Art boys

Playoff Victory

Some Krispy Cream donuts after a sweet overtime playoff win against Chantilly. On to #2 seed Gainsville on Saturday. Go Patriots.

Warriors Win

The last Christmas gift for the boys are as a success. Their favorite player scored 32 points. Time for bed, it's a weeknight.

Birthday In Laws

Handsome Boys

We were able to get out to dinner in old town despite the snowy, sleeting and freezing rain business. We celebrated Linda and Gil's big 5-0 birthdays.

Happy Shoveler

Nicole finally got some snow to shovel. She missed Monday storm but made sure to get out early and shovel today.

Blues Man

Dylan's area band concert was tonight. This is a band made up of a bunch of the elementary schools in our area and required extra practices over the past couple months. Sam did a similar thing with strings. I'm happy they like music enough to apply themselves to participate in higher level music programs. They sounded great.

Wood Pile

We have been chewing through this at a pretty good clip lately. Cold, snow and fire go together well. We got about 6 inches last night and that closed schools and my office today. It's been cold so the streets were in bad shape so it was probably best. The roads are perfectly clean now, so we should be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

Not Boston, but...

It's already snowing so it is almost guaranteed that school will be cancelled tomorrow making this a 4 day weekend. We were all off for Presidents Day today. Nicole is off to Dallas in a bit so it will be just me and the boys hunkering down. Not sure who's going to shovel since that's Nicole's passion but I'm sure we will figure it out. I kinda hope her flight is cancelled.

On the medical front. While I didn't ski this weekend with the rest of the family, I did take a wicked fall on the tubing track. I was walking the boys over to get tubes and hit a slick spot forcing my bad knee to bend behind me more than any of the PT's thought possible. I landed on my right shoulder and somehow jammed two finger on my left hand. I laid there for a bit and thought I really screwed my knee up but as it turns out, the knee is sore but the shoulder and fingers are causing some good pain. I either dodge a bullet with the knee or they did a really good job putting it back together again. I really hope the shoulder gets better, I hear PT on shoulders can be even more painful than knees.

Beautiful Bryce

Bryce is a super small mountain resort in the Virginia Blue Ridge mountains. It's only a two hour drive from DC and sports two chair lifts, two carpets and 5 trails. Our friends the Lorengers have a nice house about midway up the hill, right on the green run. These are their chairs that I spent some time in yesterday watching Nicole, the boys and everyone else swish by. It was tough to watch people ski but I will get back to it next year. We all had a great time with the Lorengers, another couple and 10 kids in the house.

A storm blew in around 6pm and dropped the temp by about 30 degrees and came with snow and winds gusting to 60mph. Wind chills were -20 this morning so nobody skied but we did do some tubing. We are back home know and waiting for the next storm coming tomorrow night.

Valentine

We men organized some Valentine's Day gifts. We intended to send the kids down the slopes with the stash of stuff but a storm blew in and cancelled tat plan. They were still surprised.

Bryce

Getting some skiing in for Presidents Day weekend. Nate is all the way to the left.

Sam Selfie @ 12

Complete Game

The team played really well and while they lost, it was a complete game. Dylan got a lot of playing time and scored 4 points. He hit one of two free throws and a three pointer that brought he patriots within 6, late in the second half. He was also passing extremely well and was playing mad defense. Sam started slow but turned it up to 11 in the second half. He was up against a guy his size and completely owned him in the paint. Sam had 13 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks. People were bouncing off him in the lane and were slow to get up. Dylan drew a very pretty charging call as well, standing his ground and getting the call. We ended up losing by 8 points but they were close to taking the game from a really good team.

Mop Head

They had not had a cut since December and Patrick hadn't seen them since the Fall. They really needed a good grooming.

Jackson

We got haircuts this morning, then stopped by Lucky's to wish Jackson luck on his move to Omaha. We will see him at the basketball game tomorrow but then he's off to Nebraska. Good kid, listens more than he talks and that's a good trait at any age.

Here Comes Trouble

Dylan was looking for his college car at the Auto Show.

National Wheel

A shot from our visit to National Harbor on Saturday. This thing is not as big as the London wheel but it's pretty good size.

Dinner Out

We took the short drive over to National Harbor for dinner tonight. It's only a few miles away, over the Potomac in Maryland but we don't get there often. Lots of new restaurants that we will need to try. The Italian place we tried tonight was pretty good but maybe not Alice to visit often.

A Little Mousy

Hanging with the Kia Gal at the Washington Auto Show. Grandpa and Nicole are looking for new rides and the boys liked the classics. It was a good three hour outing.

Team Outing

The little Patriots caught the West Potomac high school game this evening after practice. They were being boys.

Wrong Day

The school snow day turned out to be today and not Monday. I didn't get to hang with the boys while I was home Monday but got home a little early to hang with them today. Not much snow really. Another miss in the storm department.

Sent from my iPad

A Little Something

I'm in Dallas until tomorrow but I'm hopeful we get this little storm on Sunday night so that I get a day with the boys. I'm taking a day off Monday because I'm working this weekend so school being cancelled on Monday would give me a day hanging with the boys. 1-3 inches of snow coming overnight and into the morning causes schools to cancel in these parts.

Better Result

Shooting is contagious. The little patriots had a much better shooting day and beat Vienna 49-41. They led the game the from the first few minutes of the game and while Vienna got within 2 a couple times, we came back and made shots on our end. Sam got into foul trouble early so Dylan got a lot of minutes at center and while he didn't score, he went for every ball, took some good shots and hustled up and down the court. He had 2 rebounds and 1 steal. Sam played well and came up with 7 points, 6 rebounds and a steal.

Maddening

Again, the little Patriots couldn't buy a basket in the first half of their game and ended up losing 48-44. The team they played could shoot but our guys could not get a roll in the first 14 minutes. It drives me crazy. This has happened before where everyone goes cold at the same time. We were down 25-11 at half and worked our way back too late. It didn't help that one of the refs was horrible and the parent from the other team keeping the book was observed erasing a foul for one of their players to avoid having him fouling out. Nicole tracks them for us and our assistant coach watched him erase the a foul. Not that the bad calls and cheating would have fixed our shooting but it didn't help. We have another game tomorrow. Let's hope thing go better.

Plain Talk: We're in sad state compared to Minnesota

I thought this was interesting and provided a good comparison of economic theory.  Now investing that surplus into something that will pay dividends when the economy goes south again is the trick that most states fail.  They always seem to spend the rainy day fund before it's actually a rainy day.

Plain Talk: We're in sad state compared to Minnesota 

Side View

Old and New

Saw the doctor today and I don't need to see him again for another year. Just have to monitor that space in the picture on the right. That's filled by some plastic that may have to be replaced someday. I'm still only bending it to about a 120 degrees but I can do most everything I need to do and I'll keep working at it.

Triangle

Jonathan passed this ball to Dylan and Dylan found Sam heading to the hoop for 2 points. Just like it's supposed to work. The little Patriots won again today, 59-34. They have a bonafide winning streak going on here and an entire weekend without a loss. Dylan got a lot more minutes today, scoring 4 points, snagging 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Sam played well with 10 points, 8 rebounds and a steal.

The Patriots are starting to gel as a team and I think could go on a run the rest of the season.

Complete Game

The boys got their first non tournament win today agains Chantilly. They have four tournament wins this year but we're 0-6 in regular season play until today. The went up by 10 points early in the game but lost that lead and trailed by 4 early in the second half. The thing that changed today was that the boys dug deep and went on a run to win 57-44. They have been in all the games this year but their shooting was weak and they had too many turnovers. They decided that wasn't going to happen today and as a team, pulled together a complete game.

Sam had 11 rebounds, 6 points and 2 steals. Dylan started and had some good minutes in the first half pulling in a couple rebounds and a steal but didn't get a lot of playing time in he second half. Coach found a line up that was scoring and stuck with them for a good portion of the second half. I was responsible for the book today. It's more fun to do it when they win.

Cold

Temp around 10 degrees, a little snow and negative wind chills make schools close around here. Winter has finally arrived in DC.

Snow Porn

I made my first trip back to the gym downtown today since my knee surgery in October. I typically get there at lunch time 3-4 days a week and it felt good to be back. It also gave me an opportunity to take snow pictures, which is nice.

First Snow

Maybe two inches but it sure snarled up traffic. DC drivers, not so good in snow.

Arlington

We lost a winnable game today against Arlington. The little Patriots shot somewhere in the 25% area from the field and only lost by 8. When one goes cold, they all go cold. Here's Dylan getting the inbound pass and Sam heading to the hoop. Good team with bad luck.

Oldest Friend

When I say oldest, I mean the boys only 40 plus year old buddy. Mike came over to play on the two new game machines today. They love playing video games with him and he can give them competition, unlike me.

Ducks

Dylan's favorite football team crushed the Florida State Poor Sports. It was fun to watch and we will see them again in the national championship game. A majority of the Florida State team ran off the field at the end of the game and didn't shake the Oregon players hands. That's kinda pathetic.

The Countdown

Happy New Year

We are back from the party we have been going to on New Year's Eve the past half dozen years and getting warm by the fire. The party is nice because it's a mile away and starts early and ends before midnight. We can watch the ghost of Dick Clark in the comfort of our own home.

Shaq

Sam going hard at the hoop with Jonathan #23 and Dylan right there for the rebound but I think this one went in.

Honey Badger

Here's Dylan putting up a shot and Sam getting boxed out. Jonathan #23 is always going towards the basket after shots. He's small but gets a ton of rebounds. This team has potential, try just haven't put together many complete games. They will gel in 2015.

Hands Up

Here are the boys setting up low with their hands up. They played hard against a very good team from Loudon county and also lost a close game against McLean in the morning. They won both games yesterday and went 2-2 for the tournament. Sam struggled around the basket in the McLean Game this morning and scored 7 points with a dozen rebounds. He bounced back in game two with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He really seemed to gain confidence against a really good team.

Dylan had 2 points in each game he also had a couple steals in the first game and a half dozen rebounds. Dylan doesn't get as many minutes as Sam but runs his ass off when he's out there. He sprints from basket to basket and fights for every loose ball. I was proud of both of them today. They played well yesterday too but we're a little off on shooting due to a week without touching a basketball. Dylan had 2 points and Sam had 3.

Near White Christmas

We awoke to this in Minnesota this morning. The white Christmas missed us by a day but didn't effect our flight home at all. MSP knows how to handle snow.

Front Row

Marshall buys the tickets to these shows way in advance so that we get the front row. He likes it up there.

Old Log

The Charlie Brown Christmas show was pretty good at the Old Log Theater. They've done better productions but we had fun and were able to get a decent picture of the cousins together.

Winter Walk

It snowed a little today, so we had a slight white Christmas feel. The boys were happy with their presents and we had a nice Christmas dinner with Jeff and Karen. On to the Old Log Theater for a Charlie Brown Christmas tomorrow then home for a basketball tournament.

Merry Christmas

The annual fireplace pose worked out pretty well this year. Had to threaten them but got some good shots out of it.

Finn in Goal

Good Times

It was fun to catch up with all the old friends at the Hennessey holiday party last night.

4th Night

117 to 147

I got my knee up to a 117 degree bend today but we also had Nicole's bend measured and she came in at 147. My good knee barely gets to 130 but then again I've accomplished a lot with my minimal bend.

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Choir Boys

This is after they sung at the mall. It looks like a Dave and Busters is coming in soon. I predict many requests to go there in the future.

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