The first week of Summer

E and Jay are exhausted.  The boys are doing a Scouts camp this week.  The boys are up and out of the house by a little after 7am and don't get home until around 5:30.  The camp is about a 30 minute drive.  Talk about a long day.

They are having fun and doing so many requirements of their next rank.  But needless to say they are so tired.  They wished it wasn't all day.  Honestly, I wished it wasn't all day too.  The good news is that there are only 3 more days left.  

I also put Tee into Nature Camp this week.  It is only 3 hours a day and he has had a blast.  One of his friends is going also.  They take hikes everyday which he loves.  I was a little worried about the camp at first since it is outside and I wasn't sure how many kids or who was running it.  But it has all worked out.

The husband is on vacation this week also.  Well, not much of a vacation for him.  We got 12 yards of mulch delivered today.  So he spent much of the day transporting to the backyard.  I was only able to help a little today.  Still lots more to move.

I am hoping we can accomplish lots this week. 

They did it!

That is right, NUMBER 1.

The boys' baseball team improved greatly this year.  There was some inconsistency throughout the season.  Sometimes they were on and other times we weren't sure what they were doing.  But as the year continued they did start to put it all together.  

A few weekends ago the regular season ended with a league tournament.  The boys ended up losing 2 games on Saturday so they did not move onto the finals.  It was definitely disappointing. 

The team entered a tournament this past weekend about 1 hour from our home.  This is the absolute last game for them until next spring.  The boys played 2 games on Saturday and lost both.  They were seeded number 7 out of 8 teams. 

I was totally surprised when the husband called me Sunday morning to tell me the boys won. So Tee and I packed up and drove to see the next game.  We were ecstatic when they won that game and moved on to the championship game.  I thought at one point my husband was going to faint.  Oh yeah, my husband was head coach on Sunday.  The regular head coach was not able to make the tournament. 

The 3rd game of the day was played right after the 2nd.  The boys were totally pumped up for the game.  I am sure I will get the stat wrong, but we were losing up though the 5th inning.  The boys put it together and ended up scoring several runs.....more than the other team.  In the bottom of the 6th inning, it was just a matter of getting 3 outs quickly for them to not score.  We ended up winning 10-4.  I can not describe the excitement of the boys.  This was such an awesome way for them to end the season.

Now for the drama, you know there has to be some.  The team has 13 players.  That means each inning 4 kids sit out.  13 is a lot of kids to have on a team, but if we are out that takes 2 players from the team.  Detailed stats are kept, believe me they are detailed.  One of the items tracked is how many times you are sitting on the bench.  There are some kids, mine included that have sat out the most. 

At the game on Saturday, one of the parents got really upset that their child was sitting on the bench too  much.  They thought he sat out a lot although in reality he had not.  The Mom came over during the 2nd game on Saturday and told her child they were leaving.  The coaches tried to calm her down and it ended up that she stormed away and left but her child remained with his Dad. 

The coach approached the Dad to find out what the issue was and he let in on the coach.  No one was sure where this all came from.  So the coach reviewed the file with the detailed info. and it turns out that this child has sat out the least.  The coach did contact the parents that evening and the conversation did not go well.  They ended up quitting prior to the game on Sunday.  I find the situation incredibly sad.  What are they teaching that child about being on a team.  I do have to tell you that it was nice to have the big win without him.

The Dad did eventually send a note apologizing but I think it was too late.

I grew up in a pretty strict household.  I remember my Mom sitting us kids down and making us listen to a tape of someone speaking about how rock music was devil music.  If you played the lyrics backwards there were satanic messages.  I was always a top 40 music listener, rock was not my thing but I am not sure if my Mom understood that.  So I sat in the room not listening much.  You did get that it was on a tape recorder.

Concerts were always out of the question.  My first concert was in college with one of my good guy friends.  I was into more alternative music in college.  We went to see The Cure.  It was a good concert but lots of freakishly dressed people.  It was in a coliseum so pretty mellow.

My next concert date was my husband, boyfriend at the time.  We went to Pearl Jam.  I like their music but I so much enjoyed people watching.  I wondered what the strange smell was that took over our space.  Yes, I did not hang out with people who smoked pot so I did not know the smell.  I also remember a guy in front of our space who was selling shirts or something.  He took his pants down and stuck money in his special underwear.  Interesting to say the least.

Luckily, my next concert was very mellow.  I loved the Lilith Fair.  Lots of great female singers.  Would love to see it again sometime.

That is the extent of my concert going until the other nights.  My husband mentioned that he entered his name in a drawing at work to win 2 tickets to the suite.  You had to answer all the questions correctly.  I got a text the next day stating he had won 2 tickets to U2.  He is very lucky, maybe he should start playing the lottery.

There was a lot of juggling taking place on Wednesday.  I had a friend who asked if I could watch her child because they were going to the concert as well.  I had a teenager sit with the kids for a while until my niece got off work.  

I was able to catch a ride with some friends fairly early.  We went to a dinner at a nice restaurant before catching a cab to the stadium. 

As soon as we got to the stadium, the others told us we missed Bono by 15 minutes.  He was having dinner in the suite right next to ours.  Many of them got pictures of  him leaving the suite.  How cool would that have been. 

The stage was amazing.  It was a great concert.  We had a great time.

After the concert we walked all the way back to my husband's parking space.  It was a 45 minute walk.  Drenched in sweat we were.

They all do it at one time or another

It seems inevitable that at one point or another a child will pick up scissors and do a little cutting.  Yes, they like to cut papers, sometimes important ones.  But what I am talking about it cutting your hair.  Tee took a little chunk out of his head.  It appears it will be a buzz cut for him this weekend.  See for yourself.

The last month in our house has been a very challenging one.  I am frustrated beyond belief and something has to change soon.  The boys argue all the time.  They will start playing together and then it ends in an argument.  It is all three boys.

The attitude of those in this house is just terrible.  Lots of eye rolling, stomping, door slamming and sighing.  Ok, the sighing may be coming from me because how much can a Mom take. 

Friends tell me the same thing is going on in their house as well.  I guess it could be the transition to summer.  Speaking of summer, we only have 1 week left of school.  And next week it is only 3 half days.  I am definitely ready to be free from the daily routine.  It is time for a break.  And time to get rid of the attitude and fighting.