Sunday at the Fritzs

We went over to see Karen and Tim (and the boys) for Karens birthday on Sunday. When we arrived, Karen was sitting down with an ice pack on her ankle, she slipped at the grocery store and twisted her ankle. It didn't look very serious, but she had taken a few Advils, so the pain wasn't evident. Hope its healing up fine.

We brought her a gift for her birthday and had some lunch, or as Kate calls it, "Linner", since it was about 3 when we ate. We had burritos from Chipotle, which were pretty good. Apparently, I am not the only one because we read in the paper that morning that Chipotle had doubled their income in a quarter, even in a very competitive market, they did VERY well.

Anyway, we also got to meet Andy's girlfriend, Sara as well. Jack didn't want to be close to her, but he couldn't stop looking at her, either. She is very nice.

We also got a tour of the basement, which is coming along very nicely. The drywall is about 50% complet, so the room is starting to take a shape and definition. Well done, Tim.

Jack in Overalls

These were snapped a few days ago, but Kate thought he looked so cute, we had to share them with the Grandmothers.

That Ain't No Dog

I left for work on Wednesday morning, a regular morning. Strap Jack in tight, kiss the wife goodbye and back out of the driveway. I get about to the stop sign and see a small dog cross the street, but something was a bit different, this was a funny looking dog.

I get a little closer and realize that its not a dog at all, its a fox. About the same time I spot him/her, the garbage guys spot it, too. The fox walks at a brisk pace, but not a trot or a run. He gets to the edge of a neighbors house and turns, goes back the other way, because the one of the garbage trucks guys has a pitchfork, just in case.



The fox walked away fine, but before I passed it and went on my way, I snapped a picture of it with my phone camera (the resolution sucks), but you get the idea.

This sighting is not a big deal for you, Mom and Dad, but up here, this is significant. Can you imagine this little guy/gal scratching-out a living surrounded on three sides by 66 (6-8 lanes), Chain Bridge Road (4 lanes) and Rt. 50 (another four lanes+)?

I remember my Mom saying that about 20 years back, we had some fox living under the garage at our home, but that was a little farther out and West Springfield wasn't as nearly developed as Fairfax City is today.

I also checked the net and there aren't any postings for rabid animals around. Maybe with the drought, he was just looking farther than he usually would for some lunch or a drink (in the day, no less).

Why I'm Not Rich

Kate, Jack and I went to the Chinese place a few blocks away for some dinner the other night. Don, who used to live in our neighborhood but moved to Great Falls, stopped in to join us because we haven't seen him in a long time.

The dinner and company was good and at the end of the meal, we all opened our fortune cookies. I got two pieces of paper (fortunes), one was blank and the other was this...



It says "The Star of Riches In Shining On You"

IS shining, IS shining on me!

I finally get my fortune told about vast riches and its misspelled. :(

Mural Time

Adam and Thai Phi are expecting in the next 13 weeks. I offered to paint their baby's room when they get it situated. They wanted something like what I did for Jacks room, silhouettes, but a different theme.

We decided on a nice light blue for the background and a few shades darker for the actual silhouettes of the sea creatures.

It went really well, thanks to the help from Adam who did the fill-in work. It took me about 7 hours to paint Jacks room alone, but with Adams help, it went much quicker, more like four hours.

Thai Phi and Kate took Jack and went shopping and when they got back, we were done. It worked out great - Thai Phi and Adam seemed to like it, also.

Good Luck, Kenny

Well, I read that Kenny, Christy, Mon and Dad all made it back from the big apple this past week for Kenny's big moment. He was chosen to be on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" which was taped for a future airing date. From what I know, its around September 12th.

Even though he already knows how well he did, the rest of us have to wait because they made him swear he wouldn't tell (and made him sign papers to ensure that).

Anyway, good luck, brother, I hope you do (did) well.

Happy Birthday, Ally

We spent most of Saturday over at the O'Briens to celebrate Ally's birthday.

It was the first time we were in the neighborhood since one of Bills neighbors house caught fire. Apparently, he was making homemade fireworks (the source of the burn material) and decided to also do some grinding (ignition) and then tried to put it out himself with a garden hose after calling the fire department.

The end result is that the house has 100,000 dollars of damage, he is looking at some serious charges from the feds and his brand new government (complete with security clearance) job is in jeopardy.

Anyway, I digress. Ally's birthday was celebrated this weekend and so we got her a little digital camera we found at Target (very reasonably priced) and a video game. She really liked the camera, I knew she would cause she always liked to use my camera and liked to take pictures with it.

We had food from Baja Fresh, so nobody had to cook, too. I like Baja Fresh, but there isn't one that is very convenient to us, so we don't go much.

We all had a great time, as usual. Next week we celebrate Colleens birthday and she liked the digital camera, too. So maybe she will get one.