Charlie's 50th Birthday

Saturday night Ruth threw a party for Charlie's 50th birthday. Colby & Kathy came with us and brought their boys, who had a blast playing ping pong against the big kids. Kip and Emylee and Devon (Ralph's daughters) switched off as Ayden and AJ's opponents, and also played Guitar Hero with Sam. Meanwhile, the adults lounged around upstairs, like Ruth here, or hung out in the kitchen, like people tend to do at parties... Brian & Kathy were there, and we joked that it was the second time we had seen each other in a year, since they had also been at Lon's surprise party last March. As usual, the food was great, and as usual, Kip didn't want to leave!

Images of Christmas

Was wondering why my pictures come out in the opposite order that I pick them, then I realized that it's like the blog itself, it starts from the bottom and runs upwards. So here's Kip and me under our tree. He has been the official tree-picker-outer since he was about 5 and picked a perfect one. This year we had rearranged the living room, and the coffee table is temporarily against the wall. So we got a short tree and set it up on the coffee table. Looks good, but the ornaments are crammed into a smaller space; in fact we didn't have room for several of the less sentimental ornaments.

We had a quiet Christmas morning at our house; Santa was very generous, as usual. Kip's big present this year was Rock Band for his Play Station 2, with the drumset, microphone and guitar (which he already had, from Guitar Hero). I was excited to rock out with him, and we couldn't help but get silly for a photo op... Lon got me a pair of diamond earrings, and I got him a chainsaw. It caused him to make noises like Tim "The Toolman" Taylor, ha ha. Two days later, we drove up to Rocky Ridge and exchanged gifts with the Child family. You can see that Allan is hanging in there just fine.

Newcombs visit

Because it was Black Friday, we really didn't want to go into DC to the monuments and museums there. We figured it would be really crowded and the traffic would be bad. So after we checked out the Air & Space museum, we drove to the Stone Bridge on Lee Hwy between Centreville and Manassas. The bridge spans Bull Run, the border between Fairfax and Prince William counties, and was important during the first battle of Manassas. It's a popular spot, and there are hiking trails through the woods nearby, but we didn't do that. We then went to the battlefield nearest our house, and listened in on one of the tours. That was kind of boring for the kids, so I took them to climb on cannons and play tag in the tall grass so the adults could hear what the tour guide was saying. Then we took the obligatory tourist pictures, ha ha. That was their last evening in town, so after pizza, we pulled out the board games and had a blast! Here we're playing Pictionary, and from the expressions I'd say no one guessed Kip's drawing... The boys beat the girls on that one, but we soundly defeated them at Password earlier! (Anyone know what "festooned" means? How do you make someone say "defer"?! Oh, never mind...)

Air & Space Museum

We took Phil & Melinda and family to the Smithsonian's Air & Space museum near Dulles Airport. I thought I'd be bored silly, but I loved how they had the planes displayed! It was colorful and fun. There was a high walkway where you could look down at or even eye-level with some of the planes and gliders, so you'd get a different perspective on it all. The Enola Gay is there; the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Kip took that picture, nice job. I noticed a LOT of old men there, and imagined they were reminiscing about the old helicopters and WWII fighter planes, and such. They had some beautifully polished wooden planes too. No, I was far from bored, but my feet were tired from walking, by the end. It's a huge place, to house all those aircraft!

Thanksgiving 2008

My brother Phil and his family came from upstate NY to spend Thanksgiving with us. We hadn't seen them in about 5 years, so we all were amazed at how big the kids had grown!
Brenda is a year older than Kip, and they get along great, so we trusted them alone at the "kids table".

Junior and Brandon, being 9 and 10, stayed within reach of their Mom & Dad, at the main table.

Phil & Melinda brought us some delicious deer bologna which was excellent sliced on crackers with cheese. Send us some more, guys! I turned Melinda on to some fruity Rhine wine, and together we polished off two big bottles over the course of 3 days. It was a real nice visit, as always, and we can't wait to do it again. Hopefully next spring break we'll make the trip north. Lon said "never in the winter!" because they got like 3 feet of snow up home while they were here. Y'all come again now! :)

Rock On!

Scott Robertson, the gentleman on the far left in the straw hat, is Kip's guitar teacher. His new band, Shotgun Ride, was playing in Manassas tonight. (Okay, it's early in the morning now, so I guess you'd technically call it last night...) Anyway, I went to listen to them play. I nursed two beers the whole 3 hours I was there, and ran into Kip's old Scoutmaster! Small world, right? It was lots of fun, because they play the 70's rock that I grew up on. Mostly good ol' Southern rock, like Skynyrd and Allman Brothers, with some CCR and ZZ Top thrown in for good measure. I also took some video so Kip can see Scott playing with a band, instead of just sitting across from him in his basement "classroom". Rock on, guys!

Fall 2008

I posted earlier about how Spring is my favorite season. Well Autumn has to be my next favorite. The colors are just awesome. Being from New England, I know they get more spectacular than this, but it's been so long since I was back home during leaf season. By the time we drive up for Thanksgiving, the leaves are mostly gone. Fall has a nice crisp smell. The summer humidity is gone, but the winter chill hasn't settled in yet. In the evening when we walk the dog, we can smell wood burning in people's fireplaces. You start thinking about comfort foods and baking. You see piles of leaves, and remember jumping in piles like that as a kid, and kicking through leaves all the way to school. It isn't until the leaves have all fallen and been raked away, and everything seems dead, that I get a little sad thinking about winter.

Halloween '08

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I guess because you get to act like a kid, and pretend to be someone else for a day. Not to mention the candy... This year it fell on a Friday, which was excellent. We have a costume contest and a pumpkin contest at work every year, with great prizes. I'm pretty sure my pumpkins would have won at least one prize! However, Kip woke up with a bad sore throat, so I had to stay home from work and take him to the doctor. I figured if it was strep, we'd get a jump on it and he'd be okay to go back to school on Monday. Turned out not to be strep, though, which is a good thing.

Kip insisted he is too old to go trick-or-treating anymore. So he sat on the front steps in his skull mask and handed out the candy. Several of his classmates came by in costume, proving that 13 is apparently NOT too old... He hit the nail right on the head when he told me, "Mom, you're grown up physically, but on Halloween you're still like 9 years old!" Hey, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'll always be a kid at heart!

Playing the Ponies

Our annual trip to Laurel, MD for the Maryland Million horse races paid off nicely this year. We always go with Charlie & Ruth, and try to get other friends to join us. This year, Norma and her son Dean came down from Connecticut. It was actually Norma's second time with us. She studied the program while Lon studied the horses being paraded by. We all placed our bets. Then everyone stood on the picnic tables to scream at the horses as they raced. Okay, they're not screaming in this picture... I think they were still loading the horses into the gate at that point. Anyway, Lon bet on a longshot named "He's a Dixie Boy" in the last race, who came around to win! He graciously treated all 7 of us to dinner at Outback. Lon did, that is, not the horse. What a great day -- gorgeous weather, the company of good friends, and winning money!

A Boy and His Hair

Kip loved his long, shaggy hair. So when his dad told him he had to get it cut, he was dismayed, to say the least! (I tried to get him in the same pose so you could see the difference) Kip acted like he'd gotten a crew cut... The barber did take a significant amount off, but it's still relatively long, as you can see. And like I told him, the one good thing about a haircut is -- it always grows back! I had written down what he should say to the barber: 1. Just re-layer it. 2. Do NOT cut the bangs above my eyebrows. 3. Angle it down in the front. 4. Don't take anything off the back. Well, he ended up telling the guy to take some off the back, and wasn't happy with the results when his hair suddenly became 3 inches shorter... (it was even longer than it looks in the "before" picture) But at least the guy left his bangs long, although they are no longer below his eyes. And Lon was satisfied. Now the question is, will Kip let me blow-dry his hair for his class picture next month, or will he want to just shake it out and go, straight from the shower? We'll have to wait and see!

Labor Day Weekend

Another great (long) weekend in West Virginia! There was us 3, Charlie & Ruth and their youngest son Sam and his friend Josh, Ralph and his daughter Emylee, his baby daughter Madison, his brother Rick, and Rick's son Jonathan. The kids unwisely challenged the oldsters to a game of volleyball, and were severely trounced not once, not twice, but three times in a row! Sure taught them cocky kids a lesson! Reminded us of our younger days playing in the sand at Assateague...

Sunday we took a canoe/kayak trip downriver, where Kip & I learned a valuable lesson ourselves. Rules are there for a reason, and when you break them, the consequences can sometimes be serious. Always wear your life vests!! We dumped our canoe in a rapid and got a little banged up. Could have been WAY worse, but was scary enough as it was. (Kip says the lesson he learned was never again let Mom steer the canoe! har har har)

Monday we relaxed in the river, right in front of the house. Blizzard got in a little swimming, too. Poor dog will have to get used to being alone all day again, now that school will be starting!

Summer Vacation 2008

I thought my vacation would NEVER get here...but it always does, eventually! Here we are at Marla's in Wilmington. Lon's nephew Justin came for the weekend with his wife Lori and their baby Jordan. Jordan really took a liking to Kip's friend Bailey. She brought her blankie and stuffed animal over and put them on his lap, making a nest for herself. He didn't know WHAT to do, ha ha. Lon loves Jordan's little baby feet. In the photo it looks like she's sharing a secret, but really she was waving to someone. Bailey & Kip were as good as angels (ahem, cough cough) and as usual we could hardly get them out of the water to go home. Where did the week go?! It seems like we just got here... I'm not NEARLY sunburned enough!

He's a Teenager!!

Yup, Kip is 13 now... My baby is a teenager! Lon and I gave him a "Cosmic Bowling" party and he invited his friends Taylor, Sam and Paul. I tried to take some videos, but every time I did, they ended up throwing gutter balls... It was a bit too dark in there anyway, what with the laser lights and all. Kip joked that his age equals his shoe size. It's actually been that way for the past couple of years. I hope that trend doesn't continue for much longer, or we'll have to special order his shoes! (Look at the hair on these boys! I feel like I'm back in the 70's, ha ha)

Kings Dominion

This year, Kip wanted us to take him to Kings Dominion for his birthday. We hadn't been in several years. No friends this time, just a family thing. Awwwww, he still loves us! So we took off work Friday, figuring it wouldn't be quite as crowded as on a weekend. The temperature was in the high 80's, but it wasn't as humid as it has been lately, thankfully. Here's Kip riding the Avalanche, in the blue "France" car. Then him and Lon on the Rebel Yell, in the very back car. The Rebel Yell is an old wooden roller coaster. I remember thinking it was awesome, 30 years ago, when you used to have the choice to ride it backwards. No, not sit in the seat backwards... duh... the whole train went backwards! I guess they don't do that anymore. Kip said the Rebel Yell was his favorite part of the day. Mine was cooling off on the Whitewater Canyon ride. We got SO DRENCHED! But Kip had won a souvenir towel by throwing baseballs, so we were able to dry off a little. All that fun and sun really wiped us out!