Spring Blossoms

I'm still catching up on my photos from spring break.  We drove most of the way back from Orlando on Saturday.  Easter Sunday morning we got up and finished the drive.  We encountered a bit of unexpected traffic and didn't get back into Loudoun County until about noon, so I was disappointed we missed church.

We arrived at home to find a simply stunning array of spring blossoms around our house that weren't there when we left on vacation, so I had to grab my camera.

You can see the trees were damaged by the weight of the snow back in February.

While the beauty of spring inspired me to get my camera, for some odd reason it inspired the boys' entrepreneurial spirit.

The lemonade stand didn't work out so well, and the boys wanted to go for a bike ride.  So we went for a ride around the neighborhood.

First the boys wanted to ride over to the Broadlands Shopping Center to see if the fountain was turned on yet.  (It was.)  They specifically wanted to make a wish and throw a coin in, and they brought their own coins.  They even brought an extra coin for me so I could make a wish, too.

Then we rode over to one of the nearby playgrounds where I got to exercise my arms a bit.

It was a very nice afternoon to unwind and enjoy spring before heading back to work and school the following day.

Welcome Spring!

What a gorgeous day we had in NoVA today!

Although the trees are still mostly bare, we have signs here and there - a preview of coming attractions:




We got the bicycles down out of the garage ceiling hoists for the first time this year.


This was the first time for 6 year old YB riding on tagalong with me while 8 year old ES rode on his own bike.


We had a great time. After two long laps around our neighborhood, ES was tired and went in the house, but YB wanted to keep going (go figure - he wasn't really pedaling). I captured some AWESOME video of YB singing a joyful song with lyrics something along the lines of:

I'm having fun,
I'm having fun,
This is the best weekend ever,
This is the best weekend ever,
I'm having fun
Without [ES] disturbing me,
I want to do this again tomorrow,
I want to do this again tomorrow,
This is the best weekend ever.

Or something like that. (The video is posted to Facebook for my family and friends' amusement.)

Stupid Kevin Tricks, Vol 37, Ed 5,842

I managed to draw the first blood of the season. I hadn't even gotten on my bike to start our ride. As I was swinging my leg over the bike, my foot got caught in between the seat and the frame, and the momentum of me swinging my leg over caused all of my body weight to go toppling over onto the other side of the bike without being able to put my foot down to stop me (because it was stuck in the bike frame).

Woops.

Smoooooooth. Yep, that was pretty embarrassing. My wonderful wife was standing right there when it happened, and she very kindly stifled her laughter and got the first aid kit.

A tootsie roll pop sure made it feel better though. :-)

Ahh, Spring!

It's a rainy gray spring morning here in Ashburn, so I thought I'd take a moment to catch you up on what we've been up to (at least for those of you who REFUSE to join Facebook ;-) ).

It was the week of Spring Break for our kids. Last weekend, mother nature teased us with some really gorgeous weather. We bought some new bicycles at Spokes Etc. We figured it was about time - my wife and I have each had our bicycles for over 10 years now and they've gotten pretty beat up. Plus, I figured it's an incentive to get ES interested in learning to ride a bike without training wheels. We spent some time practicing last weekend while the weather was nice.

I also decided to start up the MGB for the first time this year and took turns giving the boys a ride around town.

ES and I going for a ride in my Limited Edition 1979 MGB

I inherited a love of MGs from my Dad. We frequently had one MG model or another as I was growing up. They are by NO means reliable cars, but they're fun to drive and the engine is simple enough that even I can work on it by myself. I was rather surprised that the MG started up on the first try and ran like a champ during our spin around Ashburn. Part of that is thanks to this awesome battery charger thing that I keep it plugged in over the winter.

Battery Charger

ES took the camera with him on his ride with me.

Spring Break Road Trip

We went for a two day road trip across Virginia. Although it wasn't intentional, our timing seemed to be perfect for avoiding the crowds. For anyone else in the DC area looking for a local getaway, I highly recommend following the path we took:

Day 1:

Left home about 9 a.m. and drove down to Luray Caverns. Got there about 11 a.m. and spent a little over an hour in the caverns.

The pictures on the Luray Caverns website don't give you an idea for the vast size of the caverns, so I tried to take these pictures with my family in them to show the relative size of things.

This is Dream Lake. At first, it seems like stalactites above and stalagmites below, but you'll notice it's a perfect mirror image above and below. Yes, that's water on the bottom giving a perfectly crisp and clear reflection of the stalactites above.

When we arrived, there was no line and we walked right in. No crowds at all. When we left, a lot more people had arrived and there was a line waiting to buy tickets.

We ate lunch at the little cafe at the caverns - big mistake. Do yourselves a favor and pack a lunch or go somewhere else.

After lunch we went through the Car and Carriage Museum right next to the caverns (admission to the caverns gets you into the museum, too). That was really cool - I highly recommend it.

Blunoz Self Portrait in the Car and Carriage Museum

They had about three dozen really nicely restored antique cars.
All of them were pre-WWII vintage.

RR... what more can I say?

Then we drove on down to Charlottesville, VA, had a really good Mexican dinner and spent the night in a hotel.

Day 2:

We got up and went to see Monticello first thing in the morning after breakfast in the hotel. Again, when we got there we waltzed right in - parked in the front row, no lines, no waits, bought our tickets, got on the shuttle bus, and rode directly up to the house. When we left at lunch time, there were crowds of people around the visitors center and lines of people waiting and the parking lot was full. I was glad we went first thing in the morning instead of driving down to Monticello from the DC area like everybody else had.

Panorama Family Photo on the west lawn of Monticello.

View south from the west lawn.

Blunoz Self Portrait on the northwest side of Monticello.

YB enjoys a quiet moment while the adults learn
about the boring vegetable garden nearby.

Happy YB enjoying a piggy-back ride from Grandpa.

ES checks out Thomas Jefferson's gravesite.

Collage of Monticello Spring Flowers

Living in Hawaii sure gave me an appreciation for flowers. The spring flowers at Monticello were wonderful, and I took a LOT of pictures. My wife accused me of being a "girl" for taking so many pictures of flowers.

We stopped to do some wine tasting on the way home and had some dinner at the Blue Ridge Grill in Brambleton. Multiple friends of ours have raved about how good the Blue Ridge Grill is, and we weren't disappointed. Great food and service with reasonable prices.

Wine tasting at Prince Michel vinyards.

Grandma played chess with the boys while
LW, Grandpa, and I enjoyed the wine tasting.

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend and get some time off to enjoy the season.

Happy Easter!

(J&J - there are more pictures, but you'll have to join Facebook if you want to see them ;-) ).