Yes Sir Captain

The boys got wings from the flight back to DC on Friday and they wanted to wear them to school yesterday. Dylan went as far as wanting to wear a tie and jacket. We convinced him that pilots were ties and sweater vests too. It's been a rough awakening getting back to work after being away for 10 days but I'm starting to get the hang of it again. I will get to posting the rest of the Thanksgiving pictures later this week. Got some decent one's of the big game and Napa.

Safari West

Our trip up to Napa started with a safari in the mountains between the Napa and Sonoma valleys. The place was chock full of African animals wide open spaces only accessible by these crazy jeep like things. While the animals were cool I was more afraid of the big inclines, declines and cliffs as we made our way through the park. We were just a blown tire away from rolling over a ledge and plunging down into a gorge. Here are the pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157610626848292/

Driving that train

Driving that train
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

From the car rental return to the terminal. Any train is exciting to these kids. Let's hope traveling on the day after Thanksgiving is easier than later this weekend. It will be nice to get home with a couple days to get things done around the house before heading back to work on Monday. I will miss a those leftovers on grandmas fridge but I'm sure my waist won't.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Lawrence Hall

Lawrence Hall
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Building sailboats at the Lawrence Hall of Science. Good thing to do on a rainy day in Berkeley.

Above Calistoga

Above Calistoga
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

We got a quick hike in this morning before checking out of our cabin.
Three miles up a mountain with some great views if the valley. This is
a shot of some vines at the base of the hike. We got up to about 750
feet before we had to turn around and get back to Calistoga and check
out. 3 miles in all, good workout before more wine tasting.

Yountville Railway Hotel

Yountville Railway Hotel
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Yes, we slept in a box car last night. We took a safari in the Sonoma hills yesterday complete with giraffes, wildabeast and rhinos. I'll post pictures of that later. Off to drink wine today.

Cal Bears

Cal Bears
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Everyone put on tons of blue and gold this morning and headed down to the big game at memorial stadium. Adam got us on the field before the game and we ended up on the field after the Golden Bears trouncing of the Cardinal.

Christmas already?

Christmas already?
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

The Clairmont lobby is already decked out for Christmas. I like the season but it seems kinds early. Hell, I like it.

Clairemont

Clairemont
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Just finished an extra long workout at the clairemont and feel totally refreshed. Yesterday was a long day with the early wake up, cross country flight, and 3 mile hike in the hills. The weather is great per usual around here and it's looking like perfect football weather for tomorrows Cal - Stanford game.

On the bus

On the bus
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

From the economy lot to the terminal.

School Pictures

Now I think they should have taken Dylan's picture over because they were obviously pointing a gun at him at the time. I think they both look fantastic but Dylan looks a little tense in his shot. I think Dylan had the better photo last year. I guess it all evens out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAE

From the boys....

Fall Stroll

I was a little windy and a lot colder today than yesterday but it was perfect for a walk in the woods. We needed to get out and hike. The boys multiple broken legs had greatly limited out hiking in the past 6 or 8 months but they were troopers today. Made the two miles without a complaint. I think we need to up the mileage to 4 or 5 soon. Here are the photos on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157609215227208/

Candy Tracks

Candy Tracks
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

A free online game that the boys love. I don't know why we have the xbox and wii now. We went on a nice hike this morning at leesylvania state park. I gave each boy a camera and we got a lot of good shots. I'll post them later today.

Foggy Alexandria

Foggy Alexandria
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Jeremiah has issues

Jeremiah has issues
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Love this ad on metro for software developer training. I keep imagining Kumie the samurai warrior. Do I really want to hire a guy that has a sword?

Birthday Photos

I finally got around to getting the birthday party photos up on flickr. I think the 17 children completely drained all energy from me for a short while. I need to go to bed now and continue my re-charging. http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157608832557025/

Forgot to mention the Vikings victory over the Pack yesterday. I just need to blog it so I don't forget a year from now.

6th Birthday Party

This whole world passing game didn't work so well but the kids did like making their own space helmets, playing alien tag, playing pin the rocket on the moon and beating the crap out of a space shuttle pinata. About 15 kids and two hours of madness. I took a whole lot of pictures but I'm too tired to post them now. Tomorrow I'm sure.

Happy Birthday Dylan and Sam

Yes, the boys are now 6 years old and entering their terrible 2's. They were so ramped up today we almost had to call the whole thing off. Grandpa now has them in the guest room reading and hopefully settling down a bit. They had school, karate, pizza, cake, presents and everything that comes with a birthday but man, did they need to settle down. The big party is on Saturday with a houseful of 5 and 6 year olds all hopped up on chocolate icing. That should be fun. Regardless, they have come a long way in six years and have completely stolen my heart. Love them both.

Dylan Art

Dylan Art
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Parent teacher conferences today and voting in the same location. Bonus. The Who were good last night at the verizon center. Great seats and the price was right, free that is. They also played a great rendition of 5:15 which made the night for me anyway.

The Who

The Who
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

On to the Birthday Party


Fun party last night but now I'm really tired, even with that extra hour. We had to clean up Halloween decorations today and start preparing for the boys birthday party next Saturday. It's a space theme I believe. I posted a whole bunch of pictures to flickr this morning and I realized I didn't really get any of Nicole in her biker chick costume. I was the biker dude\roadie guy.

Enjoy the photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157608591690712/

All Saints Day

Yes, the Saturday after Halloween and our annual halloween party. The kids were insane and we will be cleaning for a few days but it was a ton of fun. Modean got a hold of my camera and got this pic of me and Sam. I was a biker and Sam was pretty tired when he finally went to bed at 11pm. More pictures tomorrow.

Happy Halloween

Those Things Again

The boys couldn't wear their official costumes to school today but were allowed to come to school as characters in a book. They are little terrors at times. The real costumes and some trick or treating tonight.

Alien Day


For some reason Sam's kindergarten class got to choose a special day because of being particularly well behaved or something so they choose to have Alien Day. I would have gone with Pirate Day but that's me, I want to be a pirate.

Nicole made same a lovely green mask with antenna that you can see all the way to the left in this picture. He's wearing a green shirt too.

Scary Music

We went up to Strathmore Hall in Bethesda today to see a kid friendly orchestra concert called "Carnival of Creatures" It was only a 75 minute show and featured scary type music, a dancer, story teller and live 12 foot anaconda snake. The pieces were short and the conductor explained the animal noises being generated by the orchestra. It was pretty cool and the boys love most of it but got tired at the end. Sam was pretending to play piano on the railing you can see to the right and Dylan really liked the xylophone. He said it sounded like a skeleton. We had a box at the right of the stage so could see everything extremely well. It's an introduction to classical music anyway.

The picture above is rather blurry but shows Dylan as Racer X and Sam as a Bat. Dylan's little face is all scrunched up to show him going really fast in his car and Sam is just doing the bat thing. Halloween is coming fast.

Box 6 at Strathmore Hall

Box 6 at Strathmore Hall
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Getting ready for the carnival of creatures concert.

Glam rock

Glam rock
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

At the party store

Kindergarten musical

Kindergarten musical
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

After reading a few books the last couple nights the Boys and I have watched high school musical 1 and 2 on the Disney channel. Getting ready for 3 coming out this weekend I guess.

This page is Sam's contribution to a class book that has been making it around. All bears made by him and his classmates. Hangin with the boys on my own is a good time every once in a while.

Change in Washington

AARP 08 Video

Enter your name to see who can bring real change to Washington. First Name: Last Name:

Ok, this is from my former employer and is actually pretty good. They can get creative over there if they try. Timely, personal and viral. Keep it up AARP and keep my 13 years of pension strong so I can retire someday.

Pumpkin Fun

It was a perfect day for a pumpkin patch trip. We headed out a little further than usual this year and ended up at the Circle of Seeds farm in The Plains, Virginia. It was a cool little place with a corn maze, hay rides, slides and various other things to keep the boys busy. We went home the long way and drove some narrow dirt roads in Fauquier and Loudoun counties. Pretty Virginia horse country with lots of leaves turning. I took a ton of pictures and put most of them up on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157608193358483/

Back to work tomorrow with a full week of meetings and budgetings. Good times.

Back to the Chill

I made it back to Dulles last night at 2am after a seriously delayed flight from SFO. I also had the pleasure of sitting between two fairly big dudes but it was all worth a extra hours with the family. I slept a bunch this morning then went to the fun fair at the boys elementary school and then to dinner with the boys, Finn, Rachel and Nicole.

It's nice and chilly here now and I built the first fire to go along with the new Indiana Jones movie, aliens, fickin aliens. We are off to the pumpkin patch tomorrow for pumpkins, slides, corn mazes and hay rides. It's suppose to be fantastic weather for it.

The Palace

The Palace
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Been in inside in meetings all day but got glimpses of the sky from this atrium. It looks nice out there.

Boo

Boo
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

We ate out in the newly refurbished screen porch again tonight because the weather is perfect for it and this darn room gets so little use. It's all decorated for the Halloween party in a couple weeks and pretty spooky. It should be good to use for another month or so then will get ignored until spring. Still looking forward to that first fire.

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Dinner at Johnny Rockets then a local high school football game, complete with a parade and a homecoming court. The Hayfield Hawks were losing to the famous TC Williams titans when we left at half time. It was actually a pretty good game and perfect night for football. A perfectly crisp fall night.

Shoemobile

Shoemobile
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

I've seen a bookmobile, bloodmobile and even a weinermobile but this is my first shoemobile. I wonder what it gets to the gallon.

Cheek Art


I missed Alexandria's Arts on the Avenue this year because I was in Arizona but that didn't stop Nicole and the boys from going and building a new scarecrow. This year's straw man is named Louis Scardy Zombie. I will try not to destroy him and the rest of the house with flame like I almost did to last years scarecrow, Shawn. It's getting cold again and we are starting to see some color in the trees. Fire season (in the fireplace) can't be far now but it does appear we will be sticking in the 70's this weekend.

Night Swimming

Night Swimming
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

Not really but I thought it was a cool picture. One more poolside reception and dinner then an early flight home tomorrow. I haven't left the Ritz Carlton since I got here on Thursday night and need a change of scenery.

Plane Reflection

Plane Reflection
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

There is something about cruising at 30,000 feet, listening to music
and staring at America below. I hated leaving the boys this afternoon
and was secretly hoping for a flight cancellation to send me back home
again.

My mind is allowed to wonder and reflect on what's important while
tucked away in my seat with an inffinate view. Maybe it's the feeling
of wide open possibility with being able see so much going by. It's
either that or the free drinks that come with an upgrade.

I can't wait to get back to Nicole and the boys but for now I'm
relishing the beauty of the never ending horizon.

Waving Goodbye

I love how when I walk the boys to the bus stop and after they get on and start off, they wave through the window with big giant smiles on their faces. I know that won't last forever but it sure is sweet now. I'm off to pick them up at the stop today then off to Phoenix for a meeting. I won't be gone long but I wish I could take them with me.