PJ, Sam, and I up on Skyline Drive at Bacon Hollow

Just an absolutely gorgeous day. What a great time.

these are so cute!

Kathleen has been on a baking bender...

 

Happy Halloween!

From Family 2011

From Family 2011

Sometimes your kids just do strange things.

Anna gets all Jackson Pollock on her room

Last weekend Anna decided to splatter paint her room, with interesting results. Kathleen is a little freaked out by all this I think. She can always paint over it. To me it looks more like her room was broken into by squatters, but hey, maybe that's just me.

Cold and rainy weekend 10/02/2011

This past weekend we had on of those rainy weekends when you stay at home and nest. It was sort of nice after all the activity this summer, to actually sit around at home. Outside it was cold and rainy.

I had to go over some Cub Scout stuff with Sam. This proved quite entertaining, as he had to interview an “older person” and ask questions about what things were like way back when. I heard bits of conversation like “You grew up during World War II? Sweet!”.

Later, we had to move some furniture around and one of the mattresses had to be thrown out on the curb. PJ decided to go on a wild tear and went out to the mattress in his pajamas pants with no shirt, with an umbrella, a book, and a pillow, and to lie out on the mattress and read. Well, at least he is getting some fresh air.

Anna cleaned her room. She is going to be painting it this weekend along with her friends, it is a kind of late birthday party. I’ll try and get some pictures up later on. In the mean time, here are some photos of the kids, which were taken while getting passport photos of them. (We need photos for our upcoming cruise.)

The Weather Rock

This was taken at the Webelos-A-Ree last weekend, where PJ and his ilk got a chance to see some boy scouts in action, learn stuff, and have a lot of fun. The kids had a blast. And the weather rock helped us determine what kind of weather we were having!

From Family 2011

Mid September 2011

This weekend I took PJ to a Webelos-A-Ree. This was a really fun event and got a chance to for the boys to get a taste of what Boy Scouting is going to be like. In short, more independance, more camping. Sounds pretty good to me.

What else, I have been falling behind on my ever growing todo list. I have a project of remodeling my basement office, and at the rate I am going it will be done sometime before seeing Sam's third born child graduate from college.

September is a wonderful month. The kids are back in school, there are a lot of hang around town sort of weekends, which I like a lot. The weather starts to cool off. But what about all of this rain? Where is this raing coming from? Ah well, it all evens out in the long run.

Sampson State Park - Labor Day 2011

Got back from our annual gig at Sampson State Park last Tuesday - Still recovering. What a great time! It was awesome to spend so much time outdoors and enjoying the company of so many old friends. I relish every minute of it. Good times.

Sampson State park September 2011

haircut gone wrong!!!

(Click on the link to see the video and the reveal. Ugh. And I have to go to work tomorrow!)

king of the hilll

PJ has started watching 'King of the Hill' episodes on cartoon network, I had forgotten how funny they are.  Good times.

Got a call from Sam today...

Sam  just called to check in on me after a week at the beach.  I was home with Dana, working, and enjoying the peace and quiet.

"Hello Da?"
"yes Sam."
"Are you happy?"
"Well, I guess I am happy, why do you ask?"
"Umm, did you do the happy dance when we all left?"
"The what?"
"You know, the one where you say 'do do do, its my brithday, no ones' home, do do do' (we do sometimes refer to this in our family as the 'happy dance')."
"Yeah, I guess I did."
"We had a lot of fun here.  We went to the beach, we went to the boardwalk.  It was a lot of fun."
"Wow, it sounds like fun."
"I had to dial a one before your number."
"What?"
"I had to press the number one before I dialed your number."
"Sure, that would make sense, it is long distance from the beach house."
"Hey dad?'
"Yeah?"
"Bye."
And he hung up.  I guess that was all he wanted to say. 

One from the archive

I'm lazy today, so I'll just throw up an old photo.  Anna is in the blue, and PJ in the red.  Sam was not born yet.  Taken in an old cemetery in Harper's Ferry, WV

Junk Hauler

Here is my personally handcrafter junk hauling trailer, with which we will be hauling all of our camping gear around.  My mom has, for some unknown reason, been bugging me to post a picture of it.  Here you go mom!

Mid August 2011

The kids spent the last week in camp, which was fantastic. Kathleen and I got a chance to go out to a few great dinners, and to spend some quality time together. It was a foreshadowing of our future empty nest, and I loved it. PJ and Sam went to Camp Chanco, a place on the James River across from Williamsburg. They had a great time, although Sam was a little disgruntled because he didn't get to do all the fun stuff he wanted to.

Anna flew up to New York and spent some time with family and then spen ta week at Camp Chingachook, a YMCA camp on a stunningly beautiful piece of property on Lake George New York. I wen tot Chingachook when I was a kid, as did my brother, and as did my father, but I believe the legacy will end there. It has unfortunately, gotten ridiculously expensive, almost three times what other camps are charging, and we just can't afford that. Too bad.

This weekend the children are all back home and catching up on CRT time after all that fresh air, so its kind of quiet around here. Oh - hey, yesterday was my birthday for real! Not my facebook birthday, nine days earlier, which is actually Anna's birthday. But a big thank you to all those who wished me a happy birthday on both or either day, its always great to be reminded of aging another year. :)

Schroon Lake from Severn Hill

This photo was taken from Severn Hill, a one mile hike just North of Schroon Village.

Camping Anna Michener 2011.07.15

"Oh no - you guys go ahead with your hike. I'll just lay in this muddy water. Really, I'm fine." --Dana

Happy Birthday Anna!

My daughter has turned 13!  She is a teenager!  In related news, I am seeking to increase the dosage of all of my relevant medications.  Also, for those of you who wished me happy birthday on facebook, thanks!  In an effort to avoid identity theft, my actual birthday is between 7 and 12 days later, but the thoughts are all still greatly appreciated.  Also, I am not fifty yet, but a big thanks to all who asked!

Anna away - boys go to camp Saturday

Anna flew up to New York to spend some time with the cousins.  PJ and Sam go to Camp Chanco down near Williamsburg, VA on Saturday.  Which leaves Kathleen and I child free for the week.  KOWABUNGA!

Camping at Anna Michener, PA 7/15/2011

Look! My wife wearing a backpack. Also in the news - hell freezes over, pigs fly, moon turns blue, etc....
Just kidding. Way to go baby! You rock.

Camping Anna Michener 2011.07.15

We came across this signpost while camping up in Pennsylvania at the Anna Michener cabin. Sam's comment was "Dad, I don't like the sound of that 'Dead Woman Hollow Trail', lets take the 'Blueberry Trail' instead!

Schroon Lake 2011

I just love this photo. Sam is on top, PJ is coming up the ladder, Schroon lake in background. It was a hot and lazy summer day.

Friday Night Date

Got a chance to go out with my wife last night. We went to Casanel Vineyard, one of the many new wineries opening up in Loudoun these days. Wonderful place, a beautiful piece of property. We split a bottle of wine, nibbled on bread and cheese, and listened to an Irish guitar player on the patio outside the tasting room. It was fun. Also **hot*! Like 95+ hot. Afterwards, we went to Vintage 50 in Leesburg, and had another drink there. Kathleen managed to get involved in a game of Liars poker with some guy sitting next to us at the bar. Note to self: do not bet against Kathleen, ever. We left after winning 13$, almost enough to pay for our drinks. Awesomeness.

Sent from my iPad

Schroon Lake 2011

This is the 2011 'picture at the sign'

three kinds of camping

The first week of July we returned to Schroon Lake for the first time
in two years. Last year we never made it up, having widely decided
that mid to late July was the perfect time to visit Disneyworld, as it
is that magical time of the year that you get to enjoy both record
crowds and dangerously hot temperatures. But that was last year.
This year we returned to Schroon Lake.

I already posted one photo from there, I'll put some more up shortly.
It was a great time, but it is a lot of work too. It is a long drive
up.

We got back on Satuday the 8th. The following week, the boys were in
cub scout twilight camp, from 6 to 8:30 pm each night. The boys
really enjoyed this. This was a cub scout camp centered around one of
the most fun ways boys have to spend time without playing video games.
Yes, shooting stuff up.

There were three stations at the twilight camp, and the boys rotated
through them each night. First there were BB Guns, then Archery, then
Slingshots. All very safe, all very well organized. But still, this
involved me hanging around the camp every night. This lasted Monday
until Thursday, July 14th. Then, the 15th, we moved onto the next
camping expedition.

Anna Michener was a volunteer for the Potomac Appalachian trail club,
and they named this cabin for her up in the Micheaux State Forest
about an hour northwest of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was about a
one mile hike in on an easy trail. We spent the weekend there, eating
marchmallows and generally relaxing.

So that was three sorts of camping, in a row and I am exhausted. I
think at this point I am ready to spend a little bit of time indoors.

Untitled

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHLEEN

 

My beautiful wife, after celebrating eleven consecutive 29th birthdays, has finally crossed into the 40's.  All I can say, as a veteren of this elder decade is this:

 

Come on in - the water's fine!

 

Happy birthday baby.  I love you and wish you oh so many more.

greetings from Schroon Lake 7-7-2011

This was from our dinner at "the place" (that is the restaurants actual name BTW) on Thursday night.

Going roughly clockwise from the bottom left, present was Peg, Loretta, Mom, Sam, Anna, Molly, Andrew, Sean, Mike, Connor, PJ, Me, Kathleen, and Sean.

From Schroon Lake 201107

portal 2 is awesome

"Well done.  Here come the test results.  You are a horrible person.  That's what it says.  A horrible person.  We weren't even testing for that." 

aggggghhhhh! what is happening to online poker! Noooooooooo!

Portal 2 - I can. Not. Wait.

I have bought my "The Cake is a Lie" t-shirt.  I even have my "It was a triumph...." ring tone.  Oh April 19th, will you not come soon enough?

new job

I started a new job on Monday, W00t!

Sam the singing Tomato!

Sam was the Tomato (right center) in the Spring 2nd Grade Musical.

a typical cub scout pack meeting...

PJ gets in the paper for snow day

Nappy New Year

For New Years, my Mom, family and friends all gathered together at our house, and the dining room became an impromptu internet cafe. We played online poker, troubleshot virus-laden laptops, surfed the web, watched youtube, and generally geeked out.

The other people, the TV crowd kept on saying how unsocial we were being but actually it was kinda nice. Good times!