Navy vs. San Jose | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
Second Navy tailgate- this time at a friend's RV. We went to watch the mids march into the stadium; it is tradition to throw the students candy while they are marching (which they seemed to appreciate).
Setting up our spot
Ksenya and tailgate friend
Playing cornhole- a tailgate tradition
Mids catching the candy
The band marching in
Marching off the field
The flyover- (guess with cutbacks we only get 2 jets this game)
Watching the game
Jackson self-portrait
San Jose State comes over to listen to the Naval Academy anthem at the end of the game
Maks' birthday | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel 2
We were invited to our friend Maks taishoff's birthday party at Ziki's Japanese Steak House. Maks is Ksenya's special friend- both were adopted from Russia. We enjoyed the food, dessert, and balloon animals that were made especially for us.
Ksenya and Maks
Dessert!
Digging in
It's supposed to be a parrot- get it?
Maks gave Ksenya the flower
First home Navy game! | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
Finally! The first of (only) five home Navy games was this past weekend. Jason was on a golf trip with his friend Ted so the kids and I tailgated with our friends the Clearys and several other families with Naval Academy ties (of course, we don't have any Naval Academy ties- we just like a good tailgate!) The kids had a blast again. We have "standing room only" seats on the hill at the endzone so the kids just stay at the rail. There is a tradition that whenever Navy scores any points the plebes have to come down to the endzone and do as many pushups as the Navy score. The kids love to get high-fives from the mids when they do this and also usually end up with a lot of Navy swag handed to them by the students (from this game alone the kids got blue/gold and yellow blow-up banners, a T-shirt, and a small gold football!)
Ksenya loves to hold the newest Cleary (Bridget) whenever she can.
Jack at our tailgate spot.
Cleary and Dittrich kids at the end zone.
Pushups!
Ksenya (in pink shirt) getting high-fives.
Jack and Julia with swag.
More swag.
Go Navy!
Ksenya with Bridget again.
Julia at the game.
Matthew getting high-fives.
Balloon fighting during the game.
More high-fives.
Great game!
Ocean City September 2012 | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
We took our "last hurrah" trip to Ocean City this weekend (see pictures here ). The weather was perfect- upper 70's and sunny skies every day. However, we didn't know that it was Bike Week at Ocean City. No families there, but thousands of motorcycles and riders :-). We worked around it though, and stayed at a wonderful family place called the Francis Scott Key. There was a putt putt course right outside our unit, a playground, and an indoor and outdoor pool. There was also fishing for the kids. We played at the resort and went over to Assateague Island on Saturday for some beach time (more families, less bikers). We went to new restaurants and had a great time. On the way home we stopped in Cambridge for lunch at another waterside place. Now we have to wait until next summer for our next OC fix!
Ksenya's field trip | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
For the first field trip of the year I chaperoned Ksenya to the Anne Arundel County Fair (see pictures here ). She hung out all day with her best friend Rachel, but got to ride some rides with other friends from her class. We saw some exhibits, animals, and the kids enjoyed the carnival rides and games.
Small group boat ride | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
Our small group said good-bye to Autumn and Garey Walker last week. Garey is now a pastor at a sister church in Severn, and so we said our good-byes in style on board the beautiful Taishoff power boat. We headed into historic Annapolis and watched the sun go down on the Severn River.
Laurie, Hannah, me.
Gayle, Autumn
Garey getting to drive.
Rob and Jas.
Ego Alley, Annapolis
Sailboats
The view from the front of the boat.
Historic Annapolis at sunset
Julia's first soccer game | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
Julia is playing soccer for her school this year. She's never played before, but a lot of her friends are on the team so she decided to try out. She is having a blast, and they won their first game of the year on Tuesday vs. Rockbridge Academy. Here are some pictures from the game- she is in the white #7 jersey.
Chasing down the ball.
Getting a kick in.
Throwing it inbounds.
We won! Good game.
RUSH concert | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
Julia, Jason and I attended the Rush concert this past weekend, a perennial favorite for all of us. This is Julia's second time to see them and she was just as excited to go as we were. The fans around us were impressed by her- she was dancing and carrying on more that anyone else around. It was an awesome time! (Pics taken by our iphones since they didn't allow cameras, so the quality was pretty poor)
Self portrait of Juju and me (Jason's seat was elsewhere).
Jas came over before the concert to snap this shot.
A 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration at the farm | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel
The whole family descended on the farm to celebrate Joe and Teresa's 50th wedding anniversary (see photos here ). Joe and Teresa had a big bash on Saturday night complete with a newly built deck/dance floor (completed that day by Joe!), a vow renewal and family blessing, slide show, a ringing of the "Jubilee Bell" 50 times for each year of marriage, food, waltzing lessons, and fellowship. We had fun on the farm getting ready for the party and playing with cousins.