The Christmas Holidays

Wow it has been a busy few days.

Christmas was wonderful. We spent Christmas morning together relaxing and opening gifts and then the girls came over after lunch and we enjoyed a second Christmas morning. The girls seemed to have a great time and I heard later were telling their friends what a great time that they had.



It was also a special Christmas for me. Outside of the fact that this was the first Christmas with Laura as my wife, both her and the girls made it wonderfully memorable.

Laura continually surprised me with thoughtful gifts but the one that stood out was one that started on our honeymoon. We were in Dundee, Oregon wine tasting and we had gone to one of our favorite vineyards Chelhalem. When we walked into the tasting room I saw this beautiful painting called "End of the Storm". We immediately asked if we could buy it but we were not able to get in touch with the artist while we were in Oregon. Well Christmas morning Laura brought down a large box and I opened it to find not just a copy of the painting but in fact the one that had been hanging in the tasting room. It is a beautiful painting with a lot of meaning to us - a wonderful gift.



After lunch, when the girls came over Martika also surprised me with artwork. Both myself and Laura loved the drawing she gave us last year so I was very excited to see her wrapped gift, obviously artwork. What surprised me was both the subject and how wonderful this painting looked. Tika has always known I loved old Detroit steel but this painting is just so unique and I cannot wait to hang it in our TV room.



Outside of Christmas we have been to two great movies, The Fighter and True Grit, and done some serious cooking, rack of lamb on Christmas day and a roast of beef with mushroom gravy, stuffed Portobello mushrooms, carrots in a port reduction, crisp potatoes, garlic broccoli with a white cake for dessert on Boxing Day. A few days off for me will allow me to catch up and then a plan for roast duck for New Years Day dinner.

And for all those that we have not reached out to over the last few days we hope you had a wonderful and happy Holiday and we truly hope that you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.



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Christmas ... or at least getting ready for it

On Sunday the girls came over and decorated our tree with us ...

They were all really excited when Laura gave them each an ornament and those were the first ones on the tree. In fact you can see Sam's in the picture. The red "light" is actually a beautiful glass bird that Laura thought looked like the birds in Angry Birds. If you follow the twitter feed you will already have seen Tika's, a very nice Senators ornament, and for Kris a beautifully painted reindeer ornament. I think it came out looking wonderful.





After the tree was decorated .... well then they wanted to put presents under the tree. And yes they are anxious for Christmas to get here.

Happy Holidays


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They say a picture is worth a thousand words.....

........and probably then some at 3:30 am when it is 20 degrees out and you are standing in the middle of the road in your pj's and Uggs looking at a brilliant sight that hasn't revealed itself to anyone in over 300 years. I don't know what I found more touching, the eclipse or my husband giving me his gloves and leading me by the hand and pointing to the sky to show me what he had discovered, hidden while I slept. He worries now that he didn't get a photo with his "real"camera to capture the image, but in my mind it will stay forever.........lying in bed I could hear him walking from window to window, in anticipation, in excitement of finding it for me. I heard him on the stairs, maybe a higher window on our third floor would coax it out of the sky. Then, the "ah ha" moment. He raced to get me nearly tripping on the stairs and stood over the bed his voice shaking with excitement whispering "sweetie I see it! I see it! I am sorry to wake you up again but if we walk out I will show you. I found it. You just have to walk out the front door and there it is" He hurried to get my coat still apologizing for waking me and opened the front door to show me. That is the picture that will stay in my head forever. Then I saw the eclipse, which paled in comparison.

Thank you for all of your congratulations on the patents. I am often asked why I live in Ashburn commuting 2-3 hours each way to work in Maryland. Sometimes I ask myself the same question, anyone would after 4-6 hours in the car, a full day at work, and a 4 am workout at the gym. Then on Thursday evening I make my way home and open the door and I see the 4 reasons I make the trip day in and day out: Gary and the girls. Not patents. And its all worth it.

Honey, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this one says you hung the moon for me.

Laura :-)

A really bad picture .....

of the lunar eclipse.

I woke up just after 3 - no alarm - just woke up. La asked that I get her up as well. First I went to every window to see if we had to go outside and while the north-south orientation of the house is nice it sucks when you want to see an event in the western sky. We quickly bundled up and went outside at the peak - and saw nothing.

Being 3:30 and cold left little desire to spend looking so La went back to bed while I sat up wondering why. Then it dawned on me that the peak with the lights around here would not be easy to see.

I threw on a jacket, went outside and looked west - just as some guy 372 years ago did. And I saw what he saw - the moon coming out of a full eclipse.

I ran in and woke Laura again and though she seemed less than thrilled to be woken again she perked up when she saw the eclipse.

She is back asleep - while I am too wired. Yes I am very much still a little kid inside.

Wait til Christmas :-)

Location : 42433 Greenside Dr, Ashburn, VA 20148,
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

Last week Laura had to meet with some lawyers from DC. It was a good thing that she was meeting with them because they are the ones that have been working on getting her two patents filed. So now her patents are official - with patent numbers assigned by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

US20100159463
FAST RESULTS HYBRID CAPTURE ASSAY AND SYSTEM
The present invention comprises a method that provides fast and reliable results for detecting the presence of a target nucleic acid molecule in a sample.

US20100105060
FAST RESULTS HYBRID CAPTURE ASSAY ON AN AUTOMATED PLATFORM
The present invention comprises a method that provides fast and reliable results for detecting the presence of a target nucleic acid molecule in a sample

The patents were applied for based upon the work her and her colleagues have done over the years but it is very exciting for the patents to be out.

I was very excited when she told me about these because I know how hard she has worked on Care and the chemistry and automated tools used for it have been invaluable for other programs as well. I also know what an effort it is to get patents through the system and the award shows that what she has done is innovative and unique - very much like her.

So a big congratulations to her and her team for all their work.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

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Boys and their toys

Yesterday my early Christmas gift came.

I bought us an Apple TV. So here I am expecting this medium sized box to arrive with this new toy and Fedex brings this tiny little box. I unpacked it and plugged it in and had it hooked up to NetFlix and Flickr in no time.

Then I found out about the cool stuff - like the fact that if I have home-sharing turned on in iTunes I can play music upstairs on my TV.

So now my TV can let me watch movies online when I want, look at my pictures and play my music along with radio stations.

I am so geeked out ..... as he writes this from his iPad


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Food Adventures

Many people know that i like to eat. When i say that it is not that I like to eat for the sake of eating. Nor is it that I like to eat volumes of food that would feed third world villages for the day, even though I have been known to put down 7 or 8 chili dogs and a couple of beers. What I mean is that i enjoy good food. I know when food is really good because then I do not need much of it - I just enjoy it.

So why bring this up? Well until tonight i had never tasted brussel sprouts, at least not that i remember. It is not that i have avoided them it is just i never have had the driving desire or have had them on my plate. So this morning I mentioned to Laura that i wanted to try a new recipe. We decided on a horseradish encrusted pork loin with sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts.

Well yes i was unsure on the addition of the sprouts but it turns out that they are not as bad as I imagined. In fact i will try them again - done a slightly different way - to see if I turkey do like them. I did these roasted in the oven then tossed in some lime juice.

So I learned something today - sometimes you just have to get adventurous - who knows what you will find.

.... cu


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Lord of the Flies

Last night myself, Laura, Sam and Kris took in our first play as a family. The motivation behind the play was that Sam helped build a large part of the sets for it. This year she is taking drama as an elective and is part of the drama club. She spent many Saturday afternoons at school helping to build the platforms for the sets, paper-macheing and painting. I had never been to one of their high school plays so I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in and saw the set - it looked fantastic and the picture does not do it justice.


The play was very good. It was a great adaptation of the book and all the people involved did a great job. The costumes were fantastic, the sets impressive, and the lighting, stage management and the acting were all very good.

I think it is safe to say we all thoroughly enjoyed it.


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Location:Ryan Rd,Ashburn,United States

Happy Birthday Michelle!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!


Wanted to wish my little sister a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Hope you have a fun day.

Noshville - the day after Thanksgiving

... no I did not mistype - let me explain.

We arrived in Nashville mid afternoon on Thanksgiving day and checked into our hotel in downtown. We decided to stay in the converted train station. It is a beautiful hotel with original wood, marble and stained glass - as you can see in the picture. We headed over to Lisa's for a wonderful dinner of Mama's turkey, sweet potatoes, dressing, homemade rolls and so much more.

Today we spent the morning exploring impressionists at the Frist and the afternoon Christmas trees at Cheekwood. For lunch - well that is where Noshville enters the picture. Laura took me there for the first time last year and now it is starting to feel like a tradition - a good tradition.

Location : Address not available

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Location : Address not available

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Location : Address not available
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Twas the week before Thanksgiving ....

and what a tough week it has been.

Work has been very stressful for both of us. Planning for healthcare for next year ... planning for college ... a few days of not feeling well ... my work laptop blew up ... and it just seems to pile up.

The good side is that we have each other to help us get through all of this.

I am definitely looking forward to going to Nashville next week ... Lisa always has a nice dinner and Laura sent some really nice wine for next week. Hopefully we will get to take our trip to the gardens on Friday and see some more of Nashville as well. I guess i should see if there has been a Man vs Food Nashville version as we have been hitting some of the places that the show goes to I the cities we visit.

We hope your Thanksgiving is a great one as well.

.... cu


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School News ......

There has been lots happening over the last few weeks .... as you can tell ... but one of the things that I have even neglectful on lately is updating everyone on school news. Thankfully it has all been good news.

Sam and Kris got their report cards for the quarter and both are doing really well - all As and Bs. Interesting enough they are doing best in math and sciences :-) Along with them doing well in school their school football team has been dominant so far this year with a 11-0 record. Their game last night they won 55-0. I hope they can carry it forward to a State Championship.

Martika is doing great as well. She submitted her application to the School of the Arts at VCU a few weeks back and received the news this week that she was accepted. That means that with a few courses over the summer semester she will be on track to be a 2014 graduate. Of course she was more than a little excited. The good news for me is that I can now start wearing my VCU ARTS hoodie that Laura bought me.

Martika has also been very active with her sorority helping raise money for the Kidney Foundation (she raised the most of her sorority so thanks to all who helped) and she has also been involved in other community events.

It is great to see the girls doing well and having fun at school. It is sometimes hard to see them growing up so fast but it is great to see that they are doing it so well.

....cu


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Will this get me fired?

I have officially been a step-mom for 1 month today. How has it been? Great! After a fun day with their Dad in DC, eating half-smokes covered in chili and onions at Ben's Chili Bowl washed down with cup cakes from Red Velvet Cupcakery, they arrived giggling and bouncing around like, well, teenagers. Gary stepped out of the room, and the fun began (like it usually does when we are up to no good). Sam spilled Coke on the floor (shhhhh....don't tell Gary) and then asked me if she should put 4 pieces of gum in her mouth. Well, I stepped up to the plate as step-mom, and firmly said "no, put 8 in your mouth"

Laura

November 1st ....

November 1st is a very special day for me. November 1st is the first time I saw Laura in person. She had invited me to have pancakes for breakfast at Silver Diner in Reston. Up she drove in her Mini Cooper S looking radiant. That day changed my life and I love to celebrate it :-)

Of course November 1st is also the day after Halloween. I have always like Halloween. OK - free candy may have had a little to do with it but there is also the excitement of the kids when they are dressed up and I get to carve pumpkins :-)

So this year I did two pumpkins - one modeled after Achmed from Jeff Dunham fame and the other a little bit of a celebration pumpkin as this was our first Halloween as Mr & Mrs Moore. I think Achmed could have used a Turban - maybe a bit better planning for next year :-)

.... cu

The dangers of coffee shop blogging

I love my iPad. It was not something that I needed but when my fiancée, now my wife, gave it to me for my birthday I was excited. Was this a neat new toy or could it be more than that? Could it be a useful business tool? Well so far it has certainly become a valuable addition to the business tools I have - and it is still a neat new toy that was great to have on our honeymoon.

All that being said my iPad and the associated apps have come with some extra learning. Grabbing a tall coffee here at my local coffee shop I re-read some of my past posts and saw the glaring typos. Why did I not catch them? Well some of them were not typos in the purist sense as the words were spelt correctly - they were just words that did not belong in that context.

Lesson learned - re-read my posts before I post them. If I miss things I hope you all will catch me.

Cheers

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Some Wedding Pictures

Click here to view these pictures larger

Our New Niece

One of the wonderful things, and there were many, about our wedding was that Leslie, Andrew and the kids came to visit from Australia. This, of course, included their new baby Isabella.

We had seen lots of pictures of Isabella but we were both excited to meet her and I will say that with Laura it was very obvious that she was excited. Just seeing the happiness on her face holding Isabella is a testament to how excited she was to see her.



It is wonderful to be able to say "our" nieces and nephew from Australia and we look forward to going to Sydney to visit them.

.... Cu


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A Wedding Gift .....

Myself and Laura love art. We have all kinds in our house. Sculptures, paintings, lithographs, prints, photographs, original art, ceramics and more. Laura decided that to celebrate our marriage that she would have a piece commissioned by a wonderful artist, Laura Edwards, whom we met at her gallery in The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. We watched her work one day and her use of colour along with her style impressed both of us. Laura surprised me with this piece the day after our wedding. I was floored. It was such a beautiful piece and in fact it reminds me so much of Newfoundland where I grew up.


I want to say a heartfelt thank-you to my wonderful wife for this gift. It means so much to me. I know we will find a special spot for it in our house.



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A peaceful moment.....

the sun is rising over the harbour and I watch in wonder, silently, as he reads the paper and enjoys breakfast in the soft light of the window. A moment to stop and remember that everything that matters is in this room with me now. I love him and that is where it all begins..... Laura

The Start of our Honeymoon

The Sooke Harbour House was a wonderful place to start our honeymoon. The picture on the right is from the front of the inn where they have two large orcas which are swimming above carved salmon. The style is very Salish which is interesting as the next stop on our honeymoon is the Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie, WA. The lodge sits at the top of the Snoqualmie Falls which are famous from, if nothing else, the TV series Twin Peaks. In fact the falls, taller than Niagara Falls, are one of the top ten falls in the world.

It is a beautiful area and one we would encourage you to visit.





.... cu

My Beautiful Bride

The day was wonderful. I was told the date was lucky, October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10), and how could I argue that when this stunningly beautiful woman walked down the aisle with me and became my wife.

The wedding was at Morven Park in Leesburg, by the reflecting pool. Laura arrived in a 1964 Rolls Royce. We walked down the aisle to friends and family led by a wonderful flamenco guitarist. During the ceremony, Laura's good friend, Paul, read a piece by Robert Fulghum and Laura's Mom, Kaye, sang My Funny Valentine. We read our own vows and when Laura said "I do." I smiled.

We then headed off I the Rolls to celebrate with friends and family over a wonderful meal at Vintage50. The food and drink was wonderful. The cake and conversation will likely be memorable but honestly we were so excited we remember very little.

Our wedding reception

Click here to view these pictures larger

We got the Twitter ....

I never said I was not open to new ideas but the whole Facebook/MySpace thing has never been on our list of "Oh we have to do that" but I have a number of colleagues that use Twitter to quickly share info that is work related but also to share things that are happening. The small footprint message idea is not a bad thing in that regard so I figured lets give it a try.

You will see a gadget on the right hand side that has a small Twitter feed - I guess we will try to keep it up to date during our honeymoon - well the public details anyway.

We hope you enjoy the feed and we will try not to abuse the power ....

.... cu

Sam is not a happy camper ....

A few weeks back Sam was at the dentist when they mentioned that she was missing a molar. The dentist suggested that we go see our orthodontist. Well Sam was not at all excited about that but she held on to the fact that all her dentists had told her before that she had wonderful teeth and would not need orthodontics.

This morning I took her to see Dr Apt. It was an early appointment, which meant she had to get up early, not a good thing for her, and then of course that first "inspection" is not much fun. So she had some pictures done and then Dr Apt came in to look at her. The first thing he said was she had a wonderful profile, which we all knew. But as we went more and more into it there were lots of little things - space in between her teeth, minor misalignment and a few others. The suggestion - 18 months of braces. Sam was not thrilled. So we will talk about it and of course we will let her decide what she wants to do. Whatever she decides I know it will be right for her.

Ok - back to work .... cu


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Everyone asks .....

Everyone asks if I am getting nervous? My simple response is "what is there to be nervous about?"

Two weeks from today I will be sitting across from Laura as we will have many days. The only difference will be when the waiter asks what we would like I will get to say "My wife would like ...." Two weeks from now I hope our friends will be getting over a very good party while we start thinking about all the things we will do on our honeymoon.

I have no reason to be nervous. A wonderful and beautiful woman who has been my friend and confidant, who has challenged me and encouraged me, who is there when I need her and is there to help people in need wants to spend the rest of her life with me. What do i need to be nervous about?

I know we will face challenges - we have already - but I also know that we are both committed to working through those challenges and we are both looking forward to living a wonderful life together, enjoying those challenges we face and throughly enjoying the less challenging times.

The question is not am I nervous but more of how excited are you? And the answer to that is easy - VERY!

I hope you all keep up on our adventures ....

.... cu


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Back to school

Ok, it is not me back at school it is the girls. Last night was back to school night so I went over to meet some of Kris and Sam's teachers. They seem to have a great set of teachers - some of them new to me and others have been with either Tika or Kris in the past. They all seem eager to challenge the kids - and i think that will mean the kids will be busy this year. But i also like that they have a varied background including:

- a kiwi (from New Zealand)
- a former lawyer
- a former army recruit who worked in the Pentagon on psychological warfare
- a northern Virginian who lived in Austria
- a former lawyer

And that is just a sampling. I hope the kids take advantage of the diverse backgrounds to learn more than just what is in the curriculum.

In any case it should be an adventure for them

.... cu


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Life brings changes ......

I think  I am actually qualified to say that given the changes in my life in just the last few years .... but this is not about me. 

This morning I woke up and had a late e-mail from Martika. A late email from her is not unusual - she has been working hard at school and is quite often a late-nighter. This email was different. 

A few weeks back she had mentioned that her friend Jenny had wanted to go and check out the sororities at VCU. Tika was .... reluctant. She had never felt that the sorority thing was something for her. I talked to her and gave her my opinion which was that you will never know who you could meet or what you could learn if you never went at all and if you went and did not like it then maybe you met some nice people. Well she went and talked to some people who told her that they had met some of their best friends at just the first visit type sessions and in some cases one was in a sorority and the other friend was not. So she went and went again .... and is going again today. Turns out she found some of them very interesting and knowing Tika she also met some nice people there.

I am glad she opened the door to peek inside and if she decides to and gets accepted into one of the sororities then that is great. If not and she has met some new friends that is great as well. I am just glad she is exploring more things on her own.

Have a great weekend .... I am going to finish my coffee while Laura finishes up at Sax up the street.

.... cu


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A grim reminder ....

Yesterday was the annual Reston Triathlon, the "Olympic" version. It is a race I have always wanted to do but when I was racing never was able to get registered in time. Last year I was hoping to have a better chance after having volunteered for a couple of years but of course last year was derailed on July 17th.

Well this years race was a stark reminder of my own bad year. One of the athletes racing this year was approaching the end of the bike course when a car pulled out into the race course and he hit it. Fortunately he was wearing his helmet and as of now appears to be recovering well. For me reading his own e-mail on the accident was a vivid reminder of last summer .... seeing a car pull into your lane and knowing there is nothing you can do ... then next thing you know you are on your back. In his case his next memory was on a backboard ... mine was on the road.

I do wish him well and hope his injuries are not major. As for the drivers out there - all I ask is be aware. I know that cyclists also need to be courteous but in a case like this where there is a marked course an accident like this should never have happened. If I am not racing next year I will be making sure I am there as a road marshal once again - hoping to make the course safe for the athletes.

Please be safe.

.... cu

A new endeavor

So I am expanding my blogging to work related things. I figured I need to keep the two separate though so I have started a new blog http://tridentityideas.blogspot.com/

Feel free to check it out ... just started it so it will be a while before it gets really interesting

.... cu

Thank you Laura's Mom

When Laura's mom was in town she took a really nice picture of us and I just had to post it.



I just got a copy of it this week and since it has been such a busy week I have not been able to get it posted. The reason I like it is Laura looks great and I do not look too big. Laura likes it for the opposite reason - she says she does not look too small.

Work has been crazy for both of us. Laura with handling some oversight from the government and all the trials that she has going and on top of my regular workload I was in DC for two days at the IIW East Conference talking about identity for open government. One of the guys that I know was there and I was tossing some ideas at him. He asked if I had a blog and I realized that I should start a new one for work only stuff. You will see a new link on the right that will be my work related blog. Hopefully it gets some interest.

Ok going to start to get stuff ready for supper.

Have a great weekend.

.... cu


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Labored on Labour Day

Woke up this morning and decided to go for a nice run. They are almost finished the extension of Croson Road so right now it is car free and has a nice hill. So I left the house and ran up that way. I hit the hill after running just over a mile. I got to the top and decided to run through the rest of the neighbourhood. Two hills later I realized I ran 5 miles - the most I have run since the Marine Corps race in March. I think the break was a good ine but it is nice to be running again. I just need to make sure I continue to take it easy and build up the distances sensibly - not like the past when i would not run for weeks then go run a half-marathon.

Ok - having coffee with Kris right now at Caribou. Have a great Labour Day.

.... cu


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Location:Grand Commons Ave,Fairfax,United States

Off to a great start ....

Yesterday was a great start to the Labour Day weekend. Well I guess Friday was as I had a good drive down and back to get Jenny and Tika at VCU. Yesterday was a relaxing day and we capped it off by heading up to our friend Dave's place for a now annual eating event. Dave lives just northwest of Point of Rocks in the Catoctin Mountains. He used to be a chef so the food was great. Peruvian chicken, BBQ ribs, brisket, wings, chicken, potatoes, sweet beans and lots more. It was also good to see some friends from last year and to hear that Dave's wife Jill was doing ok after her adventures at the Discovery Channel last week. I also got the scoop on some upcoming changes to the network lineups :-)

Today a morning bike ride and now having a coffee before we go to get the girls. Tomorrow will be our bbq.

Have a great weekend .... cu

Location : 42974-42980 State Route 774, Ashburn, VA 20148,
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Oops ......

Looks like I was heavily influenced by oddball characters as I was writing my last blog entry. I think Kevin, the lost bunny of the Apocalypse, has made me think about Eric the fish. And of course the whole E name thing threw me off and instead of talking about Hurricane Earl yesterday I was writing about Hurricane Eric. Now I am sure John Cleese would have a blast with that thought but I thought I should correct it ..... And Mom did as well.

In either case I will watch out for Eric .... I mean Earl as I head down to Richmond this afternoon.


.... cu


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Location:Ryan Rd,Ashburn,United States

Looks like I get a trip to Richmond

After Tika having been at VCU for two weeks it was nice to be have a long weekend upcoming. She had planned to catch the train after classes on Friday and her friend Jenny would join her. She went online and bought the tickets and everything. Wow - so far so good.

Well that was until Eric decided to visit Virginia and well before its arrival our governor decided to flex his muscles and declare a state of emergency for the entire state. I certainly would have understood a state of emergency for the Eastern Shores, Hampton Roads etc ... but the entire state? Anyway after he declared the emergency Tika got a call from Amtrak to inform her that her train would not run Friday. Well of course she called, I think she is looking forward to the trip as well, and now it looks like I will go to Richmond tomorrow afternoon to get them. Jenny's parents will bring them back on Monday (or they may get the train).

I just hope I can time it to avoid the weekend traffic ..... I know wishful thinking.

.... wish me luck

It's been a week .....

Tika has been off to VCU a week today. It has been good that I get to talk to her every couple of days to hear how she is doing (she is not great with the e-mail thing). She has had two days of classes and seems to be enjoying them so far. She has made new friends and is close to her old ones. She also has said that she is eating well - supposedly the dining hall is very good for vegans and her and Jenny were going to head to Ipanema today, which is a good vegan restaurant right down from her dorm.

The week has been interesting here as well. Laura's mom came into town Wednesday which has been lots of fun, including homemade fried chicken last night. We are heading to Upperville today to go to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch.

Yesterday was a funny day - well for me at least. Sam has always gloated about not needing braces when both her sisters have had them. So yesterday I took her to the dentist for her regular cleaning. The hygienist comes out and says that she wanted to take a panoramic xray. Of course I asked why. She told me that Sam is missing a tooth - not one that fell out but one that never came in. Well it is one of her molars which means she has too much space between her teeth. The dentist said we should go to see the orthodontist to see if she needs braces. Of course she was less than excited and we I thought about it so was I - yet more funding of those nice cars the orthodontist drives.

Ok off to a fun weekend. Have a great one

.... cu


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My birthday cake

Laura's iPad gift was not enough of a surprise - or at least I believe that was her thinking. After we finished a late dinner she told me to close my eyes and .... she brings out a beautiful chocolate cake.


So not only did it look great, and have Elly on it, but it was delicious. What I thought were fudge pieces turned out to be chocolate pieces - and as everyone knows I love chocolate.

I need to thank Tangela, who made the cake. What a wonderful cake.

So my 46th birthday was indeed great - Laura treating me so special, the girls and Tika's friends singing Happy Birthday to me at Panera Bread on the VCU campus and then a great cake for dessert.

YAY birthdays :-)

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Tika is off to college

Yesterday was one of those really good days but also a little bit tough.

I woke up yesterday more than a bit anxious as I would be taking Tika off to VCU to start her first year. Laura had left a couple of little trinkets around so that I knew it was my birthday and that she would make it a special day even when she knew I had a long one in front of me. I packed the car with stuff that we had at our place and then piddled around until Laura came back from the gym.

Laura did make sure the birthday side of things would be memorable by first telling me that there was something wrong with our blog. So I checked it and saw her birthday greeting and then she told me to recheck it as there was a clue as to my gift. When she saw me smile she excitedly ran upstairs and came down with my gift - a new iPad. And not just any - the biggest and most feature packed. You will see lots of stuff on it over the coming weeks.

So we then went to get the girls to head down a traffic filled 95 to get Tika to school. It was a long day - a late lunch and then 4 hours of moving stuff. Her mom and her Uncle Billy joined us to help (well we did need two cars for all her stuff). She also had a few friends join including Paula who you


have seen mentioned here from our last hockey game. We did get her settled in to her room with a view of the park and some of the cool old buildings on campus. She finished some decorating after we left as you can see from the picture. Her words when she sent the picture - a very Canadian decorating style.

I know she will do well - in everything - just hard to let her go.

Keep an eye out for info on what she does as well as what we will be doing over the coming weeks.

...... Cu


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ryan Rd,Ashburn,United States

Happy Birthday Honey!

I wanted to be the first to say "Happy Birthday" to you today. I know today will be special for many reasons, but mostly because you are a wonderful man and a caring father and there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be than spending this day with you............and the college crowd at VCU :-)

iLOVE U (that is a hint.......a clue to your birthday present)

Laura

Bugs Bunny @ the Symphony

It is a popular show - Bugs Bunny cartoons with music played by the NSO. Laura and the girls picnicked first.

Location : Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA 22182,

Posted via Blogaway

Just found this .....

This is a better picture that gives the true scale of Millennium Force ......

As I said before - it was FUN!

Our next to last day ....

and we spent it in Cedar Point Amusement Park.

Cedar Point is famous for the number of Roller Coasters - and for the size of their customers as well as the number of records held throughout the park's life. Well today myself and Tika took on 14 of their roller coasters and water rides (11 coasters and 3 water rides) including Millennium Force, Magnum XL200 and Wicked Twister (the shortest of those - Magnum XL tops out at 205 ft and 72 mph - a 20 year old coaster).  We rode a number of wood coasters - which are always a blast - and some of the newest rides like Wicked Twister (which runs at 72 mph but in two different directions.

We had fun and got wet and now are ready for a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow it is off to Pittsburgh and then on our way home - and a couple of days of rest to get over the vacation

....cu

Pre-College Trip with Tika

When the girls were very young I promised to take them on a trip before they went off to college - not just any trip but a Dad and Daughter trip that they wanted to do.

Well originally Tika wanted to do Europe - but after Icelandic volcanic eruptions it was the US West Coast - but after the Stanley Cup finals it was an East Coast Hockey Trip so we planned out a multi-city trip. We started in Montreal for a day and night where we found a great vegan restaurant called Bonny's and did some touring around Old Montreal and of course visited Bell Canada Centre home of the Canadiens. After Montreal we headed to Ottawa and spent three days staying with Malcolm and Lynne. We visited Scotiabank Place, home of the Senators, and spent Friday night at the Blues Festival listening to Great Big Sea. On Saturday a day in the market was finished off with a great dinner at Malcolm's with some of the people he works with - it was a great long and late night.

It was tough to do but Sunday AM we left to drive to Toronto to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame. Tika was more than excited. I think she took a picture of every exhibit. It would hard to say the favourite though as the player exhibits were fantastic but seeing the original cup with Ottawa written all over it - the golden puck from Vancouver and the Rotunda where they have the current cup and all the other big trophies for the NHL. After visiting the Hall of Fame we walked over to Air Canada Centre the home of the Maple Leafs. We then headed to Niagara where we were to spend one night. We got to see the falls at night - VERY cool - as well as seeing the fireworks show (turns out it is every Sunday). Tika also decided to get something she always wanted - lets see if you can figure it out from the pictures.

Yes she got her tattoo done. We stumbled upon Carey Hart's shop in Niagara and Tika had just finished a sketch of what she was thinking ..... so we decided it was a great time to do it. She has some taking care of it to do but it looks really good.

After getting her tattoo done we headed to Buffalo to see HSBC arena, home of the Sabres. Tika picked up a Ryan Miller shirt and she added a puck to my NHL puck collection. The area around teh arena was very cool with benches with hockey scenes as part of them.

We were trying to decide what to do for lunch when we thought - where in Buffalo - I should have wings. A quick check of Google Map showed that we were a few blocks from Anchor Bar - Home of the Original Buffalo Wing. So we headed up there so I could have wings. The bad news is I now will not be able to eat them anywhere else as there is no way that they compare to those from Anchor.

We have been having lots of fun - laughing and talking - and we hope the fun continues at Cedar Point tomorrow where we plan to Rollercoaster as much as we possibly can in a 12 hour period.

We plan to have lots of fun over our last two days on the road ... and we will post lots more pictures on teh Picasa site once we get back.

.... cu

Our sunflowers ....

This year Kris wanted sunflowers ... so I decided to get some seeds and grow a couple for her - little did I know the size they would get.

Check out our Picasa site to see how they have come along .... Sunflowers

More Shopping ....

Boy college prep is as hard for the wallet as it is for the new grad and the Dad seeing his first child go off on her own.

Laura and I took the girls out to lunch last Sunday (great food at Liberty Tavern) and then we went to IKEA so Tika could get some stuff that she needed. I was thinking a few cups and plates but I forgot the cutting board, lamps, bulbs, storage containers and many other things. Seriously it is fun working with her to get ready for college. But her sisters also had fun - as you can see from the pictures.

This week myself and Tika are travelling. I will post some info on that in the next couple of days.

.... cu

My Little Girl is in College ....

OK - she is no longer my little girl (obviously) and she is in college for a day and a night.

This is orientation time for the new students at VCU. So this morning I drove her and her friend Jenny down to Richmond. We dropped by and talked to some people then grabbed a bite to eat at Ipanema, a vegan/vegetarian restaurant. Then it was off to the freshman dorm where the girls checked in and began to settle in for orientation.

I left the two of them so they could get organized on their own and I drove back. They will spend the night and then tomorrow afternoon Jenny's parents will pick them up and bring them back. The good news about doing this is that they are getting all excited about their new adventure and I confirmed that it only takes me two hours to get to Richmond if Tika needs anything.

I know being away will not be easy for any of us at the start but I also know that Tika is a mature eighteen year-old and smart about things so I know she will do well.

.... but she is still my little girl

July 4th @ the Moore-Bell household

Happy July 4th - ok belated a day.

We hope you had a good holiday. As you can see from the pic we had a stomach filling one. I baked an Angel Food cake and grilled some steak. "Some" may say that is an understatement for a 2lb porterhouse but we did have another one pound steak as well.

We did have a nice day with Sam and Tika - lunch and a car show in Vienna and then some shopping for college stuff. Then we grilled the steaks, zucchini, onions and mushrooms and baked some potatoes. That with the cake and strawberries and a nice Australian red made for a great day.

We hope yours was great too.

.... cu

Location : 22930 Olympia Dr, Dulles, VA 20148,

Happy Canada Day!!!

Happy 143rd birthday to Canada!

We plan to celebrate with a barbeque with the girls and maybe some special treats :-)

We also have some other celebrations - Laura is now "google"-able. The patents for the work that she has been doing are now online - along with all of the publications she has been involved in - so CONGRATULATIONS!

So today gets to be celebration day.

Hope you enjoy yours as much as we will ours

.... cu

A nice weekend ....

This was a really nice weekend .... Tika's Graduation on Saturday was very nice and of course I was VERY proud of her. We went to lunch and then later in the evening myself and Laura took her and her sisters out to celebrate the end of the school year. We had a great evening ... and now Tika is thinking more and more about getting ready for college.

The girls left Sunday morning to go to Ottawa for a week. They drove up with Kim and Luke who came down for Tika's graduation. They were all looking forward to the week - to see friends - and probably happy to get out of the heat. Before they left they had given me a Senators hat and shirt for Father's Day and they made sure to text and call to let me know they were thinking of me. Laura had made plans, as a wonderful surprise, for us for Father's Day. She took me to lunch in a great spot in Middleburg and then to a nice little wine shop in Aldie. She made the day a wonderful day.

This morning I got up and went for a bike ride that re-enforced how nice life is .... while riding I saw lots of wildlife - from baby rabbits and deer, hawks, herons and many others while riding through paths through the woodlands around here - past ponds and rivers. I think all the critters were out to avoid the afternoon heat.

So as you can see - a wonderful weekend and I hope yours was as well.

.... cu

Graduation!

Tika has graduated :-) YAY!

Congratulations!



Location : 10792 Glenmist Ln, Fairfax, VA 22030,

Sunday in Frederick

Myself and the girls took a quick trip up to Frederick, Maryland this weekend. Myself and Laura had been up there a few weeks ago just to look at some of the new shops there and I thought the girls would enjoy it as well.

We stopped in at Cafe Nola for some brunch. Tika was very happy as they had great Vegan options but I think I can safely say that we were all happy as the food was great. We tried a variety of the things on the menu - Tika a Tofu Scrambler with vegetables (also available as an egg scrambler); Kris had steak and poached eggs served on a toasted English muffin with roasted potatoes; Sam had apple cinnamon crepes and I had their French toast served with a blueberry topping and strawberries. Sam tried a bit of everyone's - and was still hungry afterwards.

We did some checking out of the local shops (Kris wants to go back to go shopping) before we headed back to Virginia so we could try to fill Sammy up with some ice cream at Milwaukee Frozen Custard. It turned into a great Sunday afternoon.

This will be a busy week with Sammy graduating from middle school (a freshman at Stone Bridge next year) and Tika graduating on Saturday in a ceremony at George Mason. This will be an exciting summer for all.

.... cu

It gets better

After a great dinner @ a pizzeria that Laura suggested (great wine and pizza) - we headed up to Clark St to go to Blue Chicago. Again great music and a great crowd. Not sure how we keep making this better. Btw Kaye - your daughter is enjoying the blues :-)



Location : 66 W Ohio St, Chicago, IL 60654,

Life does not get much better

It is sunny and in the seventies in Chicago. We are sitting in the garden next to the Art Institute having some wonderful sandwiches, espresso chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of Pinot Noir from Oregon.

Life is nice :-)

Location : 345-355 E Jackson Dr, Chicago, IL 60601,

Questionable Tags?

Myself and Tika were driving back from Leesburg when we saw this plate. Now I think it is great that people support local teams but I think you do need to think about how it sounds.

I am guessing their other car supports the DC NBA team - GO WIZ!

....cu

Location : 42245 Ryan Rd, Ashburn, VA 20148,

Continues to amaze ....

I will admit - I can be impressed. It sometimes takes a lot but I can be impressed.

I will readily admit that Laura, her dedication to her work, the work that she has done and the success it has achieved really does impress me. It also makes me proud. (Her fitness regime impresses me as well - and makes me a bit jealous that she is so dedicated to it).

Today I picked up the girls and Tika was working on an art project. A charcoal drawing that she started yesterday I believe.  I saw it and thought - that is very good. Well she brought it with her and she worked on it while myself and Kris got supper ready. Well I will not say how I felt when I saw the finished product - I will let you decide. BTW - the piece is about 22-by-16 and the cell phone pic does not do it justice.

I think she has a future in art.

.... cu

Last Night

A week ago I was asked to attend a dinner in DC. The details were thin but it was with some people that I have worked with in the past and it would save Peter, my boss, from having to make yet another trip to DC.

Well dinner was a small gathering - a dozen people or so - including Senator Sherrod Brown, the Democratic Senator representing Ohio, his Chief of Staff and his staff member that looks after his election campaign. Senator Brown had previously served as the Congressional Representative for the 13th District in Ohio for a period of 14 years.

The other people in the room included an eclectic group of trade representatives, lobbyist, a gentleman from the Free Press as well as one from the Medical Industry. Most people had some background in the Internet arena but there were a number of people involved in different aspects of the power industry and commercial industry. It was quite interesting to see how the group interacted.

Senator Brown is a very interesting gentleman with an obvious sincere desire to do things for Ohio as well as for the country at large. We discussed some aspects of the Financial Reform, which he had to step out quickly to vote on, as well as discussing the general momentum of the country - politically, from a manufacturing perspective as well as in regards to the healthcare changes that have been put in place this year.

It was a great way to spend an evening and if you get a chance read up on what Senator Brown has been promoting at this website - http://brown.senate.gov/

.... cu

Fresh Produce

I have always liked to have the ability to go out and get fresh produce. Years ago that meant going to a local farmers market but since moving to NVA those seem to operate infrequently, even though we do have one on Sundays just across the street. But that still means that I have to wait to get fresh produce or keep it for a few days. 

Now do not get me wrong - our local grocer does a pretty good job - but there is nothing like fresh (just picked - no pesticides) produce. Last year I was able to do peppers (sweet and hot) and some tomatoes. I started them on the deck of my condo and when we moved to the town house I replanted them. We had lots of great tomatoes, a couple of different varieties, and some nice peppers, including habaneros. 

This year we went the extra step. Kris wanted some sunflowers. We of course wanted peppers and tomatoes. We also eat lots of broccoli and decided to add some green leaf lettuce. As you can see - not a lot of space but things are growing. We will get 3 different types of tomatoes. We already have been enjoying the lettuce. We should also get 3 different kinds of hot peppers (some thai chili) and of course the broccoli. 

We are looking forward to some great fresh produce as we go through the summer and into the fall - and I know Kris will love the sunflowers.

.... cu

Coffee in Leesburg

It was not the first time there but it has been a few weeks since we stopped in at Shoes Cup and Cork Club in Leesburg. We usually swing by for a coffee or tea. Myself and the girls have been there as well and enjoyed their pastries.

One of the cool things that they have there is a wall which is all blackboard like. People write on it, draw on it, sometimes they have advertisements for what is going on. When we were there the other day I looked up and what I saw was so cool that I had to take a quick photo.

Now who else knows who it is?

Maybe we will see you there

.... cu

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY!!!!

Happy Birthday Tika!!!!

Where do I start? 18 years ago we were trying to keep you from coming into this world - but you were anxious to get here so you decided that the doctor's view of schedule was too long for you and you joined us 6-1/2 weeks early. It was a nice Mother's Day for your Mom - you coming home for that very first Mother's Day.

It has been an adventure ever since. Broken bones, bruised faces, and all kinds of awards and accolades - Geography Bee Champ, National Karate Champ, and numerous medals at local, state, national and international levels.

And now you get ready to head off to college. I will be the first to admit that it is not easy letting go - but I know you will do well and I know you will be calling for money for college - and maybe for some advice (or at least to talk about hockey).

I am VERY proud of you and Laura reminds me all the time what a great lady you are. Please continue to work hard, be smart about what you do and who you do it with and have fun while you live life.

We love you :-*

My Sunday with the girls .... Laura

My Sunday with the girls :-)

I have to admit I was intrigued when Gary came home and asked if I would like to take the girls to eat at a VERY cool new Japanese restaurant in Tyson’s called Wasabi. As we all know, fish + Gary = bad news, so the girls and I decided to try out Wasabi on our own and bring him along as our chauffeur for the day (it didn’t hurt that he had offered his credit card for shopping afterwards). The idea of maki rolls, fresh strawberries laced with ginger, and sushi dancing by on a conveyer belt was enticing, and it turned out to be very entertaining for all of us, not to mention delicious. I think that dining on dad’s credit card also added an air of excitement to the whole adventure…especially for Sam who was all grins in the back seat on the way.

Tika found some nice vegan options-  I found the vegetarian roll to be the best dish that I tried, and I feigned ignorance and smiled inside as bowls of chocolate and green tea mouse were eaten with chop sticks in between bites of tuna belly, seaweed salad, fresh strawberries, and dumplings. We finished lunch and headed straight to Cakelove for cupcakes. Apparently their dad had enforced a “no cupcakes if you don’t eat your lunch” rule the previous weekend, which I quickly changed to “if you are with me you can have cupcakes even if you don't eat any lunch”. Sam went for the chocolate cupcakes and Kris had her lemon bar…….sadly, Tika was out of luck this time as they didn’t have any vegan cupcakes (her dad double checked before we left, but still none were to be found).

Hmmmmm, and our “chauffeur” spent the afternoon having a nice fish-free lunch at Gordon Biersch (good thing he isn’t allergic to beer)  followed by some shopping on his own and sudoku while his four girls had a great time eating, shopping, and laughing (yes, Sam is very funny- and I don’t think I have ever seen her eat so much)

I just wanted to say thank you to Tika, Kris, and Sam. I had a wonderful time and it was a very special day for me. I also want to thank their dad for giving me that day and the opportunity to spend some time with the girls on my own……………and to use his credit card :-)

I can see that we will have a very happy, and entertaining, life together - 

Laura