Friday, January 30, 2009

Brothers

We just watched Hancock which wasn't that bad, actually pretty entertaining. When we went upstairs to check on the boys we found this scene. They often climb into bed together but I don't think I've ever seen them holding hands while sleeping. You gotta figure they like to be close considering they were the same egg at one point. Yet, they beat on each other during the day. Odd...
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

First snow


First snow
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

It wasn't much but we got our first and probably last snow of the season today. Got to use the snow button on the car for probably the first time since I got it a year ago. The button locks it into all wheel drive mode, very exciting.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Back from Fort Worth


Back from Fort Worth
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Business trips are important but it's hard to miss the family and then just have a few hours on Sunday to hang with them. I learned a lot about ACS and had some great conversations with board members, staff and voluteers.

I was the first person to use room 845 at the brand new Omni Fort Worth (it opened last week) and it was a lovely hotel but it can't beat the boys on my lap in front of the fireplace.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Ft.Worth


Ft.Worth
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

This is cowboy country as shown by the cowboy hat store I ran across
in fort worth today.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Looking Forward

Here it is Tuesday and the work week starts tomorrow. We had a great time hanging out at home, watching a little football, visiting the National Marine Corp Museum and watching some of the Inauguration hubbub. The Marine Corp Museum was great and only 20 or so miles away. Had no idea it was so well put together. The plus was that it was the opposite direction from DC and didn't come with the gridlock the district had to offer.

I think the boys appreciated part of the ceremonies today as we tried to explain the uniqueness of an orderly transfer of power. They really don't get it but can say they saw this one anyway. I'm guessing they will see a number of significant transfers of power in their lifetime. It is a cool process and it's good that the Bush days are over. Let's hope Obamarama turns into some positive governing in the coming years. We have some issues to deal with.

As we wind down the weekend we took Sam to the Dr. to find out that he has the flu and Dylan appears to be right behind him. Nicole shoud be back with the Tamaflu soon and hopefully, it won't be that bad. Check out the shots from Quantico on Flickr.
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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Morning Tae Kwon Do


Morning Tae Kwon Do
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

It's cold outside so indoor a** kicking will burn some energy. They will be testing for a gold belt soon. Off to buy a new dish washer after this. Gotta get money moving in this economy, besides our current one doesn't clean that well anymore.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Another Tooth

Sam is stating to lose his front teeth which will make it difficult for some of you when trying to figure out who's who. Dylan has been free of front teeth for a couple years now due to the Halloween incident but now Sam's are falling out. I hope the new ones grow back soon, and straight.

It's bloody cold here. Not as cold as Minnesota but cold for Virginia. We are headed to a low of around 5 which only happens once a decade around here. Staying close to the fire tonight...
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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Metallica


Metallica
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

At the Verizon Center, DC.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Feeling Better

While I still have a cough and don't feel a 100%, I'm definitely feeling better. Whatever I had was some heavy duty illness that I hope I don't get again. Nicole still has some symptoms and is hitting the doctor on Friday to see what it is. Work has been heating up again after the typical holiday break from serious business.

A couple more days and we have a nice mid-January 4 day weekend to look forward too thanks to MLK and our Presidential election system. Don't have a lot of plans for the weekend except to avoid the district like the plague. All the bridges from Virginia to the District will be shut down on Inauguration day anyway, first time since Lincoln tried to keep Lee out of the District in 1861. Makes me feel real welcome to the party, not that I ever had a desire to attend in the first place. I'll be happy when Government gets back to the same old same old. Just instead of Cheney's motorcade getting in the way of my commute to work, it will be Bidens. I guess that will be a little easier to swallow.

I am going to see Metallica at the Verizon Center tomorrow with Modean, Donkey and Jr. That is an event worth braving the bridges and metro to attend.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Mason Neck Bike Hike

Mason Neck Bike Hike

Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS Geotagging

Sam, Dylan and I did 6 miles on the bikes this morning at Mason Neck State Park. We have hiked there many times but they have a few miles of paved bike path in the woods as well and the boys did some good riding. It was a little cold, about 39 with a 10mph wind near the river but being from Minnesota, it was nothin. The stuff above is from Everytrail, an iphone application that tracks your trail progress. It's pretty cool but it eats the battery like nobody's business. I don't think we could have gone 10 miles and still had power. Home now watching football and getting warmed up by the fire.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Christmas Cousins

I took quite a few shots of the kids in front of the fireplace and this one seemed the best. I only brought my portable camera to Mn for the holiday and you just don't get that same crispness my DSLR gets. Anyway, I finally uploaded what I got over the 6 days in Minnesota on flickr. I've had a cold for the past couple weeks and I stayed home from work today and started antibiotics because it was only getting worse. I'm already starting to see some improvement but I'm heading up for another 9 hour nap in a few minutes. Not much going on this weekend but work is starting to heat up again after a couple weeks of low activity. It's a new year.
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Sunday, January 04, 2009

Kate and the Boys

Julie, Kate and Damon left this morning after a nice visit. I think they had a good time anyway, we did and the boys loved playing with Kate who loves trains as much as Dylan. The boys and I went on a bike hike this morning and got 3 or 4 miles in. I found a cool dirt trail along some railroad tracks not far from home. The benefit of this track was seeing an Amtrak and two frieght trains during the ride. On the way back from the ride Sam informed me that he was debating two career choices. He either wants to be a hip-hop dancer or a dirt bike rider. I told him he could probably do both. Dylan just wants to be a karate master. Today they are Vikings and we are getting ready to watch those crazy vikes win or lose to Philly. Go Vikes.
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Saturday, January 03, 2009

New Helmets


New Helmets
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Went to the bike store today and got some better fitting helmets. Also looked at new bikes for the boys, mamma and papa. That's going to be a couple grand in the spring. I better keep my job.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Happy New Year

Wow, New Years eve and day came and went quick. I forgot to put up some photos and in fact, need to post the Christmas pictures to flickr soon. Julie, Damon and Kate came up from Texas and joined Jr. Modean and us for new years eve and we pretty much did a lot of nothing on new years day. I'm working from home today, trying to get over this nagging cough while the group went downtown to some museums. Set up a Skype account for video conferencing for anyone who wants to call a couple days ago. The boys love it and talked to Finn and Rachel last night before bed. It's lot of sticking out the tongue and stuff like that but I'm sure they will settle down eventually and have semi-real conversations. Maybe Nicole will use her new camera and get some shots of the trip downtown today.