Ele’s Race 2

First, let’s get the fun stuff out of the way

Cathleen video here.

Boys video (start and finish) here.

And then there’s Kevin.  Kevin has gone back to his Mr. Miyagi, Ashton’s Dad from up the street, to improve his running this summer in the hopes of making it into the top 7 in cross-country this fall.  So, Kevin’s been running about once every 2 days for most of the summer, and, on Tuesdays, has been going to run with the Mid-Michigan Track Club.

The MMTC is a group of adults that runs different workouts each week in locales throughout the area; some have been at the high school, others have been at other schools and more than a few are at some of the bigger cemeteries.  These workouts, for the most part, are relays where you run, rest while your partner runs, rinse, repeat until exhausted.

I think, finally, Kevin has gotten the message that if he’s going to be serious about running, he needs to know his pace and run to the pace that he wants to achieve.  And he’s been doing that at track club for weeks now, consistently running at a 6 minute mile pace (or better) to start and trying to sustain a 6:20 pace (the goal) as he gets tired.  He’s been doing this; he’s been rocking it. 

So, we figured Ele’s Race would be a good thing…he’s been averaging that 6:00 to 6:20 pace over 3 miles with rests, talk with the guru, set the goal to run three 6:40 miles for the race.  If Kevin does this, and it seems likely that he can, he’d finish a little better than 21 minutes and have his best time ever.

Well, as you know, this didn’t happen.  Mom and Dad are at the finish line looking forlornly up the road at 22, 23, 24 minutes and wondering where Kevin is…..and he trots in at 25:39 or something like that.  Video of this finish is here.

Kevin comes up after the race; really can’t explain it, says he came off the pace after the first mile(!) and was pretty disgusted.  Boys come up at that point and need to go to the bathrooms; ask Kevin to take them to the porta-potties and he says he needs to go as well.  Boys come back….no Kevin.  Kevin comes back 5-10 minutes later and says he has been over there with, um, problems.  Have to think these…um, problems slowed him down, but, really at a loss to explain it.  He thinks he didn’t hydrate well enough (although he didn’t cramp) and that having pancakes (a good pre-race breakfast) and sausage (not so good) wasn’t a good idea.

Next day, Kevin goes and runs the 3-mile loop to the high school and back and stays on pace for 2.5 of the 3 miles.  At track club on Tuesday he just kicks butt….ran the first 4-5 runs in a pace under 6 min/mile and stayed, for the most part, under the 6:20/mile pace that he was shooting for.

So, we’ll see what happens when he gets back from Blue Lake.  Have to hope that Ele’s Race was just a bad day.

Before the race starts

Blue Lake

Suzanne and I took Kevin to Blue Lake this morning for his 10-day tour.  We’ve made it clear that we expect to see more in the way of correspondence this go round (and his camp-future rides in the balance)!

Stayed there long enough to hear him audition; we’re uncertain about how he did.  He was great on his scales, didn’t miss a note and took his time on the notes to show his tone and how well he could do, that’s what he’s been working on and it paid off.  Did not do as well at sight reading….messed up a part and asked to start over, did everything before that great and the rest (they didn’t let him restart) with no issues, and with confidence, but, wonder how much that will hurt him.  There are a ton (6!) of viola players from the two middle schools at the camp, so, should be interesting to see where he falls out.

Am flying to Dayton today, so, maybe a post later tonight, tomorrow, and Friday.  Need to discuss the first Fruit Challenge of 2009, Fric and Frac’s latest journey into trouble, and a more detailed discussion of Kevin’s Ele’s Race debacle and his summer training regimen.

Some people

Sometimes, people find the blog for reasons I just can’t imagine.  Like this fellow:

Country:  Indonesia
State/Region:  Jawa Timur
City: Madiun

Search:  squirel bowling games

So, what exactly are you thinking when you type that in?  You’re having a few bushy-tailed friends over to the alley for a few cold ones and want some games to liven things up?  You have a few extra squirrels that you and your friends are going to use (either as balls or pins) for bowling? 

I can not find a reason that I’d latch on to as probable for those search terms other than “poor grasp of the English language”.  But even then, which of those words was meant as something else?

Ele’s Race 1

A more detailed post on this will come with the video posting (later) but, figured I’d post the photos that the guys at the race took now

 

At the start…boys had positioned themselves near the front, so, you can find the blue and the red in the masses in these pictures.

  

Ran together the whole way….even though we were encouraging them not to (wanted to see how Matthew would do….Matthew wanted to run and talk with Christopher…).  So, as the finishers come in, Suzanne and I are waiting and waiting, wondering what happened to Matthew, and realizing he decided to stick with his big brother…..

 

Suzanne thinks we should try and photoshop these together to get one picture of the boys…

did a quick attempt at it in powerpoint…..at the end, they sprinted……especially since a girl at Matthew’s class was ahead of them, and they didn’t want to finish behind her (she’s in pink in the background)

Kevin near the start…might be the only part of the race that went well, and this will be the main theme of the video post…..

 

at the finish…4 minutes slower than he was hoping for…

Bowling

As I think about it, my evolution in bowling is very similar to golf…..never played until high school with the ‘gang’ and just totally stunk to start.  The big difference here is that, as part of the Penn State program, I had to take physical education credits, and, spent a semester in a bowling class.

Combine that with some serious bowling and bingo outings with Suzanne in Seattle pre-Kevin, and well, there’s a certain level of success that can be had.  I’ve bowled over 200 on more than one occasion, and, if I’m bowling on a regular basis, can have a reasonable expectation of good results.

Lately, we’ve signed up the boys for a ‘kids bowl free’ program…I think for $30 the boys, theoretically, could bowl 2 free games every day all summer.  In reality, this means if we go a few times, we more than make our money back on the deal.  So, we’ve gone three time this summer.  The first trip I’ve discussed before, totally stunk, finally figured it out at the end and sent Matthew home in tears as I came back to beat him (boys scores are inflated by use of bumpers).  Second trip was with Matthew and Kevin while Mom and Kevin went to a work outing to see the Tigers play the Mariners.  Matthew had a great game in the first game…..went spare, strike, spare at one point.  Didn’t do so well in the 2nd game, and was a little pissed off about it

In the 2nd game I finally got everything untracked and bowled a 170 with only 2 open frames….

Third outing was Sunday; whole family on board.  Kevin, by some freak of nature, has finally figured out bowling as well, and in the first game of the two was a force of nature….just consistently throwing this straight ball right down the lane at the head pin and finished with a 158. 

Suzanne and I couldn’t believe it; he’s never done anything like that before and it was amazing watching it all come together for him.  Dad’s beating Mom most of the game, but, Mom pulls ahead in the 10th a spare and 9 pins and Dad needs to get 5 pins on the last throw to win and chokes and throws a gutter ball.  Mom (and kids) rejoice.

Of course, the result of the 1st game brings out cocky-Kevin, and sets up the fun 2nd game.  I only was open in one frame (early) and threw (rolled?  bowled?) a 182…..much to Kevin and Mom’s disgust.  Christopher had a great day, rolled his highest and second-highest scores to date, 106 and 103 (both him and Matthew are getting better and avoiding the bumpers….both boys seem to have a natural hook too….something Mom, Dad, and Kevin just don’t have….)

If only I could golf like that……

Birthday Bash

Christopher and Matthew were invited to Sean’s Birthday Bash yesterday….parents were invited as well for an afternoon of socializing and water fun.  Sean’s mom posted pictures….and here they are.

 

Matthew sliding

and the other approach….

heading back for more fun….

  

Sean’s Dad pulls out the water gun, and it doesn’t take long for the kids to quit getting water on him and start spreading to other parents.  You can see Christopher here, cup full of recently tossed water, running away and getting squirted by Dad as he does so….

Sean, Matthew, and Christopher plotting their next move…..

Golf

“I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see……… “  

- T. Keith, noted American philosopher

warning:  Very little boy content below…..

I think the first time I ever golfed was back at the South Park golf course with Rob and his brother while in high school…..I wasn’t good (read as:  horrible) at it then, and was lucky I could hit the ball after several attempts.  This state of affairs has never really improved; I didn’t play much in college or after I graduated (really, only with Rob again) and, well, I never really got better.  There wasn’t really one thing wrong with my swing; it was about 20 different things.  Would sometimes play with the work crowd in Pittsburgh, again, same results.

Didn’t play, not even once, in Seattle.  Didn’t play, not even once, in Ann Arbor. 

Began playing more and more once I came here to mid-Michigan.  Started to take some lessons, mostly at lunch at Michigan State.  These were frustrating; again, if you have 20 different things going wrong at once, it’s hard to get much progress going on.  After a while, though, at least I wasn’t embarrassing myself.  I could hit my irons (sometimes) pretty well, and always could putt and chip halfway decently.  Anything that involved distance though was still bad……could never hit the driver or anything off the tee.  I’ve consistently told Kevin that if he wants to record wins against Dad in a sport at a young age; golf is it.

The only bright spot?  when I would happen to connect, or, to do everything right in the swing, I would almost always hit the ball straight…..I’ve never really had a hook or slice problem.

So, two years ago, I was attending lessons at lunch again at Michigan state and the instructor ‘suggested’ a change no one had ever suggested before…change my grip.  Always before I had been told that my grip, for the most part, was pretty much like it should be, but, this guy, he wanted it all twisted over and interlocking.  And this change was a disaster; everything I hit now would go right….it didn’t matter if I did everything right on the swing, on contact, slice to the right.  I went and practiced with that grip (everything goes way right), I played like that (everything goes way right)….and finally I said, screw it, I’m going back to my old grip.  And some how, some way, everything was way better.  I’ve never been able to hit my driver, now, I can achieve some measure of success with the devil club (there’s nothing more satisfying than hitting the ball well and watching it sail off into the distance into the middle of the fairway….there’s nothing more frustrating than hitting the ball and not getting it past the ladies tees).  The last two scrambles I’ve been in (golf tournaments, where you play the best ball of the four of you, hit again from that location, and play the best ball again) we’ve used my drive a couple of times, and that’s been really nice. 

What happened?  I think, but really have no real idea, that the new grip forced me to make sure that the rest of my swing was correct to try and make the grip work.  So, I guess, I was really working on making sure I took the club back correctly, and brought it back down correctly, and transferred my weight properly (the center of gravity through the swing might be the one thing that I had consistently butchered all this time).

The upshot of all of the lessons (and what prompted me to write about this today) is that I finally have an idea when things are going wrong on the golf course and what to do to make them right.  Yesterday, for example.  I’m out with a buddy from Golder that I’ve golfed with a lot (but not recently, not since I think I’ve figured things out) and we’re taking in 9 holes on a simple gorgeous day.  And I’m golfing horribly to start, I always seem to be pulling up, and so I’m topping the ball, and the first 3 to 4 holes are horrible (and, probably typical of how I used to play with my friend, so, he wasn’t very surprised I guess).  And then I figure out (or remember) that I need to bend over more, that I had been standing up too straight and no matter how much I thought I was keeping my head down, because I was too straight there was no way I could swing without pulling away from the ball in that position.  So, I do that (and it’s a simple stupid thing, I might have bent forward 2-3 inches tops), and for the next 5-6 holes, I’m very pleased with the results….nice drives down the fairway, nice approaches with my irons.  Still a lot of the problems other ‘hack’s’ like me have; shoot over the green on a chip, or barely hit it and have to chip again, but, it’s better to be walking 150 to 250 yards after your first shot than to try again or have to hit it twice more to get to where your buddy landed after his first shot.

I still think I need to golf on a more consistent basis to get to where I’d like to be (as good at golf as I can be at racquetball or bowling….to have reasonable confidence that I could go out and not totally suck).  Maybe one day I’ll find the time to do a golf league or something.  Or get the boys trained up (and Suzanne trained up) and have my built-in foursome going on.

Kevin at On Goal

Last of a 3-part series.

Last year, Kevin made his return to On Goal after not going for at least 4 years.  He’s not playing soccer anymore, but, had fun last year and didn’t embarrass himself, and all was good, and the parents make plans for all boys to return in 2009, and, I know, we made several allusions to Kevin attending and it being the last time he can go (he’s too old next year).

So, it comes as an unpleasant surprise, when, about a week before On Goal starts, that Kevin starts complaining, rather vehemently, that he doesn’t want to go.  Not going to have fun, not good at soccer, hasn’t played in years, and the kids who go play all the time, blah blah blah, can you cancel the registration? (no, it’s non-refundable after a certain date) can I pay you the money out of my bank account and not go? (no, and if you don’t stop you’re going to get grounded) blah blah blah (you’re grounded) blah blah blah.  This isn’t just one day of complaining; it’s a solid 3 or 4 days of this rising back to the surface intermittently and going over this ground over and over and over (Kevin's all into the “I’ll wear them down eventually” philosophy).  Insists that he’s not going to have fun….if there’s one theme in these 4 days, it’s that it will be torture to go; it won’t be fun.

On Goal finally arrives….Kevin heads off with his brothers.  Suzanne gets them from camp the first day,  so, I call to check in with her and ask about Matthew, and Christopher, and if they know anyone on their team, and get around to asking about Kevin.

“Did he have fun?”

“Yes”

Both Mom and Dad reacted the same way to this news….”what?….you had fun?!?….you’re not allowed to have fun, stop doing that right now!”  This was the ongoing joke for the week…any time Kevin would mention that he was enjoying or having fun, Suzanne and I would immediately tell him to cease and desist…we did this so much that Christopher stepped in one time and said that there was no problem with Kevin having fun!

Kevin knew a lot of kids on the other teams, but, none of those kids made it onto his team.  Kevin played mostly on defense, and scored a goal the one day he was up at midfield.  He was overly concerned about his soccer skills and these were unwarranted; he more than held his own and his conditioning and speed were a big help.

Video of Kevin here….nothing flashy, just solid.  Probably the last video we’ll ever get of Kevin playing soccer.

The other ‘Kevin’ moment on Goal is the camp ‘verse’, the biblical verse that the campers are asked to memorize and say in front of the camp.  This year, it was this:

Philippians 2:6-11 (New International Version)

^6"Who, being in very nature of God,
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
      taking the very nature of a servant,
      being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!
⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
      and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.

After Day 1, you could hear Kevin at home (and up in the tree!), not just memorizing it (which I’m sure he had done before he left camp that day) but, instead, doing it as fast as he can.  Because there is the ‘speed’ competition….you challenge one of the coaches to see who could it the fastest.  Kevin had his turn the next day and was extremely speedy (he thinks he had the fastest kid time all week) but was still judged to be a little slower than the coach, who Kevin feels mumbled his way through it.

Kevin’s team, much like Christopher’s, was made up of good, not great players, and bowed out early in the elimination round in the afternoon.  Kevin, like Christopher, journeyed over to see Mom, and, unlike Christopher, took the opportunity to explain to Mom just how the lackadaisical and poor play by his teammates cost them the chance to move on.   Sigh….

Mom, being patient as Kevin vents….

“I’m not having fun!”

Tree follies

The tree in our front yard, the female maple, has been many things.  Cat scratching post, tree climbing challenge, Wiley shade provider, and a subject of academic observations for Mrs. Hoffman’s 2nd graders (both Kevin and Christopher have done this, Matthew is on deck). 

Now, it’s a subject of controversy…..the one item causing the most debate in the house.  You’ll recall that only a month ago Matthew has learned to climb up into the tree without help

This has led to a rediscovery of climbing the tree by Kevin.  Kevin, at Matthew’s age, was not nearly as adventurous as the ‘boy wonder’ is….and, so, never really went to great heights in the tree.  Those days are over now…Kevin’s as high in the tree as he can get, so high that he’s boasted of sticking his head out above the top of the tree.  Matthew, being the boy wonder that he is, has also made it to these heights (how high, you ask?  Matthew’s been high enough to clearly see in the windows on the 2nd floor).

Mom, being a Mom, is freaking out, the thoughts of the potential energy of a boy turning into kinetic energy before suddenly coming to rest 20 feet below on the hard ground.  I’ve tried to be a little more understanding, they are boys, it’s a tree, and well, boys will climb trees.  We’ve asked the boys, without a lot of force behind it, to please keep their climbing of the upper branches to a minimum.

Last night, Suzanne and I came home from our walk with Wiley to find Kevin as far up in the tree as he could possibly be. 

This craziness, climbing to the heights while the parents are away (and may not be around to hear the panicked yell of a kid, the crash of the branches, and the sickening thud as they hit the ground) finally drove Mom over the edge and prompted an edict of no more climbing to the heights.

You’ve never heard the screaming and yelling and complaining that Kevin unloaded on us over this decision (the boy has a future as a lawyer…).  I think we were willing to allow high climbing when we were home after a cool down period and a moment of reflection (if you’re so high that the wind makes you move back and forth, you might need to reconsider) but Kevin’s pleading and whining and arguing has everything declared verboten at this point. 

Kevin’s pleading and whining?  That’s foreshadowing for the next post….Kevin at On Goal.

Christopher at On Goal

Will be the shortest post of the bunch…..he had a good time, was placed on a team with two of his friends with class.  That’s a good thing socially, but, soccer-wise, the three of them are all “good, not great” players and, going up against teams with a few great players, spelled doom.  So, we were ready to believe Christopher’s reports that they didn’t win many games, and, Saturday’s results were about to form.  The game I taped they lost 3-2 (nothing really worth uploading here); Suzanne watched a game while I taped Kevin that they won 1-0, and, then, the other game I taped, the first game of the world cup elimination round, they were buried 8-0.

After that game, Christopher came over to talk to Mom and watch Matthew.  I guess these pictures say it all.  Sometimes, Christopher gets a little discouraged by Matthew’s success….don’t think Saturday was one of those days, but, it’s something we worry about.

Enjoyed the singing (including such hits as “Be Bold, Be Strong, The Lord Our God is With You!” and “More than a legend, more than song”…..forgot the second line there and asked Matthew, who cheerfully sung the whole first verse…..”grab a friend and sing along!”), enjoyed the camp.  Has said, again, that he wants to go back next year.  So thumbs up on that front.

Matthew at On Goal

This is the first year that Matthew can attend the full day camp….that means being able to compete in the world cup competitions that end the camp on Saturday.

Matthew comes home the first day and reports that a) his team has named themselves the Brazilian Blackhawks and b) he’s on the same team as his good buddy Greg.  Suzanne and I think this is a good thing….we have a hard time imagining a team that’s going to have two good/great players like Greg and Matthew, but, as the week goes on, Matthew reports that they are losing the games during the week…so maybe there’s more to it. 

Every day, at the end of the day, the campers get together and each team’s coach names a “total player of the day”…..Matthew didn’t win this Tues, or Wed, and Thurs….and of course he’s been very frustrated by this (and doesn’t understand that this ‘award’ isn’t all about who’s the best at soccer).  On Friday, when I go to pick the kids up, I get there early enough to see part of the competition.  Matthew’s back on defense (and, at this age, the fields are about half-sized) with Greg…and Greg gets the ball and passes it across the field over to Matthew who one-times it into the goal, over everyone on both teams (including the goalie, who had no shot, the ball went into the goal between the top of the goalie’s outstretched hands and the top bar of the goal.  Both coaches are saying ‘wow!’…he’s really happy….was a good moment and happily, he made his goal of ‘total player of the day' that afternoon as well.

Matthew made a picture to show Mom his goal

So, Saturday arrives and Suzanne and I are walking all over the park that the camp is held at trying to see all three boys play.  Suzanne gets over to Matthew’s game first; I’ve stopped to tape a Christopher game before heading over there.  When I get there, Suzanne says “I still don’t believe this team has lost a game this week”.  Turns out, aside from Greg and Matthew, the other 3 boys are good and the girls on the team are good as well.  The Blackhawks easily rolled to the world cup championship; In all the times I watched the team, they gave up one goal in 5 games, and that goal came when the goalie was hurt, lying in the middle of the field crying, and the other team dribbled around and scored.

 

Matthew and Greg

Video highlights of Matthew’s day can be found here.  They also award a total player of the week award with a nice trophy….we’re not quite sure how Matthew missed out on that.

The other Matthew highlights involve the shooting competition…..players from each team take turns scoring from close to the goal and move increasingly further out after each round.  Matthew caught the wrong side of the post on the third round and was eliminated……don’t know if Matthew understands that if he just would have come up and blasted it at the goalie he would have scored just as easily.  Happily, he took this setback pretty well, and, in the end, learning to aim at the sides is a good thing.

Video of the shooting event can be found here.

This and That

….haven’t blogged in a while, so, this is catch up….

Up and coming:  Most of this week has been devoted to the summer church-soccer camp, On Goal.  Will be providing video, hand-drawn pictures, actual real-life pictures and stories over the next week. 

Backyard:  As mentioned previously in this space; we raised the tent in the backyard, and, for the better part of a week, the boys and I have been sleeping there.  We’ve had to move the tent a few times to keep from killing all of the grass underneath the tent, but, most nights over a 10-day period we could be found outside.

While this has been a hit with the boys (we’ve played charades; we’ve names states, countries, cities, super heroes, Pokemon), the biggest proponent of backyard camping is Wiley.  Nothing could be happier than a springer spaniel surrounded by his brothers, sleeping the night away.  Boys had never noticed that Wiley snores sometimes…got a full-on introduction to that one night. 

The boys sleep like the dead….only had one bail-out…Matthew got up one morning at 2 am to go to the bathroom and never came back.  I have an airbed, and that helps, but, a night in the backyard means we’re up earlier than usual (not a bad thing) and that Dad’s sleep isn’t what it could be.  The most surprising thing?  It’s been damned cold at night….low’s in the 50’s.  We bailed on outside the day it hit 48, but, there’s been some shivering boys and Dad walking inside in the mornings….

Wiley, asleep, living la vida loca

Getting ready for bed.  You can see Kevin’s face here on the lower left

Goofiness before bed time.  Some nights crazier than most.

Travel soccer:  Registration is done….somehow, someway have wound up running the paperwork for two teams so that’s been more time than I was counting on.  But, it’s done, uniforms ordered, fees paid, and we’ll start practice in August and the boys might/should be playing in a tournament in August as well.

Anniversary:  Suzanne and I had two wonderful anni-dinners; one, by ourselves, down in Novi at the Melting Pot and the second, with the boys, at Stillwater.  Didn’t do a lot for each other (saving money for polynesian paradises), but, I did get a step on Suzanne by making some dark-chocolate covered strawberries for her.  She enjoyed them (by taste) and enjoyed them (by tale)….asked me if I had looked up how to make them online and I said ‘no’…just winged it, figured it they didn’t turn out she wasn’t going to get them and it was worth a shot.  Turns out they came out pretty well…..

A few more random photos:

Christopher after a trip with the MAC campers to Lake Lansing.  They had some kind of pirate theme going on; they collected lots of coins as treasure, and, as you can see here, the obligatory eye patch and nose ring

Went bowling with the boys last week as part of a “Kids bowl free” program Suzanne found.  I absolutely sucked….have never bowled worse than I did the first game, and Suzanne put together two 150+ games so, it was a bad night.  The last game is memorable for me sending Matthew home crying…it’s the 10th frame, and the only way I’m going to beat Matthew is to get 2 strikes and a bunch of pins.  First try, finally throw the ball I’ve been trying to throw all night, a perfect strike.  Matthew goes “oh no!” and buries his head on the ground.  At this point, I’m considering aiming for the gutter on try 2….and then Matthew reaches out and punches me.  Tell Matthew “This one’s for you”, turn, throw, another strike.  Finish up with another good throw, beat him by 3 or 4 pins, and Matthew cries and sulks his way home……..

We’re about to go swimming…Matthew reminds me that he can climb up the wall. 

July 4th Photos

 

Kevin had a good time hanging out with the cousins; they spent a lot of time on the hammock….not sure what game they were playing.

And the cousins had a good time on the trampoline…again, Kevin’s on here, but not in the picture. 

Burgers and brats for dinner.  Lots of mosquitos as well

Kevin’s Summer

The boys (the younger two) are bouncing from summer camp to summer camp; this week and last they are at the MAC and it’s going pretty well.  The week before that they were at zoo camp, and again, that went pretty well.  Started the summer at Okemos Kids Club….and as much as we’d like the boys to go there, the directors are insistent that Matthew be in “his age group”, pre-K to 1st grade, and that means quite a difference in activities (no swimming, just water play) than Christopher’s group (2nd and 3rd graders).  We find their decision troubling given what the school district’s financial situation is, but, we’ll spend our summer dollars elsewhere.

Kevin is spending most of the summer at home.  In amongst the usual summer teenager sit-around-and-do-nothing times, we’ve arranged for some independent study work for him.

AP Human Geography – We tried to go for things that Kevin would have an interest in, and, subjects that Okemos HS didn’t offer….this is one of them.  Kevin’s cruising along; he’s in chapter 4 (Dad’s in Chapter 2 and needs to catch up this week).  I think the material has been interesting for Kevin, so, that’s good.  I had hopes that he’d do enough this summer that taking the AP test would be a possibility next year, but, I’ve come off of that idea……I just don’t think he would do well enough on the written-essay portions.

Music Theory – Also an AP Course, we’re piggy-backing these onto his viola lessons; during the summer, the lessons are two hours, not one, and they are working on music theory and composition.  Again, he’s going along pretty well, and I think he likes the material pretty well…and the musical composition that he’s working on with Jon is a bonus.  Here, Kevin might be able to take the AP test….am going to have to take a longer look at the requirements.  I think he already does some of it quite well (sight reading, for example) but I can’t tell if he’s learning the music theory (have to rely on Jon for that…..)

Iphone Photo Dump

This is a view of the landfill at Selfridge I’ve been working on for the last two years.  Grass is coming in pretty well.

One last Christopher art presentation; in 3-D, with a story.

 

Christopher and Matthew at the Meridian Township Art Fest

Matthew checking out the police car.  He had a lot of questions about the computer.

Checking out the back of the fire engine

The boys’ sidewalk chalk creation (hard to see though the shadows.  They didn’t win; we think they were robbed.  We didn’t understand at the beginning that we were supposed to make a scene that fit the story, but, surprisingly, we came up with a pretty decent one with a tiger, climbing the mountains to see the sun.

Spent some time at Art Unlimited; the beginnings of a future Mom present are shown here.

 

Finished the day back at Wonch Park….took Kevin less than 20 seconds to climb to the top of the swingset. 

Matthew has learned to climb the tree in our front yard; in fact, he’s learned to climb the tree to near the top, leaving Suzanne a little apprehensive at Matthew’s accomplishments

 

The neighbor (his house in the background) paying off his Red Wing debt….

 

Slip and slide deployed in the front yard….boys have since tried to set this up without me and turned the water up too high and burst it….oh well.

 

Matthew, in the midst of chopping a peanut at Texas Roadhouse….stopped here for dinner before we went to see the new Ice Age movie

 

Set up the tent over the weekend; we’ve (the boys and myself) have slept outside 2 of the last 3 nights and we’ll go for it again tonight.  The mosquitos are just horrible (they haven’t been this bad all year)…..last night we were inside and could see swarms of them just hanging out outside the screen windows.

Had a little fire and some s’mores the first night.

The boys playing in the trampoline during the fire.  Christopher has his back to us; Kevin is on his hands and knees to the right of him. 

Kevin with the snorkel and mask at the MAC.  Went to Costco this weekend and purchased the snorkel equipment we’d need for Hawaii…..on Sunday, took the boys to the MAC with a set to see how they would do.  Happily, they did quite well.