The Ol' Ballgame

We took the twins up to Frederick to see a baseball game Saturday night. It was the Frederick Keys hosting the Kinston Indians. It was a fun trip, although not without some problems.

The twins weren't that interested in the game itself, but they loved being there. And they loved the food. They had a hot dog, some popcorn, and some chocolate ice cream, which they managed to cover themselves with. Adam and his mom went to get some food, and Adam came back carrying the bucket of popcorn. A man in the row behind us said, "That bucket is bigger than you are, boy!"

Tessa loved the dogs. One dog was "Keyote," the mascot, that walked around the stands. Another dog caught frisbees on the field between innings.

The twins were also concerned about our car. Some foul balls went back over the grandstand into the parking lot in front of the stadium. A loud crash would be played over the loudspeakers. Adam would ask, "Is our car alright, Dad?"

We left early, which was good timing. A strong thunderstorm blew threw the area and it started raining just as we were driving out of the parking lot in our undamaged car. The problems we had were on the way out. Tessa showed her stubborn streak and ran away from us when we were trying to leave. We had to chase her around to get a hold of her. The Missus and I both worry that this is only a small taste of what is to come. I don't know what I'm going to do when she gets older!

Above are a couple of pictures of the twins that I took at the game. Below is a picture of the thunderstorm that followed us home from Frederick.

Hi-Op

The other day, Adam woke me up. "Let's go to Hi-Op and get some pancakes," he said. My boy! (It's a better name, anyway.)

Here's a picture of the twins that I took at the Tyson's Corner Galleria last month. We were there to celebrate both Mother's Day and the Missus' birthday. We had lunch at Maggiano's. It was tasty, but no Hi-Op.

In the Dark

Last week, I huge thunderstorm came through the area. It was early afternoon and a few of my fellow managers and I were at work, stuck in a "skip-level" meeting with our boss's boss's boss. First we heard the rain hitting the roof of the building. Next, although we were in a conference room in the middle of the building and with no windows, we heard the rain pounding against the windows of the offices across the hallway. There was a lot of thunder, then boom, no lights. A few emergency lights went on, but not much light reached into the conference room. The boss kept the meeting going for another hour, while we sat there in the dark.

I hope that's not some metaphor for our whole project.

On the way home, it was quite an adventure due to all the traffic lights that were not working. After I finally made it across the ferry, I saw that some trees had fallen down on the access road. The winds broke the trees right in the middle. Weird. When I got home, I kicked myself for not taking a picture.

I remembered to take one the next morning, as you can see.

I am a Prince

I am a Prince and I must find
a Princess who is true and kind
Through hills and dales I'll search the land
until I take my true love's hand

A conservative estimate of the number of times the Missus and I have heard this song would reach into the hundreds of thousands. I am not exaggerating.

The twins have these little plastic toys called "ride-ons." Tessa has the princess version. It's the version that plays that song, over and over.

Adam has a fireman version of a ride-on, but I can't remember the song that it plays as well as I am a Prince....

The other day, the kids had brought their toys out onto the patio and rode them around and around the patio table. The ride-ons were left outside and got rained on. It must have short-circuited something in them because at about two in the morning, the song started playing, loudly: "I am a Prince and I must find..." over and over. Did I mention that it was loud?

The Missus and I ran downstairs and out into the backyard. I grabbed the toy and brought it into the house, but I couldn't get the music to stop. Finally I had to unscrew the battery compartment and take out the batteries before blessed silence.

The problem is I can't get the song out of my head! At work today, I was humming it all day long. Someone asked me what the tune was. "Just ask my neighbors," I said.

Third Year Checkup

The twins had their three year checkup last week. Both kids are doing fine, thank goodness. No shots this time, but they did get their fingers pricked for a little blood test. Tessa was proud of her Tasmanian Devil band-aid, and Adam showed off his band-aid with Bugs Bunny on it.

The only surprise is that Tessa is a full inch taller than the boy right now at 38 1/2 inches. They both weigh 35 pounds.

Adam is starting to get a little chubby again and Mommy thinks that means he's about to grow. We'll see.

Horses and Trains

During our stay in the beautiful Hershey, Pennsylvania area, we traveled down into Lancaster County, a.k.a., Amish Country. We definitely wanted to go for a ride on the famous Strasburg Rail Road, featuring a real coal-burning engine and a short ride through the countryside. Adam loves trains and enjoyed the ride immensely, even though he was suffering with a fever. Tessa had a lot of fun too, and, a month later, still talks about eating Daddy's brownie. We rode in the first-class car with its plush green seats.

The actual train ride was pretty short, less than forty minutes all told. We did get to see several Amish carriages and a couple of Amish farmers plowing the land with teams of horses. Hard work. Definitely worth doing if you are in the area. (The train-riding, not the plowing.)

Right across the street from the train station is the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Inside the museum there are over fifty engines from wood- and coal-burners to more modern diesel engines. We talked to one of the guides, who, it was clear, loved trains. He kindly gave us a mini-tour and answered our questions. We were disappointed that we couldn't stay and take his tour, but we ran out of time. A visit to the museum is highly recommended!

On our way back to Hershey, we took a horse-drawn wagon ride. Adam and I got to sit on the front bench with the driver, who, although not Amish himself, had some interesting observations about his neighbors who were. Mommy and Tessa sat in the back, which was fine with Tessa, who was at first somewhat scared of the horses. She warmed up to them later when the driver introduced them as George and Ricky. Ricky was the fast one and George the slow one. The twins are still talking about them.

The top picture is the twins at the railroad museum. The train they are looking at is a wood-burner. You can tell by the funnel-shaped chimney on the engine, so said the guide. Then there are two pictures I took on the steam train ride. Below are two pictures taken on the horse ride.