Whitetail Summer Camp

Sara and the kids headed to Whitetail for the week of  June 30 - July 6.

Night swimming was popular (and more crowded on July 3-4)

Rainy day? No problem with unlimited popcorn and soda. (Lilo & Stitch)

While kids were playing poker, Sara painted the nanny quarters

On Thursday night, Doug arrived and Caleb's parents took over for Marge.

Mr. Brad brought some legit poker chips for a legit looking game

We didn't get to see any fireworks (except in the distance) on July 4th, but we had a classic BBQ with Brad, Becky, and Caleb (Carter was at camp).

Stopped by Frederick on the way home for some lake fun 

We broke up the drive home by stopping in Frederick to hang out with the Kenemuths.

• Rope swing was super fun (a group of ~10 boys chanted and clapped until Julia went, RJ dove from a tree that was about 3m above the water's surface)
• Ms. Becky and Julia paired up at the beginning, but we all swapped places at times
• We saved the 'cliff' dive for another visit 

Julia Turns 11

Julia turned 11. Sara went slightly overboard on presents. Leeann was in town again! And most importantly Julia contributed to her own birthday.

Birthday prep: piñata 

In addition to making her own piñata, Julia made rainbow Jell-O which we served with leftover ice-cream cake for the Gray's on the day after her birthday.  She also influenced several gifts while yard-sailing with Sara.

The piñata string snapped before the piñata broke so the kids decided that baseball was the best way to finish the job.

 

The plethora of gifts arrived only 2 weeks after a haul from Summer Santa

 

Julia's ice-cream cake 

Julia's cake featured a realistic REC/ADP soccer game complete with:

• 5 players wearing the number 10
• Most players within 5 feet of the ball
• Referee not paying attention
• Kids asking when they could eat treats
• One kid looking at bugs instead of focusing on the game
• Doug asking how much time is left

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!!!

Strong start to summer

School ended. Summer arrived. Sara and the kids got a fast start on the summer bucket list. It's going to be difficult to keep up this pace!

Sara and RJ golfing (Washington monument in back), RJ almost got a hole-in-one (then 2 putted)

Bradley came over a few times ... and drank some lemonade

An evening of basketball at the Gray's

Amelia and Julia on the trampoline (explains $200 quarterly water bill)

Haynes Point golfing was fun, so Julia came on the next HOT and humid outing

Squirrel 8 of 10 (pests came early to eat apples this year)

Julia took a turn making dinner (potato bar). Do you want some sass with that?

Selects hockey team summer pool party - super fun!

Dog sitting Teddy and Pup-pup during a showing of Max/Katie's house

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

.

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