| HOME | DIVE TRIPS | GUESTBOOK | ABOUT | LINKS | CONTACT | LIMITED EDITIONS |
Well we finally had a ourselves a big enough snowstorm to actually call it that. That’s right… it wasn’t a blizzard by any means, but it was enough to have to shovel, about 6 to 8 inches total I think. I know Dylan really enjoyed it and spent most of the day out sledding with Julie in the neighborhood next to ours where all the hills are. We well be heading to Homestead next weekend to go skiing… I really hope they got some fresh snow too!
Christmas this year was pretty low key. We did have both sets of grand parents over for the day and did a nice dinner for everyone, but this year just felt a little more mellow than years past. Maybe it’s because Dylan is starting to grow up and doesn’t require as much attention as he has in the past. At any rate, it was a nice day and a nice gathering… Merry Christmas Everyone!
Dylan’s been spending a lot of time practicing his ice skating lately and now that he has a new pair of Bauer Hockey skates, his skating skills have improved greatly. The ice rink where he takes lessons has free skates from time to time called ‘Recess on the Rink’, where you can bring your child and let them practice their hockey skills on ice with out all the pads. it’s like a stick & shoot for young kids who don’t play hockey yet. Dylan has been to several of my hockey games and has mentioned on several occasions that he would like to try it, but doesn’t want us to sigh him up for hockey lessons. So, I figured this would be a good way to get him interested. He’s already looking forward to the next time we can skate and slap the puck around together. Nice job D!
As part of the after school enrichment program, my wife and I signed Dylan up for some Tae Kwon Do classes at the River School. The classes were held right in the River School Gym, so there was no need to worry about transporting him to another location in the afternoon, and the instructor, Master Jason Yoo, came highly recommended for his skills working with young children. Dylan really seems to like it and I hope that he sticks with it. I took several years of taekwondo as a kid myself and truly enjoyed the way that it challenged me and made me more disciplined in everyday life. If nothing else, it will be a great form of exercise for Dylan moving forward.
One of the things that every student of the graduating Falcon Class at the River School has to participate in is the 3rd Grade Science Fair. Dylan’s science fair project was about the different types of fidgets that kids use to help them focus in the school classroom environment. He did an awesome job of researching his topic, running his own trials on real subjects and then coming up with a hypothesis… and he did this all on his own at school! We are so proud of his work and how well he is doing both socially and academically at the River School. Keep up the great work Dylan!
This years Pack 1229 Fall Hike event was held at Theodore Roosevelt Island in Fort Myers, VA. The island, which sits on the Potomac River between Arlington, VA and Washington, DC. is only about 88.5-acres in size and sits about 44 feet above sea level at its highest point. The island, which is a national memorial, was given to the federal government by the Theodore Roosevelt Association in memory of the 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt.
Our Cub Scout Pack did a guided nature hike around the island using guide books supplied by the National Park Service and then tried to answer questions about the island and memorial that were in the back of the Park Service guide. Except for it being muddy from all the recent rain, I think all the Scouts had a great time… and I believe they actually learned a little something about history at the same time.
As I said in an earlier post, Julie loves this holiday and makes it a priority to find fun activities for herself, Dylan and I. So here’s a collection of photos from this years Halloween festivities in and around Arlington. There are photos from our walk down ‘Spooky Street’, the Douglas Park Cemetery Trail, and they’re even some photos in the slideshow below from Dylan’s Halloween Parade at the River School in Washington, DC. I hope you enjoy all the photos… Happy Halloween!
This year we held our Cub Pack Pack 1229 fall campout at Curtis Memorial Park in Fredericksburg, VA. During the camping trip, I had the Scouts from the Webelos Den work on several of their Adventure requirements including ‘Cast Iron Chef’ and the ‘Webelos Walkabout’. The Webs stayed busy by first completed a 3 mile hike on the Curtis Memorial Loop. Then they prepped and helped cooked dinner using ‘silver turtles’ (foil packs) for the entire pack. And they were also responsible for prepping, lighting and tending to the campfire for the evenings events. Dylan and the boys did an outstanding job handling and completing their tasks for the campout and I could not have been prouder of them.
Julie’s favorite holiday as we all know is Halloween. Every year she goes out of her way to try and find spooky holiday events to go check out in our local area. Over the years we’ve done haunted hayrides, haunted forests, haunted houses and a favorite of mine is visiting Jackson Street… or Spooky Street as we North Arlington people call it. Another favorite attraction of mine in the haunted trail at Douglas Cemetery Park. This is a local event run by the local area neighbors around Douglas Park. The admission is free if you bring some canned food for their food drive.
This year Julie also added a new attraction to our list of events called GLOW. Jack’s Pumpkin Glow is a leisurely walking tour which takes you through Lake Fairfax Park, where families and friends can marvel at thousands of intricately-carved pumpkins… all of which are illuminated in unique & creative displays. This was our first year attending this event and even though I thought is was a bit long, they did have some very creative and elaborate pumpkin displays. I still think the Douglas Cemetery Trail is the best… it’s so dark back in there, you can’t tell who or what is grabbing you!
I wanted to put up a couple of photos from todays father and son event at the River School… Dad’s Hot Lunch. Every year the River School invites all the dad’s to join their children at school for a special pizza lunch day. Dylan loves this event, I’m sure it’s mostly because he loves pizza, but I’d bet he enjoys eating pizza with his dad and all of his school friends too.