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Happy birthday to my awesome and amazing son Dylan! I am so, so proud of you and I still enjoy every moment of watching you grow. One of the most impressive things for me is seeing how you can change and adapt to this ever changing world. You are one of the most resilient kids I have ever seen. I love you with all my heart and soul.
Here are a couple of my cellphone videos I took of Dylan’s first time out on ski’s. As I told him at the start of the day… learning how to fall and get back up is just as important as learning how to ski. He did really well for his first time ever!
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Several months ago we were invited to go skiing for the long Presidents Day weekend. Our good friends, the Baur’s, have been going to Hot Springs, Virginia for years and this year they asked us to join them. Nether their son nor ours has ever been on ski’s before, and they have told us that this is a great place for kids to learn to ski. The Omni Homestead Resort, located about 45 minutes southwest of JMU in Hot Springs, is about a three and a half hour drive from DC and surprisingly classy for an older hotel. The rooms are moderately priced go fast, so you have to book well ahead of time to get a holiday weekend reservation.
The ski area is small compared to most local ski resorts, but they do have a nice size ski lodge with several fire places, including an outdoor one on the deck, a bar and food service for lunch. There is only one double chair lift which will take you to either the midway-station or the top of the hill. After seeing the operation I would totally agree that for young beginner skiers, this is a perfect place for them to learn. The ski instructors here are young and really good with the kids. We had Dylan and his friend take two lessons and they absolutely loved it! By the end of the second day they were almost ready to go to ride the lift up to the midway-station.
Considering this was Dylan’s first time on ski’s ever… I thought he did very well!
One of the nicest things about living in the Northern Virginia area is the diversity of the area and the ability to change your scenery by doing nothing more than traveling 30 to 45 minutes in any direction. Living in Arlington, we are literally walking distance to Georgetown, which is one of the more beautiful and popular spots in Washington DC. Even though we enjoy being close to the city, it’s nice to get out of the city and enjoy a nice hike in the woods from time to time.
This year the location of the Pack 1229 fall hike would turn out to be a favorite of mine… Scott’s Run Nature Preserve, which is located on the Virginia side of the Potomac River in North McLean. I’ve hiked these trails before and truly enjoy both the scenic views of the north river and the rocky waterfalls. Dylan has shown much more interest in hiking since joining the Cub Scouts and I believe this outing will be yet another positive bonding experience for both of us and his new Scouting friends.
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I’ll try not to go overboard with the annual Halloween post write-up this year, but you do know how much my wife loves this holiday. We started things off with an evening outdoor event at one of Dylan’s classmate’s families properties in The Plains, VA, where all the parents and kids of this years Osprey Class enjoyed a bonfire, spooky hayrides through the woods and even an awesome food truck serving taco’s for dinner! Thank you for hosting Amy & Brian… this was a fantastic event! Next on the list would be the annual River School Halloween parade up and down MacArthur Blvd, followed by our normal neighborhood evening trick-or-treating adventure with Dylan and all his local friends. Happy Halloween everyone!
Here are a couple more photos from Dylan’s first month in Scouting with Cub Scout Pack 1229, Falls Church, VA. He should have joined the Pack as a Wolf this year, but because his friend Liam was a grade level ahead (and he insisted on being in his friends Den), we let him join the Bear Den with the condition that he puts in twice the effort and tries to earn both his Wolf and Bear rank this year. Being the great dad and former Scout that I am, I told him that I would work with him one-on-one to make sure he accomplish the tasks and adventures that were required to make his ranks. It’s nice to see that he has taken to Scouting like a fish to water. Oh yeah, and he also earned his first belt loop this month too!
Here are a couple of pictures from Dylan’s school soccer team which he played on for one season. His current school doesn’t have any sports teams, so some of the parents from his class put together a Saturday morning soccer team to compete in the DC Stoddard Soccer League. I think this gave him just enough exposure to team sports to get him interested and I know he really enjoyed playing with his classmates. Hopefully he will continue to participate in competitive team sports and become more of a team player in the future.
Fairfax Hockey League 2016-2017 ‘D1’ Division Champions – Fairfax, VA.
“We are the champions… We are the champions… We are the champions… of the FFHL!!” Yes, we did it again… the D1 Fairfax Bulldogs Hockey Team has won another Winter Championship in the Fairfax Hockey League! There is nothing better than sharing a 10 to 1 win with your hockey brothers in the championship game! I think we will be moving up a division next season because we are clearly too good for this one!
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Dylan’s 7th birthday and pizza party – Arlington, VA.
Here are a couple of pictures from Dylan’s 7th birthday party at Dynamic Gymnastics. We had a great turnout and even the Fox Class mascot showed up for the occasion. We hope everyone had a great time… I know I did. I love pizza parties!
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“Enjoying a warm summer day hanging out in Belmont Bay” – Belmont Bay Party Cove, VA.
I haven’t taken as many boating pictures as I normally do by this time in the year. That statement alone surprises me a bit, as I am usually the type to document everything that gives me pleasure, and boating always brings me peace and pleasure. So far this year we’ve had the Clark family out with us once and rafted up with Charlie and Nichole several times as per our usual MO, but it seems as though we’ve been too busy to go boating on a lot of weekends. Hope this isn’t the beginning of a trend… I need my weekends on the water for my own mental health.
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