Happy Birthday!

Today is the birthday of our twins - The Son and Daughter#2. They turn 27. The Son is about 3 to 5 minutes older then his twin sister. They are all grown up now. It's a weird feeling having kids that old. Even though they have been out of college now for a while and Daughter#2 has been married for almost3 years, I still think of them as being much younger than they actually are. I often find myself biting my tongue and letting them live their own lives and not jumping right in with a ton of fatherly advice or flat out telling them what to do like the old days. So to my twins, I hope you day is very special and thanks for all the memories and I look forward to the ones to come.

It was a very laid back weekend for me. Friday was a work from home day and work I did. I had a contract modification to complete and I finally got it finished late in the day and sent it out to the contractor. As it turned out, there was miscommunication on one of the clauses and had to be revised on Monday, but whatever. Work is work and it's all not that interesting.

Saturday I had rowing practice in the morning. We have another race coming up on the 26th so we're pointing toward that. We did two long pieces with the second piece at a higher stroke rate then the other. I was pretty beat after the row. Luckily for me, there was breakfast at the boathouse after the practice. It was the men's turn to provide breakfast. For my part, I brought a scrambled egg casserole. I just grabbed a recipe off the web that called for putting it together the night before. This worked for me as I didn't want to get up at5:00AM to make it. So I mixed up the casserole the night before including cooking the bacon, and sauteing the onions and mushrooms. I had Ann throw it in the oven while I was at practice and bring it down as we came off the water. There was a ton of food to eat, including freshly made pancakes, muffins, donuts, fruit, cake, coffee and juice. I ate my fair share and it was all good. The breakfast also gives us a chance to mingle and catch up with our teammates so its a win-win and everyone enjoys it. After I got home and was cleaning up, Daughter#2, The Son In Law and Gracie (their black lab mix) came up from Harrisonburg. An old high school friend of Daughter#2's was in town for the weekend and was hosting a bbq. Since her friend now lives in California, she hasn't seen her in a while so they accepted the invitation. After they arrived, we headed down to the town of Occoquan for lunch at Madigan's Waterfront. We sat out on their deck overlooking the Occoquan River. It was sunny and warm, but not hot so it was perfect. I had the crab cake sandwich and a pair of Corona's. It was a great lunch. After lunch, Ann and I returned home while Daughter#2 and The Son In Law headed off to various pawn shops to find (unsuccessfully it turns out) some cheap drums. The son In Law restores them as a hobby.

On Sunday I skipped the usual Sunday morning row or bike ride to hang out with Daughter#2 and The Son In Law. Instead I got up and took their dog Gracie for a long walk. She and I walked about 45 minutes or so and covered about 2.5 miles. When we got back to the house, Ann was making some french toast. We all enjoyed that before bidding Daughter#2 and The Son In Law goodbye. The rest of the day was taken up watching some baseball and napping. Sunday afternoons lend themselves to naps.