It’s been a couple of years since I’ve attended the annual NOAA Fish Fry in Washington, DC, but because my wife work’s on the posters, banners and inner office communications for the CFC event, she receives free tickets. So this year she talked me into going with her again and I’m glad I did! The big hit of this years NOAA Fish Fry was Lion Fish and all the different ways you can cook it and use it in different recipes. My personal favorites were Grilled Lion Fish Cesar Salad and Grilled Lion Fish Kababs. I have to admit though, I love sea food, so I tried everything… from the oysters and shrimp to the octopus and crab cakes… and it was all delicious! Another highlight of the evening was meeting and chatting with Captain Keith Colburn of the F/V Wizard, one of the stars from the Discovery Channel’s reality show “Deadliest Catch”. After ten minutes of discussing commercial fishing, politics and the ever shrinking Alaskan fishing grounds and quota’s, we posed for a selfie and then indulged ourselves in some of Keith’s famous Alaskan king crab legs. I had such a great time… I can’t wait to attend it again next year!
This years annual River Walk was very special for Julie and I, but even more so for Dylan because this would be his last River Walk as a student at the River School. It was also very special knowing that Dylan’s artwork was imprinted on every tee shirt and poster for this years event. The weather for this years River Walk wasn’t all that great with rain forecast for the entire day and of course that made for a wet muddy mess on the trail. But Dylan and his Falcon Class friends still had a great time regardless.
For a birthday present, Uncle Mike gave Dylan (and myself) tickets to the Capitals home game against the LA Kings. The tickets were for the seats we normally get, lower level just above the visitors bench tunnel. Even though Dylan says he doesn’t want to play hockey like his dad, he still enjoys going to live games with me to cheer on the hometown team. He also really loves the boardwalk style French fries they serve at the games. Did I mention he really loves French Fries?!
Here is a small collection of photos from this years CS Pack1229 Pinewood Derby at the Congressional School in Falls Church, VA. Dylan and I worked really hard on his car this year and even though he won several of the preliminary heats for his den level, he still wasn’t quite fast enough to beat out Connor M. (also a Webelo) who had the fastest car in the entire pack. All the Scouts did a great job on their cars this year and remember… there’s always next year.
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.
‘Dylan and I stealing a selfie with Rudolph and the Elf’ – The Gaylord, National Harbour, MD
It feels like we buy tickets to this event every year and every year the ice carvings just keeps getting more impressive. My son, being a true believer in Santa and ultimate fan of the Christmas holidays, absolutely loves these kinds of events. The cool thing about ICE (at least for us) is that the theme of the show changes every year and always follows one of the original children’s Christmas stories. This years theme was from the 1964 classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and the ice sculptors really nailed it right down to the very large Abominable Snowman that Dylan and I tried to get a selfie with. As always we had a lot of fun… click the link below to see more photos from this event.
‘Another selfie… this time with the Abominable Snowman!’ – The Gaylord, National Harbour, MD
‘The bonfire pit at Amy & Brian’s country getaway place’ – The Plains, VA
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!
‘Dylan carved the pumpkin this year… Trick-Or-Treat!’ – Arlington, VA
06/12/2016 – “Dylan’s kids race at this years Air Force Cycling Classic” – Arlington, VA.
As promised in one of my earlier posts, I did find some video footage from Dylan’s full track bike race at the Air Force Association Cycling Classic here in Clarendon. Again, my small camera doesn’t create the best HD video, but it does a fair job for it’s size. Enjoy!!
“Dylan and Uncle Mike after a nice bike ride” – Arlington, VA.
I always like to add a post every year with more current photos of Dylan’s biking skills. He’s turning out to be as comfortable on two wheels as my brother and I were as kids. It scares me a little to know that one day he will move up to motorcycles as we did and have to worry about sharing the road with distracted drivers. Everyone knows that the drivers in this area have no respect for cyclists of any kind. Be safe my son!!
Note: Dylan also did very well in the Air Force Cycling Classic kids race this year in Clarendon. There where several local cycling magazine photographers and community paper reporters there covering the race who asked permission to use Dylan’s picture in their publications. He is a super photogenic kid!! (View Photos, Slideshows, Videos & More»)
“Dylan showing off his first lost baby tooth” – Arlington, VA.
Dylan lost his first baby tooth the other day and the first words out of his mouth where… “So, how much do you think it’s worth?!” I think the tooth fairy was way too generous, but he and Julie did do a great job of promoting it… so I played along as a good father should. How do those little chick-lets even stay in his mouth anyway?! (View Photos, Slideshows, Videos & More»)