Our weekend began typically: me picking up the kids at SACC and, as is the tradition, asking them what they wanted for dinner that night. After some discussion, they chose McDonald's...both kids wanting the 10-piece nugget meal but Sarah also asking for a cheeseburger (no pickles no onions)...and darned if she didn't eat it all!
Saturday I had the chance to hit the gym for an hour, where I ran into Jill Cook. I mentioned that David would still love to see Ben before Ben had to return to NYC, so we talked about them getting together that afternoon. First David had his second lacrosse game, and would that the outcome was any different from the first: they lost, 5-2. David was the first half goalie and let three balls get by him; despite the great stops he had other times, it's those three that left him deflated going into the second half. In the second, though, he came out as a midfielder, and started being able to hit back at the Braddock Road boys...which he seemed to enjoy. As he was playing, Mary headed north to a bridal shower for her cousin Curtis' wedding this spring, where unfortunately she didn't know anyone in the room.
Then after a brief round of errands at the increasingly forlorn-looking Springfield Mall, we drove over to pick up Ben around 5:00 for what became a 26-hour playdate. We made pasta for dinner, David and Ben played with Zach and Jacob outside (mostly Nerf and water gun fights) before the four boys (!) came inside for their sleepover. After rousing Wii games and Nerf wars downstairs, they settled in and were asleep before midnight. In the meantime, Mary and I had a chance to watch Firewall, the Harrison Ford thriller that had been on our Netflix list for apparently quite some time.
Sunday morning the kids were up in time for pancakes before Zach and Jacob had to go, and for us to go to church. Ben came along and went with David to Sunday School while Sarah stayed upstairs and helped me with the band during the services. Then after church we came home and the boys took right back to playing outside on a gorgeous spring day. At 2:00 we went back to church; the All-Starz youth group that David's in was going to play mini-golf, and so Ben came along. They headed off while I stayed for Redeemer's Song's rehearsal, and when they returned, it turned out that David and Ben had tied for first place in the mini-golf and had earned free ice cream as a result!
By the time the All-Starz worship was over we came home to dinner of burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and to find Sarah had invited Giselle over as well. We six had dinner, then Jill came to take Ben home after a long and much-appreciated visit, and I drove Giselle back to her house as night began to fall.
The sheer list of activities of course is only one aspect of the weekend; the brilliant pinks of the pear blossoms in the back yard, the soft breezes as we sat out on the back deck, the splash of the kids as they played in the hot tub...all this and so many other sensations as spring erupts and we enjoy what for us was a rather tame weekend, before heading back to work and school once more.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Spring Has...Well, More Than Sprung
Spring has not only sprung, it's made a cartoony "sproing!" sound as gears and hairsprings spray out its case.
David's lacrosse season has begun. He's been placed on one of the "B"-level teams, being not quite good enough for the A-level at his new age group, under the leadership of a coach who doubles as the Hayfield lacrosse coach, so we really ought to learn some things. And in part because Coach is so busy, you'll never guess who got drafted to be an "assistant coach" for the team. It's not like I know any more than David about lacrosse, but I guess I can carry a clipboard as well as the next dad.
The season is not off to a great start. They lost their first game, 5-2, after David spent the first half in goal and ended the half tied 1-1. It's clear there are some boys who know what they are doing, and it's also clear there are some boys who really should be at the "C" level. Practices are uneven and the team still hasn't really gelled yet. Our second game is this weekend. Follow us on Twitter as @703astrosfan for details of the games.
On top of this, Sarah is doing Girls On The Run after school, which is a great way for her to get some exercise, but has turned into another commitment for Daddy too: Sarah gets to participate in a 5K race next month, but the catch is, she needs a Running Buddy...like, say, a parent...and Guess Who needs to start getting some road miles in before too long.
Sarah's birthday this past weekend was another major milestone for the spring, with her, her brother, and two friends doing a sleepover and party at Central Park Fun Land down in Fredericksburg. For some reason, her ninth birthday really just snuck up on us. It's not as if the date changed or moved earlier; we just found ourselves in mid/late March with fewer plans made than we usually do, and having to scramble to get her party and presents in place.
But physically, spring is out all around us. Twice now in the last couple of weeks, I've gone to the office with a tree in our yard looking bare, and come home to find it had erupted in blossoms during the day. It's amazing to see and still a source of some disquietude, as it's also a reminder of how much yard work I have to get to sometime soon.
David's lacrosse season has begun. He's been placed on one of the "B"-level teams, being not quite good enough for the A-level at his new age group, under the leadership of a coach who doubles as the Hayfield lacrosse coach, so we really ought to learn some things. And in part because Coach is so busy, you'll never guess who got drafted to be an "assistant coach" for the team. It's not like I know any more than David about lacrosse, but I guess I can carry a clipboard as well as the next dad.
The season is not off to a great start. They lost their first game, 5-2, after David spent the first half in goal and ended the half tied 1-1. It's clear there are some boys who know what they are doing, and it's also clear there are some boys who really should be at the "C" level. Practices are uneven and the team still hasn't really gelled yet. Our second game is this weekend. Follow us on Twitter as @703astrosfan for details of the games.
On top of this, Sarah is doing Girls On The Run after school, which is a great way for her to get some exercise, but has turned into another commitment for Daddy too: Sarah gets to participate in a 5K race next month, but the catch is, she needs a Running Buddy...like, say, a parent...and Guess Who needs to start getting some road miles in before too long.
Sarah's birthday this past weekend was another major milestone for the spring, with her, her brother, and two friends doing a sleepover and party at Central Park Fun Land down in Fredericksburg. For some reason, her ninth birthday really just snuck up on us. It's not as if the date changed or moved earlier; we just found ourselves in mid/late March with fewer plans made than we usually do, and having to scramble to get her party and presents in place.
But physically, spring is out all around us. Twice now in the last couple of weeks, I've gone to the office with a tree in our yard looking bare, and come home to find it had erupted in blossoms during the day. It's amazing to see and still a source of some disquietude, as it's also a reminder of how much yard work I have to get to sometime soon.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Remiss But Making Up For It
It's been too long since I've posted anything here, and there certainly has been a lot that's gone on--Eric's visit to Florida, the start of lacrosse season, and Spring Break, to name a few. But to begin the catching-up, we've refreshed our photo albums online and posted links to three new ones:
Over the next few days I hope to post some of the other stories of the last three weeks, and as always, we welcome the dialogue of your comments and posts as well!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Europe Trip Plans
In just over three months, we'll begin our 11-day, 10-night visit to Europe, and the final plans are coming together.
We arrive in Frankfurt early on Saturday morning and plan to take a morning ICE train to Berlin, arriving mid-afternoon. This will be our first experience on a true high-speed train. We're staying in the Mitte area of Berlin, near the Unter den Linden and Checkpoint Charlie and the German History Museum, all of which should be interesting to everyone Saturday night and all day Sunday. Then Monday midday we take another ICE train to Dortmund, and begin a couple of days of seeing three places the Kleppinger family hails from.
We're visiting Dortmund and Soest on Tuesday, then Wednesday we leave Dortmund and visit the town of Pfungstadt, whence Johann Georg Kloppinger set out in 1732 to come to America. After lunch and looking around the village, we'll drive past Stuttgart and on to Ulm, so David can see where Albert Einstein was born.
Thursday, we haven't settled finally on, but it could be a very busy day. Just up the road from where we're staying is Legoland Deutschland, a smallish theme park that the kids, with their (a) love of Legos, and (b) love of theme parks, will probably love. But we might spend half a day there (hey, you can tell it's a small place when it's only open 10a-6p in summer) before driving down to see Neuschwanstein, the famous fairy-tale "Mad King Ludwig" castle in Bavaria, en route to Munich and our last night in Germany.
Friday would be a day to take the train from Munich to Paris, to recharge a bit and relax. We might be able to take ICE to the French TGV service, making two high-speed rail systems the kids would get to ride--and I remember David, aged three, being able to pronounce the latter properly--tey zhey vey--as the son of a Francophile should.
The weekend and Monday would be for Paris and its environs. We'll be staying just across the bridge from Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame, a couple of blocks from the Louvre. We have not yet decided whether to take a day trip out to the beaches of Normandy, but I am leaning towards trying to; we've not been there, and it would be a great thing for the kids to see. But if not, there's certainly plenty to see and do closer to Paris.
Of this, our Munich hotel, the train reservations (can only do those 90 days out), and the car rental remain to be done--but first we need to talk through that potentially very busy Thursday in south-central Germany. But with just over three months left, we're definitely making progress in getting ready for the kids' first transatlantic trip!
We arrive in Frankfurt early on Saturday morning and plan to take a morning ICE train to Berlin, arriving mid-afternoon. This will be our first experience on a true high-speed train. We're staying in the Mitte area of Berlin, near the Unter den Linden and Checkpoint Charlie and the German History Museum, all of which should be interesting to everyone Saturday night and all day Sunday. Then Monday midday we take another ICE train to Dortmund, and begin a couple of days of seeing three places the Kleppinger family hails from.
We're visiting Dortmund and Soest on Tuesday, then Wednesday we leave Dortmund and visit the town of Pfungstadt, whence Johann Georg Kloppinger set out in 1732 to come to America. After lunch and looking around the village, we'll drive past Stuttgart and on to Ulm, so David can see where Albert Einstein was born.
Thursday, we haven't settled finally on, but it could be a very busy day. Just up the road from where we're staying is Legoland Deutschland, a smallish theme park that the kids, with their (a) love of Legos, and (b) love of theme parks, will probably love. But we might spend half a day there (hey, you can tell it's a small place when it's only open 10a-6p in summer) before driving down to see Neuschwanstein, the famous fairy-tale "Mad King Ludwig" castle in Bavaria, en route to Munich and our last night in Germany.
Friday would be a day to take the train from Munich to Paris, to recharge a bit and relax. We might be able to take ICE to the French TGV service, making two high-speed rail systems the kids would get to ride--and I remember David, aged three, being able to pronounce the latter properly--tey zhey vey--as the son of a Francophile should.
The weekend and Monday would be for Paris and its environs. We'll be staying just across the bridge from Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame, a couple of blocks from the Louvre. We have not yet decided whether to take a day trip out to the beaches of Normandy, but I am leaning towards trying to; we've not been there, and it would be a great thing for the kids to see. But if not, there's certainly plenty to see and do closer to Paris.
Of this, our Munich hotel, the train reservations (can only do those 90 days out), and the car rental remain to be done--but first we need to talk through that potentially very busy Thursday in south-central Germany. But with just over three months left, we're definitely making progress in getting ready for the kids' first transatlantic trip!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tethered and Untethered
A juxtaposition of electronic leashes for your consideration this morning.
I have two Blackberries. No, not because I'm some sort of tech geek (I'm just a regular geek), but because work gives me one, with clear instructions that it's For Official Use Only, and since I got used to it, I got one for my personal phone last year. I've long been frustrated that I have to juggle two phones, with two sets of calendars, two sets of contacts, two sets of e-mail, knowing full well I can't sync the office one to my personal one or vice versa without causing Major Career Damage. But this week's Get It Done Guy podcast suggests I should learn to live with the two as separate phones, despite the frustrations, because the frustrations of enforcing sync between them would be even worse. So I go on with two sets of ring tones firing off, two sets of vibrations letting me know e-mail is in, and plenty of sense of being thoroughly connected at all times....
On the other hand....
At work this morning, the internal network is squirrely; I can get to some e-mail capabilities but not all, and the master shared drive that has All My Work On It is down this morning. So instead of being able to contribute to the success of the American people, I am reduced to blogging until the squirrel running on the wheel gets the server back up to full power. So rather than be connected at work, I feel rather untethered there, unable to get much done. At least until the meetings start...we can always have meetings...
I have two Blackberries. No, not because I'm some sort of tech geek (I'm just a regular geek), but because work gives me one, with clear instructions that it's For Official Use Only, and since I got used to it, I got one for my personal phone last year. I've long been frustrated that I have to juggle two phones, with two sets of calendars, two sets of contacts, two sets of e-mail, knowing full well I can't sync the office one to my personal one or vice versa without causing Major Career Damage. But this week's Get It Done Guy podcast suggests I should learn to live with the two as separate phones, despite the frustrations, because the frustrations of enforcing sync between them would be even worse. So I go on with two sets of ring tones firing off, two sets of vibrations letting me know e-mail is in, and plenty of sense of being thoroughly connected at all times....
On the other hand....
At work this morning, the internal network is squirrely; I can get to some e-mail capabilities but not all, and the master shared drive that has All My Work On It is down this morning. So instead of being able to contribute to the success of the American people, I am reduced to blogging until the squirrel running on the wheel gets the server back up to full power. So rather than be connected at work, I feel rather untethered there, unable to get much done. At least until the meetings start...we can always have meetings...
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