Trunk or Treat

While Doug was returning from a work trip to Seattle, Sara took the gang to Trunk or Treat at St. Agnes.

Julia and Nora D. prepare costumes for trunk or treat

Boys prepare to give out some potatoes

Several 8th graders attended (several got volunteer credits for cleaning up)

Julia and gang man their trunk (and eat some candy)

17th Anniversary

We celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary in Rochester, NY at a 13 year-old hockey game. For dinner we treated ourselves to the most expensive dinner we have ever eaten ... at Olive Garden ... and Julia didn't eat anything. Yes, it was a group dinner with a shared bill.

Back in McLean ... 

Julia was excited to be the photographer

RJ was still wearing his suit from church

Cross Country warm up meet

Both kids ran in a cross country developmental meet. 

• RJ twisted his ankle, but finished the race in 17:51 (4km)
• Julia ran hard and tried not to talk to Nora D. She finished in 15:05 (3km). A big improvement over 18:18 in her first race.

Sara has been helping with team organization (so she can wear her 'St. Agnes Coach' shirt

Girls hanging out after the race

Rochester weekend

Julia was excited about her 'vacation' to Rochester, NY. Oh ... and RJ had a hockey tourney there as well.

After a 6-hour drive and short nap, RJ as ready to play some hockey.

RJ had a good game on Friday night and got the 'hat' award

RJ was stellar in game 1. Tired muscles caught up with him by game 3 of 5.

Julia and Sara spent the entire day on Saturday at the The Strong National Museum of Play. As a result they missed a couple of hockey games but had loads of fun on Julia's vacation.

Julia and Sara in front of the Sesame Street house

Julia's first public piano concert

The ropes course was supposed to last 20-30 minutes. Julia spent about two hours on it.

Life size Simon would have been easier with more than one person

Julia scales wall (you were supposed to stand on the floor and look like you were flying over the city)

A short soccer game as a warm up to the final game

RJ and team at Olive Garden on Saturday night

After a frustrating final game (3-0 loss) we headed home. By the time we were 1 hour out of town, RJ was back to his old self.

On the way home we drove right past the Little League World Series venue in Williamsport

After dinner at Jersey Mike's Subs and a couple hours of rain, we pulled back into our driveway at 10:40pm. Whew. 

Mustang ABS Repair

When we obtained the Mustang, the ABS light was on. We needed to fix it to pass inspection. 

An auto shop pulled the codes and surprisingly it was the ABS Control module and not the wheel speed sensors. We decided to try to fix it ourselves.

Sara ordered a replacement part, Doug borrowed a jack and stands from Johns S. and the fun began ... 

Step 1: remove old ABS control module

Steps 2 & 3: uninstall the 'new' faulty control module and swap parts to make one working unit

Steps 4 & 5: reinstall rebuilt ABS module, fill brake fluid, bleed brakes

As with any project the predicted time was doubled and maybe tripled. The drama:

• Day 1 (hour 1): uninstall the broken control unit. Build DIY plugs to prevent brake fluid from leaking all over the place.
• Day 1 (hours 2-3): struggle to seat the brake line fitting. Connection didn't seem great. Turn on car, ABS light was no longer on, but brakes were out due to no brake fluid.
• Day 2 (11:00am): poured break fluid into reservoir, lifted back of car to bleed brakes. Nothing came out ... because all brake fluid leaked out of faulty connection.
• Day 2 (12:00pm): went to Advance Auto Parts to purchase brake line to test whether the brake line or the housing was to blame.
• Day 2 (1:00pm): uninstall 'new' ABS control unit
• Day 2 (2:00pm): remove electronics from new ABS unit and install in old unit
• Day 2 (3:00pm): reinstall old ABS control unit with new electronics, bleed rear breaks (RJ pushed the brake pedal while I controlled the bleeder valve), run out of brake fluid
• Day 2 (4:00pm): return to Advance Auto - return brake lines, purchase additional brake fluid, bleed front brakes.
• Day 2 (5:00pm): say a prayer ... turn the key ... no ABS light! No brake light! Whew!

Initial time estimate: 4 hours

Actual time: 9 hours (3 trips to Advance Auto Parts)

Whitetail gets new carpet

The first floor carpet at Whitetail was looking a little worn. We replaced solid tan with something a bit speckled and darker to hide rental trash.

Planning phase

Installation in progress

Job complete - it looks a lot better - picture doesn't really do it justice

Doug removed the AC window unit ... this sleeping bat was NOT HAPPY when I woke him and pushed him off the ledge

This annoying varmint was licking the cement between the bricks 

Room without furniture

Hockey in Pittsburgh

The Caps Hockey Academy 4 Team was in Pittsburgh this weekend. They played 4 games. Three were blowouts (1 win, 2 losses) and one was a good game, but they lost 0-3.

Power went out before the first game ... so we missed work/school for nothing

Game 1: Team from Minnesota won 11-1. RJ played hard, team got discouraged.

Game 2: Caps won 6-3, but it wasn't that close ... it was 6-1 until the last 2 minutes. The regular film crew was gone ... so Doug tried to take over. That sort-of worked.

RJ had a good game ... he's number 42 in the video below.

Game 3: 3-0 loss to team from Canada ... should have, would have, could have ... 

Game 4: Team from Albany was a major blow out on the last day. Bummer.

Other Activities

RJ got to know his teammates during paintball and by hanging around the hotel with them.

Pizza before paintball

After paintball

Why you wear layers during paintball

1994 Mustang Convertible

Family has a new car. A 1994 Mustang Convertible. After spending 2-3 years in Washington DC, it migrated to North Dakota where it lived on a farm for a few years. This month it moved to it's new home in Northern Virginia ... but we really, really want to keep FUNYFRM license plate from North Dakota.

Getting to VA

Grandma and Grandpa got it from North Dakota to Cedar Rapids, IA.

Diane says goodbye on July 28. Tear :-(

Next up ... Doug flies to Cedar Rapids to drive it the rest of the way.

Doug makes connection in Denver ... don't ask ... $124 flight on Frontier.

Hung out with the Bueckers and saw an awesome high school football game before a 5am departure to get to South Bend in time for lunch.

Awesome lunch. Got to see Aunt Jo and my cousins (except Larry)

In poor form, I wore a Miami shirt to South Bend the week after the Convicts beat the Catholics in football.

Uh oh! Lake effect rain on Sunday in Cleveland

The Car Takes Over

After arriving the Mustang got a lot of attention. Sara took RJ to hockey practice and The Great 8 exchanged waves on his way out of the parking lot!

The original owner was reunited with the car. Julia was told NOT to be in the picture.

Everybody pitching in to clean it up. Notice the Honda stuck outside the garage.

What's Next?

Operation ABS Control system replacement and brake line flush. Read about it here: https://dougsara.blogspot.com/2025/10/mustang-abs-repair.html.

RJ science lab

RJ made the school newsletter.

RJ thinks to himself, "c'mon ... big explosion."

Recessed Lighting

After living in the dark for several years we decided to install recessed lighting in the living room.

Since the area above the living room was loosely-finished attic the project was not too difficult ... in theory. What we learned:

• Although there was a straight run from the existing single-gong box to the attic (only a single 2' x 4' to drill through), the process still took 3-4 hours.
• 14/2 wire is almost $1/foot.
• Working in the attic when it is 77 degrees out is still sweaty work
• Breathing without a mask while moving dusty insulation was a bad idea
• Wearing a short sleeve shirt resulted in two-days of itchy skin

RJ ran the wire around the attic and helped with the wiring

Turns out that wearing a long sleeve shirt would have saved a lot of itchy skin

Julia took a break from reading to get tools, clean up, and test the new switch (Sara still has to mud)

Kids night at Speedway

Hagerstown Speedway had kids night ... so Julia got in free (teenagers pay the student price) and each got a free snow cone and a ride around the track in a race car.

Warm in the sun ... things got chilly when the sun went down

 

Kids rode around track hanging out the window of the #32 car

We routed for the 32-car during the final race but the car didn't drift like the top ones in the race.

Other items of note:

• The 25 car was there and added to what is probably a record breaking losing streak.
• The concession stand closed before kids got their pretzels. But we survived. Barely. 
• Sara was sick so she missed out on the fun. Bummer. 

First day of 8th and 5th grade

Kids got off to they usual start. RJ was annoyed. Julia was excited.

The difference this year was that school started after the first round of the US Open Tennis tournament. The ESPN highlights included Daniil Medvedev's meltdown that Dad tried to re-create.

Julia tries to be cool by looking annoyed

Daniil Medvedev's meltdown re-enactment

Julia not trying to be cool

Ravens win 30-3

Sara and RJ went to the Commanders versus the Ravens preseason game. Hillary and Logan provided the tickets. 

After a 2.5 hour commute, team Johnson got to watch the second quarter

After missing entire 3rd quarter waiting for food the Ravens won 30-3!

Cleveland Guardian's Game

Sara's family got together at a Cleveland Guardians game ... Aunt Donna organized a sweet box for 30-40 people.

Met Suzie, David (not pictured), Laura, Johnny the day before the game

Sara's wallet stayed at home, so she had to deal with us while shoe shopping (and Petco - looking at fish/birds)

The next day we made it to the game ... 

Pic at entrance. Only pic where Doug wasn't 'batting' or 'throwing'

Family pic after getting to the box

Box with entire Cleveland crowd

Watching game, each of us had 3-4 sodas!

After the game, kids got to 'run the bases'

Doug shows the 2nd basement how to throw out a runner at first, without throwing the ball away

Doug bet $1 on the Guardians. Braves won, Doug lost, Doug was mad.

The Guardians committed 3 errors (one was not officially an error because nobody touched the infield popup). The three errors and 2 mental lapses accounted for 3 runs ... Doug should have won the bet.

Even though the game took 3 hours, we had fun. If you want to watch the game in 13 minutes ... here you go ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtPONmgvL8o.