Thank you for simple

We are just here, reading books on paper. 

By the murals

Richmong is rich in murals and we love them:

http://richmondmuralproject.squarespace.com/murals-2015/

And here are a few pics with a couple of early ones in the project :

(with Granna and Grandad)

Some of Heath's work

BBall

Alder's starting basketball this season and I am assistant coaching.  He was very tuckered out today from a busy and fun weekend, but we got some good one on one time to practice at school. So lucky to be so close to their school with multiple courts, paved, with 8 and 10 foot goals. 

Christmas Play Dress Rehearsal

And oh how thes two wise men are just LOVING this!

Letter to the Editor

Boy are we behind on so many goings on: trips, holiday, family visits, fun, loss... 

But without time for that catch up (as i wait to board train for DC) we must slip in Heath's letters to the editor. 

Apparently this is a game he and a friend made up and played. But he is very serious about having them actually sent. He doesn't know where but told me he wants me to figure that out. 

First Trail Ride

These boys have done plenty of riding off road but this was the first time with big uphills and intense long fast downhills.  Did great!! And thankful for no injuries. 

Awh. It FINE-ally happened.

This six and  a third year old has lost a first tooth.  

I think he might be excited. 

We raised the roof

And there is a new excitement about the fort. It's a great place for meals and reading!

Dual Well Visit

Alder: 52 inches tall, 57.5 lbs. 

Heath: 50 inches tall, 62 lbs.

It was a riot the way they were talking to the doctor and nurse.  They knew everything about each other and themselves. I just had to drive them there. 

Evidently they don't remember the "hernia check" thing where the doc can see your penis. After that Heath came over and said in my ear "THAT ..... was so weird."

And after alder's turn, 20 seconds later , Alder came over and said "THAT.... was so embarrassing."  Mind you, the doc was  arms length away and heard all of this.  Our docs are so wonderful. 

Bikes!

       

Its been bike madness for the past several weeks.  One big reason is new neighbors - a family with two 9 year old twin boys who love riding.  The boys are constantly riding all over three yards and in between, building ramps and obstacles out of plywood and practicing slides.

Our carport turns out to  be the best slick sliding surface in the vicinity.

Here's Heath on a hand-brake slide:

And Alder on a pedal-brake slide.  So here, Alder is riding my bike from when I was his age.  My Dad hung onto it and we got it back up and running pretty easily - new tires and new chain, done!  Vintage BMX.  Solid and stylin'.  ( I think I like it more than anyone.)



And then Alder got the hankerin' to give his bike a new look.  So, together, we disassembled it, labled parts, took pictures for reassembly.  This was prime opportunity to tool practice.

Alder did turn every screw and bolt, but there was one Friday night where I wrestled with a derailer for awhile.

Alder chose metallic silver and blue tires.  He has ordered blue grips and we are looking for decals now.  I will post a pic of the new ride in action soon.

And then there was the UCI World Campionships of Road Biking, which Richmond hosted this year; apparently only the second year that this race has been hosted in the United States.  For a year prior the city was prepping roads and the downtown, functionally and facade.  VCU even closed for the week, and state government offices were all scrambled due to closed streets.  Lots of staff, including us, planned work travel and work from home for the week.  But on Friday, I pulled the boys out of school mid-day and took them down for the Men's under age 23 race.

How wild to stand in the middle of your own downtown in a state of conversion for television and biking competition.  It was so surreal to see Richmond on a big screen, as televised worldwide, where our town looked like it was wearing a European city costume.  

When the riders came by it was cowbell madness.  You could hear the cowbells in the distance as they approached - like sonic dominoes.

The race was so exciting: ten 16 mile loops and we stood in a spot where we could watch the jumbotron, but see them coming from a mile away, watch them pass and wait 20 or so minutes for the next lap.  I'm leaving out lots of details here.  It was way cooler than I thought it would have been.  So glad we went.

(pondering something, is he not?)

The support vehicles, one per country, were something else.  Mechanics would hang out the back window and make adjustments to the bikes as the riders rode alongside.  The race started with 160 riders, and ended with fewer than 40: crazy crashes and/or mechanical failures deeming them at a loss to continue.

This video here is better than any I grabbed with my phone, showing the highlights of the race we watched all Friday afternoon.  There were races everyday for 8 days.

These boys are ready for trails and we are looking forward to some trail-riding this Fall and Winter.  Plus a 50-mile Captial Trail just opened here which we will have to do too.  Heath is asking for a road bike, and we are trying ti explain that they just dont make them that small.

Project

Too late on a Friday night. 

Westmoreland State Park

On Labor Day we went up to WSP and poked around on fossil beach. No fossils but a good time. 

Potomac river

Waterfall Torture

First Day of School!!

We can't believe we have a first and a third grader!

Book series update

Looks like chili dog isn't doing so hot. 

Or... Is he?

Heath. He asks questions like:

Mom, why do pajama pants have pockets?

Good question. 

Alder is working on a book series called...

Chili Dog and Onion

He has only written one book so far and Onion has already taken a lickin from the chili blaster because he ate 50% of the food. 

Clay Sampler

The boys are in a clay working camp this week. They are loving it and making so many beautiful little things. 

Summer Vacation

In a way Summer IS a vacation, filled with tiny ones all over the place.  We are so fortunate to be able to do this, both of us working, and can, thanks to jobs that allow us to work hard and carve time out as best we can.  Lesley especially does so for the Summer, as it is extremely dificult to do so; Summer is right on the heels of her busiest time of year, even overlapping.  But we do it and it works out quite well.  The boys "feel" Summer with lots of time at home, and on little adventures, with us.

The big vacation this Summer was returning to mountains.  Camping at Grayson Highlands for 5 days, then Boone area for 3 more.  Looking back, we really only captured a few highlights.  It was so packed with fun, alot of which left us forgetting to take pictures, and our cameras/phones were often without a charge.  But we took some....

Family selfie, freshly packed  up and heading west.  This was our maiden voyage in the new van.

Installed the trailer hitch the day before.  This was a puzzle that still has not become easy.

                                  

Standard campsite pic.  This was our set up at Grayson Highlands.  It rained daily and/or nightly, but we did not get wet!  It wont always be that way.  The rain and wind at this place, high elevation is so very intense in the dark, when you are sleeping on the ground, in a tent.  You'd think it was a hurricane.  There was one morning I (dad) got up before 4 to read and just walk around.

This was a hike up to Massey Gap.  We took the boys there two years ago.  It was nice not to have to worry as much about their ability to scramble up these boulders.  We let them have at it.  (This is Les and Alder here though.)  Alder especially enjoyed taking risks and scrambling farther than we wanted, and feeling proud to make it to the top.  Heath, only slightly more cautious, scrabled behind and ultimately made it to the same point.

An Amanita on a hike.  We hiked a lot.  Miles everyday pretty much.

Up on another rock, above the wind-taming meadows.

Mommy down below Heath.

Look at that bigness.  I firmly believe this is so important for little ones to look out into and feel, as much as possible - over mountains, over water, whatever...

…even down the trail of a 17 mile bike ride.  Virginia Creeper trail.  We took our time.  Four and a half hour ride.  So much fun to have "big boys" that can be trusted to ride out of sight and feel that freedom of the wind and speed of relatively tame mountain biking.  The achievement of riding so far.  It makes me feel like we have more years of fun and adeventure ahead as they get even older.

Stopping at creeks.  Striking poses.  Heath is such a character these days.  One day he wants to be a professional dancer and the next a spy.  He has the confidence to think he can do pretty much anything.

Being too cool for striking poses.  This one is more modest and reserved though equally smart and able.

You cant not find something beautiful.

The boys counted somthing like 30 bridges over streams and rivers.  Some well over 100 feet high.

This was a high up to Pinnacle.  Whose hot-natured?

On Big Pinnacle.

After several days in Grayson Highlands, we went to Boone.  I had talked up gem mining a good bit (something from my childhood) and the boys were so excited.

They did score some nice, chunky emeralds, rubies and sapphire, among many other sweet gems.  this was a highlight of the trip for Alder for sure.  He spent hours sorting and admiring the gems in the coming days.

Cabin Creek trail.  

I find this hilarious because we all learned that Heath inherited my incredibly cold-sensitive feet.

We early risers: Heath and I got up very early one morning and just left the campsite to go riding around so Les and Alder (not the early risers) could sleep before we started clanking the campstove.

The hammock.  A nice addition to many things we will do.

the cupboard

a plant we have yet to remind ourselves the name of.

I think we were noticing Alder's tan while he found relief on Cabin Creek trail.

So these sort of sum up much of what we love about tent camping.  There is just not much to do but very low key things.  Everything slows down, probably right down to pulse rate.  For Les and I we read more for pleasure at the campsites than we have in years!  The boys loved cruising around the campground on bikes while we sat and read and piddled and cooked and just did whatever slowly.  Again, it is amazing how grown up our boys are now such theat we literally told them several times to just "go explore" and come back when they were hungry.  We didn't know what the day was, not even the time, for the whole trip.  People need this!

Random hike.

The very last night we were camping, apparently some critter was in Heath's sleeping bag and ate him alive.  Here he is showing the bites off.  It turned out to be, or turned into (?) a rash, which we got taken care of before the trip to Grand Isle.  Whatever.  Good exerciese for the immune system.

Overall, an amazing and incredibly inexpensive summer vacation.  There are more extravagent vacation in our future no doubt, but we hope that we can come back to these simple excursions as a staple in our annual adventures.