Formal Aquarium Photo
last update: 03/29 @ 11:43

This seemed like a nice photo that the Aquarium put together (green screen on the way in), so I was talked into buying it.

That completes our Spring Break. Robert is now hard at work on his science fair project; the big event is Thursday.

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Spring Break Burger Trip
last update: 03/28 @ 19:04
We’re back safe and sound from our Spring Break jaunt to Decatur and have more photos in the vacations section.

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Train to Hotlanta
last update: 03/25 @ 10:41
Robert is on spring break this week and we decided to take the train to Atlanta. Well… I decided and convinced Robert — though it did not take too much convincing.

We went for seats rather than the expensive but more comfortable sleeper car. It takes a bit longer than driving and is cheaper and in many ways easier than flying. And no seatbelts (more comfortable, and generally seems pretty safe) makes it possible to get up and walk around.

No need to stop for dinner: they have a cafe and a dining car on the train. It’s vacation so we can get away with less than the healhiest meals (Robert did eat a burger to go along with his soda and cookies).

The foot rest wouldn’t stay up so Robert slept sideways much of the night. Eventually, I flipped up the footrest in the “occupied” sign and Robert tucked himself into the nest that made.

Lights out was a little late and he had trouble getting to sleep until lights out. (And even with the lights out, the “night lights” were kind of bright.)

An adventure it is. We’ll see what the trip back brings (it leaves a little later still so we’ll probably dine before the train or bring something with us).

The reason for heading to Atlanta is to provide an extra set of eyes for my mom while my brother and sister-in-law are gallivanting around the world. Extra bonus points, we got to see cousin Sam (W) and Omar before they headed back to Nashville. And Sally is here so we get to hang with her (and maybe try some of the ice cream where she works).

Robert was happy to join in Balloon Ball at the assisted living facility while we visited with my mom.

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Beautiful Day
last update: 03/21 @ 22:45

So we took advantage of the weather and headed the Ropes Course in Sandy Spring.

We went several times last year, and I can see a strong chance we’ll be back several times this year.

This was the first time we’ve all been able to go together.

It was about 60 and perfectly blue skies; and with the wild weather recently, not crowded at all.

We had lots of fun and did a great job of wearing ourselves out.

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Passport renewal
last update: 03/21 @ 12:35
With our passports expiring, we’re getting ready to renew. And that means new passport photos.

I don’t think these will fly…

… but maybe, if they are really busy….

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And there was peace in the realm
last update: 03/13 @ 20:35

Three snoozing kitties sharing the couch with Sarah. I don’t know if they are getting along better or if Zip Drive is just too tired to run away anymore. But they all seemed perfectly happy the other night.

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Science!!!
last update: 03/08 @ 18:30
It’s like this…

…Robert has a science fair experiment to see if inflate-gate (the NFL final game had questions about the inflation of the footballs) has any basis in fact.

The experiment involved controlled punts: Does the inflation of the ball affect the distance of the punt?

We cheated a little bit on the rig, Robert’s original plan called for building the full rig — I thought we could reuse our step ladder.

The step ladder formed the framework for a weighted arm that did the actual kicking. And the little metal strap that keeps the step ladder from extending too far also served as a gauge so all the kicks were from the same height.

We did as series of 5 punts at different inflations: 12.5 PSI (standard), 15.5 PSI (overinflated) and 9.5 PSI (underinflated). And then Sarah thought we should do one more set (the first five had a much wider pattern than the others).

And she and I thought we should test extra overinflated and extra underinflated (Robert was starting to get annoyed with us). It was the prettiest day we’ve had in what seems like weeks, so the extra tests seemed like a really good idea — or good reason to enjoy the weather more.

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St. Paddy’s Parade?
last update: 03/07 @ 15:29
Alexandria’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is pretty all inclusive.

Beer, that’s not unusual at all. Port City is our local brew and quite tasty. And plenty an Irishman has been fond of his pint.

And, or course the politicians have to be in the parade — that’s just traditional

Other entrants are harder to see the Irish connection…

That said, I liked the change in music, and Bolivians can more there hands and arms when they dance (almost seems like cheating).

I’m not sure about the Irish connection to the 501st Legion of Clone Troopers. (Robert says when they became Storm Troopers they were no longer the 501st — and he would know.)

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St. Paddy’s Parade
last update: 03/07 @ 15:19
Time for the Alexandria St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Unfortunately, Robert was feeling a bit under the weather and was not interested in going outside. Fortunately, the snow had stopped, the sun was out and the temps were no longer record breakingly cold.

There were redcoats….

… and other troops from a variety of eras.

And Pipers.

And more pipers — but we love pipers, so that’s OK.

Pipes and drums …

And Irish dancing friends (Go Eleanor!!!)

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And more snow
last update: 03/05 @ 22:06
But maybe the last snow this winter? Rumor has it there may be one more storm headed our way.

This was an attempt to recreate the Jeep commercial, smashing through the snow bank. At playground scale. We built a wall of snow at the bottom of the slide and Robert and John (a friend from school) took turns crashing through it (and getting snow balls thrown at them — that’s not part of the commercial). This was Robert’s turn in the slide, and John ready to nail him with a snow ball.

Next week, school and work schedules should be back to normal.

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