Reece the scientist - everyone beware

We visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago today, splitting into two groups (Dan/Reece, Greyson/me) for a large part of the time. Dan and Reece spent a lot of time in the science experiments area, where apparently molecules can be assembled using atoms from the periodic table and you can find out what would happen in real life if you made those specific combinations, eg. salt and bombs.

This evening, Reece asked me what you make if you combine hydrogen and oxygen. He told me I was right when I said "water". Then he said, in a very thoughtful tone of voice, "You know, there's a lot of ways to make explosions." I'm warning his future high school chemistry lab teacher now.

What I'm thankful for

Relatives who are willing to host Thanksgiving every other year (thanks Sheila and Dave!).
Family who care about my kids nearly as much as I do.
A reliable vehicle to get us to visit family safely.
Vaccines and antibiotics.
Friends and relatives who let me hold their babies whenever I need a fix.
A job I truly enjoy and colleagues who respect my opinion.
The internet. Because how else could I save all these mundane parts of our lives for posterity??

We had a fun, relaxing time at my cousins' over Thanksgiving. Lots of food, drink, football, Wii, Nerf dart gun wars, and Dan and Jackie even ran in the Detroit Turkey Trot (5k). The topper to an already awesome weekend was getting to see my cousin, Christian, who we hardly ever get to see, and meet his 10 month old son, Lincoln.

I took almost no pictures of the food, apparently because I was too busy eating it, and no photos of the Nerf wars because I was too busy trying not to get hit! But here are some football videos and pictures of other activities throughout the weekend.

Pie! Pumpkin, Cherry/blueberry, and Apple.

Football team 1 on day 1.

Elliott recovering from the latest Nerf gun war.

Lincoln, Christian and Susie

Sheila the master chef.

Grace, Greyson, and Isaac playing a Wii game that they now all desperately want, of course.

Mutual admiration society. Dave and Lincoln, with Nat in the background.

Possibly the cutest baby ever (my own notwithstanding).

 Elliott gets clonked by Nat.

  Reece and Elliott clonk each other.

Nat's touchdown.

Greyson runs the ball.

Reece runs the ball - the wrong way at first.

 The ball was very slippery that day.

Reece's touchdown.

Jill's touchdown.

Happy Thanksgiving to Nick!

At the last minute, my brother, Nick, decided not to make the long trip to us for Thanksgiving. So we made these videos to show him he was missed:

Even in beautiful weather, accidents happen

My van (with me in it) got hit while I was driving to a salon appointment. See the evidence:

I could reprint the police report I submitted, but I'm assuming anyone reading this does not want to fall instantly asleep. So the short version is, I was turning left with a left-turn arrow, a gray sedan (driven by an ancient man - I forgot to check his birthdate on his license, but suffice it to say that I thought he'd gotten hurt because he was so shaky and seemed confused, but it turned out that's how he normally is) decided to turn right into me instead of waiting for me (and those behind me) to turn. He didn't want to call the police and had the gall to say that he didn't think it was his fault (!), I called anyway and found out they wouldn't come out since we were on private property, we exchanged info and then after conversing with my insurance company I drove to the police department to make a report anyway. There's still a chance it will be come a he-said-she-said since there were no other witnesses who stepped forward (believe me, there were LOTS of witnesses). Oh, and did I mention that Ancient Man is a lawyer? Joy. I'll know more after my insurance person talks to him and his insurance company. The van still runs fine (in fact, the door still opens electrically), I wasn't hurt and was the only one in the vehicle (thank goodness, because if he'd caused injury to my children, I might now be in jail for assault on a frail human), and even in the worst case we just have to cover the deductible and maybe our rates would go up.

I would like to take this opportunity, though, to put in print that if/when I ever get to the point where my driving is a danger to others, PLEASE take away my license and vehicle. And I will do the same for you, m'kay?

On a much happier note, it's been gorgeous here the past few days, and today the boys played dodge ball and kick ball with neighbor kids for a few hours. Then Reece ran around the playground for a while and asked me to take these pictures. And then print them so he can frame them and hang them up around the house. No lack of self esteem with that one.

Making applesauce to last us until next year at this time

It's become an annual tradition that my mom comes to visit toward the end of October to make applesauce with the boys. And it's now become somewhat necessary, since neither of my boys will eat any applesauce besides this homemade type! The boys remember the process from year to year, so it seems to go pretty smoothly. This was the first year I was here to witness the procedure and document it.

First, the apples have to be cut into quarters and cooked. We had a whole bushel, so it took multiple pots on the stove and some in the oven.

Grandma loads up the bowl on the top, Greyson presses it into the hole, and Reece turns the crank.

Quality control check.

Working together as a team, and no arguing! Borderline miracle, here.

Halloween wrap-up, a week late

Definitely the best Halloween yet, in my opinion. Adults ate Indian food while kids had pizza, there was no crying, we stopped when kids were tired and knew it, and the weather held. What more can I say, except that I did not manage to take very good pictures. And the wine had NOTHING to do with it.

More books and a quick trip

Four more books by RT have arrived at our house over the past week. "Colrs", which includes such entries as "GRA" and "BLOWE"; "Dots", which goes from one to five; "Pekshrs" (with the s's backwards), with a drawing of a stick figure, a traffic light, and left and right hands; and "Peses frum 1 to 10", which I think is "Pieces" and has drawings of upside down triangles. I don't get the things from his bookbag every day, so I'm not sure in what order these were created. They are being stored in a safe place, and I might even have to put them all together into one big book when he's through with this phase.

On a completely separate topic, guess where we were last weekend?

Dan's closest friends from high school had a sort-of impromptu reunion at one of their houses in Arlington, VA, so the boys and I decided to tag along and spend time with my close friend, Bernadette, and her husband who do not live very far from Dan's friend. We are all smiling in the picture, but most of the rest of that day was spend whining (Greyson) and snipping (me) at the whiner. Fun times! There was a great science and technology fair going on (you can see the tents in the background) but we only did a few genetics exhibits before we all died from the complaining. I did ask someone from the NIH if they were also handing out grants, but the answer was no. At least I got a laugh. We had a surprisingly good lunch at the Museum of American History, and we got to park in the parking garage of the Department of Energy and get special visitor tags and get scanned multiple times, so the kids got a good idea of what it's like to work for the government these days. We also stopped at Antietam on our way to DC, but I haven't downloaded those pictures yet. And that's where the whining started, so I'm not even sure if there is a good one in there anyway!

The kids are getting quite excited for Trick or Treating tonight, but I haven't let anyone open the candy bags yet. Mostly because I know then I'd be digging in. Reece already got to wear his costume yesterday for his school parade, so you can at least get a first glimpse of the cuteness that a five-year old at Halloween still is. Just be sure you tell him you think he's scary.

Fall and giant chess

I can not stop being in awe of the leaf colors this year, especially the maples. So I had to take a picture, although here you can really see the limitations of the iPhone camera. And my lack of photo-taking talent, but I refuse to care about that.

We have been in the shopping plaza where the giant outdoor chess set is twice now in a week, and the kids can't get enough of it. Reece doesn't even care if he loses to Greyson so long as he can move the pieces (especially the rook - usually his first move). When he takes one of Greyson's pieces, he knocks it down like he's playing wizard chess (see Harry Potter book 1 if you don't know what that is). I keep expecting someone of authority to come out and yell at him for this, but so far we've been left to ourselves to play as we see fit.

On a related note, Dan has an iPhone now (the 4, but I am not jealous - much) and took some better pictures of the boys playing the second time, but he hasn't yet played with all the features so they remain on his phone for the time being.

Reece the author

In kindergarten, there is "free choice" time apparently, and Reece has been spending his writing books. Then he brings them home and reads them to us before bed, and then he files them in the bookcase in his bedroom. Because they are books. However, they do not have a plot, and the illustrations are extremely rudimentary, but he could not be more proud of himself (as are we, of course).

 Reading one of his books to Dan last night.

The first was his A-B-C book, which is currently missing somewhere in the house. The second was titled "People frum 1 to 10" (in kindergarten phonetic spelling). Here are the cover and page 10 from that one:

The third and most current one is "Rods frum 10 to 1". Meaning ROADS from 10 to 1.

I am extremely curious to see where he goes from here, because knowing him he's not likely to move on to 10 to 20 due to the sheer quantity of work involved. Then again, he's been so excited about this, he might decide it's worth the work to produce such masterpieces.

Taunting fate

Well, my last post made it seem like everything was going along pretty smoothly at our Casa de Chaos, didn't it? Clearly, I should have included some of the glitches that occur, because fate (or someone who hates me) decided to throw us a major glitch at the last minute...our after school babysitter quit with one day's notice VIA TEXT. Sunday afternoon, I glanced at my phone and noticed that she had left me three text messages. When I viewed them, I think I could actually feel my blood boiling. I'm usually the calming force in this family, but I had to put my phone down in another room just so I didn't call her and scream obscenities at her. (And I would like to thank those near and dear to me who offered additional ones I hadn't thought of. Laughter definitely helps put things in perspective.) Because it's mostly my life that this kind of thing affects. I had to rearrange my schedule and cancel appointments this week to find prospective candidates, interview them, call their references, and now call them back to tell them whether or not they have the job.

So, long story short, the one we now call "doofus" worked for us Monday since we had no one else, I explained as calmly as I could (Dan went for a run so that no police had to be called in) how furious we were and why, and how she probably could have handled it MUCH better (she's 28 for god's sake!) while she tried to defend herself, saying that she had to do what was best for her (she was offered a tutoring job at the school where she teaches), and then I told her I just had nothing more to say about it and she left. I spent $135 on two online sitter services, contacted about 15 potential sitters, interviewed four, and picked one who lives within walking distance of us and will start Monday.

However, I'm not willing to mess with the fates or gods or whoever else wants to use me as a pawn in their board game, so here is full disclosure of the things I didn't mention in the last post:

1) The laundry is being done on an emergency basis at best, accompanied by all the problems you'd expect with such a plan. One morning I had to dig a pair of pants out of the dirty laundry for Reece, and that's when I realized that he only had about three pairs to his name that fit him. A semi-expensive trip to Carters followed.
2) I had to ask neighbors to take Reece in the morning three different days because my brain didn't comprehend that those 9:30 meetings meant there was no way I'd be able to take him to the bus stop at 8:55. I have since signed him up for twice a week before-care.
3) We've eaten out or ordered in close to half the days in the past two weeks. And eaten the leftovers or make-your-own-sandwiches the other days. Even though we're still getting a full bag of food from our CSA. I'm not even going to list here what I've thrown away.
4) There's just no way we're going to get to an apple orchard together this year. 
5) Reece's Halloween costume is right off the rack at Old Navy, and Greyson doesn't even have one.
6) I'm responsible for half of the cookie dough package being empty.
7) On a related note, I haven't exercised in at least a week and a half.

I know there are lots more, but I think I'll save them for a post a week just to keep a proper balance in the universe. On the grand scheme of things, of course, my problems are completely inconsequential. A very good friend of a friend died recently leaving a young family, and I've been watching all the It Gets Better videos with appreciation and sympathy.But sometimes, it feels good to wallow in my small world of crazy until someone makes me laugh and I vent in my blog and then I can move on.

Ambling into October

Reece and a neighbor at our block party - the city sends a fire truck or police car or both if you register the block party with them (they also provide blockers for the ends of the street), and the kids love it every year

I haven't posted lately because there just really hasn't been much to say. I find the minutia of our lives to be pretty all-consuming of my time and energy, but I'm pretty sure it would be incredibly boring to anyone outside our household. We've settled into a routine that, while varying from day to day, repeats itself week to week like we're stuck in some kind of time loop.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids and I get up and going and head to our respective schools. The slight variation occurs on Wednesdays when Greyson has to pack a lunch and carry his French horn to the bus stop because he has band practice during lunch. Then the babysitter comes after school to be with the kids until Dan relieves her around 6pm and I arrive home shortly thereafter and immediately make dinner for the starving crowd. Thursdays I usually work from home, and Reece has ice skating lessons after school, plus Dan works late so the kids and I often have creative meals for dinner. Fridays I leave early and Dan gets the kids out the door, then I get home in time to meet Reece's bus. Saturdays we sometimes have an activity, I try to get to the farmer's market, and we do a lot of chores around the house and try to veg out. Sundays are Sunday school and sometimes church, then Dan is consumed by the Browns game from 12:45 until 4:30 while the boys and I occupy ourselves in various (usually pretty unproductive) ways. I did get Wii Carnival Games through a swap (via swap.com), so we've been playing that a lot on rainy days. And then Monday starts all over again.

I did get pretty productive last weekend, making duvet covers for both boys' beds out of jersey material sheets, and I reorganized (for probably the 10th time) my clothes closet (which also serves as our medicine/linen closet for the master bath).

 Reece's duvet. He won the "green war" this time.

 Greyson's duvet. Dan calls it the blood-red bed. Pretty cool for Halloween at least.

 Half of my closet. I first repurposed some Itso items I had in the basement and then realized I needed more, so what was supposed to be a cost-free endeavor did not end that way. As usual.

It felt great to get those tasks done, and the boys actually seem to be sleeping better with their new bed covers. An explanation: Neither boy has been using his top sheet on his bed unless it happens to be made of the jersey material, and even in that case it was ending up in a squooshed pile by their toes and I was having to wash their blankets every week or two. So I decided this was a better solution, and I couldn't find any ready-made jersey material duvets through online searches. I found some jersey sheet sets on sale at Target, got the kids to pick their colors, and sewed two flat sheets together to make the covers. The bonus is that now we have two fitted sheets for each bed in the same color and material as well as some pillowcases, and I think it all cost me way less than any regular duvet cover plus sheets would have. In fact, their beds are so cozy now that Dan and I have been threatening to sleep there instead of them!

And finally, on the farming front, we've pretty much let the garden go back to nature. The squirrels demolished the sunflowers, and the disappointment in not getting the seeds for ourselves was made up for by watching the sheer determination and creativity of the squirrels' adventures in trying to reach the seeds. Wish I had gotten video.

However, we are still harvesting a few items before they rot or animals get them. Here's today's take:

These are each actually only about 3 inches in length, and odds are good that the eggplants will end up going directly into the garbage in a few days. Might have the tomato for lunch, though.

Five going on fifteen

This morning...

Reece: Mom, I can't zip my jacket. Would you do it?

Me: I thought you knew how to do that already.

Reece: I guess I haven't mastered this skill yet.

The kindergarten best friend

Reece has a best friend already. And while that is no real surprise, since he has seemed to need to identify at least one child to be closest to ever since he started daycare, the child he has chosen (and who has chosen him) IS a little bit of a surprise. Because he only knows her from the bus. Even before he started kindergarten, he knew personally three kids in his classroom and another half dozen kindergartners in the school just from our friends, preschool, sports, etc. He had never met his new best friend before they were assigned to the same seat on the bus, and the only other time they see each other is at recess. It turns out that she has an older sister who is Greyson's age, and she and he are both in a class together this year and both play the french horn, so maybe that's what attracted Reece and his BF to each other. Who knows. All I know, the rest of us may die from the cute.

He didn't even tell us her name right away, he just referred to her as "my best friend". One evening last week, he put three Lego Harry Potter character stickers on his belly and said he wasn't going to take them off until he could show them to his best friend (but no one else) because, "She's not a fan of Harry Potter like I am, but her sister is, so I think she'd be interested in seeing them." On Tuesday, he had a headache while in school and spent about an hour in the nurse's office but apparently was feeling better by recess time (I know, convenient, but that's actually not like him - yet). When I asked him about the whole thing later, after telling me what happened, he said, "I had to get outside to tell my best friend what happened and so she wouldn't miss me." If they were 8 years older, I'm sure they'd be texting each other non-stop.

So now we're at the meet-up stage, where he's going to have a playdate at her house tomorrow after school and we moms can meet face-to-face. There are many reasons I'm glad the boys aren't in aftercare this year, but I think this is one of the best ones - being able to play at someone else's house after school. I have to admit, I'm very curious to see what this little girl looks like and what her personality is. Reece has tended in the past to become closest friends with more dominant children, especially girls, so I'll be interested to see if she fits that type.

Hiking the road (or overgrown path) less traveled

Before I get to the real focus of the post today, I'd like to mention that I have caught the Dreaded Family Cold. I'm calling it that because it seems to pass particularly fast among family members and makes one feel just yucky enough that you don't want to do anything but not sick enough to call off work/school when something important is going on. I had two meetings today so needed to go in to work. And I probably would have just puttered around the house rather than resting, so it's probably better that I'm at least getting some work accomplished (well, and blogging).

The leaves around here have only barely begun to change, except for this maple tree at the metropark, which was probably 3/4 complete, and a few I've seen on my drive between home and work.

On Saturday, the boys and I met my brother and his family for lunch and then we did a little hiking in one of the Cleveland Metroparks near us. Nat likes to geocache whenever possible, so he brought his gps and the four boys and he and I started into the woods.

 Checking the gps to verify the coordinates.

 Heading down with the requisite walking sticks and water bottle.

However, because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, we quickly left the nicely groomed path and set off UP and into the woods. And then down again, then across a small ravine, then up again, and to the coordinates location where we found...nothing. The kids, however, had a blast. It definitely reminded me of when my brothers and cousins and I would go wandering around in the woods at Black Lake in search of something or nothing - it didn't matter. On our way back to the entrance area, Nat again took the steeper, less groomed route with the kids and I elected to follow an actual path, which got me down the hill faster than the others so I was able to snap a few pictures from below.

 The boys and Nat trying to figure out the best way to descend.

Isaac chooses his own path and gets down first.

Reece after he made it down. I was VERY glad he wore brown shorts based on how much time he spent sliding down hills in the dirt/mud!

Hopefully, we'll do more of these kinds of hikes before the weather turns and maybe even find something at the coordinates!

I can text, I can text, I can*...

So I just added texting to my phone plan. I was able to drop my data plan down by $5 which happens to be the exact cost of the 200 text messages a month plan, so it was a zero sum venture. However, if my neighbor and I keep texting the way we did the first day my plan went into effect, I'll blow through 200 in about two weeks.

Why did I succumb, you ask? Well the old "everyone's doing it" reason seems to fit here, or at least a variation of it. Basically, about 3/4 of the people I keep in regular contact with do not have phones with email, so if I want to tell or ask them something pressing but not urgent, I have to call and interrupt them and probably end up talking for a while when neither of us really has that kind of time at that moment. I know, it's the end of civilization that we no longer take the time to talk to each other. Whatever. I haven't handwritten a note to someone outside my household in probably a year and I seem able to maintain close relationships. Or at least digitally close ones.

So now I just have to learn all the shortcuts. The best one I've received so far was from my brother-in-law who, in response to my message letting him know when and where I'd pick him up, replied "K". I'm going to have to go back and bone up on my CDB books.

*with apologies to Rita Golden Gelman

Moving along towards fall

School must have started, because two of the four of us have already caught colds. I really thought we were past most of the illnesses, but apparently there are some out there yet that we need to experience. Greyson is home from school today, and Dan is coming home at lunch. Luckily, I was able to rearrange some things and stay home, but I don't know what we'll do when I can't do that. Actually, I do know - Dan will have to be the at-home parent. Where's our live-in nanny???

We just hung around home over Labor Day weekend, and the boys and I even biked to Greyson's school one of the days to play at the playground there. The kids are getting bored with our usual playgrounds (rough life, I know).

We all seem to have settled into our new school/work situations (only Dan didn't have any major changes this year). Reece is already saying he likes snack time best at school, so I think the honeymoon is over. The boys got to go to Fundaze this past Thursday because they were off from school for Rosh Hashanah, and they visited the Holden Arboretum. The best part, for me, was one drop off and one pick-up. Because they'll never be at the same school together, this is my only chance. I'm actually rooting for more days off. Greyson wasn't so thrilled, either with the trip locale or the fact that Reece clung to him much of the day, but Reece had a great time.

On another note, I'm thoroughly sick of cherry/grape tomatoes and the garden in general. Between the overgrown tomato plants and rotting tomatoes scattered around them and the sunflowers that are bent and half chewed up from squirrels, the garden looks like a hurricane hit it. The good news? The basil is still healthy and growing and hasn't been taken over by the cucumber plants, and I'm going to make pesto soon. Everything else I am seriously considering taking a mower to. Well, if we had a mower.

First week of school, 2010

Well, it looks like we all survived the first week. I fell asleep at 10:30 last night and didn't wake up for 9 hours, but the kids have had boundless energy and not needed any more sleep than usual. Greyson's report on his first day of 5th grade was, "Awesome! My teacher gives out Jolly Ranchers!" So now I know where our supply fee goes. He did have some homework on Thursday, but mostly the teachers have been easing them into the year.

 Ready to head to the bus stop on the first day of kindergarten.

His choice of pose.

Reece has been raring to go to kindergarten for the past 6 months, so it was no surprise that he didn't even blink this week with all the changes. On Wednesday, he and I went to a meet the teacher/see your classroom visit and while the parents filled out paperwork, his teacher read the kids "The Kissing Hand", about a raccoon who doesn't want to go back to school so his mom kisses his palm so anytime during the day he can put it against his cheek and remember she loves him. That evening, I told Reece we should remember for me to kiss his hand before he left for school, and he said, "I don't need that. I'm not nervous about going to school." And he was right. He nearly forgot to get a kiss and hug before boarding the bus, and his response after he got home the first day was, "School is AWESOME (it's a common word around here) and I love my teacher!" That's the second child for you - ready to move on way before his parents are ready for it.

Walking up to board the bus.

 

Getting back off the bus after the first day.

My first week as an assistant professor was hectic but not too crazy. I still have to sign up for benefits and get some things set up in my office and my name on my door. Oh yeah, and create a syllabus by Tuesday and figure out how to run an online course. Plus my research, of course. But I'm surprisingly calm and definitely feel I made the right choice in accepting this job. Ask me again in two months when my grant is due and I'm behind in grading and I might be singing a different tune, at least on the calmness level. I have compiled a number of things that I like better about this job and that I miss from my old job, and I'll be interested to see how long they stay true:

What I like about my new job
1) Excitement surrounding the new program
2) My large office that has walls that go all the way to the ceiling
3) Parking lot is next to my building and costs 1/10th of the parking at Case
4) More responsibility and respect and perks with being a faculty member (about time - I'm 40 for crying out loud!)
5) Being in charge of my own career and workload
6) Summers off!!!
7) Better benefits and a faculty union
8) Being the authority in my research area

What I miss about my old job
1) Being able to bike to work
2) Having a cancer center and major medical center right next door
3) Taking a month to go through a tank of gas
4) Having people around who understand my field more than I do

The last day of summer (for Greyson, anyway)

School starts tomorrow for Greyson, and Reece starts on Thursday with half days that day and Friday. We're still trying to get into a good sleeping and waking pattern, so hopefully Greyson will be able to wake up at 7:15 tomorrow morning. He'll be at the upper elementary school, and his bus picks him up at 8:15 rather than the 8:55 for the lower elementary, so it will definitely be an adjustment. This, combined with signs I'm seeing of Greyson trying to break free from Reece a bit, tells me we might be moving toward separate bedrooms for the boys sooner than we thought.

Greyson will be playing the French horn this year, as all 5th graders are required to either pick an instrument or join the chorus. We were able to borrow one from a neighbor who also spent some time giving Greyson a mini lesson, which really gave him some confidence. He also had an intro session at his school this evening, and the music teacher even got me excited about playing it! Really, I just want to get a used piano, but we'd probably have to build yet another room for it and THAT'S not happening.

So, about our garden. We came home from Michigan to this:

We don't even need to exaggerate that the sunflowers are as big as the house! (Or, more accurately, the garage.) Since then, a few of them were taken out by a storm, but we salvaged the blooms and are hoping to get some seeds out of them. Oh, and that mess in front of the sunflowers is two cucumber plants trying to take over the world. Or at least our backyard. They've even been trying to climb up the sunflowers and I have to speak sternly to them about boundaries. We are also picking whole bowlfuls of cherry tomatoes about every other day and giving them away to unsuspecting neighbors and relatives. Because we're also getting cherry and grape and Roma tomatoes from our CSA. And I've discovered that 1) I don't have any desire to peel and seed tomatoes, and 2) there aren't that many uses for cherry tomatoes beyond salads and picking and eating them right from the vine (yummy, yes, but best not to eat your weight in them I imagine). So I'm taking notes for next year that involve fewer cherry tomato plants, only one cucumber plant, adding dill and more basil, and probably not even trying peppers again. They were our only dud. The eggplants were surprisingly successful but not too overwhelming, so I might keep those. Just have to get Nick to come back and make homemade baba ganouj with them, though.

Summer, week 9, day 62

Hello, is this thing on??? OK, so it's been over two weeks since my last post, but in my defense, I've spent a considerable amount of time recently with probably half my readership, so there haven't been as many people to keep up to date anyway.

For the rest of you, I do apologize for keeping you hanging with Greyson's baseball saga. I posted the results on Facebook, but that's really all I had time for that last week in July. So, without further ado...

They won!!! Seadogs are champions of the Shaker Youth Baseball League minors division, 2010. The championship game didn't end up being played until that Friday night thanks to weather issues, but his team won that game and so didn't have to play a second one. When Greyson's coach handed out the trophies (one of his is for winning the American League division, the other is for the championship), he said Greyson was his "little man with the big arm". Overall it was such a good experience for him that we might actually consider letting him play next summer if he wants. Although we might need to request the exact same coaches and fellow players...

Now for a recap of the days after we left the baseball world. My mom, the boys and I left for Michigan on Saturday morning. Stopped at A&W in Standish for lunch (that's become an annual event) where they boys fought over who would call in the order and I almost had to take Reece out to calm him down. Luckily, that was not indicative of how our overall trip went.  Sunday we had a picnic at the beach, went mini-golfing, had dessert at Dairy Queen, and toured the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, which I encourage everyone to see if they get to Alpena ever. After spending time exploring the entire museum, Reece stated that he wanted to look for shipwrecks when he grows up. I did mention that that career might actually involve swimming, so it'd be in his best interest to not freak out for his Miss Katie lessons anymore.

Reece's improper (and downright dangerous if you're near him) form at the "dog house" hole. I must say, as much as I like this particular putt-putt course, the reason  I love it is that they have TWO shades of green balls to choose from, so there was no need for any haggling right off the bat. I think both boys had geared themselves up for an "I called the green ball first" shouting match and didn't quite know what to do with themselves so walked meekly to the first hole. Of course, they found other things to argue about along the course.

 In the maritime center, there's a set of tunnels suspended from the ceiling that lead to a slide, which is all supposed to make the kids feel like they're on an underwater dig. Last year, Reece wouldn't have anything to do with it. This year, we almost couldn't tear him away.

I have no idea what we did on Monday. Tuesday we visited my aunt's cabin on Lake Huron, then we headed to Black Lake to spend three days at my uncle's cabin. Had to go out fishing that evening, of course. Greyson and Reece managed to each catch a fish at the same time AND get their lines intertwined, all while my uncle Dave was catching his own. Drama on the calm seas!

 You want me to do WHAT with it?

 Reece was OK with holding the fish (these are rock bass, for anyone who cares) using a special contraption so he didn't have to actually touch it. Although by the end of the evening, he was holding them with his fingers.

Wednesday we spent the day at Mackinac Island accompanied by my cousin, Jackie, biking and sweating. It was probably the hottest day during our entire trip and maybe hit 85. One unusual thing that happened was the ferry going to the island from Mackinaw City took a detour and went UNDER the Mackinac Bridge! Jackie's taken those particular ferries probably 30 times in her life and said that has never happened to her before. We joked that we were being hijacked (because THAT would be a strong message to the US - take out a bunch of midwestern tourists on their way to an island with no cars, lots of horse poop, who plan to eat their weight in fudge), but I'm now thinking someone slipped the captain a 50. Bonus for us!

 Wait, where are we going??

 

Proof that we went UNDER. Greyson took the picture after he got up enough courage to go to the front of the boat where lots of other people were trying to do the same thing.

After visiting this cemetery, Reece stated that he wanted to be a person who digs up bones when he grows up and wondered if he could start here, at this cemetery. Which took us into a whole discussion on what happens when people die. Gah.

 

 

 Thursday was back to Grandma's, Friday we saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee performed at the Thunder Bay Theatre, and Saturday we spend time with my friend, Lynnette and her son Nathan before heading back to Black Lake for more swimming and fishing. Drove back home without Grandma on Sunday, making it in less than 7 hours. Greyson and I have been enjoying our week so far, going out to lunch with Dan and running errands and getting stuff done around the house (me) and reading, watching TV, and playing on the computer (him). Tomorrow (hopefully), I'll post and update on our garden with photos. Suffice it to say, I'm running out of recipes that involve tomatoes and cucumbers that are not salad!