I was finally able to bring out the present I bought for her and had hiding inside the shed — a new bike.

Happy Birthday Lin!

Linda takes a peek at her gift in the family room.

Here comes Linda, with Keely cheering her on in her pajamas.

For dinner, it was off to the restaurant with the family and some friends.

Dave takes his first helicopter ride in a Blackhawk.

After being asked Friday morning by the Baltimore Examiner if I was available Saturday evening to take some photos from a Blackhawk helicopter — it didn’t take long to answer “YES.”

Even though I had an already busy weekend schedule — Parkville Soccer Team & Individual Saturday morning, Henry’s birthday Saturday afternoon and the Ravens game on Sunday — squeezing in a 1-hour flight from 6p-7p seemed easy-peezy.

After shooting 14 soccer teams, I got home around 2:30 and was pretty beat. Did I make a mistake squeezing in this assignment?

Henry’s party was getting underway and after wolfing down some pizza, and chicken wings, I felt a bit better.

I arrived at the airfield in Edgewood at about 5:15p and signed my life away in case of a crash.  Then was issued earplugs and a headset.   I was then able to sit in on the preflight meeting with the three pilots, copilots and navigators.   The mission was to fly over Fort McHenry at exactly 6:30p for the Michael Phelps Celebration.

They flew doors open so I would have the best opportunity for photos, and I had my own private seat in the back of the helicopter.  Whoever, no one came by and asked me for my choice of dinner — or even got me a drink.  Heck, I didn’t even get a bag of peanuts.   I guess accommodations on this flight were different than I was used too.

The helicopter ride was one awesome experience.

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Photographers line up along the south endzone to capture the action. Tennessee defeated Baltimore 13-10. / October 5, 2008.

It finally happened, I got the opportunity to photograph an NFL game.

More on my experience later …

Here is a gallery of images.

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Henry and Keely enjoy a fire roasted marshmallow

With autumn knocking on the door, and cool evenings for the past couple days, we pulled out the fire pit, and started burning much of the scrap wood left over from the shed project.

Of course, with a fire you’ve got to have marshmallows. Macie and her mom Stacey walked over, so the girls — Linda and Keely — had a conversation partner.

Henry enjoyed getting close to the fire pit, feel the heat on his face, then turn and run.

I’m going to have to start cutting up some of the larger pieces of plywood, if we want to have another fire — most of the smaller 2×4’s are nothing but ash now.

Henry and Keely enjoy the afternoon on Assateague Island, MD

We left this morning for our trip to the eastern shore for Larry and Kelly’s wedding, which takes place tomorrow afternoon.  We decided to take a trip to Assateague Island before checking into our hotel in Ocean City.

This was Henry’s first time visiting the ocean.

All on Keely’s mind was getting her suit on, and playing in the water, while Henry was more fascinated with the sand.

Keely spent the afternoon in the water and building a sand castle, while Henry did venture into the water a few times, he spent most of his time walking up and down the beach and sitting down lifting sand and letting it sift through his fingers.

On a side note, I am posting this entry while sitting next to the balcony in our hotel room, overlooking a small private beach and the Chesapeake Bay.

Henry chowing down his first hamburger on a bun

Tonight was burger night and after Linda and I prepared our hamburgers, Henry was relentless trying to eat both of our hamburgers. He wasn’t satisfied having cut up hamburger meat on a plate when we were eating them on a bun with all the fix’ins.  So, we thought we better make him his own hamburger.  

Henry prefers the one-hand technique for eating his burger.

I cut a hamburger in half (thin ways), put it on a bun with mayo, pickles, tomato and lettuce.  Henry dived in, chowing down on it.

The method Henry preferred was the one-hand technique.  This is also the preferred method of Moose and Booker, as they scarf up what falls on the floor.

This little guy is not a picky eater, that’s for sure.

Daisy (left) and Blossom (right), the newest additions to the family.

Our family is growing — growing with the addition of two new Guinea Pigs, Daisy and Blossom.   These two new critters are Keely’s pets. I sure hope these two ladies like to be grabbed and hauled around the house, for that is the modus operadi of Keely.

The cage is made from grids that are designed to make cubes to hold books, etc., but we use them to make a pen, and placed cloraplast (the stuff election signs are made of) inside.   The cage also has a second story that the critters access with a ramp.

Keely holds her two new pets -- Blossom and Daisy -- guinea pigs