a really cool effect. And Pete played his only Christmas song on his phone to set the mood. Except it was called "Merry Christmas Kiss My Ass". Next year Dad will remember to bring his favorite Christmas song ("Oi to the World"). There were only three cars there because it was the second night they were open, it was raining, and it was the middle of November. But they saved a few dollars on early bird tickets and got out of there in record time! Sam got home in plenty of time to play a few hours of Melee and forget to do his word study assignment. Then Pete stayed up until 2am preparing notes for his open-note Biology quiz.

7 Little Words

Pete had a successful audition on Monday and learned today that he will be playing the role of Batman in the one-act play "Superheroes" in January. Mom, Sam, and Dad have started a daily game where they play the "7 Little Words" daily puzzle against each other. Sam has actually won a few times.

Family Motto

Pete skipped dinner to hang out with his friends at IHOP. He missed out on Dad's big efficiency improvement (lazy Suzan), as well as the incident with Sam getting up in Dad's personal space, which ended up with Sam having the hiccups for about 2 hours. Since Pete and Sam's projects were due tomorrow, they actually decided to start working on them. Sam spent about 1/3 of the time working on his project and 2/3 of the time getting upset because he couldn't install a free trial of Photoshop.

Dad was pretty happy with Pete's poster (see photo). Pete basically printed out all of the required info and pasted it on the poster. It fit well with Dad's "Berman family motto", which is roughly: "pretty good is good enough".

Turkey Butter

Sam came with Dad to pick up pizza at Domino's. This is the new Sunday tradition, since Mom figured out that the boys will eat leftover slices in their lunch at school. They stopped at Giant to look for butter in the shape of a turkey. They did not have any in stock, so sadly Dad will have to go to Wegman's. Also, Dad's new rule to encourage companionship is that if you come to Giant you get to pick one item. Sam selected a Juicy Drop Pop. After dinner, Sam and Pete got busy not working on their projects that were due on Wednesday.

Sitdown Play

Sam went to play football at Jack's house. He invented a play where you run out, sit down, then when the defender sits down you get up and catch a pass for a TD. You would think the defender would not sit down, but surprisingly it works.

Lend Me a Tenor

Dad went to a Geocaching Symposium in Maryland today, so Mom dropped Pete off for All-County Chorus and then took Sam to "Scouting For Food". In the evening, everyone (except Sam) went to the Lend Me a Tenor show at Broad Run.

All-County Chorus

Today was the first of two days for Pete at Briar Woods for the All-County Chorus. Then he did the lighting for the play at school in the evening. Sam received a Thunderbird award for "Best Language Arts" student, and then in the evening went with Jennifer to the Ice House / Pomodoro's spirit nite.

Open Doors

Dad took Pete for his allergy shot this morning. They went a little later than usual, and thus were subjected to the Christian music that Krista plays when there is nobody in the waiting room. They enjoyed the opened door at Wild Birds Unlimited when stopping at Dunkin' Donuts. The caption for the photo Dad posted on Instagram was "someone's gonna get fired for this".

Chicken Week

Dad was home today for Veteran's Day, but everyone else had school. So he spent most of the day working on his Modern Poetry class on Coursera. Sam had enough time in the evening to finish his Science project on "Which Brand of Gum Blows the Largest Bubbles". Chicken week continued for Mom, Dad, and Sam, with Pete once again at rehearsals for "Lend Me a Tenor". He somehow ended up being on the lighting crew for this production.

Band Banquet

Tonight marked the end of the band season with the banquet in the cafeteria. Sam and Dad saved a seat for Mom, who arrived in time for the awards ceremony after her class. Pete received two awards at tonight's banquet - Best Dressed (which he ironically accepted in a Superman T-shirt) and something about Mad Libs. Dad asked what happened to the nice clothes that he and Pete had spent so much time packing in the morning (causing him to miss the bus), to which he said "I decided that I don't care".

Dinner of Legends

When Sam creates a document on the computer, there are two things that can happen. The first is that everything can go perfectly on the first try. This happened once in 2013. The other possibility is that there will be a lot of yelling, crying, and closing things in a fit of rage without saving them. Disclaimer: this is not Sam's fault, it is because the software is full of "bugs".



Tonight Sam started a game of League of Legends about 10 minutes before dinner. Unfortunately the game typically takes 20-45 minutes. Hence Sam's plate of bread and chicken and full place setting at the computer desk (see photo). On the plus side, at least he was in the kitchen.

Predictability

Sometimes Pete can be unpredictable. For example. If he goes out with his friends, there is no telling how many different McDonalds he might go to over the course of the evening. Other things are totally predictable. If he works on a project involving cutting, the next morning there will be 100 slivers of paper to be picked up under the kitchen table. If he opens a package, the package and all contents (except the item he ordered) can be found in the precise spot that he opened it for all perpetuity.

Toothpaste Games

Dad and Sam managed to play with the toothpaste tube for about 10 minutes before going to bed. It all started when they saw how Pete had managed to balance his tube next to the sink. So of course a series of games and challenges ensued.

Sudden Combat

Sam went to Jennifer's 12th birthday party at Sudden Combat, then got a ride over to the Broad Run football game. Pete saw him at the game, as he was playing there with the band. Sam was not too happy to learn that he will have basketball practice tomorrow morning at 8am.

Pride & Prejudice

Sam is having trouble this year coming up with words for his Word Study assignments in English class. The problem is that he needs to find 2 words that he doesn't know, in a book that he is reading. This is a pretty difficult proposition for Sam. However, the good news is that he recently started reading "Pride & Prejudice". It has two words he doesn't know on almost every page!

Budgetary Discussions

Tonight at dinner the topic of discussion was possibly getting a Spotify family account, or some other solution for Pete's 16GB being full on his phone. The related discussion was the monthly family budget, or "how to spend $8,053 without really trying".

Dad and Pete were able to resolve the Spotify issue (for the moment) a few days later, by clearing about 2 GB of space on Pete's  phone, so he could copy some more songs on there.

Typical Day

Pete went to District Choir auditions today on another day off from school. He has moved on from Wild Birds Unlimited and is now considering applying at Great Harvest Bread. Today was Election Day, so Dad took down the yard sign for Al Nevarez (who lost to Ron Meyer, as expected). After sitting at home for four days, Sam remembered as he was brushing his teeth before bed that he had a homework assignment. So yeah, it was pretty much a typical day.

Wild Employees Unlimited

Pete and Sam were home from school (teacher work day), so they went with Dad to Ledo for lunch. Pete brought up that he is planning to apply for the open position at the new "Wild Birds Unlimited" shop over by the Giant. There were quite a number of amusing things about this scenario, including some of the requirements on the application:

• We are Looking for Sales Associates to "Join our Flock"
• Our service standards require the ability to carry 50lb. bags of seed (we assume here that they are selling mostly ostriches and emus)
• Wild bird feeding experience is not required, but is a plus.
• Ability to climb a 10 foot ladder (perhaps this is to get to the cash register)
• No 401(k) plan, but they do use Excel spreadsheets
• Please, no phone calls! (we suspect the birds sleep near the phone)

Senior Portrait

Dad thought he heard the door close this evening and then received this text message from Pete: "I went to McDonalds on very short notice; my apologies for not telling you in real life"




Above is Pete's sophomore portrait. It was intended for the wall outside of the laundry room, but Pete decided that he didn't like it so Dad sent the pictures back for a refund.

Halloween 2015

Halloween was on a Saturday this year. Mom went out with Katie, Maddox, and Ryder. Sam went out briefly with Ethan and Joseph. He reprised his green morphsuit with the Dodgers hat (see photo, left side). Pete asked Dad if he could borrow an axe and then Dad dropped him off at Hannah’s house. The axe ended up in the same place as the spatula that Pete lent last year to Alexandra – which is some nether world where it may be seen again someday and it may not. (Update – the axe did make it back home about a week later.)

Bubble Gum Project

Sam decided for his Science project to do “Which Brand of Bubble Gum Yields the Largest Bubbles?”. For each of the 9 trials, Sam chewed each piece 20 times and then blew a bubble that Dad measured. It was not the most precise setup, but good enough. After turning in the project, Sam was seen chewing a lot of Dubble Bubble, Extra, and Trident bubble gum for the next few weeks.

Berman Family Motto

Sam had a lot of homework today, including a poster for History class. Dad took this opportunity to remind Sam of the “Berman Family Motto”, which is to the effect of “Pretty good is all right with me!”. It’s a variation on “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”. The motto seems to be catching on, which leads to homework getting done a lot faster, and for about the same grade. Maybe Sam can ride this motto someday all the way to CEO of "Pretty Good Enterprises”.

On a related note, Mom got a 10 out of 10 on her essay last week for her after-school continuing education class. So the motto seems to be working for her too.

Rotini

Dinner last night was what mom calls “ziti” but technically it is actually Rotini. On the plus side, she is saving a syllable every time she says it. Dad discovered that Pete is very discerning about his pasta. On the way home from school after band practice, Pete noted that “we need to make sure we use the right kind of noodles because with the proper Rotini noodle shape it is very good but with the wrong shape it is absolutely horrible”. Well, at least he has found some things that he is passionate about.

By the way, here is the box for the proper Rotini:

Melee in the House

Dad and Sam ordered Super Smash Bros Melee on ebay. It is a collector’s item, so it cost $51 for just a CD with some scratches on it! Sam does not seem concerned that this item cost him more than 10 weeks of allowance. He has certainly been getting his money’s worth, as he has played it quite a bit and it is also the game that they use in the tournaments that Sam is going to start going to.

Tenderfoot Long View

Sam had fun camping this weekend with the Boy Scouts. His tent-mates were William and Aiden. He drove with William, Mr. Roll, and Kevin. They played lots of pun games in the car. They also saw a black bear while hiking the White Oak Canyon trail, and another crossing the road (a mama bear and two baby bears). Sam did not get any “sign-offs” in his book, but he had a good time anyhow. Perhaps he will become the first scout to graduate from high school before getting his Tenderfoot rank.

Driving Practice

Dad took Pete out for some driving practice. They went over to the parking lot near Ledo Pizza. There were some funny street names, and some tight turns that Pete enjoyed. Pete drove across to Nightwatch and then Zander Way and Anness Alley. He practiced backing in to some spaces at CVS and then drove a bit through the local neighborhood.

Campout Problems

Sam went off to a campout with Troop 761. Mom had to deal with the usual assortment of problems at the last minute, which included issues with shoes, sleep pad, backpack, pants, and several other items in the 10 minutes before it was time to leave. Sam also did not pack a lunch that he needed for the Saturday hike, since he did not want to go to the troop meeting on Monday when they mentioned this requirement. It should be an interesting weekend for him. Meanwhile, Pete marched in the parade and then played at the Homecoming football game vs. Oakton. Dad brought Pete his pants and wallet that he had forgotten over to school.

Under the Chair

Before going to bed, Mom had carefully filled out the three permission slips that needed to be turned in for Pete’s upcoming choir trips. But in the morning they were somehow nowhere to be found. Dad hastily printed out fresh forms from the school website and scribbled out the forms for Pete to bring in. Pete dashed on to the bus, and dad sat down in the chair for a breather. At that moment, the mystery was solved as Dad glanced down and saw the original forms between the chair and couch. Pete must have inadvertently kicked them off of the arm of the couch the previous evening as he was watching The Simpsons before bed. Of course, Dad had looked under the couch about three times and did not see the forms there, about two feet away. At least now they know where to look next time some forms are missing.

Last Episodes on Earth

Dad, Pete, and Sam watched two episodes of “Last Man on Earth” this evening, since the DVR is going to get deleted when Dad trades it in this weekend for yet another new one. They have two more episodes to watch on Thursday. Hopefully this is the last time for a while that Dad will be swapping out DVRs.

Good To Know

Sam and Dad had this discussion when Sam was getting ready to brush his teeth before bed:

Sam: I have a question about the time travel paradox where you go back in time and kill your own grandfather
Dad: Ok
Sam: Does that paradox have any effect on your going forward in time?
Dad: No, most physicists agree that traveling forward in time seems much more plausible. There is no issue there. In fact, I could kill you right now, with little repercussion.
Sam: Ok, thanks Dad

Winterizing

Dad was standing in the upstairs hallway around 10:30pm. Pete whooshed by and stated the following as he jogged down the stairs: “Dad, I’m going with Marietta to Wal-Mart so she can winterize her car. Will finish my Math homework on the way there in the car. Bye.” This statement raised a number of questions. Dad raised a finger as the front door closed and Pete ran down the front walk. Dad woke up at 2:30am and decided to check to see how Pete was doing. He was at his desk working on AP History homework. It’s no wonder that he had difficulty waking up the next morning.

More Vaccines

Dad took Pete for his second of three appointments for his Gardasil vaccine. This one went a lot better than the first one. They went a bit earlier and the nurse actually let them leave after a few minutes, realizing that Pete was not going to pass out.

The Martian

Pete traveled with his band today to the Parade of Champions competition at James Madison University. He left at 7:30am and returned around 11:30pm, which is typical of these competitions. Mom, Dad, and Sam wrapped up Dad’s birthday celebration from last week by going to see “The Martian” with Brian and Patti in Herndon. This was one of those theaters with really comfortable recliner seats. Sam was amused when Brian predicted that Patti would fall asleep, and further amused when she actually did so about half way through the film.

Cheese Steak Night

Pete was away this evening, playing at the “Battle of the Burn” football game between Broad Run and Stone Bridge. After some cheese steaks with Dad and Sam, Mom went to Target to get some gifts for Pete’s secret buddy.

Pete doesn't like cheese steaks, so when he is away is a good time for cheese steak night. Ironically, Sam doesn't really like steak, so when he is away it is often steak night. (When Mom is away, it's Ledo Pizza night.)

Choir Concert

Pete had his first choir concert tonight. Mom, Dad, and Sam were in attendance. How did they manage to get Sam to go? Well, Jennifer was going since her sister is also in the choir. She saved three good seats for them in the center of the third row. Pete did a great job in his first choir performance since elementary school. And as you can see, he looked pretty good up there also.

Write Night

Dad and Sam went to “Write Night” at Farmwell. Mom also joined later after her class was over at school. It was pretty similar to the Write Night that they did with Pete four years earlier. They mixed it up a bit by doing some different exercises. Dad also tried to mix in some poetry whenever possible, since he was in the midst of his online Modern Poetry class.

Here are the two poems that Dad wrote during Write Night:

Sam
wind-swept, strong-willed, free-spirited, butter-dipped
scion of this great nation-state
who loves sleeping until fully prepared for the confrontation of the bursting day, challenging the status quo, learning new secrets
who is afraid of the pall of mediocrity, the taste of plain blandness, premature decisions
who wants to see the fabric of the universe, proof of any empirical claim, the solemnity of what exists on the other side
resident of that which can be reliably demonstrated

Berman


Timeline

The great glacial climes of January
Absorbed the rays of the February sun
Yielding March droplets descending
Slanted slopes of April
Collecting to a shallow puddle of May
Steaming toward a June bog
Adjacent with the still swamp of July
Which rapidly flowed toward an August river
Forded off as a bitter stream of September
Slowing to the brook of October
Frozen by the calm chill of November

Halted upon a December dam.

Benihana

For Dad’s birthday dinner, he selected Benihana. It was a pretty good dinner, but everyone decided that they like Nagoya a lot better. Benihana seemed to nickel and dime you for everything, and the food was not as good. There was also a bit of a wait for the table, despite the reservation. The one nice thing about Benihana was that they took a family photo and provided it on their website (see below).

Tread Marks

Sometimes Dad discovers some interesting things at bedtime. Such as that his sneaker leaves a large mark on Sam’s back. Note: this activity was for amusement purposes only. No actors were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Hair Cuttery

Sam was ready to start going to a real place to get his hair cut. So Mom put away the clippers and they went to Hair Cuttery. Sam thought Nelly did a good job, so Dad took some pictures of the results that they could show to her when he goes in next time.

The Zone

Dad went with Sam to “The Zone” to spend his $25 gift card from Nana. He had the card for quite a while; possibly since last Christmas. They played some air hockey and skeeball until their laser tag game was ready to start. The laser tag was pretty fun, but Sam was really steamed about some adults that were way too serious about it. They were sniping everyone from above. It took the fun out of the game for Sam. He was ready to go straight home, without spending the rest of the money on the card. Dad will have to go back with Pete sometime to spend the remaining $5, which will probably take about 3 minutes at that place.

Marching Spartans

Pete was busy again this fall with marching band. Mom signed up as a chaperone for the day with multiple band competitions, including the evening one at Rock Ridge. Dad joined to watch the Rock Ridge competition also. This year’s theme was some sort of pirate battle. There was a sound board with cool pirate sounds, but someone forgot to charge the iPad after the earlier performance, so it was not available for the Rock Ridge competition.

Spiders

Sam: Do you think spiders catch smaller spiders in their webs?

Dad: That seems unlikely. It would be like a dog eating a dog.

Sam: Well, it is a "dog eat dog" world.

Allergy Shot Fun

Something crazy always happens when Pete and Dad go for an allergy shot at ENT & Allergy Associates of VA. One time it was the pen that won’t write on the slick receipt paper on the granite counter. Another time it was the chair with excessive taping and “Do not use” sign. Or the time the doctor ran out to the waiting room for the toy. The list goes on. Of course the classic was the time Dad said he had a credit of $40 on his account. The receptionist (“Krista”) insisted three or four times that he did not have a credit. Finally, Dad gave up. After which Krista said the infamous line “you do have a balance of $40 though”.

FSBL Evaluations

The FSBL basketball league evaluations were the usual combination of 50% chaos and 50% waiting around. Dad got wise this year and did a drop-off/pickup. These “evaluations” are a bit of kabuki theater. Usually they at least have all of the coaches standing with clipboards and making some type of markings. This year, they only had 1 or 2 people with clipboards and it was questionable whether they were even writing anything. This might explain why Sam's team ended up with a bunch of the shortest kids, while some of the other teams had 2 or more tall players. It makes on wonder why they took the height measurements in the first place. Sam ended up on the team with the coach he didn’t want, but it worked out in the end as the assistant coach ended up taking on most of the coaching duties.

Popcorn 2015

Sam and Dad only went out for just one day this year to sell popcorn. It was a beautiful day. Dad was ready for about 3-4 hours of good sales in their usual perfect spot in Lansdowne. But Sam was done after about an hour. The good news is that Sam had 100% sales for the houses where people came to the door. The bad news is that this only amounted to 4 houses (including the house with the back-flipping dog). With additional sales to Nana and Uncle Victor, Sam still ended up with a respectable $300 in sales – enough to get 2 knives as prizes (in addition to the one he already has). This also made him the top seller in the Troop! Good thing Ethan is not in his Troop this year.

Eclipse

The above photo may appear like a black rectangle. But if you look closely, and perhaps use your imagination, you might see the eclipse. It was an excellent eclipse that everyone enjoyed tonight for about 2 hours in the late evening, right out in front of the house. Pete even brought some of his homework outside to study by the eclipse-light.

Partlow’s

Mom and Dad went for a bike ride on the WOD trail up to Ashburn Road. Sam did not want to join. They stopped for lunch at Partlow’s barbeque. Dad noticed that they had a nice assortment of ice cream treats. Dad snapped a picture to text to Sam, in the hopes that it would entice him to join next time.

Village Fest Communications

Sam went to Village Fest on Friday night with Garrett and a few of his other friends. Since Sam had his new phone, Dad was able to drop him off and then pick him up later. In the meantime, Dad went out to a nice dinner with Mom. Sam was careful to hang on to his new phone when he went on the upside-down rides.

Tag Day Photo

Unfortunately, Pete could not participate in “Tag Day” with the marching band this year. He was at James Madison University on his choir trip. Dad was able to capture a photo of his bandmates when they came to the door. Note: hopefully you like the photo since it cost Dad $20 in donation.

Nine Stomps

One night Sam was getting ready for bed and he asked Dad “How many times do you think I would have to stomp on the floor before Mom would yell?” Dad replied “Nine.” Sure enough, Sam began stomping on the floor, and after the ninth stomp: “Hey!!!!” could be heard coming from downstairs.

Froyo Observations

Dad and Pete went to Luv’n Berry. The plan was for Sam to get something from the ice cream freezer at Manhattan Pizza, but they apparently got rid of the freezer when they opened Luv’n Berry. Dad tried to convince Sam to get something equivalent from CVS, but Sam refused to go in there. Dad took the above picture to prove to Sam that they had lots of the same good stuff that you would find in the ice cream freezer. But to no avail.

Pete and Dad loved the sign in Luv’n Berry “$8.00 per pound, $.49 per ounce” (see photo below). So the intelligent customer will be sure to pay by the ounce and save 16 cents per pound!

Can-Can

Dad and Pete went to Broadlands Family Practice for the first of Pete’s three Gardasil vaccinations. Dad made sure to ask if it would be quick when scheduling the appointment, since Pete likes to get to school by 9am to avoid waiting in the dreaded tardy line. Unfortunately, the nurse giving Pete the vaccine was not going to let the rule slide requiring that Pete lie down for 20 minutes after getting the vaccine. Despite the pleas of Pete and Dad, they were stuck there. Pete decided to protest this rule by doing the Can-Can instead of lying down on the table. After some additional negotiation with the nurse, they were able to leave after 10 minutes.

Also, in case you were wondering, Pete survived despite not laying down for the full 20 minutes.

Musical Chairs

If you look briefly at this picture, you may conclude that there appears to be plenty of seating in the four spacious chairs in the living room. However, looks can be deceiving. One chair is occupied by mom, one by the rifle that Pete left there for weeks, and one by the small guitar. No problem, you say, since Dad can sit in the other chair. Not so fast. If you look closer, there is another guitar leaning against the arm of that chair. Dad took a seat in the dining room. By the way, that stuff on the coffee table is not clutter. Other than the Burger King crown and guitar pick, all of those items are actually permanent design fixtures on the table.

Evil Minions

In the entertainment industry, 2015 was known as the “year of the minions” (at least until the new Star Wars movie came out). This was bad news for Pete, since he absolutely hates minions. Especially when they are given their own spinoff movie. Dad figured he better not buy these minion freezer bars that he saw at Walgreens, but he did take a picture of them. Dad figured that Pete would be conflicted about these bars, since he hates Minions but loves freezer bars.