Old Rag Hike

Boys were stuck at home while the girls were in NYC, so we did some manly stuff:

• Went to Home Depot for some home improvement projects
• RJs soccer game (dominated, but tied 3-3)
• Olive Garden with Milo
• Hiking at Old Rag
• Grilling burgers and steaks

 

Summit rock - fruit and water break

 

RJ at the fake peak ... where we did some bouldering

 

Hike Schedule:

• 6:05am leave McLean
• 7:47am begin hike
• 9:00am RJ tiring, Doug is sweating profusely
• 11:00am we arrive at what we thought was the summit and begin bouldering
• 11:30am we arrive at the actual summit - several degrees cooler, windy, and refreshing. We see sign that says 5.2 miles to parking lot after hiking 3.8 miles on what Doug thought was a 6-mile hike. 
• 12:20pm we arrive at the parking lot and curse the extra 100 yards we have to walk because Doug didn't find a good parking spot.

Rock scramble got 2 thumbs up! Joint pain, heel pain, and overall exhaustion on the fire road on the way back - uugh.

 

Who Nose

It looks like the kids decided to get into a fight. Here are some mug shots from the police station. 

RJ on Mar 26 from Mar 23 injury

Julia on March 26

RJ bounced on the trampoline and his knee hit is nose. Julia ran into Chase's knee while playing sharks and minnows on the playground at school. Both saw the same doctor in the same week.

RJ is basically healed ... Julia is getting her nose fixed on April 2.

To be continued ... 

Whitetail 2025 Wrap Up

The 2025 ski season ended with mixed reviews.

• Julia, "fun season, lots of shenanigans." 
• RJ, "horrible ... no terrain park on Jib!"
• Sara, "best season since 2020 - 25 days of skiing"
• Doug, "excellent, some natural snow for woods skiing, no lines on warm days" 
• RJ, "Dad, that wasn't really woods skiing."

Last day of skiing was 'fair' conditions, no crowds, and some good fun. Doug missed his first attempt at landing beads on the bead tree. But later on he picked them up and tried again.

After talking all season, Doug finally landed the highest bead on the Bead Tree

The pond skimming was very entertaining. 

RJ watches pond skimming (18 years or older to participate)

Ava and Julia on Snowpark at 8:30pm on the final day

After the resort closed Julia, Ava, and Doug hiked. RJ tried to build up snow on the lame terrain park. Mom joined RJ later.

Julia found a bunch of season passes and a driver's license. Now Julia is eligible to drive and go to bars.

Hiking 1 day after the resort closed. Caution: icy slopes

Julia and Ava found some animal bones on the hike

Trains 2024-25

We setup the trains during Thanksgiving, but we didn't get a lot of time to invite guests over due to hockey tournaments, skiing, and the Acumatica Summit. We kept the trains up until Feb 22. Final removal of boards from the basement was March 9.

The train layout this year featured:

• Lego Trains, HO trains, and O-Gauge trains
• All special cars worked (coal, cattle, log loader, milk, magnetic crane)
• RJ wired most of the houses
• Julia un-wired most of the layout
• Bradley got a 14-car HO train to run around the track without derailing
• Charlie's dad brought over some sweet, lightweight O-Gauge cars and an engine similar to the Penn Central

Doug and Julia running the trains

HO Train area

Santa Fe Engine 2 required some fishing line to hold it together

Julia finishes up unwiring all the houses and track connections

RJ Hockey Stuff

RHL Season

RJ and the light blue team lead the league in the regular season and made it to the finals. In the finals they came up 1 goal short, but gave a great effort.

Semi-Final - RJ scored 4 in a 10-5 win

Team after the championship game

RJ's first penalty comes in the last 1:30 of the championship game. He was called for stealing the puck from a helpless defender.

Regular Season Standings

Selects Tournament Pictures

Professional photographer captured moments in several of the games in Philadelphia Tournament #2.

As center, RJ took faceoffs and skated back to cover the 'house' when goalie 2 was in

On the breakaway ... puck is on RJ's left knee ... goalie stopped this one

RJ drew 3-4 penalties during the tourney ... players tended to trip him if he got by them

The Ref making the call

Whitetail - skiing and skating

The Kovacs and Hillary/Logan visited us for skiing this weekend.

After skating (7:10am - 8:45am) Milo and RJ broke some ice on a neighboring pond

RJ spotted a turtle moving beneath the ice

On day 2 we found a bigger pond near Blair's Ridge (6+ inches of ice)

Julia and Doug whistle for the grouse on Far Side

Stair Sledding

If you think sliding down the stairs on a cardboard box is a dumb idea ... you're right. At least the kids put a bean bag at the bottom of the stairs.

 

 

Speaking of bad ideas ... anybody up for a chair race around the kitchen and living room?