Fathers Day with King Oil

Father's Day featured some awesome gifts for Doug and a trip to Baltimore to see Granddad.

What's an awesome gift? Pillows for family, $10 bills so Doug doesn't have to scramble around every Sunday morning, and approval for project Whitetail porch!

Kids and Doug played King Oil for 2 hours

Notes on King Oil game:

• Julia's land must have been home to the Texas Fire Marshall. She never had a fire
• Julia consistently drew cards with $4,000/well royalties.
• RJ's properties would have been better for farming than oil drilling

Busch Gardens, 2025

To celebrate the end-of-school we headed to Busch Gardens just like last year.  Key notes and take aways:

• Doug should have purchased the unlimited soda cup
• RJ and Julia should have gone for the unlimited meal plan
• Sara needs to remember to sneak gluten-dairy free food into the park
• Doug appreciated Ken (Francis's husband) as a roller-coaster buddy
• 10am - 9pm is a long day

RJ, Logan, Julia at the entrance

When we pulled up to the hotel, we saw Finn Carr sticking his head out of the car. RJ was excited to see Desi and Liam who were there for Tommy's and Liam's lacrosse tournament. 

RJ, Desi, Liam, and Logan hung out and rode nearly all of the roller coasters. RJ didn't say no to anything this year.

Desi, Liam, RJ, and Logan on Finnigan's Flyer

The Big Bad Wolf 2 was Julia's favorite roller coaster. We renamed it the Small Fluffy Puppy.

Three rides were enough for us to rename it the Small Fluffy Puppy 

Sara rams Julia (proof that Sara did something other than carry the heavy backpack)

Julia's sports wrap up

Julia played on 2 soccer teams and a volleyball team in the spring. For the most part Julia enjoyed hanging out with friends and competing. Winning over 30% of the games would have been more fun.

Volleyball

Girls 3rd-4th grade CYO volleyball team was a chance to hang out with friends. The fourth graders were getting the ball over more often towards the end of the season.

3rd-4th Grade Girls Volleyball Team

Volleyball game in action, May 31

ADP Soccer

ADP soccer was a more expensive option to the rec team. The team was assigned to play on the crummy Bluemont Park grass field most of the time. This resulted in several cancelled games so the season didn't end until June 8. Coach Olu was a welcome addition!

Team pic on a rainy last day (5-1 loss, but 5-2 win Saturday)

Rec Soccer

Need to get picture

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Late Night Pizza

RJ decided that we would start making home-made pizza at 7:40pm. Julia had a second dinner, RJ ate 1 1/2 pizzas, and Doug found a second-appetite so we only had a couple pieces left. 

Note for next time: the expensive bread-dough flour made all the difference with dough consistency and overall deliciousness. 

Late night (8:40pm) pizza on the porch.

Spring Hockey

The 16U league has some plyers that are as big as adults. Light blue had some issues this season (2 wins, 1 tie, 5 losses). RJ and #59 account for most of the goals.

Julia Wax Museum

Julia was Mary Jackson (engineer at NASA). Part of the fun was spending a weekend putting together a Saturn 5 Rocket model that Sara got for free. This included hand painting and getting RJ to help up 3-D print a missing piece.

Julia's class in costume

Julia - ready to give her 2 minute speech about Ms. Jackson

Whitetail - Memorial Day

Plenty of fun during and work during a long-weekend at Whitetail.

Chores

Some maintenance work included touching up the first floor toilet replacement (paint and caulk) and painting the 2nd floor bedroom. 

Julia tapes the trim

Kids were quite helpful with the painting

Fun

After chores there was plenty of fun to be had:

• Volleyball with neighbors
• Family Golfing
• Mountain biking
• Swimming in low-60s water
• Couple tennis swings
• Building a recycled boat 

Golfing at Yinglings

Doug at top of high-speed quad

Groomer looked harmless but it can easily run over a biker

Biking Day 2: Brad led us around Bear Pond loop

Recycled boat (floated with RJ in it)

Cherries - sort of

We got a few cherries this year. The birds harvested a lot more than we did so we had to pick them a bit early. 

We ate a few before this picture. Good ones on the right, ones with issues on the left

Rabbit (net to red spot) visited every morning to eat cherries that birds pecked off

Shed Clean Up

Doug initiated spring cleaning on shed #1. We rearranged the shelving to provide a better spot for the golf clubs.

It was a pretty good idea, except for the raised placement of the golf balls.

Golf balls were everywhere ... 10-15 even made it into the yard

Bike to Work Day

Bike to work day is always a fun event... but this year I had a sweet looking Acumatica jersey ... thanks to the folks in the Columbus, OH office.

The guy took my picture in portrait mode (I didn't say anything)

This guy gave me a good race, but I out-sprinted him at the end.

Mother's Day

Grandad came down from Baltimore to help us celebrate Mother's Day ... but he didn't get in any pictures.

Sara got together with Jenn and Courtney in Alexandria on Saturday

Tried to get a good picture of Mom with the kids ... well sort of tried

After a kids-Doug led brunch, there was plenty of cleanup

At the end of the day Sara thanked us ... so maybe Mother's Day wasn't too bad.

Cat and Homework

RJ attempted to do some homework in the park. A cat from a nearby house proved to be even more distracting than Julia.

The cat looks as interested in the homework as RJ

 

Bring on Soccer

Soccer is in full swing ... 3 games today (2 Julia, 1 RJ)

Julia's Rec team excelling at post-game donuts (9-1 win, Julia 4 goals)

RJ playing on high school field (3-1 loss, RJ ran a LOT)

RJ's team photo (after a 2-3 loss they SHOULD HAVE WON)

School Play

Julia was Influencer #2 in the Missoula Theater play "Hercules". Kids auditioned and practiced for 1 week which culminated on a Friday evening show.

Julia in action (third from the right)

Julia with 2 other influencers

Entire cast during curtain call

St. Agnes Turf

Recess and PE got more exciting ... instead of a parking lot they now have a turf field option.

Hopefully Andrews throws to RJ (wide open on left)

 

Spring Break in Miami

After a ski trip to Salt Lake City last year, we headed to Miami for some heat this April.

Day 1: Travel and Boat Tour

Grandma and Grandpa joined us for a boat tour in downtown Miami. Prior to the tour we saw several colorful fish, a massive fish, and a shark swimming around the harbor.

Boat tour showed lots of lavish houses - but no pirates

Doug was sight-seeing instead of looking at the camera

Kids helped Grandma make grape leaves for dinner with a fancy roller contraption

Prior to dinner we played tennis and pickle-ball.

Day 2: Snorkeling at John Pennekamp State Park

Like last time, we went snorkeling ... we saw tons of fish including a puffer fish and a horde of others, but no shark this year. A fairly stiff wind made the day pleasant, but clouded the water a bit.

The section right behind us is where all the good stuff was (not inside the buoys)

Day 3: Treetop Adventures, Dinner, Jai-Alai

We started the day on the putting green. Doug only threw his hat once. Grandpa started slow but came on strong at the end. 

Julia practices before the main event

Harnessed and ready for climbing and zip lines

The treetop adventure did not disappoint. There was a lot of climbing over 3 different courses. Overall it took about 3 hours. The zip-lines were fun ... but even RJ was a little wigged out by the height. A very-fat iguana blocked the path on one of the highest trail. We called for help but the crew said that the iguana would move if we charged him.

Some of the climbing was challenging. Julia almost got discouraged but toughed it out and was very satisfied when she finished.

We had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. RJ and Sara would have been happy with hummus and tabbouleh - but RJ ate 2 large servings of salmon. Julia was adventuresome tried zucchini and a couple other things.

Entrance of the Jai-Alai Stadium

After RJ and Doug watched Jai -Alai on ESPN 3 ... we were determined to watch a match. So we headed to the casino for a match between the Cyclones (last place) and the Devils (first place). The first adventure was finding the right casino.

Jai-Alai was fun because there were 4 happy guys drinking beer in front of us. During the last match there was a Cyclones player named Manu. The happy guys who had bet on the Cyclones would shout Maaaa-Nuuuuu every time he touched the ball. Yup ... you probably had to be there to get it.

We arrived late and missed better, so Doug bet Grandma $2. Grandma won easily.

I think Grandma did her homework ... she bet on a strong pair on the Devils, while Doug took the hapless pair from the Cyclones.

Sara danced like crazy during an intermission and was a awarded some Cyclones hats that we will wear with pride in DC.

RJ wearing his new Cyclones hat

Day 4: Hanging Out with Aunt Donna

We headed to the pool for swimming, lunch, and various games (ping-pong, air-hockey, hoops, and foosball). We got some random kids to shout MaaaaNuuuuu each time one of the foosball players hit the ball.

Douglas the dog wanted a picture on Douglas Street

We climbed a tree and used the swings at a nearby park before heading to the pool

Saying goodbye was tough ... but we'll be back!!

Easter - 2025

Unfortunately we were not in Utah this Easter. But we got to see Doug's relatives and get ready to see Sara's folks next week.

We were 10 minutes early to church ... which turned into 20 minutes late due to the mass schedule change. Father Carroll forgave us.

Sara got RJ to meet the REAL #77 at church

Doug 'found something' with his new metal detector

Follow up: the something was a random scrap of metal that looked like a 1 x 2 inch piece of siding. Maybe we will have better luck in Whitetail finding the Frodo's ring.

Aunt Debbie did an excellent job hiding eggs ... we were all looking for about 1 hour

We ate Easter dinner at the Yacht Club in Annapolis. Delicious ... but we didn't take any pictures. Bummer. After dinner we headed to Sherwood to hang out with Brian and Kelly.

Willa and Julia look on while RJ pokes a jellyfish with a stick

As a follow up ... not sure why the jellyfish are already deep in the Severn River. I guess it's been dry.