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!