Fall Hockey Begins

Fall hockey has started. The navy blue team ... well ... maybe they will get better as the year goes on. They lost a close game to red (25 - 1) and had a good outing against white (6 - 1).

RJ looks good in goal

RJ rushes out to take the face off

Bike Ride to Grocery Store

I talked the kids into going on a bike ride with no particular destination in mind. Five minutes into the ride Julia says, "I'm thirsty." As a result the destination was set to the McLean Giant to get some water.

The Ride

We were on a pike path along Georgetown Pike for most of the way and rode sidewalks for the rest. Julia overcame two obstacles.

1. Her non-gear bike made getting up/down hills an effort.
2. RJ's leadership set an erratic pace which involved a lot of random braking.

Here is the route as recorded by the GPS.

  

The lightening pace of 5.2 mph was a bit understated because my GPS remained on while walking around the grocery store. We could have easily been averaging 6.2 mph :-)

Dead Squirrel

In the middle of the bike trail there was a dead squirrel with "it's guts coming out." Julia missed it (not sure how) on the way out, so on the return trip we talked about it for about 40 minutes until Julia finally got to see it. Yes, she stopped and looked at it.

Accident

Near the McLean library, RJ veered off onto a basketball court. The court was wet. There was moss on the court. Luckily the fall was at low speed, so it did not interrupt the remaining part of the ride.

The Shopping

While at Giant we purchased Gatorade (because it was cheaper than water) some lunch meat. And most importantly we grabbed a bag of Tiger Chips (a.k.a. Cheetos). The kids wanted the Family Size bag, but being a health-conscious parent, I talked them into the standard size.

After getting home, we had lunch and ate the Cheetos. All of the Cheetos. In 15 minutes. Burp.

Stoner's Farm in Mercersburg, PA

Low Expectations

The gang went into this event with low expectations. How much fun could it possibly be to wander through a corn maze in the middle of a random farm in PA?

Throw in a couple of school friends ... add some rides, attractions, ice cream ... 4 hours later ... "wow, that was awesome, we have to go back."

Pictures ...

Corn maze - dead end 

Corn maze - end

RJ's Favorite was the Pedal Go-Carts

Julia and Sedona in the petting zoo 

Old fashion slide

Why wouldn't you climb this?!

Water pump game. "Ouch," says Summer

Family photo. Mostly normal.

Ski Lift in Summer

During the summer there is plenty to do on the mountain. Shoot slingshots, mountain bike, zip line, fishing, camp (almost), and hang out with friends. 

Hanging out with Carter and Caleb without having to arrange play dates made the kids more independent.

Julia hangs with Caleb - not sure where Santi was for this one!

Fisherman from Mars

Hello. I come from planet Mars. I am here to catch fish.

RJ had one pair of shoes which fell apart while kicking a soccer ball. The bike helmet is standard when you spend all day riding to pools, ponds, forts, and ski slope trails.

Strange Harvest

Today's garden harvest was quite good. There were many things you would expect, plus the first fruit from our golf-ball plant.

  

Sara purchased some foam golf balls so she could practice in our back yard and get good enough to play on a real golf-course (she has already mastered mini-golf). The ball flight is fairly realistic ... my balls all slice right.

We tried to chip balls to be closest to the cone. RJ had a couple good shots.