UMW Visit

Sam and I had not seen the UMW campus or downtown Fredericksburg, so we drove down to see the campus, shop at the bookstore and have lunch in old town. In all my years in the DC area, I had never visited old town Fredericksburg. I have been near it many times, playing golf or hiking one of the civil war battlefields in the area but not downtown. It's cool, sort of like old town Alexandria. Mary Washington sits just outside the historic center and is an easy walk to all sorts of shops and restaurants. It was a nice New Year's Eve excursion, just an hour down and back. Now we need to get Dylan out to Drake. It will be good for both of them to visualize the environment the other one is in next year. They moved from the same womb, to the same room, to separate rooms on the same floor to 1,000 miles apart in different states. It will be strange.

Breaux Vineyards

Nicole and I drove out to the mountains to visit my friend Bruce working at his hoppy job. Tasted some good juice and listened to some live music. Cold but pretty out there.

Neighborhood Winner

Download Attachment

Available until Jan 24, 2021

Drake Football Class of 2025

Sam officially signed today

https://godrakebulldogs.com/news/2020/12/16/football-adds-25-student-athletes-in-early-signing-period.aspx

Senior Donut Day

Seniors got an opportunity to pick up some donuts from school yesterday and were asked to wear some holiday cheer. That's when a reindeer suit comes in handy. Nicole spent many hours in the cold handing our fried sweets.

Signing Ceremony

Sam's good friend Lexi signed a Track scholarship agreement with Monmouth University today. She a really good pill vaulter. The ceremony was in her parents driveway in an attempt to follow COVID rules. Typically, these things are done in the high school gym.

1st Night

It's actually the 2nd but Dylan is at Luna's house.

Baby Yoda Christmas

Seen on another night walk in the area. It is the way.

Hanukkah Walk

Nicole got early this morning to sketch out a menorah with her fitness tracker. The grid system of old town streets makes a perfect canvas for this art. I'm hoping she will walk a reindeer and sleigh pattern at some point this month.

UMW Eagle

Dylan has committed to being a University of Mary Washington Eagle. He loves the school and Rugby club as well as the location, an hour south of Alexandria. I'm looking forward to seeing some college rugby next year. Proud of the boy.

Winter Walks

We have been trying to get out and walk at dusk to see as many of the nieghbors light displays as possible. The boys needed some air yesterday after a long day of virtual schooling and we all found this beauty about a mile and a half away. Lots of people in this area have good lights but this one was trying really hard. They seem to have a problem with the top right window but lots of work went into this one more walks on different streets to come.

Ultimate Recruit Article on Sammy

Nice article on Sam's decision to play football at Drake.  

https://www.ultimaterecruit.com/drake-lands-edison-te-sam-carpenter/

Holiday Sunrise

Old town tree up with our trees as well.

First Acceptance

St. John's would like Dylan to be a Jonnie Rugby stud. First acceptance from 3 applications sent. Congrats baby.

Turkey Trot

Some of the girls who did the early turkey trot in Alexandria yesterday morning. All wearing the turkey shirts Nicole made this week.

Three New Trees

Had some landscaping done this week and added these new trees next to the wood pile, back towards the cemetery. Perfect for white lights.

Real Half

Nicole got up at 4:15am to meet her friends in Richmond to run a real half marathon race. It actually started whenever you showed up but it had a real course, unlike the virtual marathons she's been doing. Great day for running.

Dawg

Sam committed to be a Drake University Bulldog on Saturday night. Exciting times and the realization the boys are heading out into the world in a few short months.

Christmas Sweater

Nicole helped Rocky try on his new Christmas sweater and bow tie at Robbies last night. He's ready for the holidays.

Bulldog?

Only time will tell. Sam enjoyed his visit to Des Moines and Drake this weekend and may decide to be a Bulldog in the next week or so. He's doing an official football video visit with them now and we had a perfect day to do the self guided campus tour yesterday.

Robbie and Rocky

Visited Robs and Rocky tonight after a full day of touring Drake and Des Moines. It was nice seeing her and the house where we used to come as kids and hang with the cousins. Everyone masked up, except Rocky.

Post Halloween Gathering

Lots of lit pumpkins for an early morning run.

Birthday Friends

The boys and their friends after a nice dinner in old town. It was the real birthday night after an actual birthday night with football games going til 10:30.

And.......Biden/Harris. Hopefully the games of the current admin won't make this transition difficult.

Happy Birthday

The boys turned 18 today. Some sleepless nights all that time ago but then again, I have trouble sleeping now at times, hoping they are alright.

It's clear that the hair I have left is much more gray these days from all the fun. 

I love you boys and look forward to watching you become adults. 

Sent from my iPhone

Vote

She voted weeks ago, I voted this morning and waited about 30 minutes. Now we wait.

Spooky

Some nieghbors go all in for Halloween. Nicole and I walked the hood after dark and found a ton of great decorations and plenty of goals and goblins. The boys both out and at different parties.

Pumpkin Warming

It's getting down to 39 degrees tonight. Perfect Halloween weather.

The Patch

Grabbing some pumpkins after a hard day of home schooling.

Concentration

Wet and cold but he had a great first practice.

Marine Corp Marathon

Nicole ran a virtual MCM today with a small group of friends. Virtual in the sense that it was not run with thousands of others with a common route. It was 26.2 miles around the streets of northern Virginia. They decide to meet up at the traditional ending point and celebrate.

Interception

Our friend Carrie got a few pictures of the last flag game in probably forever. Here's Sam intercepting a ball intended for the guy it was intended for with his mouth wide open in dis-belief. We lost this game but the boys had fun with each other and the other team. Sam knew a few of the Panthers from football and basketball and the smack talking was thick but well meaning. The Panthers are by far the best team in this little flag league but it was a fun thing to do on Saturday mornings in the time of COVID.

Flag Fellas

They didn't win a lot of games but they finally had the whole crew together for one last go. Time to burn those Packers jerseys.

Mary Washington

Dylan and Nicole went down to Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg yesterday to tour campus and meet the rugby team. Dylan ended up practicing a bit with the boys and spent time afterwards learning more about the team and University. One of his old team mates from Fort Hunt is on the team and he really likes the whole scene down there. It is definitely on the list of schools right now and the benefit to Nicole and I is it's only an hour drive south.

One of Twenty Five

Dylan tried out for the Old Glory Academy with a 120 kids on Sunday and ended up being one of the 25 they invited to be part of the team. In case you aren't up on how professional sports academy's work, I added some language from their website.  

"As Old Glory becomes established as a professional organization in USA Rugby and the MLR, it is important we start growing the franchise's high-performance pathway," said Head Coach Andrew Douglas. "The Old Glory Academy is an essential step in that pathway. It gives high school players a genuine avenue to professional rugby. It exposes them to professional coaching and practices that will not only make them successful rugby players but, more importantly, better people."

It will be a lot of practices for now but they plan to play the other professional clubs academy teams up and down the east coast this summer. Dylan is pretty excited to be chosen and can't wait to get started, which would be this coming Sunday. 

Sent from my iPad

Study Pals

A group shot of the remote study group in North Carolina. I think they had a good time and hopefully kept their grades up.

Old Glory

Dylan participated in the DC Rugby clubs Academy try outs today. This would be a junior team for the professional rugby club Old Glory which started a couple years ago. He looked good in all the drills.

Spooky

Oldtowne haunts.

Remote Study

Sam is doing school remotely with friends and parents of friends in Duck , North Carolina this week. This activity may be associated with gym class, not sure.

Forrest Bathing

I took advantage of a cool fall day to get a 5 mile hike in the woods. Not a lot of color yet but plenty of signs of color to come.

First Fire

It's only 55 degrees but I got a whiff of someone else's fire in the general vicinity and decided to build my own. Had the chimney sweep here on Tuesday so the flue is nice and clean.

Coach Cory

Cory has coached the boys in flag football since they were 4 feet tall. Now Cory is the ankle biter. He has agreed to coach the Edison 7's football team in a league at the indoor St. James facility. Its nice to have some sort of Friday football back and the boys won both games. Sam is still nursing a hamstring and played assistant coach but Dylan is back at it after his own hamstring issues. Go Eagles.

Bridge

Early run under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

Girls Run Wild

Nicole's running buddies that meet at 4:30am to run most days of the week. Old Town is clearly quiet that time of day.

Halloween Season

Some neighbors are getting into the Halloween grove.

Drake

Sam got his first Division 1 offer tonight. He's rather excited and interested in spending four years in Des Moines.

Hiking Weather

We've had 4 days of perfect Fall weather which means more walks in the neighborhoods and parks for me. Nicole walks and runs in most weather.

Vote Nasty

One of us got their vote in early.

Notorious RBG

Nicole and Dylan went down to mourn at the Supreme Court last night. Sad time for America.

2021

Dylan and friends at a winery out west without the wine. It was a beautiful fall day to head to the foothills of the blue ridge for pictures.

Never too Early

I believe Halloween season starts on September 1st. So does this person or they really did leave the kid out too long.

Changing Seasons

The days are getting shorter and the runs longer. Early morning pictures it's the pumpkin man.

School’s Going Well

First week of distance learning done and hoping they can get back in the classroom soon because this will not be effective all year.

12th Grade

No drive or bus ride to school this year.