So Sam met a new friend today… Octavius has officially joined the family.  Octavius is a young Leopard Gecko.  We picked him up at PetCo today and he seems to have settled in to his 85 degree 10 gallon tank.  Octavius has a life expectancy of 20 years….. seriously.

One last stop on the way home… probably the last time this summer that they will be together on the mountain.  Alex has been invited to go to the beach with friends in July and Sam has a Scuba dive coming up in July as well.  After that it’s back to school and soccer for Sam, while Alex starts college.

We stopped by to spend just a few minutes with Lillian on Friday after our hiking trip and we drove by the office and the farm and took a couple of quick photos.   Lis and Sam will make a return trip in July to see everyone then too – can’t wait!

Part of our mini-vacation was a trip to RFK stadium to see DC United play the New England Revolution in a football match.  We had a great time and DC United won 2-0.  Sam got a couple of photos with the players after the game and Alex picked up a jersey to wear during the game.

On the last day of our mini-vacation we went down to the park in Waynesboro and saw the annual Military Event…  Everyone had quite a bit of fun, Alex met a few ‘Whovians’ (Dr.Who fans), Sam got to play in the tank and hold a Bazooka and we all learned a little bit of history.  🙂

Sam took the GoPro camera with us on the trip and he got in some practice time with it at the beach.  We bought him a strap so he could wear it on his wrist to take the photos or videos.  The straps that came with it were for his head and chest which wouldn’t have worked so well with all of his scuba gear.  Apparently a couple of other people that go diving with Sam have the wrist strap too.  Sam just needs a little more practice getting his hand out of the photo and aiming the camera in the right direction – there is no viewfinder so you can’t see what you are shooting.  Here are some of the better shots, but for his first try these looked pretty good.

Catching the curl…

There is that big hand… 🙂

Not only did we have a beautiful couple of days, including a sunset, a sunrise and a full moon (Strawberry Moon), but we got to see some horses and crabs!

Sam trying to get a photo…

That poor crab…

After all that – both Sam and Mom got a couple of great shots!

Shackleford Island

Sam getting in a little snorkeling time.

Alex and Sam didn’t really want to fly a kite, at least until they did and then they realized it was actually kind of fun.  🙂

SaveSaveSaveSave

This is what our sunset stroll looked and sounded like….

We have had this kite for 2 years and we finally remembered to take it to the beach with us. 😀