Snow Daze

On Saturday the 19th, we were blessed with some significant snow fall. Like 12-14 inches of significant. So, over the next 3 days, Mom and I took the kids out several times to enjoy it.

The last of those 3 outings was our trip to Campbell Mountain for some real sledding (real as compared to the pseudo-sledding we do in our front yard). Like last season, we kidnapped Zach for some added zaniness.

Unlike last year, the deep powder required several runs to get it packed down, but once we got going (and abandoned the new defective sleds) we all had some great fun.

Check the video for a quick recap...

School Production Wrap-up

The last 2 weeks have seen 3 separate school productions that have involved all 4 children.

Starting out, on Monday, December 1st, the elementary school students at RLCA put on their 2009 Christmas production. The evening started out with a few selections from the After-School Choir, featuring both Amanda and Abigail. The video below is from Deck the Halls.

Following the After-School Choir was the main event; The Mystery of the Manger. As I stated at the beginning of the year, Abigail was seeking a larger role this year, and she achieved just that with the speaking part of 'Olivia'. Amanda lent her vocal talents in the ensemble. Below is roughly the first 8'ish minutes of the show.

This production was then succeeded by the 2009 RLCA Christmas Concert on December 14th. In similar form to last year, this involved Abigail on clarinet playing for the 5th grade band and Alex on percussion for the Middle School band.

The first song for the 5th Grade Band is Little Drummer Boy. For this song, due to the lack of a trumpeter, Abigail took lead on clarinet. And totally rocked it...if I do say so myself...

The 5th grade's second song was We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Following closing behind was the Middle School band. Their first selection was the epically long Christmastime with Charlie Brown with Alex on cymbal. Take special note of Alex's expert use of a single drum stick. The reason: The other grew legs and wandered off. Still, its a fine performance...

The Middle School's 2nd selection is a piece called Rocky, Rocky Road. For this, Alex transitioned to bass drum...

Last, but certainly not least, we have Aidan's first ever school production. GCA presented their annual Preschool Christmas show on Tuesday, December 15th.

The kids actually performed Away in a Manger after this, but for some reason our little guy broke down and cried through the whole thing.

FIRST LEGO League 2009

As Red Lion Christian continues to grow, new opportunities arise each year for the students to get involved. This year saw the introduction of the school to the FIRST LEGO League (FLL).

FLL is an international competition for students 9-14 years of age that is designed to inspire them in the fields of technology and science. The center piece of the program is its robotics competition where the students build robots using Lego Mindstorm kits that must then compete in a 2.5 minute challenge.

As I'm sure you surmised by now, Alex took part in this program this year which culminated in a qualifying competition at the Conrad School of Science this past Saturday.

Beginning back in September, RLCA assembled 3 teams. Alex's team, the Bloxerz, worked for 3 months to not only design and program their 'bot, but also to research and prepare a presentation for a solution to the local problem of their choice.

The Bloxerz chose to tackle the problem of evacuating the Delaware shore in the event of a major hurricane. Their solution: A high speed maglev train that would be able to evacuate the beach goers and residents in 24 hours. To fund this ambitious project, they proposed tying into a similar project slated for the Baltimore/DC corridor that was being funded with Federal Stimulus money.

To make their pitch to the judges on Saturday, the Bloxerz staged a mock news cast from the Delaware shore.

After 2 other separate interview sessions, the boys moved onto the robot competition. The robot competition involves completing a series of tasks on a table top. The layout is determined by FLL at the beginning of the season and the boys worked furiously to prep their robot for the specific challenges. To complete all of the tasks available would result in a perfect score of 400 points. Being our boys first year, the team decided to focus in on a few tasks they felt they could do well...

The run highlighted above netted the Bloxerz a score of 130. Their other 2 attempts yielded scores of 120 and 125.

In the end, the Bloxerz didn't place and won't be progressing to the next level which will be held at the Bob Carpenter Center in January. But the boys had a lot of fun. And there's always next year.

On a brighter note, one of RLCA's teams, the Lego Knights, will be progressing. So congratulations to the Knights on that...

Impromptu Piercing

We popped over to the Christiana Mall this past Friday that I might do some Christmas shopping for the love of my life. Yes, she was there, but we split up once we got into the building: Alex and I on my mission while Mom, Amanda, Abby and Aidan headed off in a different direction.

When Alex and I finished up, we found that Mom and Amanda were discussing getting Amanda's ears pierced. This subject has been broached a few times in recent months but this was looking like it was really going to happen this time. And that it did.

Amanda admitted afterward that it wasn't nearly as bad as she had worked it up to be in her mind. Way to go girl!

Florida for Thanksgiving

On Friday, November 20th, Mom and I loaded down a rented 2009 Suburban and began the 974 mile trek south for a week at Orange Lake in Orlando, FL.

After staying over-night in Santee, SC, we arrived on Saturday with daylight to spare to find Orange Lake already decked out for the holiday season. Christmas trees and wreathes adorned the resort and Christmas music filled the Club House, seemingly out of place against a backdrop of palm trees and Bermuda shorts.

Sunday

After a good night’s rest, Sunday morning we dressed up and headed out to worship at River of Life church. ROL is a church in Orlando that Julie and I have attended each time we are afforded the opportunity to visit the area.

Following church, we headed back to the apartment, ate lunch, then briefly headed out to the pool. Unfortunately, this was short lived as thunder storms bore down on us and forced us out.

Needing some things we forgot to pack, we used the rain as an opportunity to run across the street to the new Super Target (like Julie needs a reason to go to Target). From there, we took the kids for their first ever meal at Olive Garden (yummy) then retired for the evening.

Monday

We began Monday morning with the customary Prospective Buyer’s Tour of Orange Lake. After the usual confusion as to why we place the education of our children above our own vacation desires, we walked away with significant savings on tickets for 2 of the major Disney parks plus entrance into Disney Quest.

With our loot in hand, it was off to the pool again for the entire afternoon to take advantage of what seemed to be our last, best chance weather-wise. Mom and the kids spent the time floating around the lazy river, then Alex, Abigail and Amanda went down the water slide innumerable times, and Aidan, donning his new life-vest, surprised us all with his new found swimming abilities. The kid’s a fish…seriously.

After dinner, we headed off to Downtown Disney for stops at the Lego Store and the World of Disney. These are mandatory stops for us every time we are in the area. When we exited the World of Disney store, we became entranced by the smell emanating from the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop. This resulted in us spending a ridiculous amount of money on ice cream for the whole family but, wow that was good ice cream.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning we awoke early (well, early for being on vacation) and made our way to the first Disney park of the trip: Hollywood Studios. Formerly MGM Studios, Hollywood Studios is themed around the art of movie making and animation. It’s a different park than the Magic Kingdom with fewer ride-rides and more tours and shows.

Among our activities were the Star Tours ride (which Aidan and Alex just loved), the Studio Backlot Tour (which scared Amanda), and the new Toy Story Mania ride (which I bested the family with a score of over 160,000…not that I’m bragging or anything).

We also had the very pleasant surprise of finding a new area styled after Luigi’s Casa Della Tires from the movie Cars where the kids can get their pictures taken with a full-sized Lightning McQueen and Mater. Aidan was so excited it was hard to get him to look at the camera for the picture because he just couldn’t take his eyes off of Lighting. He was also confused as to why Lightning wouldn’t talk to him when he tried to show him his newly squashed collectible penny featuring, you guessed it, Lightning and Mater. Very cute.

Lighting and Mater aside, the real highlights of the day were the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular show and the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. Both of these shows are extremely well produced with some truly amazing stunts and liberal amounts of fire and explosions. Also of note is the amazing Christmas light show called the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. The entire Streets of America area is blanketed in an unfathomable number of lights which ‘dance’ to music on a regular schedule every evening.

The only downer for the day was Alex, Abigail and I missed our chance to ride the Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster. Being our first park of the trip, we didn’t have our park-mindset engaged and didn’t think to get a FastPass for it. By the time we tried to get on, there was a hour to close but an 80 minute wait time. Oops. Oh well, we had a good day otherwise.

Wednesday

Because rain was forecast for all day Wednesday, we planned to do an indoor activity that day: Disney Quest. Unfortunately, the other 400,000 people not wanting to get wet in the main parks must’ve had the same idea as the line outside to get in was getting longer by the minute.

So, rather than fight with that crowd, we quickly devised an alternate plan and headed a bit north to the Mall at Millenia. This is a beautiful indoor mall featuring fountains, glass elevators and many up-scale stores. It also had the additional bonus of being decked out for Christmas with a beautiful 30 foot Christmas tree in the entrance way and a Santa photo booth in the central hub (which, quite sneakily, completely obscured Santa from the general visitors).

After perusing the likes of the Apple Store, Pottery Barn and Justice, we began to make our way out of the mall, which took us past the Cheesecake Factory. Never having eaten at one, Mom poked her head in to see if they took reservations, which they did.

With a few hours to kill before dinner, our intention was to drive back to the resort, rest a little, change clothes, then come back. But this plan was thwarted by bumper-to-bumper traffic on I4. So looking to kill more time in the area, we wandered into Ikea.

If you’ve never been in an Ikea, it is very cool. With all the room mock-ups, you can come away with some great decorating ideas. Abigail and Amanda loved looking at all of the different bedroom layouts and Mom and I got some ideas for the basement.

Later, dashing out of Ikea, we made our way back to the Cheesecake Factory. And, of dinner, all I can say is ‘Wow!’ Like, seriously, ‘Wow!’. Mom and I cannot wait for the one to open at the Christiana Mall next year. Who’s up for a dinner date? Anyone?

Thursday

This was the day we were all waiting for: Our Thanksgiving day at the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom is by far Mom’s favorite theme park and this would be Aidan’s first visit.

After monorail problems necessitated an achingly slow ride across the Seven Seas Lagoon on the ferry, we found ourselves peering down Main Street dressed in her holiday finest. Wreaths and garland adorned the store fronts and Christmas music filled the air. This was a neat surprise as we thought that Disney didn’t pull the decorations out of the attic until after Thanksgiving…

We starting out by breaking our tradition of heading to Fantasyland first. Not wanting to duplicate our mistake from Tuesday, we instead darted over to Tomorrowland to procure FastPasses for Abigail, Alex and I for the newly refurbished Space Mountain. Our date with destiny set, we decided to stay in Tomorrowland and tackled attractions like the Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (which I bested the family with a score of over 77,000 points…not that I’m bragging or anything), the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor (very funny…thankfully, we weren’t “that guy”), and the Tomorrowland Speedway (always a classic and quite possibly Aidan’s favorite ride from the entire day).

From there we sped off to Mom’s favorite part of the park: Fantasyland. This is always the busiest part of the park with the most rides crammed into a single area. And being Thanksgiving didn’t help. It was jam packed. Wait times started at 30 minutes and went up from there. Despite this, we stayed put and rode most all the classics: it's a small world, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Cinderella's Golden Carrousel, and the Mad Tea Party. The only hang up was Peter Pan's Flight which sported an inordinately long wait. So for that, we grabbed our second set of FastPasses to came back to it later.

From there, we made the decision to head over to Frontierland to check the wait on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. To get there, we went to catch the steam train at Mickey’s Toontown Fair, which took us by Goofy’s Barnstormer roller coaster. The Barnstormer is a more a kid coaster, but as Mom and I both wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain, we thought it prudent to see what Aidan’s reaction would be to something a bit smaller. The verdict? He. Loved. It. Love it. He laughed and giggled and squealed through the whole ride. I wish the video I had tried to take on the ride had worked out because his face was priceless.

Well, with that information in hand, we boarded the steam train and made our way over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The line was long, but, at this point FastPasses really weren’t an option, so we dove head long into the line. And waited. And waited. When the time finally came for our turn, the pairings were Aidan to me, Amanda to Mom, and Abigail and Alex. After I pulled the bar down to secure Aidan and I, I looked over at the little man who had far too much room around him. So I slid over, pinning him between the car and myself and wrapped my arm around him. And away we went. Speeding down hills, shooting around corners, cresting the hills at speed, I could feel Aidan lifting from his seat, so I pulled him in tighter. And then it was over. As we pulled into the station to disembark Aidan looks up at me and states, “That. Was. AWESOME!”

Then we made our way back to Space Mountain to use our FastPasses. It was a beautiful thing. We just walked past dozens and dozens of people who were waiting easily over an hour for their ride. And the next thing we knew, we were strapped into our little space ships, rocketing into the darkness. Alex and I have done this before, but this was Abigail’s first ride. Her reaction? We were pulling into the station at the end and I hear her exclaim behind me, “That’s it? That was lame!” She later admitted it really wasn’t, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as she had made it out to be in her mind…

Then it was off to dinner, then the Tomorrowland Speedway for a 2nd lap (at Aidan’s insistence), Peter Pan’s Flight to use our FastPasses, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, and the Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management. Then we found ourselves at a loss. We were coming up on time for the nightly fireworks display, but had a wee bit of time to burn. So Abigail, Alex and I stormed the Haunted Mansion. When we exited the mansion, we found Aidan had fallen asleep on Mom on a hard concrete bench. He was out cold.

So we gave him a few moments then headed off to find a good place to watch the fireworks from, which ultimately planted us in Liberty Square, right in front of the Hall of Presidents. It was beautiful. And the castle, with thousands of lights draped off the towers was even more stunning. After that, we planted ourselves on Main Street and stayed to watch the SpectroMagic Parade then split from there as it was well after 11 o’clock.

Friday

Friday was our last full day in Florida. We needed to do some packing, but we still had our tickets for Disney Quest Indoor Interactive Theme Park. So, after lunch, off we went.

Disney Quest is basically a 5-story arcade. Once you’ve paid your entrance fee, all of the games inside are free. That includes all of the classic arcade games like Asteroids and Centipede, more modern sit-down racing games, classics like Skee Ball and traditional pinball machines, and the specialty games that Disney plants on each floor. Those include things like Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters (2-seat bumper cars where you shoot ‘asteroids’ at one another) and the Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam (a huge virtual pinball game where you and 9 other players steer your ball around the board from a Segway-esque controller).

The pièce de résistance had to be CyberSpace Mountain. This attraction is a roller coaster simulator where you design the coaster, along with Bill Nye the Science Guy, then ride it. Alex and I ran through this once and it was so much fun that we grabbed Abigail and had her and Alex take a spin. I was able to sit outside of their ride and watch them via an on-board camera as they turned around and upside down. Their faces were great.

In the end, Quest is nice, but it is loud and over stimulating and, if you're over 18, you can really only take being in there for so long. So we headed back to the apartment to pack followed the next morning by beginning the 974 mile return trek home.

Wrap Up

Wow, we had a great, great week. A lot of memories were made this trip.

Thank you Grammy and Grandad for the use of the place and for puppy sitting.

And thank you, Mr Randy, for the tip on renting the truck. That was really nice. I didn't want to give her back when we got home... ;)

Eat Mor Chikin

Mom recently met up with an old friend and her 2 young daughters at the Christiana Mall for lunch. It just so happened that, on the very same day, the new Chick-fil-A was holding their Grand Opening. Mmm...Chick-fil-A...

Among the numerous festivities was a beanbag toss. Mom was the first to step up the plate. Three quick tosses later, Mom walks away empty handed. Then our friend's daughters each gave it a shot. But both of them also fell in defeat.

Then it was Aidan's turn. He stepped up and, one, two misses. Then, on his third try...swish! Right though the center of the hole. Our little man's face lit up like Mom has never seen.

Here's the very proud little guy with his prize...

Halloween

This year, we crammed all of our Halloweenie happenings into a single evening. We began by carving our pumpkins during the afternoon then dressed up and went trick-or-treating the same evening.

This years costumes? Amanda and Abby recycled last year's costumes; that being a GRPC soccer player and a WCS Field Hockey player, respectively. Alex went as the Dark Ninja of Doom (no, you shouldn't recognize that; he made it up), and Aidan got down with his inner Kryptonian and went as the Man of Steel.

Despite a generally rainy day, we were afforded a long enough break in the precipitation that we completed one loop around the neighborhood before it began to really dump on us right at our last stop.

Milborn Orchards 2009

On October 26, Mom packed up our progeny and met Aunt Debbie and cousins Nick and Brianna at Milburn Orchards to take part in their annual Fall Festival. This was a weekday day trip, so I was unable to attend. Because of that, I'll have to let the pictures do the talking...

Red Lion Soccer Recap

As I mentioned at the beginning of the school year, Alex was trying out for the soccer team again this year. Well, he made it. Technically, he's a sub, but he still on the team and still gets to play.

Below is Alex's own recap of this past Friday's game against Wilmington Christian School.

It started out a rainy day… and stayed windy and drizzly all through the game. Brrrrr… We started practicing and soon enough the game started. We only had 4 subs because of a bug going around (swine flu!), so there was a large chance I’d be in a long time. And I was. The first half… not so much. I got in as the left striker then 10 seconds later the half whistle blew. We huddled up for a little bit and talked about what we needed to do (not as much) and what Wilmington Christian needed to do (A LOT). We shot on the goal to practice for a few minutes then the second half started, me still being the left striker. We scored about 2 more goals making it 3-0. I took a break because my hands were getting numb (again, brrrrrr). Then I went out again as the right midfielder. I got a couple kicks on the ball since they were throwing it in when I started. We scored 2 more goals making it 4-0 (ouch) and then my shining moment came. I was able to get the ball and get it down the field. Seeing defenders come at me I passed it to a teammate and he scored! I got an assist! It didn’t make much of a difference since it was already our game (by far) but it still made feel good. I stayed in for the rest of the game and booted it out twice when they (somehow) got it to our side. We scored again making it 6-0 (again, ouch). That’s it. We won!

As of this writing, the team's record stands at 6-2-1. Way to go Lions!

Field Trips, Field Trips, Jiggity Jig

Time has suddenly gotten away from me and I've allowed 3 field trips to pass by. So lets see if we can wrap them up. Shall we?

On Tuesday, October 6th, I ditched work in favor of taking Amanda and her 3rd grade class to the Camden Adventure Aquarium. The trip involved a very pleasant hour-long bus ride to Camden, New Jersey (translation: I took a 45 minute nap on the bus ride in), some shark petting, seals, penguins, hippos(?), some stingray non-petting (translation: Amanda just couldn't bring herself to stick her hands in the tank) and a very pleasant hour-long bus ride home (translation: I took another 45 minute nap). Seriously, the aquarium is very nice, the kids were very well behaved and we had a great day.

On the heals of the aquarium, Aidan, with Mom in tow, had his first field trip this past Tuesday: To the Acme. At Fox Run. So, on that note, here' a recap of the trip. In Aidan's own words:

I was getting a pumpkin cookie. I did not touch the lobster. I just ate cheese. We put the chicken in the 2009 so that it will have a sticker on it (Editors note: Huh?). I was getting a yellow balloon. I was taking my balloon to our house.

According to Mom, Aidan's favorite part was watching the Butchers run the meat packaging machine. Apparently he wanted to try it himself. And apparently one of his little friends exclaimed to the butcher, "I wanna go to Walmart."

Finally, Alex had a field trip scheduled for Thursday to the Cherry Crest Adventure Farm, just outside of Strasburg, PA. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the teachers decided that having the class run around in a corn maze in the mud wasn't such a great idea. So, as an alternative, the Strasburg Railroad was kind enough to accommodate not only Alex's class, but also another group of 117 students from another school in the same pinch. After a 45 minute train ride (right past the corn maze the kids were supposed to be in, BTW) they headed over to the Rail Road Museum of Pennsylvania, right across the road.

All in all, it wasn't the day they had planned, but it still was a day off of school.

Runners Take Your Marks...Again

On Sunday, September 27th, Mom took part in her third 5k Run/Walk this summer season. Again taking place at Glasgow Park, this time the proceeds went towards curing Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP).

The results: Mom came in 23rd out of 89 participants, finishing 2nd in her class (30-39 year old women). The big news is that she finished the course in 26 minutes 50 seconds. That's a full 3 minutes faster than her previous 2 runs this seasons. Way to go, Mom!

Last First First Day of School

This past Tuesday our baby ushered in a new chapter in his life and headed off for higher education. Like his brother and sisters before him, Aidan will be attending preschool at Glasgow Christian Academy (GCA).

And with only 2 days under his belt, the projects are already beginning to pour in...

Final Fling

Taking advantage of the long Labor Day weekend, we trekked southward this past weekend for one last shore excursion for 2009. Sure, the kids started school 2 weeks ago, but that doesn't mean the beach is closed... :)

Nothing out of the norm to report. I'll just let the pics recap the 2 days...

Story Time

So its late. You need to get the kids to bed. But your youngest is accustomed to a story before bed. What do you do?

All Good Things...

Like a favorite song or an afternoon nap, so too summer vacation must come to an end. And as such, this past Monday saw the 3 older kids return to Red Lion Christian Academy for the 2009-10 school year.

Alex is now in 7th grade. Academically, he is 2 years ahead in math, taking Honors Algebra 1. He will also continue his efforts in band, but has also expanded his extra-curricular efforts into the middle school newspaper and is trying out for soccer as well.

Abigail has graduated up to 5th grade. Aside from her academics, she will continue playing the clarinet for band and is also seeking a larger role in a dramatic production.

Amanda has stepped up to 3rd grade. Academically, she's doing something none of the other kids (nor her father) have done and is being introduced to Spanish. In fact, I came home from work this evening and she very pointedly greeted me by saying, "Hola!"

As always, I present for your viewing pleasure our traditional pic of the kids leaving for their first day.

Running for a Cause

This past Saturday, Mom took part in her second 5k run of the season; the Red Lion Glasgow Fiasco 5K Run/Walk at Glasgow Park. The race attracted 150 attendants and proceeds benefit the RLCA Athletic Boosters Club.

In contrast to the last race she took part in, the GCA Runaway back in June, this time we opted to leave the kids at home with Grammy due to the miserable weather. In fact, we were seriously doubting the race would even happen when the radar showed approaching thunderstorms. But by God's good grace, when race time rolled around, we were blessed with a break in the deluge.

Of course, the important bit - The results: Mom finished the course in 29.50, coming in 79th. More importantly, she placed 2nd in the 30-39 year women class. Woo hoo! Not bad when you consider the puddles, mud, and 77 year old men she had to dodge. Way to go, Mom!

(Full results are available here (PDF).)

Next on the agenda? Mom keeps bringing up the idea of doing a triathlon. And a friend at church suggested they take part in a biathlon (I think she meant duathlon, but I needed a reason to post this pic).

Middle of Nowhere

On Wednesday, August 5th, Mom and I, on a whim, decided we should pack up the kids and head to the beach again that following Friday. As if this impromptu travel wasn't crazy enough, on Saturday morning we really went out on a limb and headed nearly an hour southward and met up with some friends at Assateague Island.

For those unfamiliar, Assateague is a long, narrow spit of land that runs along the eastern shore from Maryland to Virginia. On the island is a national park where the only natural inhabitants are wild horses, ponies, deer, mosquito and flies, all of which roam freely and often in close proximity to the park guests...with the latter closer than the former (ask my legs).

The North Beach is much like the beaches we normally frequent with a large parking lot and bath house. But that wasn't our destination. Instead, we dropped the van off at a remote parking lot, met our friends on the south beach, loaded our stuff into their Suburban and headed a couple of miles down shore via the sand. Check the picture at the beginning of the article. See that green arrow? Yeah, that's about where we were. No beach house. No roads. No data connection on my phone. This is a whole different way of beaching (can I use 'beach' as a verb?).

The whole experience was awesome. We had over 200 feet of beach front all to ourselves. We had a wide sandbar that allowed for some awesome skim-boarding for Aidan. We had lots of sun, comfortable temps, mild waves, hermit crabs, and...did I mention the amount of beach front we had all to ourselves?

Amanda's 8th Birthday

Last Wednesday, August 5th, our families gathered here at our house to celebrate Amanda's 8th birthday. In attendance were Nana and Poppop, Grammy, Grandad and Mommom, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jenn, cousins Allie and Joey, Uncle Jason, Aunt Debbie, and cousins Nick and Brianna.

As Amanda matures, so are her gifts. This year saw a wealth of CD's and DVD's come her way. Also included was her trip to Harrington to see Demi Lovato in concert (previously covered here). My little girl is growing up so fast...

Happy Birthday Amanda.

Games Rednecks Play

OK, I'm not ashamed to admit it: I have a little redneck in me. Not too much, mind you. I have never ever degreased engine parts in the bathtub, had my home mistaken for a junkyard, or cut my grass and found a car. But I do find some strange pleasure in things like mud bog races or lawn mower races.

So in that spirit, my brood, along with neighborhood friend Zack, headed to Fairhill, MD on Saturday night to the Cecil County Fair to watch the annual Stoney Robert's Demolition Derby.



The night did start off a little wonky. We arrived >1 hour early and found the stands and walkways already jam packed due to the Vater's Monster Motorsports show which, unbeknownst to us, started earlier that evening. The Vater's show consisted of a monster truck show followed by a show involving 2 quads powered by helicopter jet turbines. They were really...something... Picture lots of noise, lots of fire, more noise, a lot of dust and toss in a little ash for good measure.

Once the Vater show wrapped up, we were able to finally find some bleacher seats; but only due to a family vacating some space due to the impending downpour headed our way. Yes, it rained on us. Significantly.

But the rains quickly subsided and the derby got under way. And how. We were treated to over 3 hours of mayhem resulting in the destruction of countless unsuspecting automobiles. Each heat, the kids picked their favorites, usually based on color or something, and rooted them on. Usually to the point their favorite fell disabled by the wayside, at which point they picked a new favorite. Somehow, by the end of each heat their favorite just happened to be the victor. I don't know how they do it.

As for Zack, he seemed to really enjoy his first Demo Derby. And next year I think he might take a stab at the greased pole contest. Yeah, there's a little redneck in us all...admit it.

Concert Going

On Wednesday night, Mommy and I left the boys in Grammy's care, tossed the girls in the car and headed to Harrington to the Delaware State Fair. Our primary destination? The girl's first concert experience: Demi Lovato, of Disney fame.

Now, I've been to my fair share of concerts: Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Michael W Smith, Def Leppard, Paul McCartney, etc. Nothing, nothing I tell you, can prepare you for the sound of several hundred screaming pre-teen girls.

How did our girls like it, you ask? Amanda showed signs of getting into it; clapping her hands, dancing in her seat, etc. Abigail enjoyed it immensely but is far more reserved, watching the show like a show on TV.

Summer Vacation 2009

Just this past week, Mommy and I loaded up the van and took the entire family, Sadie included, south to the Delaware beaches for a little R&R.

After taking Saturday as a down day (Translation: I fell asleep in a chair at the house and stayed that way for some time), we spent Sunday and Monday at Cape Henlopen. A few small issues aside, like Alex and Mommy being stung by jellyfish, overall it was a pretty standard beach fare. One highlight includes Aidan’s new trick, where he sits on the boogie board and I whip him around in circles on the water’s edge, skimboard-style. Yes, this does occasionally go awry and Aidan ends up off the board in the water, but he gets right back up, sputters a few times, and is ready to do it again.

Tuesday, despite the threat of showers, we met some friends at Towers Beach, just south of Dewey. This was our first time as a family at this particular destination and we really enjoyed it; the beach was wide and flat and the sand smooth. All of the kids became quite involved in digging down by the water. After each working on their own hole in the ground for a bit, they realized that they could connect them into one mammoth pool (with a well decorated island in the center), which is just what they did. Of course, these things cannot last and what took the kids an hour plus to dig was washed away by the incoming tide in mere moments.

Due to weather concerns (and the need for Aidan to take a real nap), Wednesday and Thursday both ended up down days with the only notable happening being an evening trip into Rehoboth for a walk, skeeball, and some caramel popcorn.

Friday, we had planned on leaving early, but after losing beach time on Thursday, decided to head back to Towers for the morning before heading back to the house early to pack up.

Altogether, we had a great time. Thanks Grammy and Granddad for the use of the place…

Independence Day 2009

July endowed to our tribe our first opportunity to stay over-night at Nana and Poppop's new beach place in Ocean City, MD. Wow, what a beautiful weekend we were blessed with!

Friday and Saturday we had 2 perfect days on the beach. Plenty of sand. Plenty of sun. Not too hot. Not too cold. And crazy huge waves. Not surprisingly, Alex spent most of his time in the water and the girls are progressively working their way out a little further each time we head to the shore.

Saturday night, being July 4th, after blowing bubbles off the deck for a while and cooking hamburgers on an electric grill (which also involved blowing a circuit breaker and leaving certain family members in the dark in a bathroom), we had quite the surprise: We were able to see a multitude of fireworks displays right from the deck of Nana and Poppop's condo. Some where set off by OC, some by specific hotels, and one by a night club, with the later being the closest and most enjoyable.

Thanks, Nana and Poppop for the great weekend! And Happy Independence Day. God Bless America!

So, So Busy...

I was trying to address separate events with separate posts, but I'm quickly falling behind and am going to forget things if I push them back too far. So here's a recap of everything (that I can remember) from the last 2 weeks.

On Friday, May 29th, the RLCA Marching Band and After School Choir, which includes Abigail and Amanda, sang the national anthem at Frawley Stadium as the opening to the evening Blue Rocks game. Note the umbrellas in the stands behind the kids: Yes, it rained. Buckets, in fact. But the kids soldiered on and did a great job. The rains eventually ended and the evening improved greatly.

As for the game, the Rocks were playing the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and held their own for 13 innings before losing on an error.

Then, just this past Saturday, June 6th (Happy Birthday, Uncle Jason) Mommy took part in her second ever 5K run (the first being in college...so its been a while). The event was the GCA Runaway 5K Run/Walk which supported the initiation of GCA's athletic program next year.

The result? Mommy completed the run in 29 min 38 sec and came in 40th out of 104 participants. And she ran the whole thing, never breaking stride once. Congratulations, Mommy!

She's so excited that she plans on signing up for another run in August.

That evening, seeking more abuse, we packed up the horde and headed into town for Newark Night. Honestly, I wish I had a picture: Main St was a sea of people from end to end. It was pretty crazy.

On our return trip from trekking the length of Main St, we bumped into The Juggling Hoffmans. And it wasn't long before one of the kids was roped into the action. Check it out below.

2008-09 Elementary School Awards

An Awards Ceremony was held on the last school day, Thursday, June 4th, for the Elementary students at RLCA. Below are the awards that Abigail and Amanda brought home...

Abigail:
- Mayor of the Year
- Creative Artist Award
- Academic Excellence Award

Amanda:
- Academic Achievement & Most Joyful
- Outstanding Christian Character & Sportsmanship (at Field Day)

Congratulations, Girls!

More End of Year Fun

On the evening of Friday May 15th, RLCA held their annual Spring Concert. The video below highlights 2 songs: The first, Laredo, with Abigail on clarinet, and the second, The Barber of Seville, with Alex on bass drum.

Also of interest, during the entire week of May 18th, Abigail attended RLCA's annual Cheerleading Camp. The week culminated on Friday when the girls gave a presentation for their families. The first cheer in the video was performed by the entire group. The second is a cheer designed by and performed by Abigail's smaller group.

2008-09 Middle School Awards

This past Tuesday evening, RLCA held their annual Middle School and Upper School awards ceremony. The awards handed out range from Christian Character through many aspects of the academics.

Alex brought home 4 awards:
- Honor Roll
- Highest Academic Average - 6th Grade Social Studies
- Second Highest Academic Average - 6th Grade Grammer
- Second Highest Academic Average - 6th Grade Honors Math

Congratulations, Alex.

Bombay Hook

The 2008-09 school year is coming to a rapid close and there is much to cover. But I'll break it up and try to give each item its due.

Firstly, just this afternoon, Amanda and I loaded ourselves and her 2nd grade class onto a school bus and headed south for a field trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

Upon entering the park, we promptly had our first wildlife encounter: A mother fox and her 3 cubs. Like a couple of kittens, the cubs were playing freely in the middle of the road, hopping up and down, while the mother hung back making sure that all us people weren't getting too close. As the day progressed we saw many more foxes. Normally seeing these guys during the day is a bad sign, but our guide assured us they were out only because of the recent rains flooding their dens...

After watching the foxes for a few moments, we got moving again and headed to the brackish pond near Raymond Pool. Here, the kids got to wander around the boardwalk and learn about the history of the refuge as well as about how tides affect different areas of the refuge. Then the kids got to do a "dip" in the pond and see what treasures they pulled up. Again, due to the recent rains, this time affecting the salinity of the pond, our take was light: Only a grass shrimp and a few small insects.

So we piled back on the bus, and drove around the tour route before breaking for lunch. During the driving time, we saw a multitude of different birds, including Egrets, Blue Birds, and Red-Winged Black Birds. The highlight was the spotting of a very patriotic bird atop a dead tree: A Bald Eagle (photo: top-right side of tree - sorry my camera doesn't have a better zoom).

After lunch, it was back on the bus to head over to the fresh water pond for another dip. This time, we hit pay dirt. The kids caught a wealth of different tadpoles, fish, crawfish, and insects. We also nearly caught a black snake...much to the dismay of Amanda's teacher. And to my surprise, Amanda willingly held one of the larger bullfrog tadpoles. Way to go, girl!

All Growed Up

Aidan has reached another milestone moment: Graduation up to a big-boy bed. Overall, it was a pretty uneventful event but its the final step to completing potty training which he is already doing exceedingly well with.

As of this writing, we're still in that stage where he hasn't realized that he can get out of it on his own. Which is kind'a nice. But, alas, those days are surely numbered...

Way to go, Boo Boo!

Happy Anniversary...to our House

Yes, that's right. This month we celebrate our 10 year anniversary with our house. As a gift we treated the old girl to some new duds.

Sure, we could've gone with the prescribed 10 year gifts of tin or aluminum, but nothing says "I love you," like architectural shingles and vinyl siding.

What did she get us, you ask? Actually, she kind'a forgot about it. But we'll forgive her. You only make that mistake once, right?

Easter

One thing that has become a bit of a tradition for us is our annual Easter Egg hunt up at Grammy and Granddad's house.

Normally we have to hold the older kids back from finding too much. But this year, when the dust settled, I really think Aidan is the one who cleaned up...

Following in the Footsteps

My friends, family, and I have a few movies that have really just stuck with us over the years. You know the ones: The type are are endlessly quotable.

The Princess Bride: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Better off Dead: "2 dollars!"

Airplane: "Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, Toto! It's a twister! It's a twister!"

And, of course, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

In that spirit, I present to you the following:

If that means nothing to you (or if you're simply feeling nostalgic) see below:

Happy 12th Birthday Alex

Birthdays are quite often a progressive event in our household. They frequently span across multiple days, depending on when we are able to get together with different groups of family and/or friends. Such is the case with Alex's 12th, which we celebrated (repeatedly) this past week.

On Wednesday the 8th, Alex's actual birthday, we celebrated with just our immediate family. Mmmm...Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.



On Thursday we had Alex's friends Jack and Zack over immediately after school. Festivities included lunch, bowling at Blue Hen Lanes in Newark, cake, presents, and lots of running around and yelling outside in the backyard.




Finally on Saturday night we had the extended family over; Nana & Poppop, Grammy & Granddad, Mommom Grammy, Uncle Jeff & Aunt Jenn, and cousins Allie & Joey. Activities included more food, more cake, more presents, more yelling and running around, and, just for good measure, we tossed in liberal amounts of quoting Airplane ("Surely you can't be serious." "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.") and Monty Python ("What do you mean? An African or European swallow?").

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Reliving the Past

Back in 2005, when we discovered we were expecting our 4th child, I decided to find a new way (for us, at least) to announce the blessed event to our parents. So I took a little piece of the internet that Verizon had carved out for me and created our first family webpage.

In the interest of consolidation, I've now archived all of those posts over to Blogger. Check them out below or via the Blog Archive in the right-hand column.

- WSTW & Brandywine Zoo
- The Next Big Small Thing
- First Glimpses
- Summer Vacation
- Fall Soccer '05
- 5 Beaches in 5 Days
- The Gift that Keeps on Giving
- Baby A4 has Arrived

Generation Gap

This past weekend I had the first of what is sure to be many such encounters with my children over the coming years.

Alex and I are in the car, headed to Martin Honda to pick up some parts on Saturday. I’ve got David Cook playing on the CD player. Alex looks over and asks, “Who is this?”

Now, honestly, I myself don’t know anything about David Cook. I just know I hear the song Light On on the radio and like it. So, almost sarcastically, not expecting it to mean anything to him either, I responded that it was David Cook.

He responds, “Oh,” and doesn’t say another word.

A few moments pass and I have to ask, “Did the fact that I told you it was David Cook mean anything to you?”

Without hesitation Alex tells me that he was on American Idol. That the kids in his class, particularly the girls, talked about him a lot.

Yeah, I'm starting to feel old…

Snow Day Shenanigans

Not only were we blessed with our first significant snowfall in quite some time, but the kids were doubly blessed with 2 days off to enjoy it. Woo hoo!

So on Tuesday AM, Mommy bundled up our horde, threw a neighborhood friend in the van for good measure, and met Uncle Jeff, and cousins Allie and Joey up on Campbell Mountain.

Not much else to say. I'll let the pictures and video speak for themselves...

Oh, and Happy Square Root Day!

Birthday Sleepover

On the evening of Friday, February 6th, our home was invaded. No, not by criminals, or insects, or little green men. We were invaded by the likes of six 4th grade girls.

Abigail invited over a gaggle of girls to celebrate her 10th birthday with a sleepover. Aside from the usual cake and presents, the festivities included a little Hide-and-Seek, a little DS game play, a little fun with walkie talkies, and a great deal of screaming. (So...much...screaming...)

Surprisingly, a fair amount of sleep was had by all (especially me, as I hid upstairs for quite some time). And everyone had a great time.

Happy Birthday, Abigail.

Congratulations Alex

From the Principal of the Middle School at RLCA:

Your son, Alex, has been chosen to be Student of the Week for the week ending January 23rd. He will be presented with a certificate announcing this accomplishment in chapel this Wednesday, February 4th at 8:25 am in the Pusey Center.

Each student receives many great perks for being chosen Student of the Week by their teachers including: an all access pass, a free lunch, preferential seating in each classroom, dress down for a week and other special privileges designated by individual teachers.

Students are chosen weekly by their teachers based on the following criteria: exemplary behavior, exhibiting godly character traits and academic excellence.

Congratulations Alex!

Girl Time

Between Christmas and birthdays, the girls have built up a cache of gift cards for La Petite Spa and Salon. La Petite is a salon devoted to those 18 years and younger. So, this past Saturday, Mom, Abigail and Amanda headed on over for some girl time...

A little wash, a little snip, snip, a little curl, a little sparkle and voilà.