Friday, August 14, 2015

The New Generation's Monty Hall

My nephew, The Hammer, is quite a game show host.  He is every bit the negotiator that Caz was at that age.  Everything is a haggle.  It can be really funny.  If the boys are carrying him around, then get tired, when they go to put him down they hear, "One more minute."  If you tell him to eat all his fruit, you may get "half?"  At the beach, it was "one more hamburger".  My niece, The Bug, go in the act too.  After the "one more hamburger", it was a hug and a smile in exchagn for a slice of pizza.  At bed time, The Hammer was exhausted.  He was breathing deeply.  He was eyes closed.  He had already bartered for "nuggling" with me.  Now, as I rolled away, his body stiffened.  His head came up and I heard, "one more minute.".....

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Brothers & Friends

It was nice to see a few brother bonding moments recently.  They were those times that it was evident that the boys really do care about each other.  As they should.
     Caz helped out his brother twice in the last two days.  I mean really helped.  Coco went next door to do something for my folks.  Contrary to what he's been told, he went completely barefoot.  On his way home, he jammed the top of his big toe.  He nearly lost the end of it.  It was all banged up from hitting the pavement.  He was bleeding profusely.  He manged to get inside the garage, up the stairs, and to the door to the house.  He called for his brother.  Caz came right away.  He got ice, first aid cream, towels and bandages.  Of course, the one minor hiccup was that instead of hydrogen peroxide, he got rubbing alcohol.  Whoops!  Coco took it well.  And Caz meant well.
     Today, Coco got his lips stuck in his braces.  Yes.  He is still adjusting.  Caz helped him out big time.  And...he actually did it gently.  Coco became unstuck and only bled a little.  Caz got him ice again.  It is so nice to hear them helping each other.  Sometimes they are all they have.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Bracing for Impact

Coco hit another teenage milestone today.  He got braces.  It was a long time coming.  He still has two or three baby teeth to fall out.  He had to wait years just to get this close to a full set of adult teeth.  He chose to go with Duxbury green.  He was really excited.  He didn't seem nervous or hesitatn at all.
     He came home very sore.  He had a ton of new gear to go with the braces.  The bathroom countered held an aray of devices, electric tooth brush, timer, floss, wax, and a special rinse.  He even has a new mouth guard for football.  We will see how long before the novelty wears off, but he keeping to the maintenance schedule so far.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Camping 2015

I guess what we did was camping.  It was Schlesinger Family Reunion time.  I talked to the boys.  They were too young to remember why we got together with this side of the family at this time of year.  It had also been quite a few years since our last one.  Their grandfather, who passed 6 months before I met Demi, has a birthday at this time of year.  He would have been 75.  We talk about him quite a bit, so the boys knew exactly what I was talking about.  I think they appreciated the circumstances.
     We were in the Catskills.....I think.  Somewhere close to that in upstate NY.  Both sister in-laws and my Mother in-law have campers.  Two of them are in the same campground, while the third is 6 miles away.  We brought our 6 person tent.  The boys stayed in there on inflatable mattresses (I know, really roughing it...) with their cousin.  I think they had it better to be honest with you.  Demi and I stayed in my Mother in-laws's camper.  Sure, we had an indoor crapper.  But Demi's bed was too short for her.  She couldn't fully stretch out, even diagonally.  Mine was long enough but it was a foot higher off the ground and narrow.  I went to flip sleeping sides and had to perfectly lift off the bed to do an about face or I would either roll off or hit the window shades.  And it was tiled.  I felt like I was going to roll off all night.
     Saturday was great.  We sat around, had coffee & breakfast, then talked.  It was nice but went on a hair too long.  So I finally jumped on the chance to change venues.  I grabbed KanJam and a few other games, then headed towards the pool and field.  Eventually, everyone else arrived.  We had some great matches of KanJam, Ladder Ball, and Volleyball.  We swam in the pool.  All ages represented.  Everyone participated.  Everyone had a blast.  Right on through the pig roast and on to the fire pit.  Chalk up another successful family event.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Wild Water

We surprised the boys with a white water rafting trip yesterday.  We worked it into our trip to upstate New York.  It was a first time for the boys.  It was a good starter river.  The Deerfield River, Fife Brook Dam, is listed as a class 2-3 rapid river.  There was one class 3.  There was only a couple of class 2.  Still, it was a good time.  The boys were excited to start but still a little nervous.  I tried to give them an overview of what to expect.  You never can really do it justice verbally though.
     Once we got the first rapid over, it was a piece of cake.  We took all the hard routes.  We did all the tricks.  We did some Karate Kid balance battles.  One person standing on each bow/stern.  Two men enter, one man leave.  Last man standing wins.  There were some good battles.  We did some cool poses for the camera.  The did some raft wheelies.  We swam/floated in the river.  We all napped on the way to NY.  Good thing Demi drove.  This is a great family activity.  We need to do it again.  On a bigger river.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Summer School

Coco finished his officialy summer school program in science.  It was just one class.  His teacher recommended that he brush up on it, based on the time Coco missed this past year.  I really wished it was not online.  I think it would have been good for him to go sit in a classroom.  It would have been tough on Demi and me (mostly Demi, especially after I started my new job), but it would have been worth it.  I do know Coco worked hard at it.  The program was different than billed.  It was a twelve week course that was suppposed to be done in less than 4 weeks.  That was crazy.  There was some technical glitches too.  A lot of work Coco submitted didn't go through.  There was actually a live person grading it, which was interesting.
     Both the boys have quite a bit of summer work.  They both have math packets.  They both need to read a fiction and non-fiction book.  They both have a history book to read.  Isn't this supposed to be summer break?  I really do thinks it is a bit much.  Sure they should be out playing and running around more.  But homework should not be getting in the way of that.  Their brains really do need a rest too.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Dragons Lair

I will say this for the Duxbury High School Sports programs, they have a top notch strength and conditioning program available to them.  The Dragons Lair will tailor a program to one's sport and position.  They are very responsible teaching technique and making sure the kids don't over do it on the weights.  The use cutting edge regimens for speed, agility, and flexibility.  If the kids in this town don't take advantage of the opportunity, they are crazy.
     Coco is finishing his summer session this week.  The football program "strongly encourages"/"makes mandatory" a summer programs for all it's players.  We didn't have to say a word about it.  Coco accepted it as part of football, all on his own.  He was looking forward to it.  He didn't love it when it was actually time to do it.  But he went.  I hope it pays off for him.  It kept him active, that's for sure.  No Summer of George.....

Monday, August 3, 2015

Concerns and Caring

There was a lot of chatter amongst the clan today.  Everyone was keeping tabs on Yaya.  He went into the hospital to be there by 6:30 am.  He was off to surgery by 8.  It took a few hours but the knee is in.  The recovery has been the worst part.  He's been sleeping most of the day.  He was also dizzy.  It could be that whatever they gave him kicked in his Vertigo.  Coco has been asking about him all day.  He wanted to know every detail, including the kind of anesthesia used on him.  He knows all about the family history of Malignant Hyperthermia.  We talked about the problem that my brother and I ran into with it during our surgeries.  Coco asked multiple times about going to visit Yaya.  He's been really cute about it.  Caz was very engaged after work too.  I could see the concern on his face.  It's nice to see.  They really do care.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Dog Days of Summer 2015

The heat has been steady.  Some of the humidity has gone away....temporarily..The thermometer has gone over 90 degrees officially, so we don't have a legitimate heat wave.  It's been a long stretch though.  But more than that has gotten to Yaya.  He's had to go off his pain meds for the last 12 days to prepare for surgery.  He is finally getting his new knee.
     In honor of this momentous occasion, I got the whole family over to my parents house for a swim and a cookout.  The kids had a lot of fun swimming with each other.  Coco was very good while watching the Hammer.  The Hammer is fearless.  One does have to be aware of him at all times.  He's all boy.  Yaya had fun watching them play together.
     The cookout went really well.  But the food was really ancillary.  Yaya had all his peeps around him.  That is all he ever wants.  Sure he was nervous but he is going to muddle through.  And now he gets to go off to surgery happy.