Scheduled Saturday

Cross Country

The day started early with a cross country race in Lorton. The wooded section made it difficult to get pictures.

Julia starts the sprint to the finish

RJ rounds the final turn

St Luke Parish Picnic

After cross country we headed directly to our church for the parish picnic. Doug and RJ raced through the bouncy-obstacle course. Julia and her friend Norah J. rode ponies and had some treats! And RJ won a wheelbarrow race with Doug holding his feet. 

That is a LOT of cotton candy!

Doug made good use of the props

Julia does a flip

Julia Soccer Game

Immediately following the picnic, Julia changed and headed towards soccer. The Bumblebees started their season with an 11-1 win. It's a slightly different crew than last year, but Julia still knows everybody ... so she had a lot of fun.

RJ Hockey Game

Green tied red (3-3). The fake goalie was tough!

Julia used a phone app to track the game

Winding Down

After a full day ... everybody barely had energy for an outdoor movie. Sampson (the rabbit) was not tired.

Green 12U RHL Season Starts

Hockey started today. I took 1 picture at the end of the game which shows more of the white team than the green team and focused on the netting instead of the players. 

Final Score, Green 4, White 3

Fortunately, one of the parents video taped the game. The first 12 seconds of the game looked like a team that had been playing together for years.

Bike Repair - chain and cassette

After breaking a chain on Thursday night, I installed a new chain. The new chain slipped on gears 4-8 and worked on gears 1-3. A bit of internet research explained that both a worn chain and cassette need to be replaced together. 

Armed with a new Shimano cassette (CS-HG50-8, 11-34T) and a Campingola cassette removal tool, I did the only logical thing ... called Uncle Z.

Travelling bike repair guy removes old cassette

In under 5 minutes, the old cassette was removed and the new one was installed. The bike runs way better after replacing the 10,000 mile drive train. And now I have a bigger ring for any cliffs I need to get up.

Wood Chipper repair

Turns out you cannot throw a rock into a small wood chipper/shredder and get away with it. Also turns out that a new impeller is about $350 and the other broken parts are not available.

So I purchased a similar model on Facebook and swapped the engine and housing ... 

Object: move housing from weak engine to bigger engine

Step 1: remove parts - I have become a master at dis-lodging impellers

Step 2: begin reassembly with impeller

Step 3: use opportunity to replace the half-broken wheel

And whamo - look out sticks and leaves. Rocks are still safe.

Girls Scouts in Back Yard

What do you get when you host 20 third-grade girls in your back yard? Answer: a lot of fun and even more noise.

Pizza, smores, team bonding, and playtime were all part of the event. Doug did his best to prep the back yard!

Troop meeting, pizza, and fires for smores

Julia and friends on slide

Trampoline was popular - 7 at a time were allowed and everyone had to take turns

Cleveland for Labor Day

We headed to Cleveland to see Sara's family for Labor Day. Trip tidbits:

• Doug swam in Lake Erie ... and almost caught a duck. Kids collected smooth glass.
• Big dinner with Lebanese food
• Visited cousin Marissa and family
• RJ and Doug played pickle ball with Grandma Diane and Grandpa (Grandma and Doug were team Torn Meniscus)
• Donuts after church
• Kids, Doug, and Ian played pool, ping pong, and foosball in game room

Sara makes her point at dinner

 

Juila and RJ are always willing to help with screen time