Football Boys

They each had a pick six while Sam threw for another score and Dylan scored two extra points. Good start to the season for the little Ducks.

Anchorman

Dylan is the morning announcements voice at Clermont Elementary and when the video system is working properly, he will be the face of the morning news as well. I'm very proud of him for taking after Uncle Tom and Ron Burgundy who are really one and the same. Stay classy Clermont.

Key West Refections

I uploaded a bunch of photos to flickr and realized that the 3 day trip was a lot of fun. I don't see Steve that much these days but hangin with him and Patty was really fun. I feel like Steve and I got back in that Dewey Beach groove pretty quickly like when I saw him all summer long back in the day. I'm also looking forward to a nice weekend with the kids, I miss them when we are apart. 

https://flickr.com/photos/76997459@N00/sets/72157647093267000

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Walking with Dinosours

Nat Geo pull up a flower bed and planted this creature in its main entrance on M Street. I didn't get eaten walking past it to the gym today.

Politician Boy

Sam's official duty was greeting people and selling reusable bags to help fund student government at the back to school night. He didn't sell that many but he looked good.

The Big 50

Thanks for all the nice gifts and well wishes. Fun night with Nicole, Dylan, Sam, Linda, Gill and Adam. Onward.......

Modean and Pat-tay

Our friends Steve and Patty joined us in key west for the 3 day run up to my birthday. I was really happy they could make it and we had a great time bumming around that key. Back home now and nursing a very sore knee and some sore other parts of my legs from going 45 mph for two hours in some heavy surf on those wave runners. I can barely walk.

Mommaski

Great time on the water yesterday, followed by some football, pool time, sunset, dinner and a fabulous dessert restaurant. On the plane home now and missing the boys.

Jet Ski Madness

Fun but bumpy trip around the island today. Good times.

Island Hot

Got in around 2 yesterday and have melted into the island pace pretty quickly. Stave and patty are here as well and we had a nice dinner at Pepes then a few drinks on Duval street. Rode bikes to the beach this morning then some lunch, more riding around the island followed by some pool time. Need to get ready for dinner now but theirs no rush.

K thru 6

First day at Clermont Elementary and today's first day of 6th grade. They haven't changed a bit. Except that Dylan had the leg problem in kindergarten and Sam has the problem this year. It's just really bad shin splints so he should be fine.

End of Pool Season

We had one last visit to the pool today and played a few last games of PIG. The boys are heading back to class tomorrow. Big 6th graders now and kings of the elementary school.

Long Weekend

Nothing better than nothing to do during the Labor Day weekend. It's a set point for me to start looking at Fall and all the changes that come with that. The light is changing everyday and some of the trees are starting to show hints of color. All the intense green is giving way to the browns, oranges and reds. I like Fall.

We picked up Dylan's glasses today and he looks adorable if I do say so myself. We took a quick trip to the pool that will be closing after this weekend are watching the Cal Bears spank Northwestern in their first football game of the year. The first fire can't be that far off.

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6th Grade Teacher #2

...via PhotoToaster, using these settings.

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6th Grade Teacher #1

...via PhotoToaster, using these settings.

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The Boss Man

Sam is out of sports until his shin splints heal so I had to take him to work with me today while Dylan went to soccer camp. He was pretty bored while I had 3 hours of meeting this morning but then we had a nice lunch and went home.

Golden Potato

Dylan got the golden potato award at sleep away camp they attended a couple weeks ago. It's given to the most enthusiastic camper. It was time to throw it away but not without a picture.

Near Sighted

Unlike Sam, Dylan has minor issues seeing things in the distance. We went in to get him glasses today. He's going for a sporty look.

New Specs

Clark Kent like.

Summer Break

The last couple weeks of August, the lull after the summer national meeting and the ramp up to school has caused a drop in blog postings of late.  It was good to be back home with the boys this last weekend and hanging out with them watching the Little League Baseball World Series this week.  Washington DC is a little sleepy this time or year and while usually very hot, it's has been a pretty tame summer.  I'm already seeing some leaves doing an early change and the light is getting more autumn like every day.

Anyway, I haven't taken any pictures or have any big events to blog about so I'm filling space.  I did go to a knee replacement class last week to learn about what to expect with the replacement.  It sounds like pain should be an expectation but I did learn that the orthopedic unit has 24 private rooms for my 2 day stay and some potentially wacky co-patients on the floor.  It looks like it will be pretty straight forward as knee replacements go.

Boys are home

They really liked this camp counselor. It's Tom from Yorkshire England and when the boys came to him home sick in the first couple days he told them his story. This is his first trip outside of England, first time on a plane and he's been in Maryland for the last three months. They agreed that 5 days and a hundred miles away from home wasn't a big deal. I'm glad they are back home.

Creek Tribe

They are Creek's this year with their friend Timmy (holding the sign). They look like they are having fun. I got back from San Francisco this afternoon and they weren't here. I kinda miss the little buggers.

San Francisco Super Moon

The night sky was brighter last night due to the Super Moon. I had sushi and went to bed early. I'm a wild man.

Tockwagh

The boys are off to camp again. They have their friend Timmy with them this year and disappeared to the pool the minute Nicole dropped them off. No long goodbyes for them.

Sam and his Pony

Sam got a little pink pony at the end of the school year in some contest in his class. He's been traveling with it ever since. First Minnesota, then California and Maine. It will be interesting to see if it makes the trip to sleep away camp next week.

Baseball Birthday

Little Mick turned 5 today and wanted a baseball birthday party with the big kids. His brother Sam was on our baseball team and played with the travel team so Mick wanted the travel team and Sam and Dylan at his party. Mick is wearing the bat boy t-shirt in the bottom row. It was a fun party and Mick never got out and hit a half dozen home runs.

Laite Beach

We went up Mount Battie for a hike this morning then came back down and took a cold swim in Penobscot Bay. Everyone got in except grandma. It was cold but kinda refreshing.

Cutis Island Light

This is from our kayaking adventure yesterday.

Sittin on the Porch

This ferry goes back and forth from the ferry terminal a couple hundred yards down the beach to Islesboro island and back every 30 minutes or so. This cottage is really nice and we have spent countless hours just skipping rocks on the beach below us. Time to head home tomorrow but we will have good memories of mid-coast Maine.

Bi-Coastal Kayak

We did a two hour kayak trip around Camden Harbor this afternoon and brought pizza back to our house for dinner. Linda and Gil took in a museum in Rockland while we paddled. The trip was very similar to the kayak trip we took in the San Juan Islands last year at this time. Maine and NW Washington State are very similar in a lot of ways and the voyage felt very familiar. The guide let the boys jump out of the kayak at a point during the trip and swim around. Getting back in was no easy task but they made it. Good time all around.

Late Afternoon Cruise

Around Curtis Island Lighthouse.

Captain Slow

We visited the Bath Maritime Museum and did a sorta tour of the Bath Iron Works shipyards today. Nice museum and the shipyards are building some high tech ships for the Navy.

Ghost Selfie

Camden Harbor was a little foggy tonight after dinner. Kind of an ghostly fog. We are hoping to get out on kayaks tomorrow in the sun.

Cold Reality

The waters were cold in Acadia today. I got in up to my knees but the boys went all in. It was a nice day climbing around Cadillac mountain, swimming at sand beach, watching the surf at Thunder Hole and lunching at Jordan Pond. We stayed in and cooked burgers tonight.

Acadia National Park

The Rain in Maine

It was a foggy, chilly and rainy day in Maine but we managed to get out and see the Owls Head Transportation Museum and the Owls Head Lighthouse. Sam slept a full 12 hours after falling a sleep at the Lobster Pound last night. The red eye flight from San Francisco took a lot out of him. Most of the restaurant thought he was a drunk teen when he stumbled out after dinner. I think we all feel more rested today.

Maine Lobsters

We just about timed our drive up from Boston perfectly to pick up the boys at the Portland Jetport with Grandma and Grandpa. They were all pretty tired from the red eye and layover at Dulles but were in chipper modes for our 2 hour drive up to Lincolnville. The house is beautiful, three bedroom, 3.5 bath with a spectacular view of the ocean. The boys and I practiced our rock skipping before I took a much needed nap. Nicole and I were up pretty late with our friends Thom and Jennifer in boston last night. Great time but only got 5 hours of sleep. Things are pretty relaxing in these parts so I imagine I'll be getting plenty of rest.

Swan

The historic swan boats of Boston's Public Garden. I've been to Boston 30-40 times for business but never set foot in the Public Garden. Nice place.

MVC's

I have two Most Valuable Children and it will never be easy to see one of them beat the other one in games or other stuff. The boys played on different teams during basketball camp this week and from what I understand, they were both playing really well. They faced off in the camp championship today and Sam came away with a win and the camp MVP award for a second year. From what I understand, you needed to win the championship to be MVP. I'm happy for Sammy and proud of Dylan since I know he put everything he had into it. They are both very good players but Sam has slight advantage right now that I know Dylan will work hard to erase in the coming years. Congratulations Sam but look out, your brother is coming for you.

Happy Flight

I just noticed this picture in my photo stream from last weeks flight out west. (The family's 9 different apple devices send their pictures into a single cloud account that we all can see) it appears that Dylan took this shot and grandma seems pretty happy with the whole flight which is good. I'm glad the boys behave well on flights these days and this is a good picture of Linda. Come to think of it, the boys do have close to a 100k miles under their belts, they should be good travelers by now.

Warriors

At the Golden State Warriors camp in Oakland. Happy boys with basketballs.

Off to California

Gonna miss these guys for the next week. I think grandma is getting shorter.

Training Camp

We met up with Coach Cory and Lukas to throw the ball around and learn some new plays in preparation for the upcoming football season. Yes, football is around the corner. They played their last summer basketball game last night and came away with a nice 61-34 victory. They both hustled and had some nice numbers. Dylan had 7 points, 5 rebounds and an assist. Sam had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and a block. The team has three more games next week but the boys will be in California at the Warriors basketball camp trying to work out the kinks in their game.

Baseball Camp

They are enjoying this camp as well but not as much as the last one. The weather finally broke and we have some nice cool air around which makes being outside all day much more tolerable.

New Favorite Camp

They really liked this camp and now want to go to Bishop Ireton for high school. I'm not so sure I want to pay the catholic school bill when a perfectly good public high school is right down the street. They will likely be back there next year. Now on to their travel basketball game.

Summer League

The boys got back into action with their travel team and had a good game against SYA, the winning club in last winters league. They both played hard in a losing effort with Dylan scoring 7 points, 3 rebounds and a steal while Sam had 3 points and 11 rebounds and a steal. They were both passing well and ended up with a bunch of assists as well but we didn't count those. Sam really had an off night for shooting, as did our leading scorer Michael. We only lost by 8 which isn't bad when our two scoring machines were not firing on all cylinders. Dylan really shot pretty well from the outside and hustled on defense.

Summer 2014

Summer is off with a bang. Lots of activity already and the boys start basketball camp tomorrow. The also have two summer league basketball games this week then baseball camp and more games next week. This is a nice shot Grandma took in Minnesota. I only tweaked it a bit.

Scary

A quick photo between the set and encore. The band did a runner after the show but the boys had a good time with uncle Adam before the show. It was beautiful night at Wolftrap for the first time in a few years. It was a low humidity night withe the temps in the 70's while the last few years it has been 95 and humid. It was a refreshing change.

Getting Along

In this picture mostly. The four of them do end up arguing at times but enjoy hanging with each other mostly. We had a great trip and a wonderful time up north. Looking forward to Kavanaugh's next year.

Babe

Our annual picture with Babe the Blue Ox in East Gull Lake Minnesota.

Three Loons

Had great weather for fishing this morning and Dylan caught the biggest bass. The non-fishers had a nice time as as well. Many of us also did some swimming in a really cold lake with the air temp around 68 degrees and the ice out day not that far in the past.

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