2012 | JuJu, JackMatt, and K

Fall festivals | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 12:45:12 -0400

Navy vs. San Jose | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:45:15 -0400

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

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:45:15 -0400

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

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:45:13 -0400

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.

Ocean City September 2012 | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:45:15 -0400

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

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:45:14 -0400

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

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:45:20 -0400

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

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:45:14 -0400

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

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:45:20 -0400

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

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 12:45:12 -0400

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.

First Day of School | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:45:13 -0400

The kids' first day of school was a happy one. They were all excited to see their friends again and check out their new teachers. Ksenya is now in the main school building as a big first grader, and the boys are right next door in separate second grade classes. Julia, of course, is in 7th grade at the middle school which is about 1 1/2 miles from the lower school campus.

Outside our house just before leaving for school.

Matt in his classroom (Mrs. Thomas' class)

Jack bringing in his supplies to Mrs. Parsley's class

Ksenya is checking out her desk in Mrs. Alvarez's class.

Jason took Julia to school separately since she had so MUCH stuff to bring inside so I didn't get a shot of her in her classroom.

A South Carolina trip

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 18:24:06 -0400

Here are some photos from our trip to South Carolina to see Meme. Michelle came with her boys Trey and Jaden at the same time and we had a blast all together. One of Mom's wonderful neighbors dropped off several water toys, including a kayak and jet ski. He also stopped by several times to give the kids rides on his mini-tugboat and to pull the kids on tubes behind his fishing boats. Trey and Julia even got to waterski. Thanks "Uncle Walt"! We also went to EdVenture, the children's museum in Columbia, as well as blueberry picking (a new favorite). The Strayers now leave near Columbia and we met up with them one day to tube the Saluda River. It was a great week!

Ksenya's first swim meet | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:45:19 -0400

Ksenya was SO excited to swim for our neighborhood swim team this summer. Her first meet was away- she won both her heats in the 25yd freestyle and backstroke (but DQed for the freestyle because she stood up just before she touched the wall- rookie mistake). She was a fast little swimmer and made it all the way to the gold championship meet at the end of the season- not bad for a kid who has never really learned the mechanics of swimming until now.

Getting ready for her first race.

Swimmers ready!

Now for her second race… the backstroke. Here she gets to sit next to her best "summer friend."

Hanging out with the Clearys and friends during the meet.

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Vidoe of her first public appearance at the backstroke. Once she learned not to stop she was… unstoppable!

Last day of school | JuJu, JackMatt, and K | MellyMel

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:45:21 -0400

Yeah! First post on the new blog! I'm going to backtrack here and am even going to change the date so that it more closely lines up with events. So sorry about the lack of a blog this whole summer. Anyway, back to the end of the year… Matthew's teacher Mrs. Knight retired after several decades of teaching. Matthew loved his teacher and gave her a hug on the last day of school which was captured by the school photographer and was on the school website as the lead photo for quite a while this summer (you can still see it in some of the school's advertising). So cute. He's been trying to email her this summer to keep in touch.