My last day in Silver Spring ...

On my last full day in Silver Spring I took the the boys to school as usual, picked them up afterwards, and then tried to get some leftovers on the table for dinner in time for Marta's arrival home from Kenya to a joyous welcome from all concerned (but not before she had a frustratingly long ride home from the airport on the "Super Shuttle"). The homecoming was marred a bit by a mini-crisis with Micah, but Mark got home from work before Marta's arrival and the "incident" was properly handled with paternal authority.

My flight out was the next day at Noon (Friday, 9/17), and all went well on the trip back to Oregon. It was a great time spent with three very special grandsons -- and also with Mark as we worked together on some house-and-yard improvements! - rw

Running in the rain ...

... Well, it wasn't actually raining much -- mostly a drizzle -- but the course for Mark's half-marathon on Sunday morning from Rockville to Bethesda
was definitely wet and muddy in spots due to quite a bit of rain before the 7:00 a.m. start. Mark just barely missed finishing under 2 hours (actual time: 2 hrs., 16 seconds due to a "start" almost 10 min. after the initial gun), but he was very happy about exceeding his pre-race estimate of approx. 2 hrs., 15 minutes. Daniel, Eli, Micah and I left the house at about 8:15 for our drive to the finish line in Bethesda and arrived in plenty of time. Since Mark had to teach Sunday School at church at 10 a.m. (!) there was little time for a shower and a change of clothes and absolutely no time for a celebratory breakfast. But, we actually made it to Sunday School in time! - rw

On the Soccer Pitch ...

Without a doubt, grandson Eli Woodward is outstanding in his field (soccer, that is!). So, on Saturday, 9/11, both Daniel and Eli had soccer games in different locations,

so Mark and Micah took Daniel and I took Eli. Eli's team had 12 boys show up, so the coaches of both teams decided to split the teams and play 4-on4 (with 2 subs) in two different games on adjacent fields. Eli scored a goal and did a great job so it was a delight to watch him in action. (In the middle picture, Eli, #6, and his buddy Alec, #5, are getting important pointers from the coach.)

It was a beautiful day in the D.C. area -- with the temperature in the high 70's and the humidity low. - rw

Labor Day Week-end in Silver Spring

Labor Day 2010 in the D.C. area was blessed with beautiful weather -- temperatures in the mid 80's with low humidity. Mark had planned for some time to seize the day by taking the boys on a hike. So ... when Moges and Donica arrived at Eccleston St. with the boys (+ a friend who had joined Daniel, Eli and Micah for a sleepover at their place on Sunday night), we had 6 boys and 4 adults for the trek in two cars to Great Falls National Park on the Potomac River.
All kinds of other folks had the same idea, so there was a long line of cars waiting to enter the park gate, but we parked, gathered up our lunch stuff and headed out on the River Trail. We probably hiked less than 2 miles in all, but it was a nice day.



The week-end also included baking some brownies and lots of time on the trampoline for the boys. (We'd finally set-up the trampoline just prior to the week-end.) - rw