Cheeseburgers and Fries

Jacob came over to hang out with Sam after school today, and decided to stay for dinner tonight (good choice since it was cheeseburgers and fries).

School Schedules

The second day of school was actually a good day for Pete to leave all of his folders at home on the kitchen table, since it turned he didn’t really need them anyhow. After school, Dad served as stand-by assistant as Pete worked through some of the Monday puzzles in the New York Times archive. His average time is down to about 20-25 minutes. 

First Day of School 2016-17

The first day of school went pretty well. Sam got up rather early (6:50am) and was ready to leave by 8:04 for the 8:08 pickup. Pete also got himself up with plenty of time to spare. Pete will need to take the bus for about 2-3 months, until he is officially allowed to drive by himself on November 16^th.

Better Meatballs

Today was the last day before the first day of school. Mom made some meatballs that everyone agreed were a lot more palatable than the raisin balls they had a few weeks earlier from Blue Apron. William came over in the afternoon to join Sam and Pete in watching TSM defeat C9 in the finals of the NA LCS. 

Closing Out Summer

Mom and Dad went to watch Pete’s “friends and family” band performance at the new football field on the last weekend before school would start up again. They swung by home to pick up Sam and went to Ledo for lunch. They got stuck on a level of Guess Up Emoji, but after a few hints Pete finally figured out that it was “Victoria’s Secret”. Later in the afternoon, Pete, Sam, and Dad (for a bit) watched the League of Legends LCS third place match between CLG and Team Immortals on Chromecast. Wild Turtle led Immortals on a comeback and they ended up winning in 5 games.

Football Season

Jackson came over today and then went with Sam to the first football game of the year. It’s going to be a long season for Broad Run, since their quarterback decided to play Lacrosse instead of football. They lost on the last play of the game when they could not push the ball in from the 1 yard line. 

At least Pete did a good job as part of the halftime performance.

Pillow Investor

Tonight was a late dinner at Fuddruckers. After the meal, Dad gave Pete and Sam each $1 to play some video games. Sam came back almost immediately. He had tried to win a poop emoji pillow in the crane game. Dad agreed to give him one more dollar if it would make him at peace with the crane. To everyone’s amazement, Sam returned quickly again – but this time with a fantastic bright blue poop emoji pillow. Dad tried to claim the pillow as the investor, but Sam was apparently either not aware or not in agreement with that basic legal principle.

Trampoline Impalements

Sam had a busy day today. He went to locker setup at Farmwell, and then walked to Lindsey’s house, followed by Jackson’s house. Hung out at Jackson’s house for several hours, during which both Jackson and AlexE got impaled on the trampoline, in separate incidents. Alex went to the hospital and later returned to the trampoline (kudos for dedication). Sam later walked to 7-11 and back with Jacob. Sam’s meals for the day were a few tortilla chips, a popsicle, and a Slurpee. He also had a bowl of cereal at about 10pm.

For the record, Pete and Sam's trampoline at home is still free from major injury after all these years.

Five Trips

Dad is pretty busy the last week of summer, when Mom is back at work (school). For example, he drove to Broad Run five times today. Twice to drop off and pick up Pete from Band Camp, twice to drop off and pick up Sam from Jacob’s house (in development across the street from Broad Run), and once to pick up Pete’s parking permit. The good news is that hopefully the parking permit will save Dad a few trips over the course of the upcoming school year. Also, Dad drove twice to Falls Church, to drop Pete off and pick him up from work.

Congressional School

Mom dropped Pete off for work at the ritzy “Congressional School” campus in Falls Church, and headed off to work. Dad picked Pete up at 3pm and took him over to Band Camp. 

Dad then took Sam to Scotto’s and the Troop meeting. They got there early, so Sam had time to defeat the gym at the NRPA. There was even an extra space for Dad to place a Pokemon in the gym as well. Sam got a lot of sign-offs from William for being grubmaster at the last campout. He also collected some of the “grub fees” from the other Scouts.

Heading Home

On the final day of the campout, Sam and Dad woke up once again at 7am to get everything packed up for the ride home. The planning was good, since they made it back into the car just as the rain started coming down. After dropping Jude and William back at NRPA, it was time to relax for what little was left of the weekend.

Ropes Course

Sam and Dad woke up early so Sam could cook the French toast sticks for his large Werewolf Patrol (which included two older Scouts this time). After cleaning up and heading over to the adventure park, Sam and Dad had a great time at the Sandy Spring ropes course. 



First they did one of the green courses, then upped the difficulty to the “Waterfall” blue course. They went with William, Alex, and EthanC. It was quite challenging, and Sam had one obstacle in particular (a ladder with a lot of space between log rungs) that took every bit of strength/luck/will for him to make it to the top. They finished with one of the yellow courses. Then Sam hurried back to prepare lunch (sandwiches) for a late 3pm lunch. The afternoon was relaxing, with a brief activity in which Sam earned his Firem’n Chit. Then Sam cooked cheeseburgers for dinner. All in all, it was an exhausting day but a good one.

Campout Arrival

Dad picked Sam up at his last day of Chess Camp and then they packed up for the Ropes Course Campout. Dad drove Sam, Jude, and William to the Sandy Spring adventure park. They arrived at the campsite after dark, so quickly set up their tent and kitchen, and got ready for bed.

Summer Sweatshirt

It has been one of the hottest summers on record. People can debate whether this is due to climate change (answer: it is!), but it has been pretty brutal regardless. However, this has not stopped Sam from wearing his new TSM (Team Solomid) sweatshirt on any occasion. For example, on a trip to the grocery store with Mom to purchase the food for this weekend’s campout (he is the grubmaster).

First Puzzle

Tonight at dinner, Pete tried his first New York Times crossword puzzle – which he quickly completed without any difficulty. Also, Dad introduced everyone to a game that they played at his recent crossword tournament. Everyone starts on a certain word, and then has to find a series of words after that which match certain categories, and come after the previous word in the dictionary. The winner is the person who ends up with a word as close as possible in alphabetical order to the original word. Once you figure out how to play, which took a while, it is a fun game. After that, Sam shared with Dad some of the boneheaded moves that people made earlier that day in Chess Camp.

Sweet Sixteen

For Pete’s 16^th birthday, everyone went to Nagoya for dinner and then had Costco cake at home. Pete opened his presents. First the “Happy Birthday Son” birthday card that Grandma had inexplicably given to Dad (blank) when he visited her in February. He found the hidden guy that Sam had drawn on the lighthouse. Then he opened his TV Wall Mount, portable charging block, ear buds, HDMI cables, and Chromecast (with floppy dongle). It seems that electronics are a big thing these days.

Thriving Community

Dad picked up Sam and William from Chess Camp and they walked over behind the Heritage Farm Museum to grab a few Pokestops. They were rather surprised to find the thriving community of about 40 people sitting in front of Frogshackle Cabin, hunting Pokemon. They stayed for about 10 minutes, catching a number of Pokemon which had been lured there. They made it back to the car just before the rain started.

Pokemon Pun Game

Mom went to visit her friend Dawn in Annapolis. Dad went with Pete and Sam to Ledo for lunch/dinner. They played the Pokemon pun game. For example, the clue is “Emily dazzled the guys with her __________ wit” and the answer would be Charmander. Or “Betty was anxious for her __________ grow up to become a horse. (Answer to be provided by the reader)

Planning for Future Trip

Mom took Sam and Pete to Red Robin, since Dad was still at his Crossword tournament in New York City.

Dad decided that he would have to take Sam and Pete next time, so they could hang out for a few hours in the Southeast corner of Central Park.

Outdoor Activity Night

Mom went with Pete to the band outdoor activity night at Fincastle Field.

Dad headed off at noon to his crossword puzzle tournament. He texted Pete a screen shot of all the Pokestops near his hotel in New York City. But sadly his phone was not able to handle it and kept crashing.

Band Camp

Sam went with his friends today to see Suicide Squad at the mall, while Pete was enduring 105 degree index at band camp. 

White shirt and blue shorts

Tonight was the last night of the Blue Apron experiment. Mom and Dad worked together to prepare cod with purple potatoes. They took a few bites and then got pizza for everyone.

Pork Chops

Sam was not too thrilled with the pork chops for dinner. He took a few bites and then had some taquitos later in the evening. He has declared that most meat is too bland. This includes Dad's steak on the grill and pork. The only meat he seems to like is chicken with a lot of seasoning.

Family Reunion

Mom and Sam returned home this evening from Myrtle Beach. Before then, Pete and Dad shared their final meal which was Chicken Burgers (Blue Apron) prepared by Dad. They were not too bad, but they were thinking about making a Five Guys run later in the night for some real burgers. However, that would not happen as they worked right up until midnight to get Pete’s myriad module 12 assignments submitted for his Econ class – the final module of the class. 

Meanwhile, Mom arrived home and examined the K’nex template Dad had built to see whether the new sofa had any chance of fitting through Pete’s door. The verdict is that there is a chance it will fit, if the feet are removed and it somehow can make it up the stairs. 

Everyone rounded out the evening by watching the US win Olympic gold medals for Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, and the entire women’s gymnastics team. Sam showed off his new red Nike Free Runs that he got in Myrtle Beach and regaled everyone with stories of the Pokemon that he caught along the beach and boardwalk.

Family Schism Day 4

Dad picked up Pete after band camp and they continued the sofa adventure. They went to Home Depot to rent a truck, which Dad drove over to Gala Circle. They loaded up the couch and drove it to the house. Mr. Cary helped a little bit with getting the sofa into the foyer. Dad declared that it may be too big to get up the stairs or into Pete’s room. Pete declared that there is a 100% chance they will get it into his room. They decided to rest up and postpone any further efforts until Mom and Sam return from Myrtle Beach tomorrow night. They spent the rest of the night on the couch in the family room watching the Rio Summer Olympics and working on Modules 11 and 12 of Pete’s summer Econ class (until Pete remember that he wanted to play Roblox). 

Meanwhile, down South, Sam walked the boardwalk playing pokemon go while mom sat on the beach. It was extremely hot - mom gave Sam $10 and he bought himself a slice of pizza, coke, and ice cream. They had Nana’s ribs for dinner, and then played 3 games of Pickleball. Sam got in lots of time cuddling with Shadow on his final day of vacation.

Family Schism Day 3

Pete mowed the lawn, and then went with Dad to look at a sofa in a garage on Gala Circle, then to the music store to pick up some valve oil. After dinner, Pete went with Chandler to Top Golf (free Sunday night play for local restaurant employees). 

Sam and Mom went to the boardwalk for dinner, and ended up at Friendly's. After dinner, they went into the Gay Dolphin gift shop, rode the sky wheel (Poppy is afraid of heights), and of course some more pokemon go.

Family Schism Day 2

Dad arrived home from his overnight camping trip and found that Pete and the house were still there. 

Meanwhile, Mom and Sam went to dinner with Nana and Poppy in Myrtle Beach, after which Sam looked around for a few Pokemon. He played some more Wii in the morning while mom went to store with Nana. Later in the day he played Pickleball, pool, and ping pong at clubhouse. Dinner was at Olive Garden with Aunt Jo and Dave, after which they went to the outlets across the street where Sam played some more Pokemon Go. He got some new sneakers for school as well.

Family Schism Day 1

Sam and Mom headed off to Myrtle Beach today. Dad picked Pete up from work and then went to his IOLS Scoutmaster training class in Bluemont. Pete was by himself for the evening. He went with Jennifer to the mall and got some “asteroid fruit slices”. Sam arrived in Myrtle Beach and set up the Wii and small TV in his private room.

Meatball Incident

Tonight was the “meatball incident”, in which Mom spent about 90 minutes cooking meatballs in tomato paste and squash from Blue Apron. Pictured are the boys trying to pick the raisins out of the meatballs. Later in the evening, everyone had SecondMeal. This is the meal you cobble together later in the evening on Blue Apron nights. Dad has cereal and some leftover rice he found in the refrigerator. Sam had toast and a milkshake. Pete had a box of Whoppers at the movie theater.

Catfish

Pete went to Heath’s house for game night so Sam had the Blue Apron catfish and zucchini with Mom and Dad. Sam took a small bite, comprising about 0.0004% of the available catfish.

National Night Out

Pete and Dad drove up to Sterling to pick up Pete’s TV from Tammie (Craigslist). It just barely fit on the back seat of Dad’s car. It was pretty heavy, but they managed to lug it up to Pete’s room and get it on the floor. Then Pete, Dad, and Sam walked over to the Lakes Pool for the ice cream social and "National Night Out". They snagged some free ice cream bars and a few Pokemon along the way. Pete picked up some interesting flyers with useful information such as: “On Halloween, avoid the deadliest hours of 5pm – 9pm”. Also, there was a flyer about what to do if you see a gun, and another with safety tips for playing Pokemon Go. 

Today was also the first meal from Blue Apron. It was supposed to be chicken sandwiches, but the biscuits to be used as the buns were extremely small and flaky, so it was just “ordinary piece of chicken with side of biscuit plus collared greens”.

Scouting Will Occur Next Time

Dad dropped Pete off this morning at Spring Hill and then headed to the office in Reston until heading back at 12:15pm for pickup. Sam got a ride with William to the troop meeting, and Dad met up with them. The meeting ended with the following announcement from Lowell: “Guys, I know Pokemon Go is fun and all, but you guys are going to need to put your phones away and do some Scouting activities next time.”

Cut and Color

Sam got his haircut today, which turned out to be a bit complicated. He wanted to cut all of the green out, to avoid having green tips, but that would mean cutting it shorter than he wanted. So he had to get a $50 “cut and color”. He made a 3:00 appointment with Nelly and everything worked out pretty well. 

Later in the day, Pete drove Dad and Sam to Ledo for dinner, since Mom was at Katie’s house with Ryder. On the way home, they drove past a guy walking backwards and then Pete put gas in his car for the first time. Dad gave Pete an S+ grade for the impressive lengths to which he went to secure his PIN as he was entering it.

Gym Captured

Pete and Sam captured the local gym today for red team (Valor) at the playground near Chris Korrie’s house. This would be the first of many conquests at the local battlefield.

Inspection

Pete went to see Dr. Yang this afternoon to get his second ingrown toenail repaired. Hopefully he can walk again for work on Monday. Pete took the 2009 KIA Spectra in to Virginia Tire and Auto for safety inspection, emissions inspection, and oil change. So it is in good shape. The only repairs were two light bulbs in the front and new wiper blades. Mom also bought a license plate bracket for the front, so that is now attached as well. The low-priority items left on the list are the scratched hubcaps, buffing out some scratches in the paint, and finishing up the registration and Loudoun decals. Pete has two PNC bank cards now – the orange one is his regular account with his work money and savings, and the silver one is his car account with some money from Nana and Poppy plus the money Dad is giving him for not going on the school trip to China.

Team Bagel

Last night was trivia night at Greene Turtle. Unfortunately, the guy on the phone was not correct that it started at 7pm, so round 1 had already ended when "Team Bagel" (aka yours truly) arrived. However, they made a miraculous comeback and ended up finishing in 2^nd place, good enough for a $10 gift card. This included a perfect 36 points in the closing rounds 4-6, and a full wager of 15 points on the final question (answer: Microsoft and Intel). Sam sat in the front seat with Pete on the short trip home – Pete’s first driving experience in the rain at night. Later in the evening (after Mom had gone to bed), the crew walked down to Fultonham Circle in the pouring rain to look for a Squirtle that had been spotted nearby  (not found).

Ducks Unlimited

Dad and Pete headed out at 7:45am for the DMV, to get the title transferred over and registration. Pete could not decide what license plate to get. He finally settled on “Ducks Unlimited”, but the clerk did not speak English and couldn’t find it so Pete agreed to the cardinal (aka “the one with the RED BIRD on it”). The good news is that the paperwork was in order (with Dad scrambling to fill in the last few items while Pete distracted the guy at the counter). Later in the morning, Pete saw Dr. Yang to get the first of his ingrown toenails repaired. Sam did not want pork chops or fries at dinner, so his food intake for the day was a donut, some whoppers, chocolate milk, and a chocolate muffin.

Philly Trip – Day 3

The final day of the Philly Trip began with Dad, Pete, Grandma, and Grandpa taking a 9am trip to PNC bank in Philly (Academy Road) to get the title to the Kia Spectra notarized. Everyone then headed over to IHOP in three cars. Grandma asked some Chinese people at the next table if they were Filipino. Dad talked to Grandpa about how to manage the data on his phone. Then it was time for goodbye hugs. 

Pete drove the Kia with Dad and Sam, and after a brief unplanned trip across the Ben Franklin Bridge into New Jersey they met Mom at the Safeparc garage back in Philly. On the walk to ESC Escape Room, they stopped at a cool gallery sponsored by thenib.com which was tied to the DNC convention. Since the Escape Room was not ready yet, they walked over to the Liberty Bell. 

Dad was ironically denied entry due to his DNC bingo card, but he stashed it and got in for a brief view of the bell. The escape room was fun (other than the 15 minute delay in starting) and they escaped well within the hour without requesting any of the three hints they were allotted. It was called “Moving Madness” and the theme was that you are very security conscious and locked your keys away an hour before your house was scheduled to be demolished. 

Pete did a good job driving home from Philly on I-95 and the beltway – his first major highway experience. Despite the stop at Wawa, his “knees were burning up”, so they stopped in Reston for dinner near Dad's office.

Philly Trip – Day 2

Grandpa made some French toast and then the gang headed out at 9:30am for Six Flags Great Adventure. There were a lot of Pokestops there, which helped Sam forget about the heat index being in the 100s. They went on the following rides (in order):

·        El Toro (twice)

·        Bizarro (twice)

·        Runaway Mine Train – Dad disappointed with the theming

·        Skyway

·        Fender Benders

·        Nitro (twice)

·        Safari Tours (twice) – slow enough for Pokemon egg incubation!

·        Batman: The Ride

·        The Dark Knight Coaster

·        Harley Quinn Crazy Train

·        The Joker

·        Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom

·        Kingda Ka

·        Green Lantern

·        Superman: Ultimate Flight

After the storms shut down the rides, they headed home and got back in time to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa at Sarappo’s. At dinner, Dad was trying to do a trivia quiz of Sam vs. Grandma, but Grandpa kept interrupting with True/False questions that were either excuses to tell stories or things that he subsequently realized that he did not know the answer to.

They went back to home base and moved everything around so they could pull out the bed.

Philly Trip – Day 1

Today was day 1 of the brief Philly trip. On the way up, the family stopped at Fort McHenry for lunch. Dad entertained everyone with some Fort McHenry trivia. He almost never made it to the second question, since the answer to the first question was “star”, which led to a long side discussion about whether that is the same as a decahedron. Then after discussion of the Treaty of Ghent, there was further debate about whether Belgium is a “significant” country in Europe. 

After arriving in Philly, they went with Grandma and Grandpa to “Five and Below”, followed by dinner at La Vera pizzeria in Feasterville. Sam and Pete each got $10 to spend at Five Below. Sam got headphones and candy. Pete got a t-shirt and candy. They should really call that store “candy and iPhone cases”. After hitting Rita’s on the way home, they marveled at the size of Grandpa’s wallet and then did a jigsaw puzzle while watching some of the Democratic Convention (from Wells Fargo center in nearby Philly) and Pete and Sam went down to the moldy basement for bed.

Super Powers

Sam randomly asked Pete and Dad “You know what would be a great super power? If you could fill anything”. This led to an amusing discussion about all of the things you could fill with this power. Like filling someone’s car with pennies. 

Another super power idea was the ability to just make socks. There were many other ideas that ensued, but don't worry; here we are just listing the "good" ones.

Chiptopia

Dad is working on his “Chiptopia” rewards from Chipotle. Pete and Sam have been planning who they are going to invite to the big party when they win $200 of free catering for 20. All they have left to do is go to Chipotle 33 times in July, August, and September.

Please No

Pete and Sam came upstairs around 11:30pm and joined Dad for the last few minutes of Trump’s speech accepting the 2016 Republican nomination. It was just after the part when he said he is going to “completely rebuild the military” and “renegotiate all of our trade agreements”. This was the rare case where everyone is hoping (if he somehow gets elected) that the President won't be able to do what he promises.

Microwave Tips

Tonight’s dinner was burgers, hot dogs, chips, and broccoli. Pete asked for some warm barbecue sauce, so Dad put the container in the microwave. The bottle emerged from the microwave in a different shape than it entered, to some moderate amusement of everyone except Dad. Then Pete discovered that he could eat the ends of the watermelon like a platter. He also instructed Dad to search on the internet for watermelon juice.

Kingpinz Family Outing

Nana and Poppy were in town for 3 days, with tonight being the final one. Everyone met them at KingPinz for a fun farewell outing. Afterward, Mom went home to meet up with the neighbors while Dad, Pete, and Sam walked around the Village at Leesburg for about an hour to catch some Pokemon.

Appropriate Path

Dad and Pete headed out at 7:15am for work this week in Reston. Pete is teaching inline skating this week. Unfortunately there are no Pokestops this week near the camp location. Last week, Pete was able to go by the stop a few times each day by "volunteering" to take the campers to the bathroom, and taking the appropriate path toward the facility.

Harrisburg Trip – Day 3

Dad managed to wake Sam up in time to throw some clothes on for the group pictures. Pete finally got to play one game of pinball and then it was time to check out of the house. The Bermans, Merrimans, and Brian/Patti swung by Culhane’s Steak House for lunch. The Escape Room in Harrisburg was all booked up, so they headed home.