Sara helped organize the first cross country race. Julia participated on the winning sixth grade girls team. Julia ran the 3km in 14:47.
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| St. Agnes 6th grade speedy girls |
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| Amelia's pool / 4-wheeler party (some girls lacked driving skills) |
Failing to raise the fence high enough allowed the deer to chew the tops off the sunflowers (see post Garden, But). But as a result we got double the number of flowers. Unfortunately the varmint that ate the seed-producing saplings in back destroyed our food source.
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| Deer unwittingly doubled or tripled the number of flowers |
Gonzaga freshmen (i.e. RJ) had a welcome mass and picnic with the freshmen from Georgetown Visitation.
Julia and Doug didn't want to go but found about 25 field hockey balls which turned into a game of bocci ball. Grrr... didn't get pic.
Doug did take this picture ...
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| Is this Julia's future high school? |
The CHA3 team started the season with a tourney in Hershey, PA. Won 2 (big), lost 1 (big), lost a close one to CHA2.
We missed the first game due to work and high school. In the third game RJ pulled up lame with a hip injury that but him out of the tournament. No contact, no fall, no explanation ... he cannot lift his leg without pain.
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| Friday, night late night travel. Free scrap sourdough bread from Panera |
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| RJ takes a face off |
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| Bachelor night dinner |
What's better than a delicious dinner? Answer: a dinner that you don't have to make, don't have to clean up, and don't have to pay more than the cost of groceries.
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| RJ and Julia prepare steak and potatoes |
With RJ gone ... Julia gets St. Agnes all to herself.
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| Newsletter featured 6th grade, Ms. Morris class |
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| Picture day ... an unofficial picture |
Coach Joel and family went to a National's game, so Julia got to dog sit!
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| Whew ... dog sitting Jiro looks like hard work! |
RJ started high school at Gonzaga this year. There was NO first day of high-school picture, but Sara did manage take a picture of RJ coming back to get his soccer clothes that he left at home.
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| RJ - too cool for pictures, Aug 21 |
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| Doug's first appearance in a first-day-of-school pic. |
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| Julia and Sara with a more traditional look |
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| Julia and friends with the Nationals presidents |
With summer winding down, Sara took the kids to Upton park to take advantage of discounted passes from summer reading.
Everyone had lots of fun in the batting cage, at the swimming pool, and on the ropes course.
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| Julia connects with a softball (great timing on the pic Sara!) |
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| RJ in the batting cage |
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| Based on his smile, RJ must have been aiming at Julia |
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| Julia on the ropes course. |
Sara decided it was time for Julia to learn something about maintaining cars.
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| Sara and Julia replace the air filter on the mini-van |
Too much time away equals not a lot of production from the garden.
Doug got some lettuce in the early going BUT it quickly got bitter. RJ planted radishes BUT forgot to pick them. Sara had some cucumbers BUT they got bitter. We are getting cherry tomatoes BUT nobody is eating them. Doug planted some sunflowers BUT the rabbits ate the good ones and the deer ate the rest. BUT the sunflowers the deer ate sprouted two shoots ... so there is still a chance (see post with the results).
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| RJ got some volunteer tomatoes and 2-3 cantaloupes. We got about 20-30 peaches (the squirrels got the rest) |
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| Julia planted corn. She got about 10 ears (we overcooked the first batch), Doug's corm is still growing |
Sara and the kids were coming home ... the garage door opened a few inches and slammed back down. Spring broke. Luckily they were outside so they didn't hear the BANG. Once the spring broke the part the holds the door along the rail was stripped.
So in addition to a new garage door, we needed a new garage door opener ... or do we?
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| Broken part - the guide in the middle was stripped |
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| Garage door guy somehow clamped the spring ... so we could open the door manually. |
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| $15 later we installed the new part and have a temp solution until the new door arrives |
The kids got better about brushing their teeth and were rewarded with a Ninja Creami Swirl. This was after Sara purchased 3 machines and kept the best one.
Now instead of going to the store to purchase 1/2 gallon of ice cream for $3.00, we go to the store and purchase $8.00 worth of ingredients, mix the ingredients 12 or so hours in advance, and then eat ice cream.
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| The result is soooo worth it. Now we get soft-serve ice cream at home! |
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| By September 2, RJ was able to substantially increase the quantity of ice cream per cone |
After dropping Doug at the Philadelphia train station Sara, RJ, and Julia headed to Sea Isle City. Doug needed the extra time to prepare for Ascent (partner-only summer training).
Shockingly there are no pictures of Bubba Dogs ... but the boys ate there pretty much every day (from what I heard).
Day 1 (Tuesday) featured big waves and red flags. Doug was jealous. The waves cleaned up (and got smaller) on Wed. and Thurs.
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| It wouldn't be a trip to the beach without some sand castles |
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| The girls (I wonder if Beachy Towel News reported this year) |
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| How did Janelle get the hat Sara lost last year? Turns out she 'bought' it, yeah, right. |
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| The Boys avoided the camera for the most part |
For summer vacation we decided to drive the mini-van all over the place.
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| Kids toured Cleveland with Ian (not pictured) |
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| We did not spent the night in South Bend, so we had to change in a Chipotle bathroom |
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| We re-enacted last year's photo (except Doug pitched) |
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| The entire Cleveland gang in the box |
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| RJ drank 9 sodas at the Guardians game (we got there early so he had 3 before the start) |
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| Sara and Marissa |
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| While travelling through Phily, the gang dropped Doug at the train station. |
The Grays suggested that we go mountain biking at Fountainhead Regional Park in Fairfax Station. The reviews were accurate so Sara and Julia did a different trail. The 'green' trail featured a few 12" drops, some berms, a lot of roots, and some good up and down. Geoff cut his finger, RJ managed to crush you-know-where on his back tire, and Bradley fell and scraped his arm/leg/back. So overall ... a successful day!
RJ, Bradley, Geoff, and Doug did two laps on the green trail ... as well as a loop to the water courtesy of a missed turn when we were looking for the trailhead.
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| Taking a break |
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Max Speed: 9.5 mph Elevation Gain: 160 feet Time: 32 min |
We celebrated with a trip to 7-eleven after the ride.
The Kenemuths invited us and the Carters to a pontoon boat outing at Lake Linganore.
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| Boats linked together - the Kenemuth's is the second from the left |
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| Julia preparing to slide / dive |
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| Chilling on the boat |
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| Rope swing (not pictured: jumping from the rock cliff on the opposite shore) |
We hosted G-Geoff for his good-will tour of DC. He brought his dog Arthur with him ... so we got some pictures. Geoff was on his own agenda, but he forced to play True Colors with us one night.
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| Arthur was pretty chill - he didn't bark over 4 days, but he did like to jump on people |
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| Waking Julia was easier for a few days! |
Plenty of bike repairs were needed this summer. Or should I say ... this week.
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| Halfway done. New derailer, cable, and chain. |
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| One of those derailer hangers is slightly bent |
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| RJ works on the flat tire |
Burned popcorn doesn't smell very good. But popcorn that is really burned and creates a billowing cloud of smoke that smells really, really bad. Although this did not merit a call to 9-1-1 we were pretty grossed out by the smell. By the time Doug got home the situation was not too bad ... but that didn't stop Julia from using the smell as an excuse to sleep on the porch in a tent in 74 -> 66 degree weather.
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| The smoking remnants of a bag of popcorn were extinguished and left in the yard to deter wildlife |
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| Sara and Julia avoided the smell in the house by sleeping on the porch (weather was perfect) |
