25/365 Picture Today Post

25/365 | Saturday, January 25, 2025 | #365PictureToday

Contrast

The cupcakes for tomorrow's game have contrasting colors.

203/366 Picture Today Post

203/366 | Sunday, July 21, 2024 | #365PictureToday

In My Hand

This is one of the books I'm currently reading.  With the Olympics approaching, it's very timely.

202/366 Picture Today Post

202/366 | Saturday, July 20, 2024 | #365PictureToday

Golden Hour | Guest Prompt

Today we went to a Washington Nationals game to celebrate my husband's birthday a few days early.  The Nats won, and it was a great time!

97/366 Picture Today Post

97/366 | Saturday, April 6, 2024 | #365PictureToday

Prompt Free

Today we visited the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I found the San Diego Chicken!!!

 Some other fun finds.

361/365 Picture Today Post

361/365 | Wednesday, December 27, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Surprise

Picture Style | Indoor 

Surprise! Our son got us tickets to tonight's UVA basketball game as a Christmas present.  We enjoyed an evening with our son and my mother-in-law watching UVA defeat Morgan State (79-44).  Wahoowa!

 

 

 

196/365 Picture Today Post

196/365 | Saturday, July 15, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Luminous

Picture Style | Sports 

My sons also used to swim on a swim team every summer, but I couldn't find a single picture of them swimming.  I did find a few pictures from swim meets but nothing with any real action that wasn't blurry (apparently my older son took some pictures of his brother swimming on one occasion).  In lieu of that, here is my volleyball picture from junior high.  I only played for one season because in high school I joined the color guard for the marching band, and volleyball seasons and marching band competition seasons were the at the same time.

 

 

 

195/365 Picture Today Post

195/365 | Friday, July 14, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Lavish

Picture Style | Sports 

Another one from the archives.  Both of my sons also played basketball.  At one time all of the teams were issued the same uniform: a reversible jersey that was bright orange on one side and white on the other so that one team was white and the other orange for every game.  On most Saturdays, we had a game for each boy to attend.

 

My older son from 2009.

 

My younger son from 2011.

194/365 Picture Today Post

194/365 | Thursday, July 13, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Organize

Picture Style | Sports 

My older son played baseball for many years.  It takes a lot of effort to not only organize the league but also to organize the team for each game.  This is from a pre-game team meeting during the last season that my son played.

 

 

 

193/365 Picture Today Post

193/365 | Wednesday, July 12, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Prompt Free

Picture Style | Sports 

Fred is practicing his bowling.

 

 

 

192/365 Picture Today Post

192/365 | Tuesday, July 11, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Open

Picture Style | Sports

In 2021 we stayed near South Holston Lake and rented a boat for a day.  Here my two sons are enjoying each other's company while sharing a tube.

 

 

 

191/365 Picture Today Post

191/365 | Monday, July 10, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Euphoric

Picture Style | Sports | Macro Monday 

Monday is bowling night this summer.  Brightly colored bowling balls waiting on the rack.

 

 

190/365 Picture Today Post

190/365 | Sunday, July 9, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Boisterous

Picture Style | Sports

My younger son played soccer for many years.  This is a picture from his last season playing.  It was taken in the fall of 2015.

 

 

 

2022 365 Picture Today Post

204/365 | Saturday, July 23, 2022 | #365PictureToday

Spirit

Picture You | What I do | Scavenger Hunt 

I really dread the scavenger hunt prompts.  Taking one picture a day is sometimes a challenge for me, let alone nine.  Then there's the whole ordeal of making the collage with nine photos.  I think I need to remember to take them all in landscape format since the vertical ones don't format right in a grid.  Part of the way through taking pictures I tried going with a theme of using UVA gear, which worked well, because of the school spirit involved.  I didn't feel like going back and trying to find UVA themed objects for the other three pictures.

 

Round: UVA basketball

Colorful: Fresh veggies from the garden; they feed the spirit

Soft: Our cat Ripley, who is very spirited

Small: Earrings

With polka dots: A heart-shaped dish

Vintage: CavMan; the Cavalier has been UVA's mascot since 1925

Delicious: A UVA cookie jar and a cookie from Crumbl

Sparkly: My sparkliest UVA shirt

With words: A t-shirt showing the whole NCAA bracket to celebrate UVA's championship in 2019 

 

Homeschool Sports Access in Virginia - Part 2

HB 511 passed the Virginia House of Delegates by a narrow margin.  The next stop will be the Senate since I haven't heard that there is a separate Senate bill this session.  In case you're interested these are the delegates who voted against the bill: Adams, D.M., Bagby, Bennett-Parker, Bloxom, Bourne, Bulova, Carr, Clark, Convirs-Fowler, Coyner, Delaney, Filler-Corn, Glass, Guzman, Hayes, Helmer, Herring, Hope, Hudson, Jenkins, Keam, Kory, Krizek, Lopez, Maldonado, McQuinn, Mullin, Mundon King, Murphy, Plum, Price, Rasoul, Reid, Roem, Scott, D.L., Sewell, Shin, Sickles, Simon, Simonds, Subramanyam, Sullivan, Torian, Tran, VanValkenburg, Ward, Watts, Willett, Williams Graves--49.

This is quite interesting because I received the following e-mail message from my delegate, Elizabeth Guzman, after e-mailing her:

Thank you for reaching out to the legislative office of Delegate Guzman. We value your position on this topic and I have logged your support for HB 511 into Delegate Guzman's online system.

I am pleased to inform you HB 511 has passed through the House of Delegates and is on its way to the Senate . She will take your position, as well as all others, into consideration before she is presented with the opportunity to vote on similar legislation in the future. 

 

Please never hesitate to reach out to our office if you have other pieces of legislation that you would like her to have your input on. Additionally, please never hesitate to reach out to us as our office handles a wide variety of constituent services and we will work diligently to solve any issues you might be facing.

 

Oddly, she voted against the bill but is pleased to inform me that it passed??? 

If you are interested in this legislation finally passing, I urge you to contact your State Senator sooner rather than later to ask him or her to support this bill when it crosses over.  As of February 15, it is in the Senate Committee on Education and Health.  The following Senators are on that committee:

Lucas (Chair), Saslaw, Howell, Newman, Locke, Barker, Petersen, Cosgrove, Lewis, Dunnavant, Suetterlein, Peake, Edwards, Hashmi, Pillion

Since these senators represent the interests of all Virginians, you should feel free to contact any of them, especially those who may be on the fence, to ask them to support this bill.  I feel certain that Governor Younkin would sign this bill if it crosses his desk.  Contact information for all senators can be found here: https://apps.senate.virginia.gov/Senator/index.php

 

As a recap on the issue, VAHomeschoolers has a breakdown of all of the pertinent information here: https://vahomeschoolers.org/advocacy/issues/sports-access

 

 

 

 

 

Homeschool Sports Access in Virginia

 

Once again a bill is making its way through the General Assembly in Richmond (HB 511) to permit homeschool sports access.  These bills are commonly referred to as Tebow bills after Tim Tebow, who famously was permitted to play high school sports in Florida as a homeschooler.  Often this bill will make it through the General Assembly and on to the governor, but the last couple of Democratic governors have vetoed them without even researching the issue as a nod to the VEA, who remains steadfastly opposed to it.  During the last session of the General Assembly, I'm not even sure the bill was introduced, and if it had been, the Democrats wouldn't even have let it get out of the education committee.  This year is different though, and it has a chance to get signed into law.  Read on for why this particular bill is necessary and worthy of passage.

According to a VCU Commonwealth Education poll more than two-thirds of Virginians (67%) favor allowing homeschooled students to participate on public school teams. In fact, when my son was playing baseball and was looking for a more competitive environment in which to play, his friends from church and Scouts couldn't understand why he was not even allowed to try out for the team at the local high school.

Some additional facts to consider: School-based sports teams are often the only opportunities available at the high school level in rural areas of the state, and they allow uncommonly talented athletes the chance to be considered for college scholarships. School boards should have a choice about whether or not to allow homeschoolers to try out. These bills would allow local school boards to set the policy that is right for their communities and does not place a mandate on public schools. Homeschool sports access is working smoothly in 29 states. No state that has enacted homeschool sports access has repealed it. In fact, some states have increased the scope of that access over time. HB 511 would only allow bona-fide homeschooled students to try out at the public school in their attendance zone, and the bill allows public schools to charge reasonable fees. The impact on public schools and public school students would be small. There are fewer than 6,000 homeschooled high school students in Virginia. This averages to about 19 homeschoolers in the attendance zone of each of VHSL’s 311 member schools. Most would not even try out for public school programs; those who do would be trying out for a variety of different programs. Many who try out would not have the skills to make the team.

Homeschooled students in Virginia need legislative support in order to be allowed to try out for their local high school interscholastic programs. Despite significant effort by homeschooling organizations since 1997 to work with members of VHSL to develop fair, reasonable and practical eligibility guidelines for homeschooled students, VHSL has refused to consider any change. Virginia’s homeschooled students are depending on the General Assembly for a chance to try out. Homeschooled students are already involved members of their local communities, playing recreational league sports at younger ages, participating in local Scouting organizations, and maybe even rooting on their local high schools at football and basketball games.

We homeschooled our children for 18 years.  My older son graduated in 2014 and attended college at VCU, studying mechanical engineering. My younger son graduated in 2019 and is taking classes at Northern Virginia Community College and working. Even though we no longer homeschool, I still support this bill and will continue to lobby for it until it becomes law in Virginia.

365 Picture Today Post

185/365 | Sunday, July 4, 2021 | #365PictureToday

Lace  

Picture Color | Green

Today we went to a minor league baseball game (Fredericksburg Nationals) and then watched fireworks from our car after the game.  Aside from issues with parking, it was a pretty fun evening.  In my first picture, the green of the diamond can be seen through the lace of the protective netting.

 

 In this second picture, the green fireworks paint a lacy picture in the sky.

365 Picture Today Post

172/365 | Monday, June 21, 2021 | #365PictureToday

Wave

Picture You | What I Love

I love boating of all kinds!  I love to tube and water ski.  I love to kayak and paddleboard.  I like to go out on small cruises and ferries.  I love to take cruises on the big ships.  I even know how to sail and enjoy that too.  This was taken on our recent vacation in May, and I love these boys, especially when they creatively find something to do together.  I'm choosing to see the wake our boat made as a small wave of sorts.

 

Summer Swim Team

Practices began June 1 in the evening.

Beginning June 21 practices moved to mornings.

P swam in the 13/14 male division; Bean swam in the 9/10 male division.

June 23 – Aquia Harbour @CPST – lost 262-242

P's events: 50 Free 40.76, 50 Fly 58.47, 50 Back 50.73

Bean's events: 25 Free 27.35, 25 Fly DQ, 25 Back 34.20

June 30 – CPST @College Heights – won (missed)

July 7 – CPST @ Fawn Lake – won

P's events: 50 Free 38.58, 50 Back 48.91, 50 Breast 54.82

Bean's events: 25 Free 26.63

July 14 – Massad YMCA @ CPST – lost

P's events: 50 Free 40.06, 50 Fly 55.93

Bean's events: 25 Free 26.65

July 21 – Austin Ridge @ CPST – won

Bean's events: 25 Free 26.14, 25 Back 29.27

July 26 – CPST @ Dahlgren – lost

P's events: 50 Free 36.80, 50 Fly 47.64, 50 Breast 51.43

Bean's events: 25 Free 24.66

August 7 – Patriot Division Finals – finished 3^rd – 739 points

P's events: 50 Fly DQ, 50 Breast 55.13

Bean's events: 25 Free 26.87

2010 Spring Soccer

Practices began on March 24

April 10 Game – lost 3-2

April 17 Game – won 4-1

April 24 Game – won 3-1

May 1 Game – lost 0-2

May 8 Game – lost 4-3

May 15 Game – won?

May 22 Game – lost 8-2

June 5 Game – won 2-1

June 5 End of Season Party

2010 Spring Baseball

Due to many issues this spring, I have not kept up with the blog as I had intended. In an effort to make some kind of progress, I am posting a series of short articles detailing some of our activities. Unfortunately, due to soccer, a bout with Lyme disease, and a lack of record keeping by the baseball organization, I don't have very much information about the baseball season, except the dates that games were played. The season was a typical one: they won some games; they lost several games; overall they had some fun. This was also the first season that our oldest moved up to play Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken 13 Prep/Junior baseball.

Practices began on Friday, March 19

First scrimmage Saturday, April 3

Double header Saturday, April 10

Single game Wednesday, April 14

Double header Saturday, April 17

Single game Wednesday, April 21 – canceled

Double header @ Summit Point Saturday, April 24 – missed due to injured foot

Single game Wednesday, April 28

Double header @ Stuart Field Saturday, May 1

Single game Wednesday, May 5

Single game Wednesday, May 12

Double header Saturday, May 15

Single game Wednesday, May 19

Double header Saturday, May 22

Single game Wednesday, May 26

Single game Wednesday, June 2

Double header Saturday, June 5

Single game Thursday, June 10

Single game Thursday, June 17