of course, the mail brings nothing, zip, zilch, nada from Kevin. Find out the girl he knows who is attending Blue Lake this session has sent home multiple postcards.....Kevin, zero.
But, the camp did send an email. Kevin has been placed into the Concert Orchestra. If you'll recall, the levels from bottom to top were red, blue, concert, and symphonic. So, this is a good thing. We think.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Tuesday
A whole lot of randomness
- No word from Blue Lake; Suzanne and I are going to make a rule....from now on, if you're going to camp, you have to put at least a postcard in the mail to home before the end of Day 2, or, no more camps. At least for Mystic Lake, they sent an email every day and posted a bunch of photos, here, nothing, nada, zip. I trust that we'll get *something* before the end of the week so we know what time to show up for the concerts...
- Took the boys on a 3-mile walk yesterday down to the High School; of course, Matthew wipes out on the way there and re-bloody-ies the left knee. Sigh.
- Highlight of the walk was a turtle rescue; as we're walking along we see this rather large turtle crossing the road.....I'm nominated to go out and make sure he gets across. Of course, I pick him up, and he starts hissing and squirming, and I drop him. Try and pick him up again, more hissing and turning trying to get at me, etc. Finally get the sucker and move him across the road. Why did the turtle cross the road? To get to the pond on the other side.....
- Looks like I'm going to be doing more work at Selfridge...the gift that keeps on giving, I guess. Seems like the landfill project will extend into 2009, and it looks like I'm going to be involved in the cleanup of the former Explosive Ordinance Demolition range (the 'remedy' for that....very similar to the remedy for a landfill, cap it and go).
- Boys are at another day camp this week; this is the 4th different camp, and without fail, they've been unanimous in complaining that they haven't liked each of them. In hindsight, they've said they'd be happy going back to soccer, and while they haven't been overwhelming with praise for the Y-camp, Pawapi, they have been singing the camp songs constantly since the camp end (kind of cute, I remember Kevin singing these same songs...). But all of the complaints are getting old...
Monday, July 28, 2008
More Ele's Race Photos
I think this is the last of them.....this photographer (different from the previous post) took about 1200 photos total (but, didn't catch Matthew or Christopher crossing the 5k line...oh well. )Tracking them from the beginning of the finish of the kids race, I can see I was incorrect before, Matthew didn't finish 7th or 8th, he finished 5th.
You can note the various scrapes and bruises on Matthew....right now, both knees are skinned up (and he's reopened the left knee several times) and one elbow as well. And, the scratch near his chin....
You can note the various scrapes and bruises on Matthew....right now, both knees are skinned up (and he's reopened the left knee several times) and one elbow as well. And, the scratch near his chin....
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Ele's Race Photos
Much like the Michigan Mile, we had to search through 600 photos to find the ones of us....might be more later.....
Moving on out.....Matthew is about to say "Can I run?"
Moving on out.....Matthew is about to say "Can I run?"
Matthew finishing the race....escorted in by a MSU women's basketball team player
On Goal Videos 4
The last of the videos here.
Christopher in action. His friend, Emma, who he's played soccer with before, was playing defense for the other team and kept telling Christopher that he wasn't going to score any goals. And she was right.
And here's Kevin. Didn't get much of the Zebras; it started to rain and I didn't want the camera out in the wet. Kevin had a bad blister on his foot (that he didn't tell his parents about), so, that explains the funny running motion.
Christopher in action. His friend, Emma, who he's played soccer with before, was playing defense for the other team and kept telling Christopher that he wasn't going to score any goals. And she was right.
And here's Kevin. Didn't get much of the Zebras; it started to rain and I didn't want the camera out in the wet. Kevin had a bad blister on his foot (that he didn't tell his parents about), so, that explains the funny running motion.
Ele's Race
So, today was Ele's Race. Suzanne's company is a major sponsor (I think her group, IT, raised over $4,000), so, we decided that the whole family would do the 5K walk/run (yeah, it's run/walk, but, walk/run reflects the Hutsell approach). So, don the t-shirts and off we go.
Race begins at 9 am, we get there 8:30ish and walk around....there are at least 10x more people here than at the Race for the House we did earlier this year. Suzanne turns in the rest of her pledges, find out that she is one of the raffle winners (coffee cup, TGIFriday gift certificates...), and get in line for the race. Horn blows, off we go.
Almost immediately, Matthew is insistent "Can I run?" "Can I run?" "Can I run?" "Can I run?"....try and try to explain to him that this isn't the Michigan Mile...he's not going to be able to run the whole way, if he runs we'll lose track of him "Can I run?" "Can I run?" "Can I run?"
Reach an agreement, I'll run with him, we'll go at my pace, and we'll stop when I want to stop. Figure I'll be dog-tired at the end of this, but, if I go a minute on and a minute walking, I'll be fine. Turns out I'm completely wrong, I'm not the one dragging, it's Matthew! I knew from the Tahq hike that Matthew tends to drag along if you get out on a longer distance, but, man, everytime we were running (and I'm certainly not moving at any world speed records!) he's the one asking to stop. Seems like some aliens have taken the Matthew I know and replaced him with an unleaded version....
Finish in about 50 minutes....Suzanne and Christopher are about 7-8 minutes behind (kudos to Aunt Christine who ran the whole way!). Went over to the kids races....both Matthew and Christopher are saying "no, no, no"....but, we succeed in getting Matthew signed up for the 1/2 mile (they said it's a 1/2 mile, give Matthew's time, I don't believe it). The aliens returned the Matthew we know at this point, he finished in 2:12, he was about 7th or 8th overall.
In other news, no word from Blue Lake....Kevin's had exceptional weather though!
Race begins at 9 am, we get there 8:30ish and walk around....there are at least 10x more people here than at the Race for the House we did earlier this year. Suzanne turns in the rest of her pledges, find out that she is one of the raffle winners (coffee cup, TGIFriday gift certificates...), and get in line for the race. Horn blows, off we go.
Almost immediately, Matthew is insistent "Can I run?" "Can I run?" "Can I run?" "Can I run?"....try and try to explain to him that this isn't the Michigan Mile...he's not going to be able to run the whole way, if he runs we'll lose track of him "Can I run?" "Can I run?" "Can I run?"
Reach an agreement, I'll run with him, we'll go at my pace, and we'll stop when I want to stop. Figure I'll be dog-tired at the end of this, but, if I go a minute on and a minute walking, I'll be fine. Turns out I'm completely wrong, I'm not the one dragging, it's Matthew! I knew from the Tahq hike that Matthew tends to drag along if you get out on a longer distance, but, man, everytime we were running (and I'm certainly not moving at any world speed records!) he's the one asking to stop. Seems like some aliens have taken the Matthew I know and replaced him with an unleaded version....
Finish in about 50 minutes....Suzanne and Christopher are about 7-8 minutes behind (kudos to Aunt Christine who ran the whole way!). Went over to the kids races....both Matthew and Christopher are saying "no, no, no"....but, we succeed in getting Matthew signed up for the 1/2 mile (they said it's a 1/2 mile, give Matthew's time, I don't believe it). The aliens returned the Matthew we know at this point, he finished in 2:12, he was about 7th or 8th overall.
In other news, no word from Blue Lake....Kevin's had exceptional weather though!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Blue Lake
Today was drop-Kevin-off-at-Blue-Lake day; both Suzanne and I were able to get out of work to take him. Camp is just north of Muskegon, so, that's 1 hour and 45 minutes of drive. Kevin's supposed to be there at 11 am; his audition is at 12:30. We arrive at about 10:45.
Phrase of the day is "Kevin, you are sooo lucky.". Because this camp, at least to me, looks awesome, and repeatedly, I had to tell Kevin how lucky he was to be able to go to camp like this. You walk around and all you hear are the sounds of people playing instruments of all kinds; the camp is gorgeous; wooded, near a big lake. Kevin is in the "Bandwagon" group of 6 cabins, he's in the "King" Cabin with 11 other boys. Perhaps the downside of the camp is the cabin; it's not nearly as nice as the Mystic Lake accomodations from last year. Kevin is in the same group as another boy from his school, Ian, so that's good. Walking around, he met at least two others from his school, so, that will be good as well.
Got Kevin checked in, went over and purchased his camp 'gear'; everyone wears the camp polo shirts and such. Had lunch, went to his audition. That was held in this open-air pavillion; he had to play a scale and do some sight-reading. My general impression is he did well...he chose a scale (D major?...not sure) that wasn't the typical Do-re-mi whole note scale so, it sounded weird when I first heard it, and the instructor asked what scale he did and what notes were sharp and then asked him to do it in F (that's the Do-re-mi whole notes). Kevin was nervous about the sight reading, but, I knew from watching him that he does really well at this, and, the instructor might have just been saying the same thing to all of the kids, but, said that Kevin did a really good job here as well. I guess we'll see where Kevin gets placed...there's 4 orchestra levels, red, blue, concert, and symphonic, and we'll get a letter or note home sometime telling us where he placed.
Pick Kevin up a week from Sunday, the kids put on a series of concerts that day, so, ought to be an interesting time.
More posts as we get updates from Kevin.....
Phrase of the day is "Kevin, you are sooo lucky.". Because this camp, at least to me, looks awesome, and repeatedly, I had to tell Kevin how lucky he was to be able to go to camp like this. You walk around and all you hear are the sounds of people playing instruments of all kinds; the camp is gorgeous; wooded, near a big lake. Kevin is in the "Bandwagon" group of 6 cabins, he's in the "King" Cabin with 11 other boys. Perhaps the downside of the camp is the cabin; it's not nearly as nice as the Mystic Lake accomodations from last year. Kevin is in the same group as another boy from his school, Ian, so that's good. Walking around, he met at least two others from his school, so, that will be good as well.
Got Kevin checked in, went over and purchased his camp 'gear'; everyone wears the camp polo shirts and such. Had lunch, went to his audition. That was held in this open-air pavillion; he had to play a scale and do some sight-reading. My general impression is he did well...he chose a scale (D major?...not sure) that wasn't the typical Do-re-mi whole note scale so, it sounded weird when I first heard it, and the instructor asked what scale he did and what notes were sharp and then asked him to do it in F (that's the Do-re-mi whole notes). Kevin was nervous about the sight reading, but, I knew from watching him that he does really well at this, and, the instructor might have just been saying the same thing to all of the kids, but, said that Kevin did a really good job here as well. I guess we'll see where Kevin gets placed...there's 4 orchestra levels, red, blue, concert, and symphonic, and we'll get a letter or note home sometime telling us where he placed.
Pick Kevin up a week from Sunday, the kids put on a series of concerts that day, so, ought to be an interesting time.
More posts as we get updates from Kevin.....
On-Goal Videos 1
Finally started compiling and uploading some video
Here's some of the Microstars singing their songs....didn't get too much of the "Peeling Bananas" songs, sadly.
Here's some of Christopher's game. It's the whole game, but, if you just want to see Christopher, skip ahead to the 5 minute mark, he sat out the first part as the sub.
More video later.....
Here's some of the Microstars singing their songs....didn't get too much of the "Peeling Bananas" songs, sadly.
Here's some of Christopher's game. It's the whole game, but, if you just want to see Christopher, skip ahead to the 5 minute mark, he sat out the first part as the sub.
More video later.....
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Honda Dealership
So, had to take the CR-V in for the 30K servicing this morning. While Suzanne and I are very happy with our Honda's; sadly, if there were another dealer we could go to for service we would.
When I take the CR-V in (purchased at the dealer), everything is fine. Staff is courteous, they do the little things that you would expect to be done and the experience, for what it is, is fine. They always ask that if we get called for a survey to please rate them all '5's' or, excellent, and, with service for the CR-V, I'd be happy to do that.
Taking the Odyssey in is another matter. We were going to purchase the Odyssey here, but, found it about 1.5K cheaper in Ann Arbor, gave this dealer a chance to match it, they declined, so, we bought it in Ann Arbor. And every single time I bring that car in here, it's a challenge. Not courteous, always offering different services I don't need, if there's any issue or question, the answer is "you're going to have to contact the dealer you bought it at", etc.
They'd better hope the survey doesn't call after a trip with the Odyssey.
What else is new: Still need to download the on-goal video(s) off of the camera; should do that today. Had a near disaster on Sunday, was copying over the recent videos from my computer to the backup, and then went to delete the videos off of my computer, and accidentally wiped all the 2008 videos off of the backup drive! Happily, I was able to download a program and retrieve them all (it was a USB drive, so, they didn't all just go to the recycle bin), but, it took about 2 hours total to get back to where I was before I hit 'delete').
Kevin and I went to "Dark Knight". Very good....Matthew and Christopher won't be going...am very surprised that movie has a PG-13 rating.....
When I take the CR-V in (purchased at the dealer), everything is fine. Staff is courteous, they do the little things that you would expect to be done and the experience, for what it is, is fine. They always ask that if we get called for a survey to please rate them all '5's' or, excellent, and, with service for the CR-V, I'd be happy to do that.
Taking the Odyssey in is another matter. We were going to purchase the Odyssey here, but, found it about 1.5K cheaper in Ann Arbor, gave this dealer a chance to match it, they declined, so, we bought it in Ann Arbor. And every single time I bring that car in here, it's a challenge. Not courteous, always offering different services I don't need, if there's any issue or question, the answer is "you're going to have to contact the dealer you bought it at", etc.
They'd better hope the survey doesn't call after a trip with the Odyssey.
What else is new: Still need to download the on-goal video(s) off of the camera; should do that today. Had a near disaster on Sunday, was copying over the recent videos from my computer to the backup, and then went to delete the videos off of my computer, and accidentally wiped all the 2008 videos off of the backup drive! Happily, I was able to download a program and retrieve them all (it was a USB drive, so, they didn't all just go to the recycle bin), but, it took about 2 hours total to get back to where I was before I hit 'delete').
Kevin and I went to "Dark Knight". Very good....Matthew and Christopher won't be going...am very surprised that movie has a PG-13 rating.....
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Image Search
There's been more than a few visitors recently to the blog referred through the image search feature of the internet.
I can understand people typing in a search phrase (like, dungeon master's guide) and ending up here. Probably not what they are looking for, but, I can understand it.
Not quite sure why this shows up as a result for any search. And it's happened three times now! What do you type in to get here, "How do you spell avalanche?"
Very strange.....
I can understand people typing in a search phrase (like, dungeon master's guide) and ending up here. Probably not what they are looking for, but, I can understand it.
Not quite sure why this shows up as a result for any search. And it's happened three times now! What do you type in to get here, "How do you spell avalanche?"
Very strange.....
Kevin (and Dad) cruise through YouTube
and it's been a blast. Pretty easy to make Kevin laugh....he's pretty into Whose Line Is It Anyway now....
And then we found this...perhaps the most annoying song ever. But this version's in French!
Spent about 45 minutes watching these types of clips one night. Kevin thinks the some of those early Star Trek special effects look pretty lame, but, thought the crash was ok.
And then we found this...perhaps the most annoying song ever. But this version's in French!
Spent about 45 minutes watching these types of clips one night. Kevin thinks the some of those early Star Trek special effects look pretty lame, but, thought the crash was ok.
On-Goal - World Cup Saturday
The last day of camp; Saturday is the skill competitions and the World Cup Championships. Very muggy day, not a hint of wind, the mosquitoes had a big day. Then, the rain started around noon.
Matthew: The Microstars wrap up the camp, but, they do some skills demonstrations and game demonstrations, not any real competition. There were some songs, some drills, some one-on-one soccer (Suzanne and I were over watching Christopher when this started; Matthew scored once, then twice, then thrice...felt bad for the boy matched up against him here). They ended the day by playing some three-on-three, and then had the awards ceremony.
Christopher: A tough day for the big guy; again, trapped on a team that doesn't seem to want to participate as much as the other teams, and, surprisingly, with a coach that didn't seem as into it as the other coaches (the other coaches are always on the field, encouraging the kids, making suggestions, acting as referees, Christopher's coach just stood near the goal for every game and talked to the team from there). The combination of a lot of effort for not a lot of reward ended up creating a pretty frustrated Christopher by the end of the day.
Christopher played well, scored one goal, but, the team lost or tied all of their games. Finished last in the round-robin competition and then lost in the first round of the World Cup for his age group. Christopher participated in the passing drill part of the skills competition; for some reason he decided to take all of his 'passes' left-footed. While this is great in one sense, I'm glad he's so comfortable that he will kick with either foot, it's not so good when you're trying to be hard and accurate......
Kevin: The Zimbabwe Zebras, hyped by Kevin as the class of the older group of kids, stumbled out of the gate this morning and finished the round-robin competition seeded third (out of four) after one win and two losses. One loss found Kevin in goal for that game; Suzanne reports him being very dejected after giving up one goal. But, the finals of the World Cup brought redemption for the Zebras, where, 2 consecutive wins propelled the Zebras to the championship.
Kevin, like Christopher, was selected for the passing competition, and, while he was a little more successful than Christopher, he didn't collect enough points to win (his friend Dean put on a display of awesomeness...)
And On-Goal fades into the past for another year. All boys (even Christopher!) want to go back next year, so, that's a good thing!
Coming Attractions: Kevin and Suzanne are at Mamma Mia tonight, Kevin and Dad trying to go see that amazingly-great-sounding Batman movie Monday or Tuesday. Sunday is a trip to Ikea to continue kitchen-cabinet purchasing (after a long delay). Kevin goes to Blue Lake for Viola-camp on Wednesday. Matthew and Christopher off to Y-day camp next week.
Matthew: The Microstars wrap up the camp, but, they do some skills demonstrations and game demonstrations, not any real competition. There were some songs, some drills, some one-on-one soccer (Suzanne and I were over watching Christopher when this started; Matthew scored once, then twice, then thrice...felt bad for the boy matched up against him here). They ended the day by playing some three-on-three, and then had the awards ceremony.
Christopher: A tough day for the big guy; again, trapped on a team that doesn't seem to want to participate as much as the other teams, and, surprisingly, with a coach that didn't seem as into it as the other coaches (the other coaches are always on the field, encouraging the kids, making suggestions, acting as referees, Christopher's coach just stood near the goal for every game and talked to the team from there). The combination of a lot of effort for not a lot of reward ended up creating a pretty frustrated Christopher by the end of the day.Christopher played well, scored one goal, but, the team lost or tied all of their games. Finished last in the round-robin competition and then lost in the first round of the World Cup for his age group. Christopher participated in the passing drill part of the skills competition; for some reason he decided to take all of his 'passes' left-footed. While this is great in one sense, I'm glad he's so comfortable that he will kick with either foot, it's not so good when you're trying to be hard and accurate......
Kevin: The Zimbabwe Zebras, hyped by Kevin as the class of the older group of kids, stumbled out of the gate this morning and finished the round-robin competition seeded third (out of four) after one win and two losses. One loss found Kevin in goal for that game; Suzanne reports him being very dejected after giving up one goal. But, the finals of the World Cup brought redemption for the Zebras, where, 2 consecutive wins propelled the Zebras to the championship.
Kevin, like Christopher, was selected for the passing competition, and, while he was a little more successful than Christopher, he didn't collect enough points to win (his friend Dean put on a display of awesomeness...)
And On-Goal fades into the past for another year. All boys (even Christopher!) want to go back next year, so, that's a good thing!
Coming Attractions: Kevin and Suzanne are at Mamma Mia tonight, Kevin and Dad trying to go see that amazingly-great-sounding Batman movie Monday or Tuesday. Sunday is a trip to Ikea to continue kitchen-cabinet purchasing (after a long delay). Kevin goes to Blue Lake for Viola-camp on Wednesday. Matthew and Christopher off to Y-day camp next week.
Friday, July 18, 2008
On-Goal Day 4
Again, had the 12 pm and 3 pm pickups, so, got to see the boys in action.
11:30 am: Christopher, again, is not playing, it's bible-study time for the 2nd graders. Matthew's Microstars are just putting on the penny's to choose up sides and begin play. I've totally had the team composition wrong, today I finally figured out what they do. There are 2 coaches for 3 groups of 12 kids....for games, they divide up those teams of 12 into 2 groups of 6. So, today, Matthew's friend Greg was on the other team, but, Ty and Bennett were on his team. And those two were in the same group with Matthew on the field. Bennett's Mom was there and asked why they did that, and I've wondered why as well....it makes the game very one-sided. By the time those boys rotated off two or three minutes later it was 3-0. Matthew, finally, was named one of the "Total Players"....he had expressed a great deal of frustration yesterday at not being named "Dad, they describe kids who score lots of goals and cut through other players, and they don't pick me!". I just told him keep going.....he'll get his chance. "You will have your chance, Matthew, you_will_have_your_chance!"
I've seen way too much "Cars" recently.....
2:30 pm: Finally get to see Christopher in action; walk down the path to the park with Matthew, turn the corner and start looking for Christopher on his fields and see this tall boy in a white shirt kick the ball into the goal. Continue walking towards his fields, sit down, and watch. For some reason, the other four players on Christopher's team weren't too interested in soccer today.....Christoher seemed to be the one hustling after the ball, the others were talking with the coach, talking with each other, etc....and Christopher was getting really frustrated. Game ends, I'm watching them walk off the field, and Christopher is talking with the kids on the other team and I see them get really animated.....the conversation went something like this:
Kid 1: "We won"
Christopher: "No, it was tie"
Kid 1: "We won!'
Christopher: "It was a tie!"
Kid 1: "We won! Shut up!"
Christopher "Don't tell me to shut up!"
Kid 1: (pushes Christopher)
I'm watching this, and now *I'm* praying "please don't hit him, please don't hit him, please don't hit him". Kid 1 is 1/2 the size of Christopher. Guaranteed, if Kid 1 is brother Matthew, he's getting a punch or a kick from Christopher.
Thankfully, Christopher says one more phrase, and then walks off to get water. For a moment, I was sure I was going to have to deal with my kid fighting at church camp......
Walked over to see Kevin...he had just come out of goal and was back in on defense. Doing well, he's not the best (by far), he's not the worst (by far). Tomorrow is the World Cup and the skill competition.....video camera will be deployed.
11:30 am: Christopher, again, is not playing, it's bible-study time for the 2nd graders. Matthew's Microstars are just putting on the penny's to choose up sides and begin play. I've totally had the team composition wrong, today I finally figured out what they do. There are 2 coaches for 3 groups of 12 kids....for games, they divide up those teams of 12 into 2 groups of 6. So, today, Matthew's friend Greg was on the other team, but, Ty and Bennett were on his team. And those two were in the same group with Matthew on the field. Bennett's Mom was there and asked why they did that, and I've wondered why as well....it makes the game very one-sided. By the time those boys rotated off two or three minutes later it was 3-0. Matthew, finally, was named one of the "Total Players"....he had expressed a great deal of frustration yesterday at not being named "Dad, they describe kids who score lots of goals and cut through other players, and they don't pick me!". I just told him keep going.....he'll get his chance. "You will have your chance, Matthew, you_will_have_your_chance!"
I've seen way too much "Cars" recently.....
2:30 pm: Finally get to see Christopher in action; walk down the path to the park with Matthew, turn the corner and start looking for Christopher on his fields and see this tall boy in a white shirt kick the ball into the goal. Continue walking towards his fields, sit down, and watch. For some reason, the other four players on Christopher's team weren't too interested in soccer today.....Christoher seemed to be the one hustling after the ball, the others were talking with the coach, talking with each other, etc....and Christopher was getting really frustrated. Game ends, I'm watching them walk off the field, and Christopher is talking with the kids on the other team and I see them get really animated.....the conversation went something like this:
Kid 1: "We won"
Christopher: "No, it was tie"
Kid 1: "We won!'
Christopher: "It was a tie!"
Kid 1: "We won! Shut up!"
Christopher "Don't tell me to shut up!"
Kid 1: (pushes Christopher)
I'm watching this, and now *I'm* praying "please don't hit him, please don't hit him, please don't hit him". Kid 1 is 1/2 the size of Christopher. Guaranteed, if Kid 1 is brother Matthew, he's getting a punch or a kick from Christopher.
Thankfully, Christopher says one more phrase, and then walks off to get water. For a moment, I was sure I was going to have to deal with my kid fighting at church camp......
Walked over to see Kevin...he had just come out of goal and was back in on defense. Doing well, he's not the best (by far), he's not the worst (by far). Tomorrow is the World Cup and the skill competition.....video camera will be deployed.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
On-Goal Day 3
We've been sharing the carpooling to the camp with another family; today was our day to pick up the 1st graders at noon and the others at 3, so, I went early so I could watch a little bit....
11:30 am: Matthew and Christopher's 'areas' are located near the front of the park towards the parking lot, so, I stop there to watch them and wait for Matthew to finish. Matthew's group is just finishing some singing/teaching/praying time, I can see them under the pavilion singing a "Peeling Bananas" song that requires some wiggling-type of dancing. Christopher is out doing a drill with the 2nd graders...he's easy to pick out, seems to be doing pretty well.
Matthew's group heads back to the field; he stops to say "hi" and wants me to come over, they are going to be playing games! (Matthew has said soccer camp would be great if it weren't for all the stops to talk, sing, and pray.) Christopher's group is heading up to the pavilion for a break; he sees me and waves, and then blows me a kiss. Hard to reconcile that boy with the one who was screaming bloody murder about medicine a week ago sometimes....
I realize now that Matthew is on a team of 6 (but not the same team each time), but, they only play 3 on 3, so, 3 play while 3 sit. He starts off, and, about 2 minutes later it's 2-0 for Matthew's team and his three are heading to the bench. I'm always taken aback by how big Christopher looks in his age group, I really noticed for the first time today how Matthew sticks out in his age group as well. He might not be the tallest kid there, but, it's close. Matthew came out a little later for another rotation and did his patented dribble-through-the crowd-and-cut-back-to-score move, but, missed the last kick towards the goal (trying to left foot it) and held his hands up in frustration as the ball dribbled out of bounds.....
2:30 pm: Matthew and I come back to pick up the other two boys. Christopher, again, is at a break so I don't get a chance to watch him. Matthew and I walk up to see Kevin....look out at the fields...no Kevin. Finally we see him, he's playing goalie! And doing a darn good job of it too; stopped a point blank shot at one point. The coach is rotating players in and out; Kevin finally comes out and is pleasantly surprised to see Dad and Matthew there watching him. He went back a little later, this time as defense, and then the game ended. Walked back to check on Christopher, of course, he's not playing (again!) , so, walk back to check on Kevin. He's back in goal again, but, no shots on him before his turn in goal comes to an end.
11:30 am: Matthew and Christopher's 'areas' are located near the front of the park towards the parking lot, so, I stop there to watch them and wait for Matthew to finish. Matthew's group is just finishing some singing/teaching/praying time, I can see them under the pavilion singing a "Peeling Bananas" song that requires some wiggling-type of dancing. Christopher is out doing a drill with the 2nd graders...he's easy to pick out, seems to be doing pretty well.
Matthew's group heads back to the field; he stops to say "hi" and wants me to come over, they are going to be playing games! (Matthew has said soccer camp would be great if it weren't for all the stops to talk, sing, and pray.) Christopher's group is heading up to the pavilion for a break; he sees me and waves, and then blows me a kiss. Hard to reconcile that boy with the one who was screaming bloody murder about medicine a week ago sometimes....
I realize now that Matthew is on a team of 6 (but not the same team each time), but, they only play 3 on 3, so, 3 play while 3 sit. He starts off, and, about 2 minutes later it's 2-0 for Matthew's team and his three are heading to the bench. I'm always taken aback by how big Christopher looks in his age group, I really noticed for the first time today how Matthew sticks out in his age group as well. He might not be the tallest kid there, but, it's close. Matthew came out a little later for another rotation and did his patented dribble-through-the crowd-and-cut-back-to-score move, but, missed the last kick towards the goal (trying to left foot it) and held his hands up in frustration as the ball dribbled out of bounds.....
2:30 pm: Matthew and I come back to pick up the other two boys. Christopher, again, is at a break so I don't get a chance to watch him. Matthew and I walk up to see Kevin....look out at the fields...no Kevin. Finally we see him, he's playing goalie! And doing a darn good job of it too; stopped a point blank shot at one point. The coach is rotating players in and out; Kevin finally comes out and is pleasantly surprised to see Dad and Matthew there watching him. He went back a little later, this time as defense, and then the game ended. Walked back to check on Christopher, of course, he's not playing (again!) , so, walk back to check on Kevin. He's back in goal again, but, no shots on him before his turn in goal comes to an end.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Life Could Be a Dream
Countless repeats of Cars on the Starz channels has Kevin and I groovin' to this....
Trying to convince him this would be a really cool ring-tone....getting a lot of resistance there.....
Trying to convince him this would be a really cool ring-tone....getting a lot of resistance there.....
On-Goal Day 2 (and miscellany)
Another good day at camp today:
Matthew: Apparently they don't keep the same teams as the Micro-stars level....Greg moved on to another team, and another boy from the indoor team, Bennett, rotated on to Matthew's team with Ty. Still don't understand why they are breaking the teams up that way; Greg (who came over and played with Matthew after camp) said playing against Matthew's team wasn't much fun....
Christopher: Had a really good day. At the end of each day they pick one player from each team to call up for recognition (with 4 days of 'regular' camp, they'll end up recognizing most of the younger players). Today was Christopher's turn; he only told us that he was the 'special' player today and said that one of the reasons was that he took a shot to the mouth and was bleeding a little after another boy hit him accidentally. Ask Kevin about his day, and he tells a little bit more about Christopher's day...that another reason Christopher was the 'special' player is that he scored the game-winning goal in one of the games! Ask Christopher about this, he give a shy little smile and admitted to being awesome.....
Kevin: Had a good day; had his phrase-off with the one coach and lost by 0.8 seconds, so, he's practicing speed recital tonight for the rematch tomorrow. One small disaster....it's really hot and humid so instead of just sending the boys with water bottles (which was woefully inadequate on Tuesday) we loaded up a small cooler and sent ice and 4 bottles of Dasani water. The last thing I said to Kevin was "Hey, bring back the empty Dasani bottles so that we can refill them...don't throw them out". Somehow, either through my poor English skills, or, Kevin's poor listening skills, he interpreted that as "Bring home the bottle water! (don't drink it!)"....and came home complaining about how cruel it was to send him and Christopher with bottled water that he couldn't drink!
Bloopers: Finally updated the Dad-trying-to-get-on-the-tube video from Florida.....a barrel of laughs, I guess.
ZapZone: Should have talked about this before as well....took the boys and Ashton to ZapZone this weekend as the long-awaited celebration of Matthew's birthday. Zapzone has moved since we were last there....this location is bigger (used to be a movie theatre) and the boys had an absolute blast. Matthew came out after the last game and said "Dad, I smoked them!".....our team and some other kids were matched up against some kids about Matthew's age from a birthday party...it was a slaughter. We didn't think this was appropriate for a kindergarten party for Matthew this year; can't see how we're going to be able to avoid it for 1st grade, given how much fun Matthew has here. Couldn't stop talking about it before we went; can't stop talking about it now.
Funding: Turns out there may be monies available in some deep dark secret hole of the government, so, maybe we will be able to finish digging and capping at Selfridge after all.
Matthew: Apparently they don't keep the same teams as the Micro-stars level....Greg moved on to another team, and another boy from the indoor team, Bennett, rotated on to Matthew's team with Ty. Still don't understand why they are breaking the teams up that way; Greg (who came over and played with Matthew after camp) said playing against Matthew's team wasn't much fun....
Christopher: Had a really good day. At the end of each day they pick one player from each team to call up for recognition (with 4 days of 'regular' camp, they'll end up recognizing most of the younger players). Today was Christopher's turn; he only told us that he was the 'special' player today and said that one of the reasons was that he took a shot to the mouth and was bleeding a little after another boy hit him accidentally. Ask Kevin about his day, and he tells a little bit more about Christopher's day...that another reason Christopher was the 'special' player is that he scored the game-winning goal in one of the games! Ask Christopher about this, he give a shy little smile and admitted to being awesome.....
Kevin: Had a good day; had his phrase-off with the one coach and lost by 0.8 seconds, so, he's practicing speed recital tonight for the rematch tomorrow. One small disaster....it's really hot and humid so instead of just sending the boys with water bottles (which was woefully inadequate on Tuesday) we loaded up a small cooler and sent ice and 4 bottles of Dasani water. The last thing I said to Kevin was "Hey, bring back the empty Dasani bottles so that we can refill them...don't throw them out". Somehow, either through my poor English skills, or, Kevin's poor listening skills, he interpreted that as "Bring home the bottle water! (don't drink it!)"....and came home complaining about how cruel it was to send him and Christopher with bottled water that he couldn't drink!
Bloopers: Finally updated the Dad-trying-to-get-on-the-tube video from Florida.....a barrel of laughs, I guess.
ZapZone: Should have talked about this before as well....took the boys and Ashton to ZapZone this weekend as the long-awaited celebration of Matthew's birthday. Zapzone has moved since we were last there....this location is bigger (used to be a movie theatre) and the boys had an absolute blast. Matthew came out after the last game and said "Dad, I smoked them!".....our team and some other kids were matched up against some kids about Matthew's age from a birthday party...it was a slaughter. We didn't think this was appropriate for a kindergarten party for Matthew this year; can't see how we're going to be able to avoid it for 1st grade, given how much fun Matthew has here. Couldn't stop talking about it before we went; can't stop talking about it now.
Funding: Turns out there may be monies available in some deep dark secret hole of the government, so, maybe we will be able to finish digging and capping at Selfridge after all.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
On Goal Day 1
Today marks the start of the On Goal Soccer Camp; all three boys in attendance.
Matthew: Still not old enough for the full day (9 to 3) camp; he's in the MicroStars camp with the 1st graders and Kindergarteners. He was placed on a team with two of his friends from the indoor soccer team, Ty and Greg. Probably not the best choice for the competitiveness....those three might be the three best from that team. Matthew had a lot of fun and described the score of his one game as, approximately 38-2. Don't know if I believe him...he did say that he, Ty, and Greg scored a lot and the two girls on their team scored "none".
Christopher: While Matthew was overjoyed to see his friends at camp, Christopher wasn't very happy to be at camp at first. He's always been shy when confronted with a situation like this, and hung around Mom and Dad an awful lot waiting for the camp to begin. But, it did, and the coaches introduced themselves, and, aside from saying their name and hometown, they had to say their favorite animal. Any animal talk is sure to be a hit with Christopher. They called the kids up to disperse to their portion of the fields...Matthew and the K's and 1's went first, and then the soon-to-be 2nd graders. They walk out in line and Suzanne and I get to say our favorite (and it doesn't get old) phrase..."Man, look how much taller Christopher is than the rest of the group!"
Christopher reports that he did, in the end, have fun. He's on a team (the Rainbow Monkeys) with another girl that he played soccer with this year (there's at least 2-3 other 2nd grades there he knows) and he says that he did well. By the end of camp he'll be everyone's friend......
Kevin: Kevin has been to On Goal before, but, not in a while. He's in the 7th and 8th grade group, and, knows at least half of the kids there. His team, the Zimbabwe Zebras (I've had a lot of fun with Kevin about being on a team named after a country that's been on the short end of the human rights stick recently), has more than a few of his friends from Chippewa. Kevin's playing defense, and he reports that his team went undefeated in their matches against the other 3 7-8 teams.
Kevin, also, has been racing to memorize the chosen bible verse for this year's event. Apparently, it's not just knowing it, it's how fast you can say it. Kevin's at 12.1 seconds, and was timing himself on his watch earlier tonight. This year's camp theme is "Play with Purpose" and the verse is "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" - Philipians 3:12-14
Had a nice dinner out with the family tonight...the boys were (mostly) well behaved as we celebrated our anniversary. Kevin tried some of the spinach-artichoke dip and liked it, so, that's always a bonus when he steps up and tries something different. He ordered off of the adult menu (had the cajun-tenderloin tips that Suzanne and I both like) and that had a noticeable impact on the final bill at the end.
Matthew: Still not old enough for the full day (9 to 3) camp; he's in the MicroStars camp with the 1st graders and Kindergarteners. He was placed on a team with two of his friends from the indoor soccer team, Ty and Greg. Probably not the best choice for the competitiveness....those three might be the three best from that team. Matthew had a lot of fun and described the score of his one game as, approximately 38-2. Don't know if I believe him...he did say that he, Ty, and Greg scored a lot and the two girls on their team scored "none".
Christopher: While Matthew was overjoyed to see his friends at camp, Christopher wasn't very happy to be at camp at first. He's always been shy when confronted with a situation like this, and hung around Mom and Dad an awful lot waiting for the camp to begin. But, it did, and the coaches introduced themselves, and, aside from saying their name and hometown, they had to say their favorite animal. Any animal talk is sure to be a hit with Christopher. They called the kids up to disperse to their portion of the fields...Matthew and the K's and 1's went first, and then the soon-to-be 2nd graders. They walk out in line and Suzanne and I get to say our favorite (and it doesn't get old) phrase..."Man, look how much taller Christopher is than the rest of the group!"
Christopher reports that he did, in the end, have fun. He's on a team (the Rainbow Monkeys) with another girl that he played soccer with this year (there's at least 2-3 other 2nd grades there he knows) and he says that he did well. By the end of camp he'll be everyone's friend......
Kevin: Kevin has been to On Goal before, but, not in a while. He's in the 7th and 8th grade group, and, knows at least half of the kids there. His team, the Zimbabwe Zebras (I've had a lot of fun with Kevin about being on a team named after a country that's been on the short end of the human rights stick recently), has more than a few of his friends from Chippewa. Kevin's playing defense, and he reports that his team went undefeated in their matches against the other 3 7-8 teams.
Kevin, also, has been racing to memorize the chosen bible verse for this year's event. Apparently, it's not just knowing it, it's how fast you can say it. Kevin's at 12.1 seconds, and was timing himself on his watch earlier tonight. This year's camp theme is "Play with Purpose" and the verse is "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" - Philipians 3:12-14
Had a nice dinner out with the family tonight...the boys were (mostly) well behaved as we celebrated our anniversary. Kevin tried some of the spinach-artichoke dip and liked it, so, that's always a bonus when he steps up and tries something different. He ordered off of the adult menu (had the cajun-tenderloin tips that Suzanne and I both like) and that had a noticeable impact on the final bill at the end.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Everything dirty and dingy and dusty......
The oft-mentioned construction project at Selfridge is coming to a surprising halt in the next few weeks....it's going to require a bit of an explanation as to why.
I guess the place to start is the start (hah!).....when you suspect an environmental problem exists, you begin with a site investigation. Sounds pretty simple, you go out, you do some sort of invasive investigation (drilling, test pits with an excavator) and you collect samples, which you test for impact (a better word than "contamination"....much like landfill sounds better than "dump"). Depending on what you find, you do more investigation, and more, until you think you've defined the problem, where you move onto proposing a solution, and then designing the solution and well, doing the solution.
The project I've been working on has been the last two, designing and doing. We began work on the project after multiple firms did the investigating (times three!) and proposed the solution. Since I've started working at the new employer, I've been working on this project, finishing the design, creating the construction documents, bidding out the project to contractors, and construction (moving dirt, as referenced earlier) has been going on for almost two months.
The short version of the project is that we are excavating impacted materials from three different areas and consolidating them in one area, and then capping those materials with clay to reduce/infiltration from rain and prevent/reduce groundwater impacts. And we've been excavating....and excavating, and have come to find out that the investigating part of this project wasn't very accurate. Or more precisely, was lacking some detail.
The investigation was based primarily on analytical data, you go out, you drill (geoprobe is the actual term, but, think 'drill' and you've got the concept) a bunch of holes and collect samples. Using these sample, the previous firms 'defined' the area to be excavated by splitting the difference in distance between 'clean' borings and 'dirty' borings. This approach would work pretty well in a situation where someone dumped something (like gasoline) and the impact is spread around in the soil, but, wouldn't be visible in the soil as you excavated it. Sadly, it doesn't work so well in a suspected landfill. As we reached the limits of our excavation, you could still see trash and other materials in the sidewalls of the excavation. So, of course, the State of Michigan would like that material cleaned up to. And, our excavations are getting larger.
Turns out now, that our excavations are so large, that we've almost doubled the predicted amount of material we were going to excavate. And we're still not at the end of it. What we are at the end of are the funds that have been allocated to complete this project. So, we're going to have to 'mothball' the project in the coming weeks and wait until next year (when more monies can be allocated to complete the project) to finish it.
Had a first-hand look at the excavation of trash on Wednesday and Thursday....there's an access road that bisects the Site, a lot of the excavated material is to the north of this road, the landfill where it's being consolidated is to the south. The 'investigation' doesn't have any borings in the road to check for impact; the defined limits show the road is clean.
We've dug up over 350' feet of the access road......trash (mostly construction and industrial debris) is buried at 4-6' all through it.
At least I know I'll never want for work....this is how the United Stated did things in the 60's and 70's, and this is how most of the rest of the world still does it today.....take the trash to low areas, place it there, cover it with dirt, move on.
I guess the place to start is the start (hah!).....when you suspect an environmental problem exists, you begin with a site investigation. Sounds pretty simple, you go out, you do some sort of invasive investigation (drilling, test pits with an excavator) and you collect samples, which you test for impact (a better word than "contamination"....much like landfill sounds better than "dump"). Depending on what you find, you do more investigation, and more, until you think you've defined the problem, where you move onto proposing a solution, and then designing the solution and well, doing the solution.
The project I've been working on has been the last two, designing and doing. We began work on the project after multiple firms did the investigating (times three!) and proposed the solution. Since I've started working at the new employer, I've been working on this project, finishing the design, creating the construction documents, bidding out the project to contractors, and construction (moving dirt, as referenced earlier) has been going on for almost two months.
The short version of the project is that we are excavating impacted materials from three different areas and consolidating them in one area, and then capping those materials with clay to reduce/infiltration from rain and prevent/reduce groundwater impacts. And we've been excavating....and excavating, and have come to find out that the investigating part of this project wasn't very accurate. Or more precisely, was lacking some detail.
The investigation was based primarily on analytical data, you go out, you drill (geoprobe is the actual term, but, think 'drill' and you've got the concept) a bunch of holes and collect samples. Using these sample, the previous firms 'defined' the area to be excavated by splitting the difference in distance between 'clean' borings and 'dirty' borings. This approach would work pretty well in a situation where someone dumped something (like gasoline) and the impact is spread around in the soil, but, wouldn't be visible in the soil as you excavated it. Sadly, it doesn't work so well in a suspected landfill. As we reached the limits of our excavation, you could still see trash and other materials in the sidewalls of the excavation. So, of course, the State of Michigan would like that material cleaned up to. And, our excavations are getting larger.
Turns out now, that our excavations are so large, that we've almost doubled the predicted amount of material we were going to excavate. And we're still not at the end of it. What we are at the end of are the funds that have been allocated to complete this project. So, we're going to have to 'mothball' the project in the coming weeks and wait until next year (when more monies can be allocated to complete the project) to finish it.
Had a first-hand look at the excavation of trash on Wednesday and Thursday....there's an access road that bisects the Site, a lot of the excavated material is to the north of this road, the landfill where it's being consolidated is to the south. The 'investigation' doesn't have any borings in the road to check for impact; the defined limits show the road is clean.
We've dug up over 350' feet of the access road......trash (mostly construction and industrial debris) is buried at 4-6' all through it.
At least I know I'll never want for work....this is how the United Stated did things in the 60's and 70's, and this is how most of the rest of the world still does it today.....take the trash to low areas, place it there, cover it with dirt, move on.
The Melting Pot
Forgot to spend 3-4 paragraphs on the fancy dinner when Suzanne were lucky enough to have a night out during our Florida vacation. We went here.
And it was quite an interesting evening. Reservation was for 7:30 pm, left the house around 6 pm, did some shopping and then drove on the road along the beach from the Destin Mid-Bay Bridge all the way down to the Outlet Mall. Very interesting.....condos and rental properties galore....Suzanne and I hadn't driven through here before, so, we enjoyed the views of the Gulf and marvelled at just how many homes and condos were down in this area.
Got to the restaurant; sat at this small table for two...L-shaped booth seating for a cozy atmosphere. And the fondue experience begins. Waiter was very....weird. Very pushy about what he liked, didn't always seemed to be in the same mental plane as us. He was pushing the "Big Night Out"....we ended up going with the "Signature Selection"
First course is the cheese course. Suzanne and I chose the Fiesta Cheese Fondue...supposedly more Mexican-y and made "as spicy as you like". Reality says it wasn't really spicy, but, eh, that's life. Presented with tortilla chips, various breads, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and apples to dip into the cheese. Apples took a little bit of getting used to but, pretty tasty in the end. Had an apple by itself...they store them in lemon juice, and it was very sour....that taste gets lost with the cheese, but, by itself, gets your face to pucker up. I feast on the cauli- and broccoli, beginning a meal-long quest to eat the foods Suzanne isn't going to go for.....
Next is the salad. Suzanne got the Caeser, a safe choice, I got the house salad, which, you would think would be this normal, run-of-the-mill salad. Dressing is described as "sweet and tangy".....turns out that sweet and sweet would have been a better description, it's this orange-sickeningly-sweet concotion and well, the one thing I didn't like about the whole affair.
On comes the meat. The "Signature Selection" comes with filet mignon, shrimp, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, chicken, and fish (mahi tuna). We ordered the standard Bouillon vegetable broth for the cooking. Side dishes include squash, mushrooms, and potatoes. A whole array of different sauces come along side to.....a gorgonzolla port(?) that was good with the steak, a chive-sourcream-something mix called "the green goddess", a teriyaki sauce, a plum sauce, and a spicy shrimp cocktail.
And off we go.....standard health warnings about being careful with the uncooked foods, a brief primer on how long to cook, and it's time to eat. And it was great! Had most of the tuna, most of the shrimp, and a bite or two of the chicken and beef....surprising how different the two were in terms of toughness. Wiped out the squash, was suprised how much I 'grooved' on the mushrooms. Thought the garganzolla was a bit much, but the other sauces were fabulous.
So, it takes a while to finish dinner (about 2 minutes to cook each 'bite', so, it's a longer meal...) and then it's time for dessert. Signed up for "Club Fondue" before we came, so,they had emailed us a coupon for a free dessert, and, there's a lot of fancy ones, but, we settle on just plain dark chocolate. Out comes this plate of goodies, strawberries, a piece of cheesecake, bananas, rice krispie treats, marshmellows, pound cake. Very scrumptous.
Man it was good! Wish there was a location to Lansing (Suzanne and I say this about once a week...)......think the boys would have fun at a meal like this!
And it was quite an interesting evening. Reservation was for 7:30 pm, left the house around 6 pm, did some shopping and then drove on the road along the beach from the Destin Mid-Bay Bridge all the way down to the Outlet Mall. Very interesting.....condos and rental properties galore....Suzanne and I hadn't driven through here before, so, we enjoyed the views of the Gulf and marvelled at just how many homes and condos were down in this area.
Got to the restaurant; sat at this small table for two...L-shaped booth seating for a cozy atmosphere. And the fondue experience begins. Waiter was very....weird. Very pushy about what he liked, didn't always seemed to be in the same mental plane as us. He was pushing the "Big Night Out"....we ended up going with the "Signature Selection"
First course is the cheese course. Suzanne and I chose the Fiesta Cheese Fondue...supposedly more Mexican-y and made "as spicy as you like". Reality says it wasn't really spicy, but, eh, that's life. Presented with tortilla chips, various breads, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and apples to dip into the cheese. Apples took a little bit of getting used to but, pretty tasty in the end. Had an apple by itself...they store them in lemon juice, and it was very sour....that taste gets lost with the cheese, but, by itself, gets your face to pucker up. I feast on the cauli- and broccoli, beginning a meal-long quest to eat the foods Suzanne isn't going to go for.....
Next is the salad. Suzanne got the Caeser, a safe choice, I got the house salad, which, you would think would be this normal, run-of-the-mill salad. Dressing is described as "sweet and tangy".....turns out that sweet and sweet would have been a better description, it's this orange-sickeningly-sweet concotion and well, the one thing I didn't like about the whole affair.
On comes the meat. The "Signature Selection" comes with filet mignon, shrimp, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, chicken, and fish (mahi tuna). We ordered the standard Bouillon vegetable broth for the cooking. Side dishes include squash, mushrooms, and potatoes. A whole array of different sauces come along side to.....a gorgonzolla port(?) that was good with the steak, a chive-sourcream-something mix called "the green goddess", a teriyaki sauce, a plum sauce, and a spicy shrimp cocktail.
And off we go.....standard health warnings about being careful with the uncooked foods, a brief primer on how long to cook, and it's time to eat. And it was great! Had most of the tuna, most of the shrimp, and a bite or two of the chicken and beef....surprising how different the two were in terms of toughness. Wiped out the squash, was suprised how much I 'grooved' on the mushrooms. Thought the garganzolla was a bit much, but the other sauces were fabulous.
So, it takes a while to finish dinner (about 2 minutes to cook each 'bite', so, it's a longer meal...) and then it's time for dessert. Signed up for "Club Fondue" before we came, so,they had emailed us a coupon for a free dessert, and, there's a lot of fancy ones, but, we settle on just plain dark chocolate. Out comes this plate of goodies, strawberries, a piece of cheesecake, bananas, rice krispie treats, marshmellows, pound cake. Very scrumptous.
Man it was good! Wish there was a location to Lansing (Suzanne and I say this about once a week...)......think the boys would have fun at a meal like this!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Waterboarding
As mentioned in the previous post, Christopher's repeated dips in the pool and bayou gave him a nasty case of swimmer's ear with a helping of ear infection. Doctor prescribed "the pink stuff" and, ear drops. Seems simple enough...right?
Pink stuff, as long as it's followed by water, has always been an easy sell. Sunday, when we get back from the doctor, we pour out the 10 ml and away we go. Next, it's a trip over to the couch, Christopher lies down, give him the drops, and it's like we put sulfuric acid in his ears. He's screaming, he's crying, he' swears up and down that he'll never get them again.
Sunday night arrives, it's eardrop time. And Christopher is adamant in his stance, no way. Dad loses his temper, Christopher holds his ground, and after an extended period of Mom-led negotiations, we hold off in the hope that the pink stuff is working on the infection and will make the next dosage of the ear drops easier.
Monday night, Christopher is still facing the firing squad with denial. So, Dad holds him down, Mom squirts the ear drops in. I'm 99% certain that they didn't hurt this time, but, you must have been able to hear Christopher screaming 2 blocks away. He was scratching and pinching me, he was pulling out every phrase he could think of (thankfully, he hasn't advanced to the fine art of swearing yet) and promised that there was NO way that he'd be getting them Tuesday.
Tuesday night, offer Christopher the choice of lying down calmly or going through the wrestling match again. Repeated procrastination on Christopher's part ended up with Dad putting yet another chicken-wing type hold on Christopher and Mom applying the drops.
We've decided that we'll have Kevin tape Wednesday's dosing....at least we'll have video footage that we were on the up and up as child services comes to investigate all the noise........
Pink stuff, as long as it's followed by water, has always been an easy sell. Sunday, when we get back from the doctor, we pour out the 10 ml and away we go. Next, it's a trip over to the couch, Christopher lies down, give him the drops, and it's like we put sulfuric acid in his ears. He's screaming, he's crying, he' swears up and down that he'll never get them again.
Sunday night arrives, it's eardrop time. And Christopher is adamant in his stance, no way. Dad loses his temper, Christopher holds his ground, and after an extended period of Mom-led negotiations, we hold off in the hope that the pink stuff is working on the infection and will make the next dosage of the ear drops easier.
Monday night, Christopher is still facing the firing squad with denial. So, Dad holds him down, Mom squirts the ear drops in. I'm 99% certain that they didn't hurt this time, but, you must have been able to hear Christopher screaming 2 blocks away. He was scratching and pinching me, he was pulling out every phrase he could think of (thankfully, he hasn't advanced to the fine art of swearing yet) and promised that there was NO way that he'd be getting them Tuesday.
Tuesday night, offer Christopher the choice of lying down calmly or going through the wrestling match again. Repeated procrastination on Christopher's part ended up with Dad putting yet another chicken-wing type hold on Christopher and Mom applying the drops.
We've decided that we'll have Kevin tape Wednesday's dosing....at least we'll have video footage that we were on the up and up as child services comes to investigate all the noise........
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Procrastination
No other excuse than that. Should have posted before now.
Tubing: Here is Kevin's video. He gets some serious air at times....
Vacation Wrap-Up: Let me see....finished up in Florida with a trip to Navarre Beach on Wednesday where the boys did their best to collect every seashell and sand dollar in sight. The beach flags were yellow and purple, which means caution, moderate surf, and caution, wildlife present. Sure did see the wildlife, all kinds of little small (less than a half an inch) swam around us. About 10 feet past us in the bigger waves were schools of bigger fish who were just going to town on the little fish (you could see them snapping out of the water having dinner). And every once in a while, you could see a really big fish coming in for the schools of bigger fish who were eating the little fish. And, oh yeah, the jellyfish. Very small, brownish, and, if you run into one, you're going to be stung. We saw two....collected one in a bucket so that the boys could get a really good look at it.
Thursday was a slow day....perhaps most notable for Christopher's long and loud complaints about Matthew's application of a "Wet Willy". This, looking back, was the first sign of Christopher's slowly burgeoning ear infection. Long nights Thursday and Friday night as he woke up screaming.....finally got him to the doctor Sunday morning for the Amoxycillin and ear drops. The next post (tomorrow) will be about the struggles to get Christopher to take the medicine.
Drive: Left Saturday Morning, 5 am, for the trip home. Made the decision for the first time to go straight through, 16 hours of driving. Last summer coming home we were in Indianapolis at 5 pm and stopped, and in hind sight, that was dumb, we were only 4 hours from home at that point and arriving in Okemos at 9 pm would still be in daylight. So, today, figured we'd go for it.
Drive went well, arrived Okemos at 10 pm. Stops were quick (but there were a lot of them, in Kentucky/Indiana Matthew was asking for bathroom stops every 45 minutes to an hour!). Suzanne spent a lot of the trip finishing up "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. Listened to XM Radio's replay of Casey Kasem's Top 40 countdown....on the seventies station it was the Top 50 of the Seventies. "Stayin' Alive" was #9 (a total rip-off job). Top 3 was Three Dog Night "Joy to the World", Roberta Flack "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and Simon & Garfunkel "Bridge over Troubled Water". Suzanne was very clear that she hoped she never ever heard Roberta Flack's classic ever again!
Cats: We're going to have to rethink how we're dealing with the cats when we're on vacation....got home and Daphne was out on the roof and Madison had again taken off for parts unknown (finally came back Sunday about noonish). We're not sure how they got out.....Ashton and his Mom swear up and down that they don't know how it happened. The roof really confuses us....all of the windows upstairs were secure, so, we don't know. Probably need to confine the cats to the basement during the next vacation.....
Tubing: Here is Kevin's video. He gets some serious air at times....
Vacation Wrap-Up: Let me see....finished up in Florida with a trip to Navarre Beach on Wednesday where the boys did their best to collect every seashell and sand dollar in sight. The beach flags were yellow and purple, which means caution, moderate surf, and caution, wildlife present. Sure did see the wildlife, all kinds of little small (less than a half an inch) swam around us. About 10 feet past us in the bigger waves were schools of bigger fish who were just going to town on the little fish (you could see them snapping out of the water having dinner). And every once in a while, you could see a really big fish coming in for the schools of bigger fish who were eating the little fish. And, oh yeah, the jellyfish. Very small, brownish, and, if you run into one, you're going to be stung. We saw two....collected one in a bucket so that the boys could get a really good look at it.
Thursday was a slow day....perhaps most notable for Christopher's long and loud complaints about Matthew's application of a "Wet Willy". This, looking back, was the first sign of Christopher's slowly burgeoning ear infection. Long nights Thursday and Friday night as he woke up screaming.....finally got him to the doctor Sunday morning for the Amoxycillin and ear drops. The next post (tomorrow) will be about the struggles to get Christopher to take the medicine.
Drive: Left Saturday Morning, 5 am, for the trip home. Made the decision for the first time to go straight through, 16 hours of driving. Last summer coming home we were in Indianapolis at 5 pm and stopped, and in hind sight, that was dumb, we were only 4 hours from home at that point and arriving in Okemos at 9 pm would still be in daylight. So, today, figured we'd go for it.
Drive went well, arrived Okemos at 10 pm. Stops were quick (but there were a lot of them, in Kentucky/Indiana Matthew was asking for bathroom stops every 45 minutes to an hour!). Suzanne spent a lot of the trip finishing up "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. Listened to XM Radio's replay of Casey Kasem's Top 40 countdown....on the seventies station it was the Top 50 of the Seventies. "Stayin' Alive" was #9 (a total rip-off job). Top 3 was Three Dog Night "Joy to the World", Roberta Flack "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and Simon & Garfunkel "Bridge over Troubled Water". Suzanne was very clear that she hoped she never ever heard Roberta Flack's classic ever again!
Cats: We're going to have to rethink how we're dealing with the cats when we're on vacation....got home and Daphne was out on the roof and Madison had again taken off for parts unknown (finally came back Sunday about noonish). We're not sure how they got out.....Ashton and his Mom swear up and down that they don't know how it happened. The roof really confuses us....all of the windows upstairs were secure, so, we don't know. Probably need to confine the cats to the basement during the next vacation.....
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tubing and the dangers of Crab Island
Tuesday was boat rental day; Kevin, Gramps, and I headed over to Eglin about 9 am to pick up the deck boat. About 9:30 we began our journey back across Choctawhatchee Bay to pickup Suzanne, Grandma, Christopher, and Matthew at Lions Park in Niceville.
On the map below, the Grandma/Gramps Pirate Cove is 'A'. Lion's Park is to the northwest; boat pickup is in Weekley Bayou to the far southwest. Tubing occured in Rocky Bayou, which is to the east....we had to go under the Hwy 20 bridge (better that way...away from most of the boat traffic).
Christopher video below. Warning - 15 minutes of footage here.....
"We Rock...We Rock....."
"Let's go!!!!"
The conclusion of each tube run signalled the pickup of one boy and the migration of two other boys into the water for some swimming and tube boarding. Dad had to help Matthew and Christopher up onto the tube, and, jumped into the bay to make sure everyone was ok after each run as well.
Matthew went next....he wanted Kevin to take his first turn with him, but, complained about being 'crushed' because Kevin was on top of him, so, took the rest of his turns on his own after that. Spent the last part of this turns (that ended on the tube) trying to do front flips off of the tube for his dismount...
Video of Matthew's tubing below....warning, 20+ minutes of video attached.
Matthew getting ready for launch
And then there's Kevin.
On the map below, the Grandma/Gramps Pirate Cove is 'A'. Lion's Park is to the northwest; boat pickup is in Weekley Bayou to the far southwest. Tubing occured in Rocky Bayou, which is to the east....we had to go under the Hwy 20 bridge (better that way...away from most of the boat traffic).
Matthew and Grandma
Matthew and Captain Gramps
Christopher was awesome on the tube...almost always up on his knees, going no hands in the beginning for the crowd and having a whale of a time!
"We Rock...We Rock.....""Let's go!!!!"The conclusion of each tube run signalled the pickup of one boy and the migration of two other boys into the water for some swimming and tube boarding. Dad had to help Matthew and Christopher up onto the tube, and, jumped into the bay to make sure everyone was ok after each run as well.
Dad, Kevin, and Christopher on the way to the tube
Matthew went next....he wanted Kevin to take his first turn with him, but, complained about being 'crushed' because Kevin was on top of him, so, took the rest of his turns on his own after that. Spent the last part of this turns (that ended on the tube) trying to do front flips off of the tube for his dismount...
Video of Matthew's tubing below....warning, 20+ minutes of video attached.
Matthew getting ready for launchAnd then there's Kevin.
"I squeak when bounced"
Ready for Launch
Dad took two turns on the tube.....turns out getting on the tube from the water wasn't very feasible for the Dad (Suzanne captured those moments on video; I'll upload them later), so, had to go with a boat mount for my two turns on the tube. Dad's center of gravity is a little higher than his boys, so, Dad wasn't on the tube as long and, well, when Dad wiped out, his crashes tended to be more.....ummm...spectacular. Think I hit head first the second time.....
Dad's video below...it's pretty short!
Reading the warning label on the tube....asking Gramps if he's a qualified driver.
"Just north of the Destin Bridge is known to all the locals as Crab Island. At one time, Crab Island was actually two islands made from sand that the Corp. of Engineers dredged up from the East Pass. This island was large enough back then to inhabit sea grass, small shrubs and nesting seabirds, but time and weather have made it what it is today - an island that appears only when the tide is out which provides a local haven for area boaters and a great place to anchor and enjoy the sun and sand while relaxing with friends"
So, we make the trip across the bay, pull in to this area with about 50 boats, anchor, and prepare for lunch and some swimming. Boys are dying to go in, so, we can see that the water is only 2-3 feet deep here and off of the boat they jump.That's mistake number one.
Boys are in the water, yell down to them to stay near the boat as the current is pulling them away....all of a sudden Christopher is crying, he can't swim back.This is mistake number two....not jumping in after them immediately.
I didn't understand what was really happening, and figured that Christopher was just having a bit of a meltdown. Yell at him to start swimming, he's crying more...finally jump in after him. And realize the problem almost immediately....even though the waves on the surface are heading to the northwest and we're anchored about northwest to southeast, front of the boat facing northwest, the current is moving southeast, out towards the Gulf, and it's moving fast. Really fast.
Get out to Christopher and the boys....tell Kevin to swim for all he's worth back to the boat to get a life jacket....grab Christopher and I'm standing in 5 feet, not 3 feet of water, and am struggling to hold him and not lose any ground to the current.
Made mistake number 3 here....should have grabbed Matthew at this point....he was about 3-4 feet away, but, not in any obvious trouble. So I concentrated on the boy who was in trouble.
Start, slowly, trying to walk back to the boat. The people in the next boat over realize that we're in trouble and start walking towards us with noodles....they help me to get Christopher back to where I can stand better and can make good progress towards our boat. Gramps, at this time, has jumped in to go after Matthew...they are to the southeast back beyond another boat, and, thankfully, they helped Gramps and Matthew climb on board.
Ate lunch on the boat...relaxed, helped Kevin to understand how badly his parents screwed up (from not jumping in first to check the water first to not jumping in sooner to walking against the current instead of walking to the side perpindicular to it) and decided to call it a day.
Pretty scary experience all around.
Last photos of the day below....all taken on the trip back to Lion's Park.
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