Girls Garage

Sara decided it was time for Julia to learn something about maintaining cars. 

Sara and Julia replace the air filter on the mini-van

 

Garage Door - snap

Sara and the kids were coming home ... the garage door opened a few inches and slammed back down. Spring broke. Luckily they were outside so they didn't hear the BANG. Once the spring broke the part the holds the door along the rail was stripped. 

So in addition to a new garage door, we needed a new garage door opener ... or do we?

Broken part - the guide in the middle was stripped

Garage door guy somehow clamped the spring ... so we could open the door manually.

$15 later we installed the new part and have a temp solution until the new door arrives

Of course the new part was slightly different than the old one. So you could not lock in the guide. As a result I had to take apart both parts and use parts of both to construct a working part.

Driving OH, IN, NJ

For summer vacation we decided to drive the mini-van all over the place.

• July 30: drive to Cleveland, OH
• Aug 1: Cousin Joe's funeral in South Bend, IN
• Aug 2: Guardians Game in Cleveland
• Aug 3: Beach with Kovaks via Philadelphia (separate post)

On July 31 Doug worked from a partner office in Cleveland while Sara and the kids hung out with Ian. The highlight for Doug was braving the Cleveland bus and train to turn a 30 minute commute home into a 110 minute commute home.

Kids toured Cleveland with Ian (not pictured)

We did not spent the night in South Bend, so we had to change in a Chipotle bathroom

Prior to the Guardians game we went to church and hit the game room in Aunt Donna's building. Julia is NOT ready to become a pool hustler yet.

Off to the Guardian's game. Prior to leaving, Doug placed a $2 bet to try to recover the $1 he lost last year. The Guardians were favored to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks.

We re-enacted last year's photo (except Doug pitched)

The entire Cleveland gang in the box

RJ drank 9 sodas at the Guardians game (we got there early so he had 3 before the start)

Sara and Marissa

This time Cleveland WON and Doug got some massive cash ... $3.14. So if you subtract the bet amount ($2) and the money he lost last year ($1) ... he netted $0.13!!!

The next day we started the drive from Cleveland to Sea Isle City, NJ.

While travelling through Phily, the gang dropped Doug at the train station.

Mountain Biking - Fountainhead

The Grays suggested that we go mountain biking at Fountainhead Regional Park in Fairfax Station. The reviews were accurate so Sara and Julia did a different trail. The 'green' trail featured a few 12" drops, some berms, a lot of roots, and some good up and down. Geoff cut his finger, RJ managed to crush you-know-where on his back tire, and Bradley fell and scraped his arm/leg/back. So overall ... a successful day!

RJ, Bradley, Geoff, and Doug did two laps on the green trail ... as well as a loop to the water courtesy of a missed turn when we were looking for the trailhead.

Taking a break

Elevation Map of Route

Distance: 1.71 miles Max Speed: 9.5 mph Elevation Gain: 160 feet Time: 32 min

We celebrated with a trip to 7-eleven after the ride.

Requirements for next ride:

• RJ 'needs' a new mountain bike
• Everybody needs gloves to keep sweaty hands from slipping off the handlebars

Lake Linganore

The Kenemuths invited us and the Carters to a pontoon boat outing at Lake Linganore.

Boats linked together - the Kenemuth's is the second from the left

Julia preparing to slide / dive

Chilling on the boat

Rope swing (not pictured: jumping from the rock cliff on the opposite shore)

Overall it was a great day of swimming, jumping, sliding, swinging, and socializing. And nobody got sunburned!

G-Geoff Visit

We hosted G-Geoff for his good-will tour of DC. He brought his dog Arthur with him ... so we got some pictures. Geoff was on his own agenda, but he forced to play True Colors with us one night.

Arthur was pretty chill - he didn't bark over 4 days, but he did like to jump on people

Waking Julia was easier for a few days!

Bike Repair Shop

Plenty of bike repairs were needed this summer. Or should I say ... this week. 

GT 24" Mountain Bike

After a trip to whitetail the mountain bike needed a new chain, a new rear derailer, and a new rear shifting cable. 

After Julia and I replaced those 3 parts the shifting was terrible and the chain fell off the derailer. After some troubleshooting Doug decided that the rear derailer mounting bracket (hanger) was bent as the rider crushed down on the mangled mess.

So we ordered another part, waited another week, and fixed the bike that is not in great shape and will become a permanent resident of Whitetail.

Halfway done. New derailer, cable, and chain.

One of those derailer hangers is slightly bent

GT 26" Specialized Hard Rock

RJ took on the task of repairing the flat on the front week of the bike he started riding after the demise of the 26" GT. He found 2 huge thorns in the tire ... lucky he looked before putting the new tube in.

RJ works on the flat tire

Flat was fixed in less than an hour.

GT 26" Rocky Mountain Fusion

The rear gears would not shift on the bike pictured in the back of the pic above. After some investigation Doug discovered that somebody pushed the rear shifter so far beyond first gear that the rear derailer cable slipped.

After fixing the cable and doing some adjustments the bike was back in business.