Julia and Abby Sign Legal Documents

Julia and Abby got to sit in a conference room in an official law office. Abby almost signed a manila folder.

Pimmit Run - Southeast Route

RJ Decides to Hike Pimmit Run

Weather: 84 degrees and sunny
Goal: go on the dangerous and rocky part of Pimmit run
Path: random with no plan, 3.6 miles

At breakfast RJ decided that we need to hike at Pimmit Run today. By the time that the Saturday morning cleanup was done, RJ had suggested it 3-4 times. By the time the daily errands were complete he had recruited Julia to second the request.

So at 1pm we started out on a short hike. This was going to be the 'dangerous hilly side' that we were not able to complete the first time. See first Pimmit Run hike.

This time we found a safer route that was actually a trail. After RJ lead the way, we got to the crossroads pictured left. RJ convinced us to cross a stream and head towards Donaldson run. After realizing we were not on a trail anymore, I convinced RJ to turn around (another river crossing).

Back at the crossroads again everybody, except Dad, wanted to go to the overlook ... so we went to the overlook - a dangerous sort of trail. Since Julia got to lead, she scrambled up like she could have scaled Everest.

Soon we realized that the overlook trail was a circle and we were heading back to the crossroads. This time, Dad convinced everybody to head back towards the nature center because we were all sweaty and our water bottles were empty.

The nature center was awesome for several reasons.

1. They had a place to refill our water bottles with cold water
2. There were snakes, frogs, turtles, and some cool fish that are native to the DC area
3. We got to fish with a magnet while sitting in a native American canoe - see picture

The trail to the nature center had 2 stream crossings. The amazing part is that RJ only slipped once and got the outside of one shoe wet.

The biggest challenge on the way home was to keep the tired troops focused and motivated. Loss of motivation would result in Dad having to carry a kid. As you can see to the left, we were quite safe when going down the steep parts.

Some comments regarding the trail map.

• #1 = crossroads sign above
• #2 = realize that the overlook trail is taking us in a circle
• RJ's Idea is where a certain kid abused his leadership role to head us into the forest
• Juila's Idea is where a certain kid decided decided to use her leadership role to hike up a random stairway and cause Dad to pull out his GPS phone.
• #3 = let me know if you can find it anywhere in this map
• #4 = Nature center and water!
• Water icons = stream crossings - we crossed the first one 4 times and the second one 2 times

Timber

With Mom out of town this weekend, it seemed like a perfect time to climb a tree and cut off a limb that was previously damaged by wind. Mr. Warren from across the street came over in order to dial 9-1-1. Fortunately, this service was not needed. Unfortunately, the limb is still there because Dad chickened out.

Dad's fear didn't stop the gang from climbing. Once we were up there we could see that a large colony of ants had infested the half dead branch.

The Entourage

Add Five Minutes

Everything I do these days takes at least 5 minutes longer than I originally plan. I wonder why?

It seems that Abby (or Abbie) needed to be buckled into her car seat on the trip from St. Luke to Preschool, from Preschool to Subway, and from Subway to Fabi's house.

After arriving at Subway, I heard about the dinosaur that was 'hatched' in preschool. The hatching process involved pouring water over the egg.

After being born into captivity, this plant eater decided to eat some roasted turkey.

Clemyjontri and Julia

Good Times at the Park

A kid that cannot make it up 4 stairs to go to bed an night can walk 1.8 miles (round trip) pushing a doll in a stroller and run all over the place for 2-3 hours. A scrape on the leg is quickly shrugged off when the destination is a park.

Five different kids took Abby for a walk - which helped a normally shy girl meet a lot of people.

MS Walk in Baltimore

MS Walk, Run, and Treats

In honor of Grandmother Chris, we participated in an MS Walk in Towson, MD. It was Aunt Debbie's idea. So we are blaming her for the 50 degree mist/rain situation.

Granddad, Aunt Debbie, and the gang assemble before the walk at Goucher College.

In a walk featuring hundreds of people, the two kids managed to wiggle their way to the starting line in front of everybody else. The other lady in the picture raised the most money, so she had the honor of cutting the ribbon.

Julia got fourth place because (a) Granddad, Dad, and Julia did the 1 mile walk vs the three mile walk that most people did, (b) we let our lead slip away to a group pulling a kid in a wagon.

RJ and Aunt Debbie were towards the front until they took a detour. Then the walk turned into a run until they got back on track. To finish the 'race' they had to sneak back into the race and finish.

Half-way through the 1-mile walk, Julia found a pine branch in the middle of the trail. She dragged it, carried it, and used it as an umbrella all the way to the finish line. When Julia told her class about the trip ... she was mostly excited about the medal and the donuts.

Easter in Texas

Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Fritel

RJ's Spring Break was Easter week, which was also the last week the grandparents were in Harlingen Texas. We had an action-packed 4 days. We did everything you would expect on a vacation ... from playing mini-golf on a dilapidated course to going to Easter mass with candles and a mariachi band.

We swam at the pool and played shuffleboard at the grandparent's camp ground.

The shuffleboard court was conspicuously labeled "Do not walk on court."
RJ was reminded about 20 times not to walk on the court - it's tough to focus when you are wearing a cowboy hat from Mexico.

RJ learned a new skill ... and grandpa let him drive the golf cart around campus.

We got a taste of the local culture when we walked/ran in a short race. RJ approached the race as if it was the Olympic finals. For a few weeks, he told everybody about his first place finish in the walking event.

Border crossing into Mexico. Grandpa bought us hats, paintings, a belt, and more. The Mexican economy is largely driven by North Dakota farmers.

The required picture at the entrance to Mexico.

Alfonzo used spray paints to create a cool space scene in about 5-10 minutes.

We visited the light house at South Padre Island. The wind was like a gale on top of the lighthouse, so most pictures were taken inside.

We went on a pirate ship boat tour at South Padre Island.

RJ got in a sword fight.

Sara got water pistoled.

Julia won the treasure hunt because the pirate kept throwing dublooms in her bucket.

Beach time at South Padre Island.
The windy conditions made things difficult for sun bathers, but the surf was awesome. The waves gave RJ all he could handle and Doug got to swim out to the sand bar to catch some head-high waves.

Kids liked watching the turtles at the conservation center directly across from our hotel.

And we got to do a little bit of shopping. Inside the store there were signs everywhere that said "Please do not play with the toys. Thank you. So the kids played with all the toys and ran around the store like wild monkeys.

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a great vacation.