School Vacation - Feb 2009

Let the games begin. The boys are on break. Long weekend for me with Presidents day. That means I can help Demi run the boys ragged for three days to try and tire them out for when we both go back to work on Tuesday. We even got some help from our friends, with a extended birthday party, followed by a sleep over at their house for both the boys. That means a free Valentines evening for the two of us. How novel. Valentines is a whole separate post.
We are trekking up to Nashoba Valley with other friends from the Peterson Farms neighborhood here in Deluxebury, to go tubing. That should tire out the boys more. You know they are going to stay up late and likely be up early during sleep over night. Monday will get played by ear, to see if we can keep the activity level up. The more active they are over vacation, the happier we will all be. I hope we don't get any snow. I probably just jinxed it, but really, haven't we had enough now?

The Return of Jumbo Joe

Jumbo Joe Thorton returned to Boston tonight. For the B's, this is "The Trade". Probably not up there with shipping Bobby Orr out of town, but close in B's history. The boys were not really into the B's until last year, so this was not Nomar 2.0 for them. I had to explain the history to them. So there were no tears when this happened years ago. But they got the point. It was a big deal. So Caz was waiting for me to come home tonight, to get the game on TV. He was primed. Fortunately, he saw the best part of the game for a B's fan. The first period. They were up 2-1 when he went to bed. It was hard breaking it to the boys in the morning that the B's went on to get shellacked.

Rough Weekend

If you are one that thinks that your kids rebellion starts with the teenage years, you are sorely mistaken. "Terrible twos" is a misleading term. It may actually start with age two. Sure, there may be some quiet years in between, but kids test you and your limits daily. Don't ever forget that. This is probably why we have a generation of Monte Hall's and hostage negotiators. I could go on a tangent but there are whole classes on the "Let's Make a Deal" method of parenting, and the negative consequences that go with it.
So this weekend was one long test. Caz was really pushing it. Not a stellar weekend in the Chin household. I know my patience was maxed out and I am sure I would be considered a loser in the battle of maintaining my patience. I don't think Caz harbors any lingering ills. Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger right? We gained strength this weekend.

Stats

Coco has been peppering me for statistics all week. "How many assists does Rondo have?", "Who has the most steals on the Celtics?", "Who has the most steals in the NBA?", "Who has the most steals all time?" Non stop with those question. We spent a lot of time on Boston.com, NBA.com, and finally basketball-reference.com. Some of the stats were hard to find until I stumbled upon that last website. Fortunately, Nick at work came through for me. Caz started to get into it too. I really love when the boys get so animated about stats like that. The enthusiasm is contagious. And oh, poor me....having to spend time with sports statistics.

24 - Season 7 - Check In 1

It's been a phenomenal season so far. Jack is back with a vengeance. He still is the best shot of any secret agent. He still has ice water in his veins. Surprisingly, he hasn't had to torture anyone yet. But his new disciple, Agent Walker has. She definitely has some Jack in her. Tony is back from the dead. Bill is running the show. Chloe is a pain in the ass. All is right in the world.
I think the change of scenery to DC has served the show well. The demise of CTU works. It has been action packed from the get go. It is so good to have 24 back.

Groundhog Day

Friggin' Puxatawny Phil! Is it me or does that rodent see his shadow every year? Just once can he come of his hole and give us good news? In the immortal words of Carl the Groundskeeper, "the only good varmint, is dead varmint." At the very least, shouldn't TNT or TBS (whichever station it is) run a 24 hour marathon of Bill Murray's Groundhog Day, a la Christmas Story? It is also the Day the Music Died. That alone should be karma for some good rodent news.

Movie Review - Paul Blart - Mall Cop

Family movie to see the Kevin James, #1 Movie in America. While the movie certainly had a few laughs and a few of those moments that just make you cringe, I would not call it resounding success. The kids enjoyed which is always an important thing. But from an adult standpoint it was not family entertainment for all ages. Not that this had an intricate plot but the editing was poor. You seemed to lose parts of the movie in between scenes. There were some long stretches that were just not interesting or funny (for the grown ups). The movie was interesting in that it was filmed at the Burlington Mall. Catching familiar sights in the background helped pass the time. Overall, I give this only 2 Chinnies.