Schools are Closed

Not surprising but it's not really that bad out, yet. More freezing rain is headed this way tonight and it might be pretty slick in the AM. I guess I will be doing my meeting on the phone tomorrow. At least I have the lights up to celebrate this winter storm. I have a whole bunch on the driveway side of the house and the back. I think I'll take them down the first week of February this year.

First Snow

Only about 2 inches and now we have freezing rain but I got my outdoor lights up just in time. Nicole and the boys are at a movie and I'm watching a painful Vikings game. If the ice keeps up, we may be talkin a cancelled school day tomorrow and a decision on what to do with the boys.

Cold Winters Night

We are home waiting on an ice storm heading this way. We may get a couple inches of snow in the morning, then just ice. It's a good excuse to stay home and do nothing tomorrow.

Hoop Dreams

The boys played hard this afternoon but came up short against a energetic Herndon team. Sam played most of the game and scored 19 points with 11 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Dylan played about half the game and came away with 5 rebounds and 2 steals. He was all over the court and really worked his butt off but only took a couple of shots. The key was that he wasn't apprehensive but extremely aggressive and ran hard up and down the court. Sam had a great game but looked pretty winded out there at times.

With the three pool play games done, we will get our division assigned and the regular season schedule that I will post so you people can plan to come out and see them play.

Winter Nights

I was able to get some of the outside lights up this afternoon. I'll get the rest up If it stops raining for a little while tomorrow. The boys are off to basketball practice which kind of sucks because I like them here with me on cold, rainy nights. Our third league basketball game is tomorrow. It's against Herndon and with the outcome we will be placed in one of the three 5th grade divisions and a season schedule will be generated. It will be nice to know when the game will be a little further out than a few days.

Oh well, back to staring at the fire and sipping my Duckhorn Merlot.

Old and New

Our new Seattle space needle with a battery powered light and a wooden airplane from my childhood are adorning our tree tonight. It's good to get the smell of a Frazier fir in the house again.

Christmas Tree

Went to the Apple House for our tree today and got one that just barely fits into its spot in our family room. We could get a bigger on and put it in the living room but that would mean I'd barely see it. This one is a little taller than me and fits right next to the fireplace, but not too close. On to decorating in a little while.

Long Trip Home

Something closed interstate 95 in both direction near the Delaware/Maryland border this afternoon that sent us scrambling for another route over the Susquehanna and adding almost two hours to our trip. We did cross on route one after a bunch of wrong turns. The Toyota navigation system is not on par with Acura version and did not help much until pulled over re-adjusted the bastard. We are home now with found memories of another thanksgiving in New York. This is a picture of us on the R train on the wY home from the basketball game last night. We got home and warmed up some leftovers and watched Man of Steel in 3D in Adam theater. Didn't get to bed till 1am. I will sleep well tonight.
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Madison Square Garden

We went to the final of the NIT preseason tournament tonight. It was Duke vs. Arizona and a really good game that Arizona pulled out in the last few minutes. Uncle Adam got us some sweet tickets at mid court, about 10 rows up. The boys had a blast and when I say the boys, I mean all five of us.

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had 13 for dinner tonight. Aunt Elaine came up from Philly, Dana Connelly was here, her dad and Adam are old friends from Berkeley and she now goes to NYU. Randy from LA happened to be in town and Julie from the bands touring staff was here with a couple crew from her current gig. It was a fun night with great food and lots of wine. Per usual, it was all too much and put me in a food coma.

Young Politicians

My friend John Weill posted this on Facebook. If only Marsh and Carolyn would have continued their political climbing. They could have out Bill and Hillaryed, Bill and Hillary, or would that have been Richard and Pat?

Happy Hanukah

The eight crazy nights begin again. Coinciding with thanksgiving will not happen again until 2070 in some calculations.

Papa Smurf

We went up to the planetarium in the natural history museum this morning then strolled along west 81st and west 77th streets to see the Macy's parade balloons being filled. Not all of them were in fill mode but we saw a bunch. It's rainy and cold out there now. We are in for the night. Likely watching Man of Steel in 3D on Uncle Adams ginormous tv.

Flatiron

We stopped for a photo in front of the Flatiron Building on the way to the museum of math. It was a nice little museum but didn't take long to discover it all. We then headed back to Soho to buy basketball shoes for the boys. They are very fancy now. Off to see Motown in a few minutes.

Night Out

Nicole and I met friends out in Old Town last night and had a good old time. The plan was to have drinks and appetizers but we were a little low on the app side of the equation so my head hurt a tad this morning. Winter finally showed up this morning and I'm not sure we've been above freezing today but I really haven't been outside anyway.

New Doo Selfie

The three boys are getting out hair cut by Patrick today. Tough basketball game early this morning. Got man handled by a good Arlington team.

On This Day

A shot from this summer when Nicole was at a white house briefing. It seems an appropriate post today.

End of the Season

The boys handled their playoff loss yesterday pretty well. They justed shifted into basketball mode. Reset.

Keeping up with the games

I like Sunday afternoons during football season. Lots to keep track of with all the fantasy leagues and games to watch.

Split Day

First off, our playoff game in flag didn't turn out so well. We lost to the cyclones who beat us in the regular season as well. The Tigers started off a little sluggish and never really recovered. Sam did score two touchdowns and a 2 point conversion but the team went down 30-14. We just can't seem to get a good game going when it really counts in that sport.

On the flip side, basketball went really well. Dylan returned to his honey badger self with some intense play. He seemed lost in last weekends tournament but he was all over the court today. He only finished with 1 point, 5 rebounds and a steal but man he was a man possessed on defense. Sam scored 14 points, had 6 rebounds and a steal. He looked really good on both sides of the ball. The kid has some fantastic moves underneath the basket and was able to get open a lot, using his size to dominate in the paint. His touch has also improved a lot from last year. We have a good team with exceptional guard play and some really good forwards. Dylan is mostly trading time with Sam at center but was also in as a forward a couple times.  The LMVSC Patriots won 40-20. Go Patriots!!!

We are now down to one sport with football and soccer over. It looks like it will be an exciting season.

Home and Away

The team jerseys, shorts and shooting shirts were handed out at practice tonight. Go Patriots!!

Planning

It's the eve before the flag playoffs and a divisional seeding game in in basketball. Sam's ankle is getting better and he is riding the stationary bike to loosen it up and strengthen it a bit. Dylan is on his way to basketball practice where they will likely get their uniforms. Pictures of them in them later if that happens. I hope they do well in both sports tomorrow but mostly that they have fun. They've worked hard since August to get to this point in football and it's really the start of a new team journey with basketball.

School Pictures

Dylan 2013

Sam 2013

Dylan's Weekend

Sam as laid up with his ankle issue, which left Dylan to fill some holes in the football and basketball teams. After his fantastic performance on the grid iron yesterday, he hit the court with his team for 3 games. Their basketball team is really good but down three players today. They had a lot of fight in them but fell short in all three games. With just 7 players, they were exhausted at the end and they had to play a 6th grade team with a 6 foot center that Dylan had to guard. It took him a little while to get acclimated but he finally started playing like the honey badger we are used to. He ended up with 4 points on two great jump shots, a dozen rebounds and 3 steals. It was a slow start to the season but this travel team is going to be great for his progression and it is way more fun to watch then the rec league.

Sam tried his best to not look disappointed and encourage his brother but is still salty that he missed out on all the fun. The team could have used his services as well. They lacked a big man under the hoop. We are trying to get him back for next weeks games. Finger crossed.

Birthday Boys

The boys had their birthday party today with about a dozen kids. We rented a video game truck that parked in front of the house and had 4 big screen TV's with Xbox's and Wii's attached. The kids spent two hours playing video games and screening all they wanted while we stayed in the house and had a few cocktails with some of the parents. It was a brilliant idea, not having to drive anywhere but not really having the kids on the house either. We had pizza and cake in the screened porch which is much better than all those monsters messing up the dining room. All together a success.

Playoff Bound

Sam was on injured reserve today with a bad ankle but Dylan made up for his brothers absence by scoring two touchdowns and intercepting two balls. Corbin added two nice TD's for a 24-12 win against the Hawkeyes. Sam is on his way to getting better and should be able to return next weekend but not for tomorrow's basketball tournament. He's a little salty about that but it would be worse to rush home back before he's ready.

Bad Ankle

On the eve before an action packed sports weekend, Sam rolled his ankle and will be on injured reserve for a week. The weekend was supposed to start with the free throwathon then on to a football game at 9am tomorrow and then three basketball games on Sunday. Dylan is going to pick up the slack and play twice as hard but Sam is pretty disappointed.

Sent from my iPad

Happy Birthday Boys

The boys turned 11 today. They are one of my best ideas ever. I love you both madly.

Lazy Sunday

The extra hour of sleep was much needed today. I needed to catch up on sleep after a busy week. We spent a little time outside throwing a football and working on some soccer moves on this glorious fall day. The Vikings lost and Redskins won which sucks both my adopted teams, Patriots and Seahawks won so it wasn't a total loss.

The boys turn 11 on Wednesday. Hard to believe.

Peak Season

Busy day of sports for the boys. They each scored a goal in a 2-2 draw in their 9am soccer game. That's it for soccer this year. Sam finished the year with 6 goals, Dylan only had one in 5 games. They missed a few because of football. They had another great day on the grid iron. Sam ran for two TD's and threw a long pass to Corbin in the end zone for another TD. He also caught a 2 point conversion pass from Corbin. Dylan had another nice long running TD and caught a beautiful bomb in stride from Sam but his flags came came off after a couple more steps and was called down after 30 yard catch. If your flag belt comes off you are down but he had clear sailing to the end zone.

The trees are in full color this weekend and the temp is dropping again. A fire is burning and we are in for the night.

Changing Seasons

We had our last soccer practice today and will soon be hanging up the cleats for the year and breaking out the basketball shoes full time. The trees are really showing color. It's just sad that the color only lasts a week so. I love the peak color time and always want to take it all in and save it for those grey winter days and hot and green months. We have a soccer game at 9am and a football game at noon. I will also need to find time to take some pictures of the trees too.

Big Candy Haul

We went across telegraph road to trick or treat with the Wards this year. Tons of kids out and the houses seemed closer together so we could cover more ground. I was still tired after all the walking, as were the boys. On to November.

Happy Halloween

Tin Tin and Abe Lincoln (Vampire Slayer) heading to school.

Jerseys

The boys got measured for their jerseys and warm ups today at basketball practice. Sam is a men's large jersey, medium shorts. Dylan is an adult small for both. Good size kids.

Sent from my iPad

Busy Saturday

The boys won their football game this morning 34-12 with Dylan scoring once and getting an interception while Sam didn't score in a game for the first time in a year. He did get a nice interception. They lost their soccer game by a score of 4-0. Dylan had three really nice shots on goal and Sam had a couple. We are just back from a Halloween party and watching baseball and football in front of the fire. Tomorrow needs to be a low key day.

Back from Vegas

I just noticed the text I sent with the Pain Vegas post didn't make it. It described how I tweaked my back a couple hours before my flight to Las Vegas on Tuesday and the walking around the conference like the hunchback of Notre Dame. That on top of the sciatica I've been dealing with the last few weeks made the flight and the last few days less than fun. I did get a massage on Thursday and was able to go to the conference closing party at the MGM Grand. The conference was good and as long as I was sitting all was good. Moving from session to session was an adventure. I need to find a chiropractor soon.

I was able to upgrade on this mornings flight and I'm back home in virginia sitting in front of a blazing fire.

Pain Vegas

The Day After

Fun party last night. Lots of great costumes. Nicole was over served and spent most of today on the couch.  I added a bunch of pictures to flickr, enjoy..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/72157636768588783/

Sent from my iPad

Kiss

The Halloween party was fun. The boys and I are still up. Nicole is in bed. She was over served.

Calm Before the Storm

One more night until the Halloween party brings madness to the house. Nicole has been cooking furiously and I've been getting the house ready for 22 adults and 30 kids. It could get a little nuts.

We have a soccer game in the morning then we are in full party mode. I'm looking forward to seeing them play soccer. It's been a few weeks but they looked really good that day.

The Carving

Party Prep

Nicole has been cooking for days and I've been pulling other things together for our annual shindig on Saturday. It's a lot of work but it's a fun night and we will see some people we haven't seen in a while. I do love this time of year.

Basketball Begins

We still have half the season of football and soccer left but this travel basketball thing starts now. Yes, that's three sports at once but the actual basketball games don't start until mid November thankfully. We have two practices on Thursday and one Friday before a soccer game on Saturday. No football game this week. I hope they remember to play it. Actually, I heard an interview with Tony Gonzalez the other day (ex cal basketball and football player, now a great TE in the NFL) and he said his best training for being a receiver was basketball. I'm looking forward to basketball season. All these kids look really good and I'm noticing a couple that had beaten us in previous years in rec.

Cider works distillery

Drove out to Jefferson Maryland to visit and apple orchard and distillery. Sampled and bought some apple wine with grandpa while the boys and grandma picked apples. We had a nice lunch in Boonesboro then headed home. It's been a rainy weekend but we had some fun in the mountains of Maryland.

Rainy Day

No football or soccer today due to all the rain we've gotten in the past few days so we went downtown to check out the exhibits at National Geographic. This included a cool 3D movie about pre-historic flying creatures. It was very well done and a nice outing.

Travel

The boys tried out and made the 5th grade boys travel basketball team this week. It was a quick decision to do the try out after our Recreational League coach decided not to coach this year and we were scratching our heads about what to do next. Sam really wanted to play travel ball and Dylan seemed a little scared of trying out in fear missing the cut and his brother making it. After some hard core convincing, we got Dylan to go to the tryouts where he did a great job passing the ball and playing mad defense, that's what he does, he's a stealer.

We held our breath for a day and a half but got the news that they both made the team last night. This is great news for their basketball progression because they will be playing with 8 other kids that really know the game and will be playing tough teams from all over northern virginia. We will miss our friends from the rec league but this is a great opportunity for the boys to get a lot better and extend all that they learned in the 3 weeks of basketball camp last summer.

The boys are competitive little monkeys and I love to watch them compete. This is the next step for Nicole and I too. It means more practices, games and longer drives to away contests. They both want to tryout for travel soccer in the spring which means something has to give. Football or baseball may be on the cutting block.

Sent from my iPad

Yes I Did

It didn't get much above 60 degrees today and it's been raining cats and dogs so I decided to dry things out with the first fire of the season. I have a few windows open as well but I couldn't resist. It already smells good in here and I like the warm glow.

Crisp Blue Sky

Just got into San Fran for a meeting. Left a rainy and humid DC for the chilly blue of San Francisco. We did need the rain pretty badly so I'm happy we got it and I'm looking forward to getting back to see how the leaves have turned.

Turning Tables

It was a hot day for back to back flag football games but that didn't stop the boys from running up a storm in a close loss and a redemptive trouncing. They lost the first game 20-18 with Sam scoring two touchdowns while Dylan had one. The whole team was a little sluggish and the offense was well, offensive. The other team was big and pretty good but I think the boys had their eyes on the next game.

Game two was a rematch of the last weeks tough and annoying loss. This featured a coach that was verbally heckling Sam, Dylan and a couple of our other kids. He was also overheard telling his team to "accidentally" trip or hit Sam. We let the league know that this wasn't going to fly and I had a few choice words with him. The league did respond this week with the commissioner lining up each of the six teams and coaches before today's games and giving them an intense "army drill sergeant" lecture on good sportsmanship and letting them know everyone was on notice. I've never been a big fan of the commish but I have to hand it to him on this move. Each team heard the same lecture and it worked.

The offending coach kept his mouth shut and while I don't know what he told his kids, they were perfect gentleman on the field. Sam was still pretty upset about about last week and while I tried to calm him so he wouldn't go out in too much of an agitated state he went ahead and torched that poor team. Scoring 4 touchdowns, two on interceptions in our end zone then taking it the whole length of the field. He had a third INT and also threw a 2 point conversion pass to Corbin. Dylan had a beautiful 40 yard TD run with some amazing Barry Sanders moves and had two quarterback sacks. We ended up winning 34-12.

The team is now 1-2 with some work to do in the next few weeks to get in the playoffs but I think they are starting to click. Regardless, the win today is very satisfying.

Good knee, bad knee

If anyone is interested in the reason I limp around like an old man, I've posted the X-ray I had done today at my annual knee discussion. You can see the difference between a normal knee to the left (my right knee) and a messed up knee to the right (my left knee) You can also see the two staples that were put there in 1982 to fasten my left quad tendon below the knee to give it lateral support. That worked for a while but running and time have taken their toll.

The plan is to hold out a little longer before replacing that bad boy. It does hurt a lot of the time but the possible complications of replacement and the replacement joints longevity are things to consider as well. I'm going to show this to Dylan and Sam when they get home from school and I bet they won't mention wanting to play tackle football the rest of the year.

Home Alone

Just me and the boys for the last couple days and for another couple. Nicole is in Atlanta with the geezers and I'm a little bored since the kids went to bed. Sorta looking forward to two football games on Saturday but disappointed we will miss the soccer game because of it.

Shutdown Blues

Those tea baggers are pissing me off but the commute is easier without all those government workers off the road. Dylan is joining band this year with his mom's old sax. It really doesn't start till Friday but he already sounds ok. It's going to be a loud house this year.