I finally know what I want to be...

...when I grow up. Or, when I continue to refuse to grow up I guess is more appropriate. Tonight was the final class and "performance" for JAM and I at our Parent-Child Circus Camp. This is the same class that I posted about the other day where I got to take out a little aggression on JAM. We had an absolute blast each Wednesday for a few weeks, learning a lot about juggling, stilt walking, diablo, devil sticks, partner gymnastics, etc. If you've never had a chance to see Greg May in action we really do recommend it. Greg has risen to become something of a mythical creature in our house with JAM being enthralled with him for years and Red and Pudge soon following along. In fact, Greg's high-pitched, laugh-inducing "It's NOT FUNNY!" has been known to ring out loud and proud around our house.

Yes, JAM and I got our chance to perform (let's just call that a loosely defined term) tonight, for a huge audience (i.e. about 20 people made up of friends and families of the campers). We had so much fun that I had to post about it here and share the glory that graced the Greenbelt Gym this evening...

Here's JAM and I with "Circus Greg" as he's been dubbed around our house -

Some of the crew:

The whole class getting into the mix with some different group stacking:

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The lighting in that gym is horrendous. We don't usually look as... well... yellow I guess. Wifey did her best, while being tapped with child-wrangling duties as well, to get some pictures but the videos (below) are much more fun to watch.

Our first trick - juggling. I spent pretty much my whole time getting better at juggling. I started knowing how to do the basic three-ball weave but by the end I was able to do the tricks you'll see here -

This is JAM performing with some spinny thing but I can never remember its rightful name -

Here's JAM again with the diablo. He does a very cool trick but then it gets all tangled on him -

JAM with his best trick by far - spool walking. Dude got so good at this he could go all the way down the length of two mats -

I gotta say - I'm most proud of this -

Here's JAM and I getting a little creative... then a little crazy -

And finally, we ended it up with this huge merry-go-round trick -

As you can tell, I absolutely loved my Wednesdays. Huge thanks to Wifey for making it possible for JAM and I - I can't wait until next year.

Snowpocalypse 2010

Wow! Now that was a storm! Being a NY transplant to a state much further south, I've been wishing for this for years. We got a good one back in December and, except for the delayed visit from my beautiful K, we were so thankful for the winter wonderland we were able to go out and enjoy. Kids need to be able to go out and play in this type of weather. Some of the only childhood memories I haven't repressed are from great times outside in huge snowstorms back home. :)

With the storm finally over we bundled up the three amigos and took a short walk (in distance only, short legs in deep snow makes for a lengthy stroll) around the neighborhood to see what Mother Nature had done to our community. With pictures rolling in to Facebook from friends all over we had to bring our camera with us to document the event. The little legs of two members of our party were very tired by the time we got back home, and the legs of the two biggest ones were pretty sore as well from having to bushwhack our way through the 2+ feet of untouched snow coming back to our house. I carried Red through, put her down on the other side and went back for Pudge so Wifey could concentrate on not slipping and breaking an ankle. By the time we got home I was ready to crawl into a hot tub... wish we had one of those.

Enjoy the pics-

- Pudge, ready for battle.

- The snowbank on our back patio is taller than JAM. Pudge doesn't even stand a chance.

- Mondo icicles hanging from our roof. And yes, our Christmas lights are still up. Don't judge me.

- Snow up to Wifey's thighs.

- It's about to swallow Red!

- Pudge to the rescue.

- My angel making an angel.

- My van's in there... somewhere.

I love snowy trees. My favorite photo of all time is Ansel Adams' Oak Tree, Snow Storm. I know. poofta.

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- Our driveway, absolutely untouched. I don't think I'll be at work on Monday.

- Do we finally throw in the towel when we see the monster tow truck stuck in the snow?

Um... would someone tell these people to get the hell out of the road?

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- Resting in a snow bank on the side of the road. Stay classy Greenbelt.

| - Dunno, just liked it.

- All was quiet on our abandoned roads.

We walked down to the soccer/baseball field down the street to see how it looked. The snow was way too deep to do much but we played for a minute.

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- Cars just absolutely buried.

- Quiet road at sunset.

Our new playground. Wonder why no one was around?
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Check out this zoomed pic. Don't think I've ever seen something like this - the snow stacked up on the kiddy swings. This will be fun to think about during those hot summer days playing at the playground.


- Poor Pudge, with his little legs, was not at all happy about walking back up the hill. Especially as the snow plow hadn't been by yet and we were having to walk in tire ruts.

- Untouched snow - it was really pretty out. And so quiet.

- If ever a sign was not needed, this was it.

- Looking back down the hill at the buried cars. They're not going anywhere anytime soon.

- Guess who's had enough?

- The wind was playing cool tricks with the snow in between the houses near us.

- Us. Wifey commented that we hadn't taken any pics, just us, in a long time. Well, consider that oversight rectified.

A Winter Wonderland

With all the trials and tribulations that the snow has brought with it this weekend it's nice to see that we can still get the munchkins outside and have some fun. Well, fun with a whole lot of hard work on the part of their parents that is. There was a whole lot of shovelin' goin' on around here today, and not a whole lot to show for it. Without further ado... today in pictures...

The three amigos getting ready to face the blizzard head on-

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Fun times were had by all... wish I could have grabbed more of it before the camera card filled up. :)

As I was just about ready to go in JAM saw that his friend from next door was coming outside so they played for a few minutes, which was cool. He said goodbye pretty soon though as his hands were blue. He had gone through three pairs of gloves by the time he finally called it quits.

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Not a lot of pics taken during play time though because while the kids were having fun Wifey and I were working out butts off trying to shovel out at least the first 8 inches or so. We knew it was going to continue to snow but I don't think we expected it to wipe away our hard work so quickly. Here's a couple pics of the area right after we got done shoveling. Notice the nice layer of snow already covering everything?

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Now, check these before/after pics out. I've never seen so much snow come down so quickly here in DC. The before pics were taken right around 11am and the after were at about 3:30.

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These were taken around 1pm with the snow really coming down. Notice the larger piles of shoveled snow? Yeah, this is after the second shoveling. And notice the layer of snow on the ground again? It was just disheartening, that's what it was.

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By 3:30 the accumulation really showed. Remember our "cleaned off" car from a few hours before in the pic above? Notice the difference between our van (the one on the right of the two) vs. our neighbor's car? We'd cleaned about 8 inches off of it already but you'd never know it until you looked in comparison to the other.

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After nap the kids were itching to get back outside. While I stayed in to fight with Air Tran (their automated system hung up on me more than 2 dozen times and their web site refused to let me reschedule!) Wifey brought the amigos out to try a little sledding. And by little I mean LITTLE.

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Some other random pics of the day... and bear with me, I'm feeling artsy. You'll see...

- I call this one "Forgotten" - looks like a toy that belongs on the island of misfit toys.

- A pic of the ol' homestead. Quite different from this one taken in April huh?


- Our road, all peaceful in the snow.

- I call this one - "Freaking Nuts" :) What were these people thinking??? You know what? We saw people out walking all day! Most of them were coming down the road with shopping bags from K-Mart. Guess they didn't get the memo - you're supposed to stock up on TP and milk the day BEFORE the storm.

- Our little home, all decked out in snow.

Here's another before/after, taken today vs. in April. This is looking down our road from the middle of the intersection, normally a VERY busy 6-lane highway. It was surreal standing in the middle of this intersection on a Saturday afternoon, without a car in sight.
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More from the intersection - the quiet was just eery.

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- I call this one "Potential"

- and this one "Alone"

I love how these trees look when it snows. I think about getting a picture of them every year but I never do. Well - guess I can cross that off my list now.
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My poor lights got absolutely buried. I knew they would, but I didn't really think it would get so deep. Still, it looks pretty cool.
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There you have it, the day in pictures. It's now 12:30 and the snow has stopped. Let's hope the hard working snow plow drivers at National Airport can get their runways cleaned off by noon tomorrow huh?