First Fire

It's a tad chilly and why not?

Hudl

So, in the information age, you can watch endless hours of high school football plays on hudl.com  Sam sent me this link or his gridiron feats..

https://www.hudl.com/profile/10138218/sam-carpenter

Domination

Dylan has been a key part of this freshman team in different ways than Sam which is harder to get on film. He is a captain, the starting left guard on offense, punter and defensive linebacker and end. He hasn't gotten as much playing time on defense the last couple games but he is the best offensive lineman on the field. This pictures shows how he dominates the line, opening up passing lanes for the QB. The kid he's blocking is off his feet and about ready to land on his backside in this picture.

Dylan is fast, has great hands and sees the field really well but the team needs him on the line right now. He will get his share of touchdowns as a running back or receiver during his high school years.

Mr. Touchdown

Sam got his second TD of the season on a 50 yard pass play. He almost had a 40 yard TD as well but got tripped up at the 1. He also had a nice sack early in the game. The Eagles ended up tying Wakefield 28-28.

Serious

Dylan played well in the game today after learning he and Jenna are freshman representatives in the royal court for homecoming. He must be thinking about all his princely duties in the next couple weeks.

Nomination

Dylan was nominated for homecoming court. He finds out if he's royalty tomorrow.

Sent from my iPad

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Ragnar

Nicole ran two hundred miles with 11 friends on Friday and Saturday. Kinda an insane concept but she seemed to have fun. Her two day total was 29 miles which was the most of any of the 12 teammates.

2-1

The little Giants got their second win of the season by beating the Bears 26-21. The coaches learned from last weeks loss and managed the clock much better. I'm proud of the coach Carpenters.

Early Football

The little giants have an early game today.

Homecoming Brownies

Dylan and Jenna are set to go their second dance together. He used Brownies to convince her to get this time. This is right after football practice so if she likes him this smelly, she must really like him.

Surveying the Offense

I'm getting some good pictures of Sam but hope to get some of Dylan soon. Sam is a work horse on this team and a captain. Dylan is a captain too but still growing into his own as a player. They both are getting better every day.

Tuesday Night Lights

The fresh Eagles beat TJ 36-0 to start the season 2-0. It was a nice night for football and both boys played well. Sam had a few receptions and an interception. The team is looking good.

13.1

Nicole ran the Navy/Air Force half marathon this morning. She's been laying around doing nothing all afternoon.

First Touchdown

Sam caught a 10 yard pass thrown by Lucas for his first high school touchdown. The Eagles beat McLean 32-28.

Punter

Dylan's first of a couple punts the other night. He handled some less than perfect snaps well and got the kicks off.

First Game

The Eagles won 32-27 with Sam catching 3 passes and scoring a touchdown. He also caused a fumble which the Eagles recovered. He also kicked off and had some deep kicks after a shaky first kick. Dylan punted well and had a few tackles before going out with an ankle injury. He will be fine.

53

I'd pay a lot of money to know what I was thinking when Uncle Tom took this picture some 40 years ago.

Strategy

The little Giants played their first game of the season and the boys did a great job helping them have fun and win the game. They both seem to really like this coaching thing. I hope they have a great season.

Children in Bloom

The boys and their friend Jacob at the show.

Rock Show

Great set by the crows but I missed Match Box 20 because we were all chatting back stage. Always good to see AD.

September Gurls

The title of this post is a great Big Star song.  Listen to it if you'd like. https://youtu.be/BNKSs1J38EA

Jenna's birthday is in the next couple days and dylan baked this nice cake and hooked her up with an Echo dot and wifi light bulb. His idea since she liked his Echo/light bulb set up. 

Sent from my iPad

Scrimmage 2

They played a little better this time around but still lost. Lots of mistakes that will have to be corrected before the next game.

Freshman

Coach Carpenter

The boys are officially coaching their very own flag football team this Fall. Last spring they guest coached a team, but this little Giants team is all theirs. They held there first practice this morning and from all accounts they think they have a pretty good team. I'm happy they wanted do this and I think it will be really good for them.

It Begins

An early sign of fall appeared on the driveway. The temps this week are more in line with mid-September which feels great but I'm sure we have some steamy days between now and our first fire.

Post Practice

Dylan has a smile on his face after another practice. That's a good sign. The boys are getting extremely lucky with the weather lately. It's 10 degrees cooler than normal with low dew points and it looks to stay that way for the next week. They could be dealing with jungle heat and humidity this time of year.

Flyer

Guest dog went back home last night. We hope he visits again.

Football First

The boys both started on offense and defense in their first tackle football game ( scrimmage). They played well but the team was not firing on all cylinders. More practice and another scrimmage next week. They will get there.

Surprise

I don't remember these coming up in this spot before. Could be the extremely wet August we are having. A fan motor burned out on our 7 year old HVAC system on Friday. The service company got here fast, but.... the part won't be here till Monday. It's been a warm couple nights with hopefully just one to go.

Eagles

The boys are impressing the coaching staff. Big, strong, fast and smart. Who wouldn't want them on your team?

Football

The boys have graduated to helmets on Tuesday and shoulder pads on Thursday. Full contact this weekend and a scrimmage next week will get them fully indoctrinated in tackle football. They both seem to love it and aren't that concerned about the coming bumps and bruises that come with high speed collisions.

Biceps

Flyer doesn't like letting go of his toys which creates a great opportunity to work on your arm strength.

Guest Dog Returns

We get flyer again for 6 nights. He's still as spunky as ever.

Helmets

Second practice with helmets, on to full pads by Thursday.

Fun Visit

We kept pretty busy during Mae and Mom's visit despite a drenching rain on Monday. Mt Vernon, laser tag, Dunkirk, Freedom House and Top Golf were all good even if we weren't able to get the African American Museum.

Better

Dylan continues to recover from eye surgery and while his eyes are pretty red, he's in good spirits. Heading out to see the doctor for the follow up in a few minutes.

Happy Drugs

Dylan seems to be enjoying the Valium before his eye surgery. Nicole is rocking a sexy white jump suit. I got nothin..
He should be done by now, we are waiting for the doctor to come out and update us.

Extra Work

The boys did some extra work under the direction of Cory tonight. Freshman football is still only a couple times a week right now so Cory got a half dozen kids together for an extra workout. They need it after doing a bunch of nothing all day.

Guide

Fellas

Moth

Top of old Mesa

A few more from last week.

Pool

The boys and I spent a lot of time in a Linda and Gil's pool during the visit. It was fun to have water in the back yard.

Mariachi

The four of us drove down to Albuquerque yesterday so that we were closer to the airport for our 6am flight this morning. We had a nice Tex mex dinner in old town and stumbled upon an all woman mariachi band while looking for ice cream. It was a nice way to end a really fun visit to New Mexico.

Santa Fe

The boys and I had a nice long workout this morning while mom had a meeting in Albuquerque. After some home time we all went into town for ice cream.

Mesa

Our first hike of the day brought us to the top of a mesa that had a view of Los Alamos. Some steep climbs but we made it.

Voyagers

The boys loved this. They would have gone as high as class 4 rapids but 2's and 3's were a good start.

Surfing the Rapids

Sam and I joined another boat to surf some heavy rapids. It entails paddling up behind some rocks then getting caught up in the funnel. Nicole and Dylan did this too but Linda and Gil sat out this activity.

White Water

Spent the morning boating down the Rio Grande in some 2 and 3 grade rapids the went into Taos for lunch and a visit to a Pueblo. Fun time in the 55 degree river water on a warm, sunny day.

Meow Wolf

Under the sea

Blue

One of the many odd areas of Meow Wolf.

Santa Fe

Grand parents and grand kids together in the high desert.