It's Tee Ball Season (Goooooo Red!)

Spring Broke Update: Old Rag Climb

So we did make it out of the house for Spring Broke. We made it all the way to the top of Old Rag. According to the National Park Service, the Old Rag circuit is 8.8 miles. Climbing to the summit required serious rock scrambling, a feat the kids relish. We took the "easy" way back which is 4.5 miles of well-worn trails and a fire road. The kids did a great job all the way, though we all got a little crabby for the last mile or so. Some photos from along the way:







Picture of what we think was the summit from about half way up.

















Sibling harmony. Even if pretend.












Wind picking up as we got higher. Note Jordy's birthday shirt.













Getting closer to the summit!















It's cold at the top!

A More Perfect Union

I missed Barack Obama's remarkable speech last week. So B and I watched it and put it on the speakers outside so D could listen in. By the end, I had to explain to B why I was tearing up. Listening, it was hard to think of anyone else who could credibly give it. I have heard, in person, a number of speeches by Rev. Jesse Jackson, an incredible orator. In many of them he addressed some of the same themes: the need to address the lingering sources of racial hostility and how economic justice for all renders racial scapegoating inert. But Obama can tell the same story (or perhaps a refined version) with a credibility--to all races, I hope--never seen before. So here it is for anyone who has (whether by choice or vocation) 37 minutes in front of a computer.

Spring Broke

Welcome to spring break. My daughter tells me we are the only family in Northern Virginia not going to the far reaches of the Disney-defined world. We might go to the Mint, or Old Rag, or the Mighty Midget, or Chancellorsville, or good old Shenandoah National Park. So sad.

Kite Day

Beautiful windy day here in ONC. We hauled out the kite and headed down to the Mall. Forgot the camera, but the cell phone captured this one:

W.G. Selby and Brokaw Wander UT Campus

Following up on the Heck Yeah video below, Brokaw and Selby wandered the UT campus and talked the Texas primary. This clip ran before the Texas primary, of course.