1) After years and years of being Braves fans (TBS made it easy to follow them on TV no matter where we were stationed in the Air Force), we've finally settled down long enough here to become official Washington Nationals fans. The Nationals built a new stadium this year, so we went to a game. Ironically, we saw them lose to the Braves (John Smoltz pitched). Clarence brought a zoom lens and got some decent pictures even though we were in the upper deck.
2) Kelly tripped on a curb while running at night. She dislocated the joints in two of the fingers on her left hand. After x-rays, the ER doctor had to put her to sleep to remove her wedding ring and relocate the joints. After months of physical therapy, she can almost close her fist, but she'll still need to undergo surgery this summer.
3) CJ was a pirate in his school's drama club production of "Peter Pan" (Clarence made them a DVD from his pictures: youtube video part 1 and youtube video part 2). Their next play is "Beauty and the Beast".
4) CJ plays the French Horn in the school band.
5) CJ was invited to read a poem at the County School Board meeting in honor of his teacher being selected as Teacher of the Year. Their picture was in the Washington Post.
6) This summer's vacation was in Jamaica. In February, Kelly and Clarence are travelling (without the boys) to Puerto Rico and St Thomas on a cruise with several friends in the neighborhood.
8) CJ won the watermelon eating contest at camp this year at Hinckley Reservoir in upstate NY on July 4th.
9) Andrew found several hermit crabs on the beach in Jamaica. He didn't intend to bring one home, but at home he was surprised to see one of the shells in his collection start to crawl.
10) Clarence finally built the deck.
11) Andrew shot a BB gun at Webelos Scout Camp.
12) CJ and Clarence went to see the Redskins with Charlie and Eddie. Like the Nationals, we've officially become Redskins fans, especially since their quarterback (Jason Campbell) went to Auburn. Clarence and Kelly also went to see Auburn when they came to play West Virginia. Unfortunately, Auburn lost (way too common this year).
13) Clarence also took Andrew to a Redskins game.
14) Andrew writing with a quill during his classroom's Colonial Day.
15) CJ and Andrew climbing trees in Aunt Patricia's backyard in South Carolina during our Thanksgiving visit.
