New Years Hoops

Got back on the court today to prepare for basketball season resuming. Dylan is sporting his new Syracuse outfit. He likes it a lot.

Vikings and Sudoku

The Vikings are headed to the playoffs and Nicole I hooked on Sudoku. It won't be an easy playoff run with the first game against an angry Packer team on the frozen tundra but hey, it's one more game. We did deny the Bears a playoff spot which makes the win twice as good and a Redskin loss tonight will complete a really good football day. Nicole stated play Sudoku on her iPad yesterday and can't stop. She's totally hooked. We have an early New Years party tomorrow then we will be home to see the big ball drop on time square. 2012 is almost in the books.

Sent from my iPad

Laser Domination

We lost power at 11am so the boys and I ran up to Shadowland to play some laser tag. Homer beat the boys twice, including this second place finish to Carpenters 5th (Sam) and Manspiders 7th (Dylan). We are back home and the power and football games are back on.

First Glasses

I picked up my first pair of prescription specs today. They are for office use, computer and reading stuff. It was just a matter of time.

Winter Break

Momma and the boys have a long winter break so a trip to the mall was a one the agenda today. I spent most of the day at work but the rest of the family wandered the monuments. We might get some snow tonight but I'm not holding my breath.

Already Missing the Cousins

We made it home today without any issues. The flight was actually a half hour early but the boys are already missing Finn and Mae. We are all missing the family can't wait to see everyone again soon.

Baby it's Cold Outside

But not too cold for a little sledding.

Game Face

It's 2 degrees out but the boys want to wear their new basketball gear.

Merry Christmas

Cold Winters Night

High temps in the teens and an ample cover of snow on the ground is feeding the Christmas spirit. We met up with a bunch of friends last night in Excelsior and are heading to First Avenue tonight for a Group Love show with Rachel and a neighbor. Hoping for a little more snow tonight.

Glassman

After a visit to the optometrist, Sam is getting a pair of reading glasses just like me. These are some readers that I just picked up for myself at the airport. He looks pretty good in these. Dylan needs to go back for a follow up because he doesn't seem to use one of his eyes much. Off to Minnesota for a few days.

A Just Because Fire

My work group had our holiday lunch and annual in office cheer party today and Nicole celebrated her last day in the office until January 24th. It's getting windy and cold out and Christmas is just around the corner. A blazing fire seems appropriate for the last day of the world according to the Mayans.

Hair Cuts

The boys and I went downtown to Patricks new salon for our pre-Christmas haircuts yesterday. The new salon is much fancier than the old one in Adam's Morgan and Sam is now opting to get the shampoo with the cut. Very fancy of him.

Nicole and I went out to Patty and Modean's holiday party last night and saw a bunch of folks we hadn't seen in a while. Good times but we were home before midnight. Just a lazy Sunday in front of the fire right now.

Good Game

The Bachman Bombers played a tough game this morning. They were down 10 in the 4th and battled their way back with a tying bucket from Sam and the go ahead jump shot from Dylan with 30 seconds left to play. Unfortunately, the other team came down and tied it again then we fouled them going for the rebound of another Dylan jump shot. They were bonus and they hit the free throw for a 28-27 win.

Dylan had 6 points and did really well for his first game as point guard and Sam had 15. They moved Dylan to point because they needed his aggressive play and ball stealing talents. I was afraid we wouldn't pass and just drive every time but he spread the ball around as well.

This team has a bunch of beginners but they started playing better today. This team will win some games.

Sent from my iPhone

Door Decorating

ACS had a door decorating contest today and this our entry. This door leads onto the WSO department and some very creative folks. I not know if we've won yet.

Holiday Concert

The boys sang in the Clermont holiday concert tonight. The whole thing was pretty short which was nice. The strings and band numbers were pretty short since the kids are pretty much beginners so the chorus took the majority of the time. They sounded good.

Sent from my iPad

Above the Rim

The boys practiced with their coaches 5th and 6th grade team last night and showed that they would start for that team as well. Coach Lance has the boys 3rd and 4th grade team, his sons 5th and 6th grade team and his daughters 3rd and 4th grade team. He has the boys doing the extra practice with the older kids to really push them this year and they proved that they can run, rebound and shoot with kids older than them. Lets hope they turn it up a notch this weekend.

Hanukkah Train

The grandparents got Dylan a train and Sam some catchers gear. They both seem pretty pleased.

It's beginning to look a lot like....

My mom sent some photos of the Minnesota snow storm and I've been watching the Breckenridge snow storm on their webcam this weekend. I love having the snow for our Christmas visit to the twin cities and need the white stuff for our skiing trip to Colorado in January. It's all looking good so far. Would love to get some in DC as well but I'm not holding my breath.

Happy Hannukah

Basketball game, odyssey of the mind practice, birthday party and now a sleepover. The boys lit the candles and are off to spend the night at a friends house. Momma and I will on our own tonight. What to do?

Back on the Court

The boys both scored 5 in a 11-31 drubbing. It was a sloppy game with Sam missing a number of easy shots under the basket and Dylan stealing balls again but pulling up too early for the shot. The rest of team are mostly beginners so we had many turnovers and the newer kids don't seem to want to shoot. The other team was pretty solid but the game should have been much closer and I'm sure the boys will get better. Practice, practice, practice.....

Hot Momma

Nicole was looking sexy at happy hour last night. One of her girl friends took this with her iPhone 5 and it showed up in my photo stream as a nice surprise. All the apple products that take pictures roll into the same photo stream. It's cool that way.

Window Day

Not sure how these guys hang 9 stories in the air like this. They have a warm day to do it anywho.

Nice Hair Sam

In his defense he had a hat on before the shot.

Hoop Dreams

Those boys are naturally good at basketball but they refuse to work on the basics. On the left, Dylan is working on his half court buzzer beater (he actually made a couple). I finally got Sam working on lay ups but they are not falling like they should for a kid that will taller than 99.9 percent of the players he will see this year. They have been the leading scorers on their team the last three years but still seem to think that going 2-10 from the perimeter is better than 12 easy lay ups.

Dylan steals balls like they are going out of style, beats everyone back to the hoop, then pulls up and shoots when no one is around. Sam just needs to post, take a pass, turn and bank one off the board. No one can touch him. I hope they figure all his out this season.

Tree Time

Month of Holidays

We started the month of holidays by checking out the annual Scottish Christmas Walk in Old town Alexandria this morning, picked up a Christmas Tree and put all the outdoor lights up. It's starting to look a lot like Christmas with Hanukkah only a few days away.

Our friends Thom and Jenn took this photo. They made the trip down from Boston just for the Walk. They used to live in Old Town and would throw yearly Scottish Walk parties. We don't get too many family photos but this one turned out alright.

Dylan in 4th Grade

Sam in 4th Grade

Two Months

I've been heading out to my 8:30 guitar lesson on Wednesday now or two months. I'm slowly learning how to play some chords and songs but have a ways to go. Sam and I have been practicing together this week. Sam has taken up the viola in his schools band. He can play Mary had a little lamb so I learned the chords and base line so we could play it together. It should be fun.

It Begins

The neighbors have started putting up the outside decorations which means I need to get started on my little light show. It's supposed to be warmer this weekend. Good time to string the lights.

Elmer Fudd

You must be very quiet when hunting rabbits. Dylan with his new flap ear Tottenham hat that Mo gave him. Mo gives those boys way too much stuff.

Cal Basketball

After thanksgiving basketball game with Adam and grandpa.

Thanksgiving Feast

New Stadium

We spent the afternoon touring the new and remodeled Cal football stadium with Mo and the coach of the rugby team. They did a fantastic job refurbishing and improving the old classic with a beautiful new suite level that has an unbelievable view of the Bay Area. You get a view of Marin all the way down to Palo Alto from up there.

The boys also saw the team locker rooms, weight room and of course the field. We brought a football and played for a while as they pretended to be Cal players. They didn't make any of the field goal attempts but were actually pretty close a couple times. 

Ride Home

The boys left it all on stage last night.

Rockers

Great show last night in San Francisco. The boys were troopers and saw all three bands and did a late night after show party. They were bushed on the way home.

Volleyball

Who's the biggest Cal sports fan? Grandpa, Mo or Oski? The women's Volleyball team came back from being down two sets to beating Utah 3-2 (15-13) in an exciting match. Mo had the boys cheering like mad down the stretch.

iFly

Nicole and the boys did a little indoor sky diving this morning while I did a spa day. I needed the long workout and message but the indoor flying thing looks pretty cool. They are at the Cal Women's basketball game with grandpa now and I'm going to meet up with them for the Cal Women's volleyball game at 8. Non stop fun.

Planetarium

Spent the afternoon in the Oakland hills at the Chabot Space & Science Center and just got back from dinner at the Claremont. We saw a couple of show in the planetarium, Astronaut and Mayan Sky. I remember planetariums being all about looking at stars and constellations. These two shows were more movie than sky watching. They were both well done and it was a fun afternoon.

Set for Flight

Who Are You

I saw the Who play their entire Quadrophenia album and some other classics last night at the big phone booth. Modean, Donkey and wacky Dave and I had a great time hearing all the old songs. I learned the chords to one of them tonight at my guitar lesson. Teenage wasteland, it's only teenage wasteland.

Triple Threat

We spent the warm weekend playing basketball, soccer and baseball but didn't have any official games of any sort. Basketball season is about to start so we made sure to shoot hoops for a while. Sam got some new goalie gloves for his birthday so we kicked the ball around and we spend almost 2 hours at the baseball field, hitting, pitching, taking infield and catching pop flies. Baseball season will be on us in no time and they both want to play well in the spring. Dylan also wanted to use his new first baseman's glove. Off to see the Who tonight with some of the boys.

Night Golf

A grown up night out at top golf. It's golf and bowling all in one.

Top of the W

Had a nice team retreat yesterday and finished the night at the lounge at the top of the W Hotel. I had never been up there after over 20 years in DC. Nice view of a Romney free city. I was pretty relieved that specimen didn't win the other day. It will be interesting to see how the Republican product changes over the next few years. I don't vote party, I vote for people and the choice was easy this year.

Birthday Boys

Happy 10th Birthday Boys!!

Little Browns

A great season that ended just shy of the goal. The party made up for it, kinda.

Birthday Putt Putt

The boys birthday party went over we'll last night. It was putt putt madness with 16 kids running over two mini golf courses for two hours. This week is already wearing me out. 

Runner Up

The little Browns won their semi- final game against the steelers 18-0 and looked like they were in a great position going into the championship game against the other unbeaten team in the league but they fell short in their bid for the first place trophy. Both boys had a good games with Sam scoring three times in the two games and Dylan having some great runs. The little browns were having some issues with flag pulling in game two and suffered some lapses in execution on offense. It was a great season and everyone had fun. On to basketball.

Halloween

We realized last night that we didn't take any pictures of the boys in their halloween costumes. Too late now but Sam was a greaser and Dylan was the Grim Reaper. They got a bunch of candy last night and got to trick or treat with Ben and Rachel from across the street. It all went well.