Life With Boys

My stepdad will sometimes look at me and say "I never pictured you with two boys."  Yeah, well, that makes two of us! I never imagined I'd be the only girl in my household. Of course, now that I am a boy mom, I can't imagine it any other way.

That isn't to say they don't surprise me though. This morning I was trying to gently rouse Ryan from his bed. I wasn't quite ready for work yet, so I was calling out to Ryan every minute or two while I finished my morning routine.

"Ryan. It's time to get up, Ryan. Get out of bed."

It takes him a while to wake up in the mornings and I thought maybe my voice would start penetrating the layers of sleep before I had to go in and start waking him up for real.  Just as I was putting the last of my make-up away, Wesley appeared in the doorway, fully dressed and ready to start the day.

"Can I wake Ryan up for you, Mom?" he asked.

I paused for a moment before answering, trying to think of all the stipulations I'd have to include if I said yes, when Wesley grinned and said, "I promise not to hurt him."

And that pretty much sums up life with two boys.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Sometimes the nicest things happen when you least expect it.  Take this past weekend for example. I was battling a nasty summer cold, Duane was debating going to work on Sunday morning before picking Ryan up from an overnight. Wesley kind of wanted to go to the zoo, but kind of didn't. We were all in a bit of a funk I guess.

Sunday morning dawned hot and humid, causing Duane and I to say "no way" to a zoo trip, and making Duane extra glad he had opted to sleep in. I was steadily working my way though a box of tissues and bottle of cough syrup, when my cell phone rang, then Duane's. Caller ID said it was our brother-in-law.  After a few minutes of phone tag (in which I was convinced something had happened to my dad or stepmom) Duane got a hold of Stacey.  Turns out that Stacey was also sick, but he happened to have two club level tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game that afternoon - all food included - where they were retiring Pete Rose's number.  Stacey thought that since Ryan has recently discovered baseball, he might enjoy going.

You have to imagine the next 40 minutes on fast forward. Duane rushed out to pick Ryan up from his sleepover. When he got home, I helped Ryan find appropriate game clothes, Duane packed some snacks and drinks for the drive, and my stepsister drove the tickets over to our house - as well as some extra money for Ryan to buy a souvenir at his first major league ballgame. As Ryan walked out the door I heard him say, "You mean we're going all the way to Cincinnati?!?"

I wish I could have been a part of the day, because it sounds like they had a fantastic time, but on the other hand, it's so nice that Duane and Ryan had a special day all to themselves. They ate lots of ballpark food (Ryan had a soft pretzel, a cinnamon soft pretzel, nachos AND ice cream), watched the game, checked out the Great American Ballpark and more.  According to Duane, Ryan must have said "thank you" no less than 15 times and wants to go back with the whole family.

Ryan took this shot of the ballpark

Ryan wearing his brand new Reds cap, holding his first game certificate

When they got home Sunday evening, Ryan pronounced the trip, "Amazing!" And now we have a Reds fan in the house.

Hacker with a Heart

I know I've mentioned this before, but Duane and I try to monitor the kids viewing and computer habits pretty closely. Everything is password protected on their Kindles and I keep my computer locked with a password as well. My computer being password protected is less about them going out on the internet, and more about them access sites where my password or credit card is saved, or improperly shutting the computer down.

Yesterday Duane's mom came down to watch the kids for the day.  Everything went very smoothly, or at least it seemed to when I came home at lunch to walk the dog. I was backing the car out of the drive to go back to work when Ryan came flying out of the house to ask me for my computer password. I explained that I wasn't going to tell him the password, but that I'd text it to Grandma when I got back to work. I did and she responded with a thank you.

I didn't give it a second thought until last night after dinner when Ryan approached me and said, "Hey, Mom, I'm feeling a little bit guilty."

"What are you feeling guilty about?"

He crawled into my lap. "Well, you know how you texted the computer password to Grandma and asked her not to tell it to me? I kind of saw it and I remember it."

I thanked him for telling me and while he was at his drum lesson, I made a change to the password. But apparently not enough of a change. Today, when my mom was watching him, she mentioned that he was on my computer.

"How did he get on the computer?" I asked. "I changed the password."

"He told me he saw it yesterday," she said. "I told him you probably changed it."

"I did!"

"Well, he figured it out."

Little hacker!  Guess what I did on my lunch hour today? I changed the password again! We'll see if he figures this one out!

The Beans Have Spilled

Remember how a few weeks ago I wrote that we had tickets to take the kids to see Weird Al, but weren't going to tell them yet? Well, the beans have officially been spilled.

Wesley has been obsessing about this concert. All we hear over and over is "I wish we could see Weird Al on July 8th."  The thing is, he isn't going to be here on July 8th. He's in town on July 6th, so we've been able to say - honestly - that we were not going to see him on the 8th. However, he's working himself up about the whole thing so much that Duane and I decided that the next time he brought it up, we'd have to tell him.

The topic came up at dinner tonight, again, focusing on July 8th and couldn't we do whatever it is we are doing that night on the 7th instead, so we could go to the concert.

Me: Wesley, I am going to be very honest with you and tell you exactly why we are not going to see Weird Al on July 8th.

I went and got my iPad, while Duane pulled up the tickets on his phone. I went to the tour page and pointed my finger to July 8th.

Me: He isn't even in town on July 8th. He's in Cincinnati that night.

Duane: We don't live in Cincinnati. We aren't driving to Cincinnati to see him on the 8th.

Wesley stared at the page confused.

Wesley: But I thought he was coming here on the 8th.

Me: He's not.

Then I scrolled up the page a couple of dates.

Me: But he is going to be here on the 6th and we already have four tickets for our family to go.

Duane showed him the tickets on his phone.

Me: So that's why we won't be seeing him on the 8th. You can quit asking.

It took a few minutes for it to sink in for Wesley. He had been so fixated on the date that for a while all he could process was that he wasn't going to see Weird Al on the 8th. But then a smile started to spread across his face.

Duane: We've had these tickets since February or March. Long before you even knew he was going to come here.

More grinning, and the excited noises were beginning to make their way out.

Duane: And like it or not, we're buying you a concert t-shirt.

Wesley: (while running around the house): I want a bunch of shirts so I can wear one to school every day!

Duane: Well, they're pretty expensive so we'll buy you one and if you want another one or two or eight, you have to buy them with your money.

Now we only have to listen to the daily countdown and not the moping around. 

The Best Dads in the World

Hope you all had a fabulous Father's Day. We did, and I got to spend it with the three men that are the most important dads in my life.

Check out these good looking guys ready for church on Father's Day! We had a full morning because Wesley was an acolyte during the early service and we taught Sunday School during the later one.

Duane modeling one of the paper ties our Sunday School class made for their dads.

After church we went to see Grandpa H. I love how both the boys are giving him the side eye in this shot.                            We call it, "Who Farted?"

 

We had a fabulous cookout with my dad to end the day too. I'm so lucky to have these men in my life.

How Do You Heal a Hurting Heart?

It's been a rough week in America. I mean, I know it's been a rough week for people everywhere, but my heart is heavy broken with the news in our country right now.

In the wee hours of Sunday morning 49 people were killed and more than 50 more injured at a gay nightclub in Orlando - people who were just out having a good time in what should be a safe space for them. People who were doing nothing wrong. People who shouldn't have to live in fear over being who they are. I have not been able to come to terms with what happened, or why mass shootings are able to continue in this country. I'm sad. My heart aches for the families of the victims, for the survivors who may possibly never feel truly safe again, for the responders who say the sounds of the cellphones ringing on the dead was haunting. I'm sad for the LGBTQ community, for the Muslim community, and for people who call themselves Christians but spew hate instead of love.

I'm angry too.  What is wrong with our country? Why do so many people feel they have a right to own assault rifles? Why do so many people feel the way to solve a problem is through violence? Why do I have to teach my kids to look for the nearest exits in any place they go in case someone comes in with a gun? To play dead if they need to and they can't escape? Why do we have to have lockdown drills at schools? How is this okay and normal?

I feel helpless, and yet I want to do something. I just don't know what something is. I've spoken out on social media in support for the LGBTQ community. I signed up to run a race where the proceeds go to local programming for LGBTQ youth. I'm teaching my children to embrace others they way they are and that love is love is love is love (to quote Lin Manuel), but is it enough? I don't feel like I can just trust that things will get better anymore. I need to make them better, but I don't know how.

And then came the news of a tragic accident at one of my own safe and happy places - Walt Disney World. A 2 year old boy was grabbed from the shore of a lagoon by an alligator at a Disney Resort while his parents were a short distance away. The father entered the water to try and rescue the child, but was unable to. I cannot imagine the horror these parents experienced or the desperation they felt. I can't imagine how awful it is to feel "relief" that your child's body was recovered intact 18 hours later and not removed from the belly of an alligator. I can't imagine how they are going to feel every time they think of a place that is supposed to be synonymous with family and fun and have to remember their poor son.

I want to hide, so I cry and I pray.  I want to fight, so I speak out and I pray. I want to hold my children close and I want them to go out and help make this world better, so I hug them and teach them the power of love and I pray the world they grow up in will become kinder and that they will be part of the change.

But still, my heart hurts.

Shawshank Hustle

Today I completed my longest race to date - 4.6miles!  It was the Shawshank Hustle, so named because it started and ended at the old Ohio Reformatory where the movie "Shawshank Redemption" was filmed and passed through many filming locations in Mansfield. I'm a huge fan of the movie, plus there's a long family history with the reformatory (NOT as prisoners), so I felt like I had to do this race.

This hill up Main St. killed my time. It was STEEP!

By the way, if you find a shoe shaped cut out cookie that looks freakishly like your own running shoes, I think you're required to purchase said cookie and eat it.

Of course the medal is a ball and chain. What else could it be?

After the race I showered at my aunt's house, then went out to eat with two of my aunts, my uncle and my mom. Talk about family support for a racer! And as an extra treat, I got to ride in my uncle's 1931 Model A Ford.

No matter how great the race and ride were, I was a little sad that I had to miss Ryan's baseball game. Duane and Grandpa H. were there though, and I got to see a video of one of Ryan's hits.

He also threw a player out at second today! 

I think our whole family is going to sleep well tonight.

Mini Vacation Recap - TONS of pictures

Our family decided a big getaway to the beach or Disney or somewhere similar was just not in the cards this summer. Instead, we decided on a 2 night, 3 day mini vacation at an indoor waterpark and resort in the northern part of the state.  We made a good choice. It was long enough to feel like a real getaway, but not so long that we would need a second vacation to recover from it!

So Wednesday morning we dropped Lucy at a boarding/doggie daycamp facility and headed off to Kalahari.  It was really tough to leave our girl.  I was so worried about the time she was going to spend in daycamp since she hasn't really spent much time with other dogs since she was adopted last year, and I worried she would feel we abandoned her.  She acclimated to daycamp really well, and we got daily pictures and text updates on her.

Kalahari was great! I have to admit, I was slightly nervous because in the past, Wesley hasn't loved water slides, but he tried a bunch of them! Ryan did every slide he was allowed to do (those that didn't call for the rider to be a strong swimmer), and even Duane and I got in on the action.

My guys, ready for vacation

Wesley tested his strength in the arcade

So did Ryan

Of course, the main attraction there is the indoor waterpark . I didn't do a very good job capturing the scale of it, but it was BIG! We spent 3 hours there our first night, 7.5 there the next day, AND went back for a little while on the day we left. And we didn't even go to the outside area because it was too cool the first couple of days there.

Shot one of the wave pool

Another view of the wave pool

One of the kid water playgrounds

There are four water slides in this picture and another off-screen to the right. and another that is just not visible in this shot

The cheetah racers

The underside of the cheetah racers

There were also areas for really young kids, water basketball areas, indoor surfing areas, a 21+ hot tub and swim up bar, 2 indoor/outdoor family hot-tubs and I KNOW I'm still forgetting things.

We had some animal adventures too. There were a couple of birds in the lobby who were trained to come take a dollar bill out of your hand. We had them fetch many times, but the money all went to a wildlife fund, so it was money well spent.

Speaking of money well spent, we paid to have our picture taken with a little seven week old baby bobcat named Pearl. Again, all the proceeds went to wildlife conservation.

Then there were the animals that stayed very still.

No animals here!

But I had to have some proof that Duane and I were actually there together

Why are hotel pillows so much comfier than my pillows at home?

The boys wrapped up their stay at Kalahari by going out and conquering the three story ropes course. Both Wesley and Ryan did all three levels! I was so proud of them. They are so much braver than I was at their ages (and when it comes to heights, than I am now!)

So that was our trip in a nutshell. Just long enough, with plenty of fun. And we have a couple of days to recover before heading to work.

Oh! I forgot to report on Lucy! Here's her report card from her stay at boarding/day camp. As you can see, she was a very good girl while we were gone.

I was a little bummed out that I didn't get to go pick her up (I stayed overnight in Mansfield due to a race Saturday morning) and Wesley wound up going to an impromptu overnight with friends, so he missed the pick up too. Duane took some pictures though.

Did someone say "home"?

Reunited

She had a good time too, but there's no place like home.