Scott's Right Of Way

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Is golf killing my bike riding?  Did walking 9 flat executive holes on Saturday leave my legs sore and crappy on the Sunday Coppi ride?  I don't know, but they were definitely crappy on today's ride.

To give mom some time, me and the boys loaded up the summer distractions (i.e., golf clubs) and ventured to Twin Lakes Golf Course.  Another Fairfax County track.  I played there one or twice a decade ago.  It's full length and very rolling, but the grass in the fairways is 1/2 inch or more long (i.e., kinda shaggy).  I put our name in for 9 holes, fully figuring it was a long shot to get 3 of us out, and if it took too long to wait I was just going to say "no thanks."  Well, no sooner had we walked to the range than they called us on the loudspeaker.  Ok, great.  They tell me to go pay which I do, but when I come back out they tell me to wait.  Apparently the no-shows that we were going to take over had shown at the last minute.  So now they're saying its going to be another 30+ minutes (i.e., like 3pm)  That was going to be later than I wanted, but we wandered to the range for a bit anyway.  I took some video of Jake's swing to show him later the massive sway he has developed.  There are still a lot of very good things in his swing, just some things that we can fix and he'll be money.  Download MVI_3546 (observe the sway).  From behind it's not bad; a little flat on the back swing is causing a little over the top action, but really not far off at all. Download MVI_3545  The sway makes it so that he has to really get his timing right to hit good shots.  When he does (like on the last 3-4 holes of the round) he can crush some long ones, but if the timing is off, and he's too quick, it's going to lead to ugly results.

Liam has a long fluid swing.  He has no sway which is good and clears his left hip well.  Once his hands and arms are stronger we'll work on some of the other things that will give him more control over the club and more distance. Download MVI_3553

We played the front 9 on the Lakes Course, which was rolling but open.  It was too long for Liam from the red tees, but he was able to get his tee shots to the fairway at least on every hole. 

I shot a very solid 40 that should have been 39 or 38.  On the longest par 5 I was 10 yards in front of the green in 2, but made a 6 after too strong a pitch then a fluff chip from only 12 feet away, then a missed 4 foot putt (granted, on bumpy, late weekend greens, but still).  Jake shot a 55, which was pretty good given it was pretty long even from the red tees.

On the par 3 sixth hole 3 guys (who had not been breathing down our necks) yell to play through as we're walking to the green.  now, I'm just off the right side and so is Jake and Liam is just down in front of the green, but we say ok.  Well, these 3 jack asses proceed to hit 3 horrendous shots.  I'm talking one is 25 yards short and right, the other 25 yards short and left and I don't remember where the 3d was, but the guy took forever to actually hit it.  At that point I put my hand up, said "you can wait" and told the boys to go hit their balls.  I'm sorry but if you're going to play through on a par 3, you'd better be able to play better than two kids.  There had better be 3 beautifully struck balls on the green.  They griped at us again from the next tee (as we were walking away, after all 3 of us hit solid drives in the fairway) and I yelled back that we weren't holding them up and they weren't hitting any better than my kids.  They tried to say we were 2 holes behind the group ahead of us, which was bullshit, as the group ahead of us was on the tee of the next hole as we were at the green and we had to wait for them before teeing off on 8 and 9.

On the par 3 8th, Liam cleared the water carry of about 100 yards (just barely), which was super.

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We were late getting home so got take out because we were too late to go to the grocery store for stuff to grill.  Now my legs are sore. 

Feeling The Pressure

Never underestimate the power of nervous pressure during competition. 

Jake and I had fun in our father/son tournament this morning (9 holes at Jefferson District Golf Course).  We were in the 11-13 age bracket.  It was alternate shot, but the kids had to tee off on 1/3/5/7/9 and the parent on the even holes.  This put the pressure on Jake to hit the first shot, and since Jefferson has no driving range, he would have to hit it cold.  I'll give a quick re-count of our round before revealing the results.

Nervous, Jake pulled his 1st tee shot hard left into a ditch.  We had to take a drop, leaving me about 180-200 yards to the green, out of the rough and over water.  I thought about a wedge back into the fairway, but instead went with the choked down 5 wood.  Luckily I striped it onto the center of the green and we 2 putted for a bogey.

On 2 I hit a nice 3 wood, leaving Jake a wedge.  Still nervous, he hit it thin, but it ran up close to the green.  I hit an ok chip and Jake sank a sweet 6 foot putt for par.

On 3, a 125 yard par 3, Jake again hit a very nervous shot skulled well right, leaving me 50 yards but direct behind some trees.  Now it was my turn to hit a bad chip.  I was trying to pitch to the left edge of the green but didn't commit and just skulled it 20 yards through the trees (in hind sight, I probably should have jacked a lob wedge up and over, but I was pretty close to the little trees so I went with what should have been the safer shot).  Jake now had 40 yards over a bunker.  He didn't hit a bad shot, but that kind of distance control comes hard and he left us in the bunker, lying 3.  Pulling out a big shot, however, I holed out from the bunker to get us a very ugly bogey 4.

Hole 4 has a lake along the left, so an easy 5 wood tee shot leaves a 100 yard over water shot to the green.  Jake hit his shot a little fat but it cleared the water and actually left me what should have been a very makeable chip.  But I put to much spin on with my Gap Wedge and it stopped well short.  Jake gave the 10 footer a decent run, but missed so another bogey 5.

Hole 5 is a par 5.  Jake again yanked a tee shot left, putting me in the rough behind trees.  I hit a high 9 over the trees back to the fairway and Jake hit a decent hybrid to about 20 yards in front of the green.  My pitch was just 2 yards too far, hitting the down slope and rolling well past the pin.  Again, Jake made a valiant attempted putt from 20 feet, but it didn't drop so a bogey 6.

Hole 6 is a 240 yard par 4 (they had us playing from tees well forward of the back ones I usually play there).  I thought about using my driver, but opted for a safer 3 wood that would put us up by the green but not risk a big miss.  Jake hit a very decent 20-30 yard pitch onto the green and we 2 putted for par.

On hole 7, a short par 3, Jake hit a nice pitching wedge but it caught up in the headwind and ended up on the front of the green when the pin was back.  I had a long first putt that I failed to get close enough so a 3-putt bogey.

Hole 8 was the long drive contest for the parents.  I pulled my driver a bit left but it was still long enough to win (262 yards).  Jake then hit a nice 1/2 8-iron to the green.  I finally put the initial long putt close, but in a moment of rush, Jake missed the 3 footer for par (he didn't take his time at all).

Angry from the missed putt, Jake hit a poor tee shot on the short par 4 number 9, but I still had a very reasonable 100 yards.  Unfortunately, the ball was in a fluffy lie in the rough and I caught my Gap Wedge a bit high on the face, leaving it just short of the green, my only really weak shot (other than the chip on 4).  Jake tried to run up an 8 iron chip, but didn't hit it hard enough, leaving a long up hill putt that I gave a decent run but didn't make, so we 2-putted for bogey.

We scored an unimpressive, nerve-induced 43.  It wasn't horrible, but Jake was clearly a little off his game.  When you're only hitting maybe one shot per hole and didn't get to hit on the range it can be hard to find your rhythm and that was clearly the case with Jake.  And we just couldn't get up and down when we needed to.

Still, it was good enough for Second in our age group, only one shot from tying for first.

We won a $25 gift certificate to the pro shop and I got a box of balls for the long drive.  We also each got a pass for a free round as part of the "goodie bag" that everyone got.  Plus we got free lunch.  So, on the whole a very positive result.  Plus we had fun.

Updates From the Summer -- Football, Golf, Bike Rides, and Work

I hear the rumblings that I don't update enough.  Here's an update with words but no images.

Liam had football camp this week.  I couldn't get him to tell me much about it, but according to Loren he had a great time and scored some touchdowns. 

Jake had no camp.  I called Jefferson Golf Course to see what the age was for him to play solo.  The rule is 12, and well, he'll be 12 in a few weeks..... So I told him to convince his mother to take him over and drop him off to play.  Well, they did that on Tuesday.  On some level, this was a real brave step, to go play with complete strangers by himself.  But he had a good time and played pretty well, shooting 12 over for 9 holes.  So, he got mom to drop him off again on Wednesday afternoon.  This time he shot 6 over par for 9 holes, including a tap-in birdie on a par 3.  Super.  Needless to say I've given notice of my retirement to live off his PGA Tour earnings ;-)

I've been getting in good training rides for 4 straight weeks, and I'm pretty tired.  On some level it's base for cyclocross, but I also want to do well in the 35+ 4/5 Giro di Coppi next week.  I think I can do well on the climb-heavy course among the 35+ Cat 4/5s.

Work has gotten a little busy.  I've been working with NextG locally trying to navigate the many many regulatory/government agencies that share jurisdiction over anything you want to deploy in the downtown DC area (Commission on Fine Arts, National Capital Planning Commission, DC DOT, Historic Preservation Office).

Saturday, Jake and I are going to compete in a father/child golf tournament at Jefferson district Golf Course.  It's a part of the Fairfax County Junior Golf program.  It's a alternate shot format.  Should be interesting.  I have no idea how we'll do.  I know I was hitting the ball super last weekend when me and the boys played 9 holes, and I think that Jake is playing well for someone his age, but I have no idea if there are 12 year old boys who are a lot better or if there will be some father that's a 2 handicap.  We'll do our best and try to have fun.  Hopefully we won't be too nervous.

As an aside, my mom sent me this December 1950 Casper Wyoming newspaper article about my grandfather, Bill Loudon.  Pretty interesting, different time.  I forgive him for the Miami support ;-)  Download Loudon  She also sent me this picture from out 2005 visit and insisted that I post it somewhere prominent

Last but not least, I finally got new glasses. My old pair was like 8+ years old, and I accidentally sat on them at Poolesville RR.  The new ones are rimless and very sexy ;-)

Hunting the Tiger -- taking the idol down a notch

Today the boys and I went up to the AT&T National "Hosted by Tiger Woods."  As anyone who knows me knows, I've never been a Tiger fan.  I respect the fact that he's a great golfer, but I don't like the fawning over him by the media and I generally don't root for him.  The boys, being young boys, are bought in to the Tiger mystique, just like their support for the Red Sox and Patriots (although I'm happy that they also like other players).  So, Tiger was teeing off at 8:12.  We got out of the House around 7:30 and were in the parking lot at 7:50, but the line for the shuttle buses was insane this year.  We waited 30 minutes to get on a bus and then had a 20-ish minute ride to Congressional.  That was a failure on their part this year.

We wandered around the 4th green at first, then wandered over to the 2nd Green.  Based on the groups coming through I figured out that Tiger's group would be home in a while, so we sat there, with a great location behind the green where we could see the tee shots on this 235 yard uphill par 3.  It was a tough hole, and our strategy worked.  We had a great view when Tiger's group came through, even though 9 million people descended on us.  Interesting comment, everyone hit a wood, even Tiger had to hit a 5 wood.

After that passed, we moved down to the tee area and watched Ricky Barnes tee off.  It was getting to be late morning, so we headed down toward the clubhouse/range area.  We got some lunch and sat behind the range.  The boys wanted to hunt the elusive autograph, so we bought them the AT&T National flags from the souvenir shop and set up at the set autograph area where the players come out of the scoring tent after finishing their rounds.  Liam scored a lot (bottom flag), as even the players that were moving quickly took note of cute/small kids.  And candidly, pretty much every player took the time to make their way down the line and sign ever person's (95% kids) hat or program or flag.  I'm talking multi-time major winners like Lee Janzen, Masters Champion Mike Weir, and guys you've never heard of.  Nice guys like Stuart Appleby and JJ Henry, Rich Beem as the rain started to fall, Hunter Mayhan, recent US Open champ Lucas Glover (in silver) among others. 

So, where do you think I'm going with this?  Yep, there was a singular exception to this behavior.  Tiger caused a massive crush of people because he walked right by 90% of the kids, signed maybe a dozen autographs, then moved on.  For the cameras and the contest winners that got taken inside the ropes, he was all smiles, but for the real people, the real kids, he was a total dick (douche bag? jack ass? ass hole? I have more).  So, he may be a superior golfer, but he's a dick of a person.  Take the time to sign autographs for the kids at "your" tournament you pompous dickhead.  And I'm watching just now his interview on the Golf Channel just moments before this and he keeps talking about "helping the kids" through his foundation.  So, as long as they are kids somewhere else that he can just throw money at but not actually deal with in front of him.  Sorry, but he's a phony.  I'm fine with him being a single-minded champion, but let's not pretend for a minute that he's a great guy (reminds me of an interview where Arnold Palmer was talking about Ben Hogan; he said he was a great player but made a point of saying he wasn't a "great guy").

Anyway, moving along, we wandered to the back nine and after following Rocco Mediate and Tim Herron for a bit, we parked ourselves up against the ropes behind the 11th Green.  Again, the strategy was to wait as a couple of groups came through until Anthony Kim (playing with Davis Love and Jim Furyk) came through.  It was good.  The 11th is a brutal par 4, and we saw a bunch of good groups.  Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco, Boo Weekly.  Lots of bogeys, lots of putters slammed.  Fun stuff.  And the Golf Channel caught us on camera when they were focusing on AK.

We wandered back toward the 14th Green and caught those groups again, then needed to start heading back toward the shuttle buses on the front nine.  On the way back, just as we were past the autograph area, I realized that Rocco Mediate was coming through, so we ran back and, unlike el Tigre, Rocco was very nice about signing the kids' flags. 

The bus back to the parking area was blissfully free of lines (although he did take a wrong turn).  A good time was had by all.

As a final comment, with a couple of exceptions, these guys are generally big (i.e. tall) and more and more athletic.  There is clearly some gym time being put in.

Poolesville Road Race/Falls Road Golf Course -- Maybe we need to move to Potomac

Despite not nearly enough training hours since Greenbrier in April, I signed up for the 35+ Masters race at the annual Poolesville Road Race..."for training and humiliation."  Poolesvile is a local classic, with a one mile section of dirt/gravel road, which of course appeals to my cross tendencies.  I had gotten top 15s in the Cat IV race in the past, but that was with full blown cramps during the last lap (42 miles).  The masters race was an additional lap for 53 miles.  I had no expectation of finishing all 5 laps with anything resembling the race.  This is a category driven by Cat Is and IIs.  Elderly freaks of nature; former national champions; current national champions.

I made the mistake of starting way too far back and with the officials agressively enforcing the "center line" rule, moving up was very difficult.  But I thought there would be time to move forward.  But the first time into the dirt road and it was mass chaos.  A bunch of crashes in front of me as people lost it in the loose gravel.  The field split to pieces.  I hammered like a mother to catch up.  Out of the dirt I was with a small group that included my teammate David Woffel, who is stupid strong at 51.  I took some very hard pulls as we tried to catch the next group up the road.  I wasn't sure if they were the front group.  But I took one hard pull too many just as we were getting close, and I was popped.  First lap not even over and I thought I was done.  But I got caught by the next group very quickly and started riding with them.  Another teammate James was in that group of 8 or so, and we worked during the second lap (we didn't work that well together, but we worked), and toward the end of the second lap, after the dirt, we caught the group containing David Wo. and now also containing Bill Cusmano (another 50+ teammate; I can't wait to be 50 so I can strong).  This group was not around 20 strong.  We had 5 coppis, with me, James, David Wo., Bill, and David Wilson.  I quickly realized that we were now in the middle of the 50+ sub-race.  Bill and Dave, with their 700 serious numbers, were racing a guy from NCVC and 2 guys from DC Velo, all in the 50+ sub-race.  I immediately told James that we needed to ride for Bill.  If he could win our group he could be 4th in the 50+ we thought.  This made the whole thing very interesting all of a sudden.  The time splits to the lead group (which went from 5 minutes to 10+) was meaningless.  So I started to work as much as possible to make sure that Bill and David Wi were not on the front working.  More times through the dirt.  I was really hurting by the final lap.  My legs hurt.  But  on the last lap I made sure to mark the active DC Velo guy (Greg) whenever he tried to make a move.  There were some attacks before the dirt but they didn't go anywhere, but they hurt.  Still through the dirt, I made sure Bill was on my wheel and then stayed in the top 3.  The hill after the dirt hurt everyone, then David Wo says to me "Scott, if you've anything left, use it now."  So, I said "now?" and he said "yes."  So, I put my head down and attacked.  I guess to force the DC Velo guys to chase and use energy.  I wasn't out ahead by myself for long; I couldn't hold it.  They came by and I jumped on the back to hold on.  I don't think I was able to help much more after that.  I was on the rivet and my legs were hurting.  David Wi was a monster, driving the pace for the last mile or more.  I couldn't get to the front to help Bill, but he was up front with his main competitor.  After we took the left turn to go back to the finish, they took off in a two up sprint for the finish.  I came across in front of much of the group.  Turns out I was 22nd in the 35+.  Bill couldn't beat the DC Velo guy, but did get 5th in the 50+.

That made the race a lot more interesting and fun.

Saturday evening we went and saw Up.

Sunday, me and the boys played 18 holes at Falls Road Golf Course in Potomac (which is on the way to Poolesville).  It was a little drizzly at first.  Jake unfortunately melted down from the very beginning.  With no warm-up, he was off and immediately became frustrated.  in the meantime, I was playing reasonably well.  Even par through the first 4 holes.  Failure to get up and down was my downfall.  My new, Father's Day present, Odyssey White Hot XG Saber Tooth was generally money, but I had a few 3 putts that were my fault (or in one case the fault of the late day late afternoon bumpy greens).  Ended up shooting 84, which isn't bad.  I wonder what it would be if I weren't dealing with Jake's drama and  Liam's nattering on the greens.  I hit the ball really pretty well.  I was hitting  little fade with my driver, which was unusual, but it played, and my now-ancient Titleist DCI 962 irons were still rock solid.  There is still a "better player" in me, and when you look at these you realize that most hackers would be too scared or unable to hit them.     Although at some point I should take advantage of all this modern technology that's out there.  The guy we played with thought my old Taylor Made Burner Bubble woods were cool in an old school way; he said "aren't those from the 90s; my dad had those" -- ouch.

Our 4th had to leave after the 15th hole, so it was just us 3 for the last 3 holes.  It was nice.  It helped Jake's mood and let us close on a nice note.

Return to Semi-Normalcy

The past 3 weeks were a crush of work -- literally working until 11pm or later and then straight to the office at 8am to start over, then working on weekends and traveling to Seattle for oral argument before the 9th Circuit.  I did not ride my bike at all during the week for the past 2 weeks.  I was able to ride on Saturday and Sunday, but those were not enough to even maintain fitness, just slowing the decline a little.

This weekend work had lifted, so I was able to start re-building my biking fitness, and re-building my relationship with my sons and wife, who had suffered the wrath of my stress and absence.

Saturday morning was supposed to be the last little league game for Liam/my team.  But non-stop rain Thursday and Friday swamped the field.  I got up a little late to catch the 7am ride, and called the County weather line to confirm whether the game was canceled.  The recording from 5:30am said it was so I figured I'd go for a 2 hour ride by myself, enough to get in a little work and remind my legs what they needed to do.  Before I left, however, I thought about whether we would have time to play 18 holes of golf after I got home.  I called Falls Road Golf Course, and they had an opening for 3 at 9am and 11-something.  I was shocked, but the times were less than perfect.  9am left no time for a ride, and 11-something would be too late for us to get back for the 4pm little league team party at the pool....  So instead I called Jefferson District Golf Course, and executive 9 hole course, and, again to my surprise, was able to make a time for 12:45, bingo. 

So I did my ride, on which I felt very so so.  Liam had generously pointed out that he was too tall for the "Blue" set of US Kids Golf clubs that he was using (hand me downs), so I made some calls and we were off to Golfdom, which had the "Orange" set in stock.  It was actually a good deal.  They were having a sale on Junior stuff, so the clubs were 10% off, plus we got a free glove and dozen balls.  I also grabbed Liam a Nike golf shirt that said $32, but rang up at $14, bonus. 

We stopped at a deli in a strip mall in Annondale on the way to the course to grab lunch.  Interesting little place.  Sort of hole in the wall.  Good sandwiches, local color (I had to explain to the boys what I meant by "local color" in describing the various folks that were sitting around us, of the type that one might find at a local hole-in-the-wall on a Saturday morning at 11am).

We scooted the last 5 minutes over the Jefferson and checked in.  The geese had a significant presence, with a bunch of goslings   The round went well.  Personally, I couldn't seem to hit my woods off the tee (not even my 5 wood), but I hit some crisp irons and made a few putts.  Jake started off really well, but melted down on number 7 (a trend).  Liam was the revelation of the day.  I was a little worried that the new clubs would be too heavy, but after the first hole he started to just crush them straight and pure.  I mean, to the point where by the final hole, it was to his brother's great irritation because Liam was out-driving Jake (who was in full melt-down). The single that was put with us was a very nice guy, very good (played essentially par).  He remarked that they were both very good and that they had the same swing, which I thought was interesting because I think they are fairly different.   the guy in the blue behind Liam was HORRENDOUS. 

Saturday evening we went to the team party at Overlee, which was nice.  Bill Porter (head coach and neighbor), when giving Liam his trophy called Liam "the spirit of the team," which I thought was both nice and an interesting observation.  He's not the biggest (or the smallest) but he's a scrappy player who was really hitting well, and who focused on trying to do well. 

So, Sunday I went on the Coppi team ride, which went fairly well.  I was able to stay with the front group all the way through the dreaded "rollers."  I was the last coming up out of Great Falls Park, however, and had been left behind.  Some guy who I don't know (apparently a Cat 2 or former Cat 2 from California) was really nice and valiantly tried to pull me and Dave Battan across the gap to catch the main group, but after a 5 minute effort over threshold I couldn't hold his wheel any longer (he fairly quickly bridge up to them at that point, he had been holding back).  So Dave and I rolled back into town together.  Had a nice talk along the way.

As soon as I got home, the boys were in the basement wanting to go play golf again.  We tried driving up to Falls Road to see if we could get slotted in to play 9 holes, but they were booked up all afternoon, so we drove back around the beltway to Jefferson.  They were busy, but we chipped for 30-45 minutes, and luckily the starter was able to squeeze us out at around 3pm.  The round went a lot like Saturday's.  We all played reasonably on the first few holes (ok, I played poorly, but at least I wasn't duffing my tee shots 30 yards in front of the red tees).  On the par 3 number 3, we all scored 4s after our tee shots were all right around the green. This of course is much more impressive for them than me; I birdied the hole on Saturday; Sunday I hit a nice shot out of the bunker but just missed the 4-5 foot putt.  On number 4, you hit out to the fairway and then can cut across a lake (the fairway goes around the lake in an L shape).  Jake again was able to easily clear the lake (going long over the green in fact).  I did the same, hitting too much Gap Wedge to the back of the green.  Liam wanted to have a go, so I told him he got one try and we pulled out an old ball.  He gave it a mighty wack that would have cleared, but was too much of a low line drive that hit smack into the bank of the lake at the other side.  On the par 3 number 7, Liam had a legit 3 for par (hitting his 6 iron, too much club, long over the green, then chipping down and making the 4 foot putt for par).  Jake and I butchered the very short hole (thus starting day 2 of the Jake melt down).

It was 6pm by the time we got done.  Tired and hungry.  It was a long weekend.  Lots of fun.  I think the bike in the morning golf in the afternoon plan will continue through the summer.  Loren did something while we were gone, who knows what, but I'm fairly sure she was happy with our extended absence so she could knit and tend her budding garden.

Now, I have to order Jake some new clubs.  He's very much outgrown the last set and I can pretty much see the shafts flexing.  No one has his size in stock, so I'm going to order them on-line, where he and I found a deal through the manufacturer.

Too Busy To Talk

Still no time for blogging or bike riding or anything.  Worked quite a bit this weekend.  Saturday, did the 7am ride, and was in the office before 10.  Prepping for 9th Circuit oral argument in T-Mobile v. City of Anacortes.  Was able to get out in early afternoon, and had time to take the boys to the driving range (no time to play 9 holes).  I continue to hit the ball well; Jake was struggling a little.  But then we played around on the putting green, and Jake won $1.50 off me and Liam playing for 25 cents a hole (one of us would choose a spot and the one who got down in the fewest putts won 25 cents; I paid Liam's debts).

Sunday I did a 3 hour solo ride that went a little bad for the last 45 minutes when I ran out of water and fuel.  It was hotter than I had expected.  So I was really dehydrated for the last stretch into town.

I was home by 11 so we could go to the Nationals v. Orioles game at 1:30.  Bill Porter had given us his tickets (great seats).  We got totally screwed trying to get there because of f'ing rolling thunder (what crap; whatever meaning that may have once had is now gone; it's just an excuse to take over the roads), but we got there in plenty of time.  So that was fun.

Here's a picture, not the best, but what I have available right now:

A trip to Phoenix in pictures

No time for many words so I'm going to dump some photos on you of our trip to Scottsdale/Phoenix this past weekend for the Bar Mitzvah of the son of Loren's Cousin Michelle (nka Shelley).  We went out Friday morning.  We were able to go to Pinnacle Peak Park for some hiking, but it was hellishly hot (like 105) so the hike was not super long.  We were able to go back to the pool and hang with various incoming relatives, Loren's dad Jack; her Aunt and Uncle Gary and Rona (Rona being Loren's mom's (RIP) sister); and Loren's brother Justin and his girlfriend (new-ish so first meeting) Yannah (spelling?).  Liam fell asleep at the big dinner out, even though we insisted that we go at 6pm local time (because it was 9pm our time and we had been up since 5am).

Saturday we got up at 4:30am, hit the gym then the driving range (with borrowed irons out of the pro shop's bag), then suited up for the Bar Mitzvah.  That was interesting.  Jake was placed at the table with all of Addison (the bar mitzvah boy) friends, so there he was the odd kid out.  I told him to pretend he was 14 (he was taller than many of the 13 year olds), but he didn't have the guts to do it.  Liam danced around a bit (video at the bottom if you make it all the way down).  More pool time then hanging at Michelle's house that evening with a gaggle of relatives, including Loren's other aunt and uncle, Braham and Jackie (Braham being Loren's mom's little brother), who were Addison's grand parents.  Also there was Loren's other cousin, Karee (spelling? sounds like Ka-ree).

Big free breakfast at the hotel Sunday morning then the long flight home.

Officially damn hot   up we go The valley of the sun. I am icy cool Liam melting near the top Liam is "Suited Up" let the ladies beware. Braham and Rona foreground (Jack blowing nose) Karee Loren and Michelle/Shelley Karee's husband/Braham/Yannah/Justin/Karee Loren and Aunt Jackie

And as a reward for making it this far...video of Liam dancing Download MVI_3360 (it's a big file, be patient)

Great Exchanges In History

Scene: Me, Jake, Liam, driving home from the store yesterday.
Backstory: we are going to a Bar Mitzvah in Arizona later this month.

Liam: "How long will the Bar Mitzvah last?"
Me: "I don't know; do you mean the actual ceremony or the party afterward?"
Liam: "I guess the ceremony"
Jake: "You mean the [insert hebrew word here]"
Me: "I don't know what it's called.  I'm not jewish"
Jake (exclaiming): "well I don't know; I don't pay attention!"

We all laughed. 

A few minutes later:

Liam: "who pooted?" (i.e. farted)
Me: "It wasn't me; who did?"
Liam: "Me"
Jake: "Me"
Liam: "Happy Birthday!"

More laughter

When Mom's Away...

Saturday was the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, so Loren was off to the Howard County Fairgrounds at 7:30 AM, this foolishly left me and the boys to fend for ourselves.  I really should have ridden on my trainer at 7AM, but didn't get up in time.  Our first stop was Liam's 9 AM baseball game.  I'm the assistant coach again this year, sharing duties with Bill Porter down the street (the league screwed my Saturday training for 1.5 months by scheduling us for 9AM Saturday games pretty much every weekend; 10AM would have given me time to do the 7AM ride and get home, but oh, no).  It was a pretty good game.  Liam had a great day at the plate, hitting the ball solidly every time.  on the 3d time up, he hit a strong line drive that a kid caught (which wouldn't have happened against many other teams).

After the game we had to return Jake's new suit.  We're going to the Bar Mitzvah of Loren's Nephew (who we've never met) in Arizona later this month, so Loren had gotten the boys suits from Syms during the week.  Well, somehow she bought Jake a suit (even though he tried it on) that he couldn't even close the waist on.  We took it back, and the tailor couldn't believe they had sold it to us, so we exchanged it for a different size (a "husky" -- needless to say, someone has been talked to about increased exercise and decreased volume of food).  While we were there we also scored Liam the necessary dress shoes.

This was also "picture day" for little league, so we had to go to Barcroft Community Center by 1PM.  So after Syms we ran home to get Liam's uniform back on, then made our way to Subway (the boys love it).

So the question was, what to do after pictures.  I had been thinking that maybe we'd go play 9 holes at Falls Road Golf Course (i.e., a full sized course), but It was 2PM, so a little late to go all the way to Potomac and play a 2.5+ hour 9 holes.  So I called Oak Marr, figuring 9 holes of Par 3s would be quicker.  We were able to get on pretty much as soon as we could get there.  It was a really good round.  All 3 of us hit very solid shots off the first tee (Jake played from the back Blue tees with me and Liam played from the front Red tees).  Liam was right off the front left of the green, I was on the green, and Jake was pin high about 7 yards off the green to the right.  In a trend, I 3 putted, Jake chipped on and 2 putted, and Liam chipped on and putted a couple times.  On 2 Jake popped up his tee shot a bit, but then hit a really nice sand wedge; Liam had hit a solid screamer of a drive and also was on in 2 (me, green and 3 putt).  On 3, which is 187 yards from the back tee, with water for the first 100 yards (so not really in play, unless your a kid).   Well Jake flubbed his first tee shot into the water, but I had him re-tee and he proceeded to hit a beautiful 4-hybrid right up next to the front of the green; he chipped up and made the putt for a 3 from the back tees (I finally sank a putt for par); the 4th hole was 200 yards from the back tees (another GIR for me, thanks).  Jake's wheels started coming off a little with a bad tee shot, but he had some nice shots as well.  I don't remember the rest of the round shot by shot (lucky you) but assume several more bogeys for me from failure to get in the putts, but really nicely struck irons, if I do say so; Jake slowly became more angry with himself.  On 7, which was 152 yards from the Red Tees, Liam scored a legitimate 4, tying his sad-putting father; essentially a birdie for Liam.  I hit a super 7 iron right over the flag on 8, which was 150 yards all over water.  More importantly, neither boy went into the water (I had them aim left; Jake would have cleared it but aimed left then hit a little pull draw).

Loren called while we were about mid-round.  She was home (I was kinda surprised she was home so soon).

so we had baseball and golf.  Jake really has a lot of game and a lot of potential.  Liam likewise is improving.  The beer and chicks will have to wait until another day ;-)

Today I did penance with 3 hours on the bike in the rain.