Vegas Day 4

First, a leftover from Day 3….when I was typing I was asking myself “what did we do after Penn & Teller” and I knew it had to be something…but couldn’t remember.

I did have Iphone video reminding me.  Kathy and David hadn’t seen the Treasure Island Siren show, so, we went over there.  Remember the part about show with lights and scantily clad dancers?  Video of the last minute of the show is here.  The sirens have sunk the pirates ship, and the pirates have swam to the siren ship, and well, what happens in Vegas…you know. 

Day 4 (Monday) began with Suzanne and I heading out to Roberto’s Taco Shop for breakfast.  Simply put, Roberto’s is the best Mexican fast food, ever….I think Roberto’s may have been a food group for Suzanne in college, neatly sliding in between the meat and the grains.  Our trips to San Diego have always included a few strategic stops for cheese quesadillas and tacos….the worst part of my FEMA stay for Suzanne was when my answer to “What did you have for lunch?” was “Roberto’s”.   I have to go back to West Palm Beach later this month….there are a few Roberto’s location in South Florida and I forgot about that last time, but, am looking forward to calling Suzanne and telling her what I’m having for lunch (or dinner). 

Roberto’s has expanded away from San Diego, and there are multiple locations in Las Vegas, and the last time we were there we found them, and of course, this time, we found them as well.  Had a chorizo burrito that Suzanne liked so much she ate about 1/2 of mine!

The fountain at the Palazzo in front of the main parking drop-off area.

Spent the afternoon doing some gambling and shopping.  Shopping included procuring some Webkinz for some little boys (and the Fame soundtrack for Kevin).  Gambling was mostly video poker….was saving table games for later that evening.  Ended up strolling through the Venetian Shoppes, which is always fun, shops on either side with gondolas in the middle and the opera shows.  Took some video of one of those shows, you can find it here.

There was a store that featured art by Tom Everhart, who is the only licensed artist to reproduce Peanuts characters…and they look great!

The evening’s entertainment was Jersey Boys.  The funniest thing for me was that, after all day commenting on Suzanne’s age (Day 4 was the birthday!) almost everyone in the audience was clearly older than us (I challenged Suzanne at intermission to find a couple that was younger than us…it took her walking out of the auditorium and back in to find them.)

 

The hallway leading into the auditorium had record covers and other memorabilia….took a few pictures; this was the only one that turned out well.

The show was phenomenal; Suzanne asked me later which of the three shows I like the most, and it’s hard to compare Love and Jersey Boys to Penn & Teller, but, I liked Jersey Boys more than Love (I mean, it’s A++ compared to A+). 

Closed out the evening with a trip back to Mon Ami Gabi for dinner with Suzanne’s sister and then walked back down to the Palazzo for some last night gambling.  Had saved table games for the last night because I didn’t really want to go nuts early and have regrets all through the trip, and happily, did pretty well.  Doubled my money ($100) playing craps, made $50 at blackjack, and, while not quite wiping out the deficit created by video poker, Star Trek, and some poor football choices (almost hit a 4-team NFL Parlay except that I had this stupid crazy faith in the DOLPHINS….but, they lost their starting QB at the beginning of the 2nd half and that was all she wrote…).  So, finished on a good note, and made it back to the room around 1 am…..to get up at 5 am to get to the airport to go home. 

Bonus Soccer Video

For the most part, I’ve settled down into a nice comfortable editing pattern for the video that Kevin grudgingly has been collecting; if there’s a goal, go back two minutes, clip, save the file, done.

But, sometimes, it doesn’t work out that way.  Game 3, about 2 weeks ago, was a 0-0 tie that we pretty much dominated but couldn’t score.  Since I have some alone time in the hotel, I went back to the first half and clipped out the times that Christopher and Matthew touched the ball and pasted them together into one file.  Not quite sure what I thought I’d find when I did it, but, it turns out the seven short clips of each boy do a great job of showing the strong, and weak, points of how they play.

Matthew’s video is here.

Christopher’s video is here.

Vegas Day 3

On Sunday, we left our palatial digs over at the Hilton Grand Vacations and moved to the palatial digs at the Palazzo.  The Palazzo is one of the newer properties on the Strip; last time out here we stayed at the Venetian and could see the construction of the Palazzo out the window (side note:  the scene of Danny and Bank at the construction site in Ocean’s 13?  filmed at the Palazzo during construction).  It’s nice.  It’s very nice.

Check-in was kind of frustrating though…..asked if there was an upgrade to a Strip view room available, the answer is yes, but it’s $45.  Ok, no thanks….but at the same time Kathy and David are asking the same question and get an upgrade, for free.  We’re still checking in when we learn that, ask again, no dice.  Ok, fine…..the Hutsell type-a-letter machine goes into action….I can work that way   :).

Between Hilton check out and Palazzo check in we took Kathy and David out for breakfast……back to Hash House a Go Go.  I went with the same thing….and it was still great and I still couldn’t finish it….Suzanne had chicken breasts with waffles (which looked great, and she couldn’t finish it).  Kathy had a breakfast combo (which was huge, and she couldn’t finish it and David had the french toast (…you can fill in the rest…).

The Palazzo was the first sighting of something Suzanne had read about on the internet but that we hadn’t seen yet

Star Trek AND Gambling = Woo Hoo!

 

3 Phasers is a win (if they zig zag line makes no sense, you’re not alone).  Note that Bonus spot in the upper right.

If you get three of those Bonus spots anywhere on the screen you go to the bonus round.  There are different types of bonus rounds (Suzanne had one where you played tribble pinball…) they all have a basic theme, you get free spins, if you win, you get a multiplier on those winnings (on my game, the Enterprise blasts one of those Klingon ships and that’s the multiplier you get) and if you don’t have a winning spin you lose a point (in my game, it’s those shields on the lower right).  Bonus round ends when shields are depleted.

Had dinner that evening at the Grand Lux Cafe at the Palazzo; I think it’s really hard to have a bad meal in Las Vegas.  Went to see Penn & Teller that evening over at the Rio (the Rio is located off of the Strip, so, we had to drive over).

The Rio, like all of the casinos, has an hourly show, and this one, like many of the shows, features scantily-clad dancers.

 

ok, the pictures suck, but you get the idea; men and women, dancing, to loud music and bright lights

 

when we walked in you could see these huge tracks running along the ceiling; had to ask ‘what are those for’.  Well, as the show ends these ‘floats’ come out, dancers dancing, lights flashing, and ride the tracks around the casino with the dancers throwing beads to the crowd

The show was awesome, really enjoyed Penn & Teller, enjoyed the jazz beforehand, and left the theatre saying “how the hell did they do that” for at least 5 different tricks.  Glad we went over to see them and it was a nice change of pace from the musicals shows on Saturday and Monday nights.

Flag Football

Not much to say here since we were 1700 miles away; he had fun and had a good game.  His team won (we’re playing in Okemos now instead of Haslett) and he’s again on the younger half of the age grouping this year (Matthew was not happy to learn that there were 3rd graders on his team and Christopher wasn’t one of them!)

Video of the tackle, pass, interception, and touchdown are here. 

http://okemosbulldogs.shutterfly.com/21

Reading

In many ways, Christopher has taken his lumps because Kevin was first…..and Kevin is Kevin and his parents never had to really work with Kevin to accomplish anything in elementary school.  It’s only now, in 7th and 8th grade, that Kevin’s discovering that he needs to work at it and his parents are keying in to helping him.

Christopher’s reading, for a while, has been trying.  It’s doubly trying that it’s wildly inconsistent; some days he does really well, the next day he just doesn’t recognize words that he *knows*…..basic basic words.  And, most surprisingly of all for us, for a kid that’s had speech therapy for years and years, he has no concept of relating letters to sounds…..it’s the main reason his spelling is so poor, his teacher last year commented that his guesses weren’t even close, and how ‘different’ that was.

2nd grade marked the start of standardized testing for the big guy, and, as I think I mentioned then, the results were inconclusive.  Math is a strength, he does well there.  Reading ranged from at grade level to slightly below, but, not far enough below to cause great concern.  They did one other test at the end of the year, and that test was way off of the first tests….Christopher’s scores were so low that he qualified for reading assistance.  But, it was the end of the year, they weren’t sure that one test was accurate, and we agreed to revisit it in 3rd grade.

The testing this year was better, but, still, worrisome enough to have the school step in and help out.  And it’s become clear to us why the reading tests aren’t all saying the same thing.  Christopher is good at comprehension, his scores are high there.  But, he’s faking it….he really can’t read all the words but has learned by context, and pictures, to figure out the meaning and get the correct answers.  Smart for him, but, that makes the scores skew higher and hide the problem.  The notes from the reading consultant confirm what we’ve always known but maybe the school hasn’t always noticed; Christopher needs help phonetically….he often breaks down in the middle and end of words (to this moment, we have no confidence that Christopher can see ‘st-‘ and understand that sound or hear that sound and understand it means he should spell ‘st-‘).

So, we’ll be regrouping on this front; we’ve been encouraged to drop back in the level of books we’ve had Christopher read to us (the thought being that success at easier books is better than struggling through harder ones).  Christopher will get some extra help at school (and the reading consultant is awesome, so, that’s a good thing)….

To be continued.

Vegas Day 2

Saturday began, for me, with getting up early for a walk.  I’ve been getting up at 6 am about half the time since schools started and taken Wiley on a 3-mile walk.  No Wiley this trip, but, it’s amazing what you see in
Vegas at 7 am.  Lots of cleaning crews, and security waking up passed out people on benches as you go along.  Nevermind all the smut cards on the sidewalks.  Worked out pretty well; got back before the temperature climbed into the 90’s….

We had to do the timeshare presentation thing Saturday morning to justify our cheap rate for the 2-bdrm condo we stayed at Friday night and Saturday night.  Did that, said no (not forever no; we could see purchasing another week in the future, but, not now)….and tried to get on with the rest of our day.

The lowlight of the trip was that Suzanne’s work called right as we were finishing the presentation.  Her boss left a message; apologized up and down, but, could Suzanne please call back because something’s down etc. etc. etc.  And Suzanne does call back, because she’s a good person, and it absolutely wrecks the afternoon.  We’re supposed to meet up with Suzanne’s sister Melissa; Suzanne doesn’t make it, I go with Kathy and David (friends we came out here with) and have lunch with Melissa and her boyfriend Ian.  Nice lunch, good times, say goodbye to them and finally get the all clear signal from Suzanne that she’s done with work (about 2 hrs, 30 minutes later).  Sigh.

We end up having dinner at our favorite restaurant, Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris Casino.  Sit outside, with a view of the Bellagio’s fountain show, and have a good time.

Video of the fountain show from Mon Ami Gabi is here.  First video uploaded that’s taken with the Iphone….

More fountain show from the bridge across Las Vegas Blvd is here…that’s why it isn’t as clear, the video is shot through plexiglass.

After dinner we walked over to the Mirage for the 9:30 show of Love, the Cirque de Soleil production featuring the music of the Beatles.  We had seats three rows back from the stage and the show was absolutely incredible.  Performers walked right next to us; the aerobatics and effects were breathtaking; really, it’s one of the best events I’ve ever been to. 

Gambled a little afterwards; cashed in my college parley card I picked right (Ind +20, Wisc –4, Purdue +6)….and filled out a few NFL ones for Sunday.  Called it a night at about 1 am.

Vegas Day 1

Arrived in Vegas on Friday morning….had to get up at 4:15 am in Lansing to get to Detroit for the flight.  I was upgraded into first class, and, being the nice guy that I am, surrendered my ticket to Suzanne and took her place in the back of the bus.  Suzanne enjoyed the ride; got some sleep, started the “Lost Symbol”….good times all around.  Back in the bus wasn’t bad; sat next to a couple who absolutely got hosed by Northwest with their baggage and they spent a fair bit of time (justifiably) complaining about their woes. 

Arrived in Las Vegas at 8:30 am local time.  Headed out for breakfast at Hash House A Go Go featuring “twisted farm food”.  We had watched an episode of Man –vs- Food which featured his trip there, and Suzanne had found a coupon, so what the hey.

Suzanne had the bacon waffles.

I had the Andy’s fried chicken eggs benedict (from the menu “Andy's sage fried chicken w/ fresh spinach, hardwood smoked bacon, market tomato, griddled mozzarella, chipotle cream and scrambled eggs”).  This is what that the guy on the show had; he finished it all, I did not.  But man was it tasty! 

Spent the rest of the day checking out some of the casinos.  Especially liked the fall theme at the conservatory at the Bellagio and the world’s largest chocolate fountain.

 

Suzanne went 8x on her $20 investment, mostly due to accepting a deal of nickels on a Deal or No Deal machine.  I’m about even… my winnings will mostly hinge on football bets Saturday and Sunday.

We’re staying at a Hilton Grand Vacation condo; have to attend a presentation Saturday morning.  Room is awfully nice; we’re sharing a 2-bedroom unit with another couple and it’s awesome…only real downside is we’re quite a ways north on the strip from the casino’s and other stuff.

And it’s hot.  100 yesterday.  But dry, and it’s been a long time since we’ve been somewhere with the heat that hot and that dry…..still think it’s worse to be hot and humid (like Michigan) but felt at times like I was pizza backing under a heat lamp as we walked around.

Algebra 2

I’ve had to take a much more active role in Kevin’s math homework recently…..scores still aren’t what they should be and it just doesn’t feel like the effort is there (for example, he’ll do the homework, but, hadn’t been checking the back to see if he’d been getting them right).

Forgot how much I liked Algebra 2….factoring squares, combining common elements, etc.  Good times for me…not so much for Kevin, but, I think we’re making progress on the right level of ‘quality control’ necessary to be successful.

Kevin also had another cross-country meet last Monday; finished 6th among the Okemos kids in 13:02, his best time yet.  He chased down the kid that’s been faster than him in every meet so far, but, had another kid catch him in the 3-way sprint to the end.  Definitely think this competition right around his time and with the last spots on the Top 7 in jeopardy are helping to inspire Kevin to faster times.  Was excited to hear that Kevin did well in a long sprint at the end; that’s been a weakness of his.

Kevin auditioned for the Mason Philharmonic last week as well (parents strongly pushed him into it….like many things, a lot of resistance beforehand and then afterwards a grudging acceptance that it was a good idea.).  The orchestra is the re-imaging of the Mason Youth Orchestra, which we had always had interest in but could never swing the rehearsal times (right after school).  This orchestra practices at night, so, should be better all around.  Lots of kids Kevin knows, so, should be good.

Last and certainly least, musical auditions have come and gone and Kevin is again disappointed.  He was really happy after his audition and confident of good things, but, he’s not one of the three or four main boy leads.  Not sure if he deserved to be one or not, the other boys are very good.  Would like to figure out how to transfer Kevin’s confidence in this to be the same type of confidence in running or math (where he has every reason to be confident, but isn’t).

Soccer – Fall Game 4

The boys schedule, conveniently, falls into 1 home and 1 away game versus four other teams.  Thursday we squared off against the last team in our group we hadn’t played, St. Johns.  This team had played in the tournament we played in August, and lost to the team we lost to by the same amount, 6-0, and had crushed a team we had problems scoring against, so, I figured we were in for a tough time.

Surprisingly, the boys finally started to implement the stuff we had been working on in practice, and, with one very large exception, we controlled most of the game and won 5-3.  That one exception was the team’s continued failure to not mark the other boys coming into the middle for centering passes; we’ll be working hard on that in practice this coming week.

Christopher got a breath of fresh air on offense late in the first half and was able to break through for a goal; he was on the bench in the 2nd half and after watching some defensive breakdowns on our part asked to go back in on defense to ‘be the wall’.  Played well, kind of deteriorated in technique towards the end and part of Tuesday’s practice will be inspired by a drill to improve Christopher’s (and other’s) defensive lapses.

Matthew had a solid game as well; when we were trying to survive the other team’s rally in the 2nd half he was all over the place…..constantly sprinting to the ball and challenging a player.  His hard work bit us in the butt once; he had hurried back to guard a player in front of our goal and the other team centered the ball….right at Matthew, who couldn’t stop, and it bounced off of him into our goal!   He came off the field right after that (we had already planned to sub him out) and dissolved in tears as he hit the sidelines….both coaches had to have a quick talk with him “those things happen”  “you were working hard, no big deal”…etc.  Thankfully, that own goal only made it 4-3 and we scored another goal late to make the final 5-3.  Matthew also had a sweet give and go with another boy but again planted the ball right on goal…oh well.

Quick Update

Soccer:  Won 5-3.  Both boys scored, although Matthew’s goal was in the wrong net.  More on this later.

Kevin:  Cross country times continue to come down.  Math is turning into more of a monster than expected.  Will know what this year’s musical holds for Kevin on Friday.  More on this later.

Vegas:  Suzanne and I leave tomorrow morning for 4 days in hot hot Vegas (a lot of 3-digit temperatures are forecast).  More on that this weekend.

Christopher:  Going to get some reading help at school….more on this later. 

Matthew:  Flag football starts this weekend….will relay the updates from the home front on Sunday after the game.

Melanie:  just wondering if she’s loading the animals two by two yet?

Soccer – Fall Game 3

A tie, 0-0.  The team was better today; more passing, maybe not where the passes should have been, but, more attempts than before.  At least 90% of the game was in the other team’s end of the field….I’m sure they look at a tie as a good thing, while we didn’t.  Oh well.

Christopher continued his mostly defensive antics, but, this time, took it upon himself to move forward as the game went on to almost disastrous results.  Matthew had a few passes that should have been more to the side but instead were too far forward and the goalie got them; had one shot where he turned on the ball quickly but hit it straight at the goalie…oh well.

Soccer – Fall Game 2

A win on Thursday, 4-2.  But the team took a tongue-lashing from the coach, because it should have been 10-0 at least.  Too much selfishness; if we would have made a few passes that other team wouldn’t have come near us.

*The* boys, I thought, played well.  At least for now, Christopher’s going to be playing mostly defense….he’s the only one that seems to understand that defense means defense, not defense-makes-it-harder-for-me-to-get-up-and-score-goals-and-I-wish-I-wasn’t-back-here.  Think he’s starting to relish the role….announced before he went out onto the field once that he was going to be a “stone wall!”.  Matthew had a good game too; a little too adventurous in his turn at goal (but, no goals scored, so, no big deal), and had an assist on a goal as well.

Motivation

Cross country season has begun…..and Kevin has achieved his goal; he’s running with the top 7.  At the practice where they set the order of the runners for the top 7, and, at the first race, Kevin finished in 13:20.  That’s squarely on the 6:40 pace that Kevin can do quite comfortably.

First meet, on Monday…Kevin finishes in 13:22….right on that comfortable 6:40 pace.  Video of Monday’s race is here.

Monday’s results (just the Okemos team…finished 2nd)

Place	Bib No	Name	Overall	Time
1	726	DM	6	12:42.9
2	723	IM	7	12:52.0
3	730	KW	8	12:52.3
4	733	DK	10	12:55.6
5	724	CM	17	13:20.1
6	734	KGH	18	13:22.8
7	722	ML	21	13:34.0

Which is all good.  But Kevin’s been trying all summer to run at a 6:20 pace, with some success.  And for some reason, the Kevster hasn’t been willing to start off at that 6:20 pace in these meets.  So, with some prodding from Mr. Hoffman and myself, Kevin headed off to his meet on Thursday (at the same course he ran 13:22 at) to try and run that 6:20 pace (which, if he could pull it off would result in a 12:40 finish).  Actually, to be honest, we told him to just stay with the Okemos group ahead of him that finished between 12:52 and 12:56.

Thursday’s results (just the Okemos team…finished 1st)

		Overall
Place	Name	Place	Time
1	DB	3	12:00.6
2	IM	5	12:17.2
3	DK	11	12:47.0
4	KW	15	12:55.2
5	CM	16	12:59.1
6	KGH	17	13:06.4
7	ZK	18	13:06.7

Faster, but still not at the pace he’s been working for.  And now there’s some real motivation….he’s 0.3 seconds away from falling out of the top 7 (DB was absent on Monday, DM on Thursday…if they are both there Kevin is 7th out of 7).

Top 30? earned a medal; Kevin was ‘tagged’ in these pictures on Facebook….I rescued them for here.

The Me Map

Kevin had to do this as an assignment for science; not quite sure how ‘me’ relates to ‘science’…but, hey, am happy to be able to capture the drawing.

just noticed he should be lucky he didn’t get counted down for spelling….I haven’t asked, but, have to assume he’s referring to the one goldfish out of the four that has survived after the acquisition at the Ingham County Fair….

I did ask, when he was showing this off before he turned it in, while he didn’t have running on there.  It’s not a like, it’s not a dislike, it’s just there…..just noticed that viola didn’t make it on here either….

The 3rd Grade Class

You can go to the teacher’s website to see Christopher and his classmates as they start the year.

Iphone held hostage – Day 6

I’ve raved here before about how I think the Iphone is the Best. Thing. Ever.  Recent events have made me reconsider this line of thinking, but, I imagine this time next week, surrounded in the glow of new technology, I’ll have a better view on what has been ugly tech times.

Last week, Apple released an upgrade to the Iphone operating system, going from 3.0 to 3.1.  Because that’s the kind of guy I am, I dutifully downloaded the upgrade and was geeked to check out the new features.  Turns out one of the new features was an unpleasant surprise; with the new software, I could no longer communicate with work.  No emails, no contacts, no calendar.  Nothing.  Not good.

I could spend a lot of paragraphs here explaining why this happened (and I’m an expert on why it’s happened now), but, let’s just go with short bullets points

• The problem is that, supposedly, all this time, my Iphone has been trading encrypted data with the work servers.  Apparently, that’s not true, Apple has had the old phones ‘faking’ the encryption.
• This upgrade fixed that, but, in the process, ended the faking, and old Iphones can’t communicate with encrypted servers
• Apple’s solution is for companies to turn off the encryption…..which is a pretty funny thing to suggest to a company’s IT department

I have a 3G, the newest phone (which I’ve been coveting) is a 3GS and it’s cooler than cool AND takes video!  Drool drool but it would cost me $400-$500 to upgrade and I’ve been drooling from a distance, patiently waiting for cheaper upgrade prices.

But now I’m stuck.  No email.  Not good.  Try to solve the problem the following ways.

• See if work is aware of the issue AND willing to change the settings.  They are and they aren’t.  No big surprise here
• Downgrade to OS 3.0…..not possible, and I tried several times and just made my Iphone life worse as I deleted all my backups in doing so.
• Call AT&T and look for relief on upgrade prices; I figure the rep had a good laugh with his coworkers after my call “Hey Charlie, get this, that guy wanted to upgrade early!”
• And finally, just a shot in the dark, call Apple tech support.

And, shockingly, even though it took time (spend about 90 minutes on the phone) it worked.  They agreed; you can’t go back to 3.0.  They suggested having the work IT department change the setting; they agreed that the suggestion was crazy.  They agreed my dilemna is their fault(!).

So, they are treating my Iphone as a warranty claim, and, for the sum of $100, are going to ship me a 32Gig 3GS (my 3G is 16G).

So, I’m happy to soon be united with my drool drool drool want for several months, and, I’m extremely pleased that Apple Tech support rolled over and gave me what I wanted (I hoped they might do this, but, I hope to win the lotto someday too…that’s how realistic I thought my chances were).  But the experience has left me jaded on software upgrades, and still, right now, my iphone has more in common with an Ipod than what it needs to be in common with, my old blackberry.

That 3GS can’t get here fast enough!

Matthew’s Future

The 2nd grade teacher has the kids write this as a baseline to see where they are at with writing.  It’s light (I’ve done my best to sharpen it) because Matthew writes light and I’ve made corrections where the words just don’t make sense based on Matthew’s reading of his tale.

Don’t think he can improve on the subject; the words need some work though!

Pictures from the game

I took pictures of the boys in uniform before the game and another parent took some sweet in-game photos; here they are.  The last two in-game photos are of Matthew when he was doing a corner kick.

Christopher’s only seen once in the in-game shots (even then, his shot is in warm-ups); he spent the whole game, when he was in, on defense.  Christopher was very ‘unhappy’ about this…the quote is exact from him after the game as we were talking about.  The team played like crap, nobody was aggressive and the field was smaller than we were used to; a lot to work on in practice.  Told Christopher (and have since confirmed with the other coach) that the only reason he played the whole reason on defense was that he was the only boy on the team the coach trusted to play defense right (that, and of course, he’s a major physical impediment if you’re dribbling in towards our goal).  This explanation isn’t much solace to the big guy……..he wants some time up front!

Two games this coming week, Thursday and Saturday.  Looking for better results.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Soccer – Fall Game 1

Lost, 5-2, to Grand Ledge.   Pictures coming this weekend; they might be the only highlight….boys looked good in the new uniforms. 

Toronto Tales

The Top Three Tales Told of Toronto!

• Bathroom at the zoo.  Matthew, as little boys sometimes do, needed a break, and trudged off to the bathroom at the Toronto Zoo.  Came out, and said “There was a woman in there…I asked her what she was doing there….and she said she was in the wrong place”.
• Loonies and Toonies.  The boys are mad for quarters to buy gumballs and stuff here in the good old United States….apparently, this is still the case in the Great White North, but, they want you to put in those dollar coins.  Christopher, after having Mom explain the coins for $1 and $2…finally got fed up and exclaimed (a little too loudly) at a store “Why can’t they have real money here?!?!”
• Elevator.  Mom, Matthew, and Christopher are at the elevator waiting to go up to the room at the hotel.  Little girl comes off the elevator, Christopher darts on, little girl takes her time, blocking Mom and Matthew, doors close and Mom’s hands are full and can’t stick her hand in to stop it.  Christopher is off on his own.  Happily, Christopher knew which floor (3) to get off on, but, Mom and Matthew had to wait for that elevator car to return (with no Christopher on board) before heading up themselves.

Photos from the trip embedded below.  

Click here to view these pictures larger

Wheezing to the finish line

Kevin, the last few Saturdays, has been running with Mr. Hoffman the 1.5-mile route back from the High School after doing their pliometric(sp?) exercises.  Two of these times I’ve biked down with Kevin and biked back as well…..the second time I was surprised to hear Kevin breathing very loudly as we got closer to home.  Don’t know if I would have called it wheezing, but certainly would have called it labored, but, figured that Mr. Hoffman’s really been pushing the pace and that Kevin’s just tired and gassed. 

Ken stops by later and talks about the run…he had asked Kevin if he was tired in his legs or just couldn’t breathe, and Kevin said it was the latter.  Ken, who’s paced Kevin before, says he’s heard Kevin wheezing (his phrase) more than once.  Do we have a family history of asthma….maybe Kevin has exercise-induced asthma?

We interrogate Kevin a little more about his running after this question….he can point out a few times when he’s had trouble breathing like that….when he was working hard running the 5-mile fundraiser at Chippewa last year, at the Super Bowl run (apparently cold weather makes asthma conditions worse), and most recently at Ele’s Race.

So, go and see the doctor and it’s pretty simple….we can do it by diagnosis (do a bunch of testing and may not get an answer) or, we can do it empirically, give Kevin an inhaler (bronchio-dilator), have him take a puff or two an hour before he runs, and well, if he still has symptoms it’s because he’s tired, not because he has an issue. We’ve chosen that approach for now

We’re still going to do some of the testing…do some baseline respiratory work to measure lung capacity and see where that ends up.  But, as cross-country season starts, we’ll see what happens…….

School start

Still, to this day, don’t understand why the first day of school is a half day.  Early reports are that everything is fine.  Boys did miss the Obama speech because of the half day, which is too bad, God help us if encouragement to get good grades, work hard, and wash your hands becomes a political debate.  Oh, that’s right, it did…..sigh….

Biked with the boys to the school….that’s the first time for them.  I bike to work afterwards and return to pick them up…..

Pictures embedded below.

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Bachelor Days 2 and 3

Not much to report from Saturday….college football, college football, and more college football.  Okay, so Kevin and I did watch some of the U.S. – El Salvador World Cup Qualifying Game as well.

Saturday *was* notable for the first use of Kevin’s new bronchio-dilator.  Will post a bit about the “diagnosis” of exercise-induced asthma and how we got to this point.

I got a nice bike ride in while Kevin ran with Mr. Hoffman…..like that the Iphone has an app that lets you know how far you went and shows your course on Google maps. 

Sunday we went kayaking on the Chippewa River with the Hoffman’s.  Oh was I (and still am) sore afterwards…my abdomen muscles were sorely abused by the 8-mile paddle.

Kevin and I continued our tradition of fishing cans out of the river…..he had 103 of them in the back of his kayak when we were done.  Suzanne, tonight, has suggested that Kevin’s community-service-to-spruce-up-the-college-resume project might be “Kayaking for Cans”….cleans up the environment, is fun, and earns money to donate to a charity.

 

Kevin out in the river during our lunch stop

 

heading downstream after the stop

he circled back around so I could get some more pictures after going by….he really did a nice job of controlling the kayak

A boy and his cans….the going rate in Michigan earns the Special Olympics (the outfitters donate the cans you leave there to them) $10.30.

Bachelor Life Day 1

Suzanne and the boys took off for Toronto around 2 pm yesterday, and, after showing the letter I had to write allowing Suzanne to take our minor children out of the country, were allowed to cross the border and are having a good time.  I am having a hard time remembering the last time I was in the house without Suzanne overnight…

Kevin and I decided to bike to the mall for dinner.  That bike ride takes us up through the more heavily travelled parts of Okemos (we’ve never done it before) and it really wasn’t that bad…two street crossing and that was it.  Locked up the bikes, got a haircut (Dad), purchased an outfit from Aeropostale (Kevin), ate, headed back.

Was depressed/amazed to find out Kevin has his new mountain bike permanently set on the highest gear….I was always struggling to keep up with him!  It used to be (and I guess this must have been 5th or 6th grade) we’d hit the intersection of Okemos and Sower and I could race him back home and beat him….tried that last night and got stomped; it wasn’t close, I never had a chance. 

Spent some time last night moving the washing machine and dryer and beginning to retile the laundry room area….hope to make it though there today and begin some work in the bathroom.  Was stupid about it and blocked Wiley’s food and water behind the washing machine in the bathroom; had to send Kevin on a rescue mission this morning. 

Coming Attractions

• Hutsell’s are splitting up this weekend; Fric, Frac, and Mom head to Toronto for some touristy times, Dad and Kevin stay here, do some tile-ing, watch some football, and do some kayaking on the Chippewa River
• will have a detailed post about the phrase “exercise-induced asthma”……
• School starts Tuesday, hurrah!
• First soccer game of the season Thursday.
• The 120-year old violin will get some serious use this year; will post on viola/violin shenanigans this week as well.