Orono Super Fans

Thanks to Rachel we had these sweet t-shirts to help us cheer for Mae from our various locations.

5A Champions

Mae's Orono Spartans hockey team won their section last night and are headed to the state tournament. She has been in 3 section final games and finally cleared the hurdle. Hopefully they win the state tournament and she wins a second section and gets back to the state championship in her senior year as well. The pandemic has created many more ways to watch high school sports from home these days and we enjoyed the game from the comfort of our living room last night.

Quick Visit

Sam got to Newark at about 10pm on Friday and left at 10am on Sunday. It was a quick trip to see Lexi but he looks happy he made the trip.

Monmouth

Nicole scooted up to Monmouth University on Saturday morning to see Lexi and visiting Sam. Lexi had a track meet and Sam came in for the weekend for a visit. Dylan and we're home working on some school work and missed all the fun.

College Life

The bulldogs lost but Sam seems to have had fun with the blue overalls.

Peggy’s

Sam celebrated the first week of 2nd semester classes and two weeks of football training at a local pub.

Team Building

Dylan's rugby team took the train up to DC on Saturday to to a team building treasure hunt. They split up into teams and were sent out in the city to find locations and take pictures or video of them with some rugby themes, like, a line out in front of the Capitol or a group picture in front of the Old Glory headquarters.

They had fun on a cold day. Dylan is in the back row next to the guy in the red jacket.

Number 24

Sam and I got tickets to the big rivalry game between Edison and Hayfield by taking advantage of Sam's alumni status and Nicole's chocolate chip cookies delivered to the coaches. Fairfax County has limited crowds at games due to Covid. Edison lost but it was fun to see kids and parents we know from both teams. His buddy Nadir is sporting the same number Sam wore at Edison and the tip off picture is similar to the many I took of Sam over his four years on the team.

Sam was due to report back to Drake yesterday for the beginning of winter football workouts but his flight were cancelled due to the 14 inches of snow that fell in Des Moines yesterday. He wasn't to disappointed and we got him for a couple of extra nights. He leaves on Sunday at 11am now.

Snow Shots

A nieghbors holiday cheer. It's good to see the neighborhood wrapped in snow.

Snow Fun

A 10 inch snowfall then a 3 inch coating a few days later has left a winter wonderland here in Alexandria. Sam and Lexi are loving it.

A Few Plowed Streets

Some of the streets were plowed by 5 tonight but now ours.

Winter Walk

Snow has been hard to come by the last few years but we finally got a good 9 or 10 inch dumping of the stuff. Our street still isn't plowed but we got out to find a ton of downed trees and limbs from the heavy, wet snow. Lots of people without power today but we were spared. The magnolia does get pretty heavy with this type of snow and a good size branch snapped off but it will be sunny and 37 tomorrow and should be free of snow later in the day.

New Year

A light at the end of Prince Street in old town on a foggy end of 2021.

Neighborhood Walk

Walked about 3.5 miles early Christmas Eve to see all the lights. Some streets were more festive than others but tons of cheer out there. This is Dylan sporting his Old Glory garb for a social media post I believe he posted.

Pickle Cousins

Some pickle ball and cider this afternoon.

Orono Hockey

Watching Mae bring the pain.

Canadien Embassy Tree

Canada the nicer neighbor to the north.

Nicole’s Morning Run

Early run downtown to see the holiday sites. The Capitol is much more peaceful without the MAGA insurrectionist's around.

Late Fall Skies

No snow but fall like weather most days.

Flying Pig Christmas

The decorations around use get interesting this time of year.

Abrahamic Saturday

A celebration of monotheistic religions based on the first prophet. I prefer Saturnalia but it's hard to find decorations for that at Target.

Tale of Two Holidays

We are celebrating 9 crazy nights of Hanukkah this year to include the boys and grandparents that are all leaving tomorrow. We got our winter solstice trees today as well.

Flyer Visit

We got flyer on Saturday and he gets picked up again on Saturday night or Sunday. He's a good dog.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

Good to have everyone in the same house again.

Japanese Maple

Had a tree cut down and replaced by this Japanese maple about a year ago. It's not really growing that fast but it sure is pretty in the fall.

Cold Comfort

21-14 loss on a cold day in Des Moines. Dylan and I watched from the warmth of home.

Vote

Got to visit the boys grade school lunch room today. Unfortunately not enough Virginians are voting today which will may allow a minority to take the state backwards to the good ol' 1950's.

Jack O Lantern

We have a couple pumpkins all dressed up for Halloween.

Night Walks

We shift our walks to night around this time of the year to catch Halloween decorations then of course Christmas lights. Love seeing what the nieghbors are doing to welcome the season.

Minus Boys

First pumpkin harvest without the boys along. A little sad but it was we made the best of it.

Pool Shark

Actually I'm the pool shark, beating Sam 5-0 on a rainy afternoon at The Rack in Des Moines. Had a great weekend with the kid, parents and aunt. Unfortunately my trips to and from DSM averaged 7 hours of delays each due to computer failures, rebooking on different days and weather. I did make it to Des Moines 7 hours late on Friday, missing dinner with everyone and got home 7 hours late on Monday, missing a good workout. I'm sure I will return regardless of the issues.

Yellow

The trees are turning on campus.

Drake Morning

Long day yesterday but woke to a crisp fall day. Covid cancelled the football game but we will find something else to do.

Stuck in Chicago

Flight one was early, flight two, cancelled. Instead of arriving at 3:30 and having dinner with mom, dad, Sam and Robbie, I'm eating crap from the United Club by myself. Looks like I should be in Des Moines by 9:15 now.

Morning Moon

I kinda like getting into the office when it's dark. Still going in Tuesdays and Thursdays and it should be dark at 7am for most if the next few months, minus a week or two after DST.

First Fire

It's barely cold enough but a cold front came in while were at Dylan's rugby game and dropped the temperature 15 degrees in 3 minutes. It was followed by a ton of rain and wind which made the end of the game fun. The longest summer in recent memory is finally gone and the chimney was swept so a fire is in the box.

Fall

No fires yet but the chill is on the way.

Forward

This is from last weeks game against Maryland. They won big and Dylan played a full game on B side. He was good on all his conversion kicks and ran and tackled well. They have the weekend off and he's headed home on the train today. It will be good to have him in the house for a few days.

Back

Third time back in the office since March 2020. Trying out a Tuesday and Thursday schedule right now to mix things up a bit. The building has been open since August 1st on a voluntary return to the office policy and I figured a change of view would be nice. I do have windows on three sides of my office and nice views of DC with a lot of light. While the commute is still annoying, the change in space is kinda refreshing.

Grays Lake

We did a lot of walking in Des Moines including Grays Lake. Lots of public trails in that area that all hook up to other trails. Good walking city.

First Drake Football Weekend

Not the game result we were looking for but fun to see Sam for a few days.

Pre Game

Bulldog Rally before the boys head to the locker room.

Earth Drawings

The fields on the way into Des Moines look like some sort of massive art project.

Parents Weekend

Arrived in Des Moines this afternoon and checked into the Hilton across the street from the Drake campus. Nice fall weather and dinner with Sammy soon. Haven't seen that kid in over 7 weeks.

Game Day

Dylan had a good first outing on the pitch last weekend in a loss to Penn State. He was thrilled to be playing again and with his new teammates. Nicole and I had dinner with him and a friend of his on Friday night and with just him on Saturday before the post game team party. Rugby players tend to party a bit.

Morning Calm

Nicole gets up at unreasonable hours to get her long runs in before it gets hot. The benefit of that is quiet pictures like this.

Miller Time

Miller, the dog hanging out at the mountain house.

Birthday Week

Started it out in the Shenandoah around a fire pit. Always nice to get away to our friends Bryce house.

First College Game

Sam and his roommate CJ. Not a lot of playing time for either of them but hey, they are freshman and likely to have four years of eligibility at the end of the season.