(Exhausting) Week in Review

I was looking forward to this weekend far more than usual, particularly considering we didn't have any good plans.  Apparently the early wake-ups have taken more of a toll than I thought, because it felt like forever since I could sleep in--so much more than a usual week!  We just had a really busy week!

Last weekend we just stayed close to home.  We did head out shopping for a few things, and we got Icees at Target as a reward for keeping our sanity!

Monday night was a big deal--it was the season kick-off for Craig at work.  We had to drive to Buffalo for it (and rush around to leave soon enough), but it was worth it.  There were games, rides, and food, along with some friend and celebrity sightings!  It was all free, and it was really cool.  Employees from the entire organization were invited with their families, so there were lots of kid-friendly things.  We ran into Craig's boss and his family pretty quickly, and then spotted one current, rather famous Buffalo Sabre, as well as a retired one (who Craig actually knows from way back).  We saw the guy who was the Amerks' equipment manager when I worked there, as well as a former salesman, both of whom work for the organization in Buffalo now.  I ran into a high school friend (one of the ones I saw at the Mixtape concert in June), and there were a couple more people we saw across the way but never got to talk to.   

The food was pretty neat, in all sorts of different stations.  There were burgers and hot dogs, BBQ chicken, carved turkey and brisket, salad, a bunch of different types of potato foods, pastas, mac & cheese, beans, and so much more.  While I was grabbing my food, I momentarily made eye contact with the wife half of the couple that owns the organization.  She looks so much like Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper, and has that same impressive, elegant air about her.  Anyway...for dessert there was an ice cream truck, kettle corn, cotton candy, and fried dough.  Again, all free!  The kids were in heaven!

We checked out some of the games--there were a few amusement park style games (the one where you roll the golf ball into holes to race, the one where you squirt the water gun to pop the balloon, and a whack-a-mole), as well as some inflatables--including a basketball one that Jacob got pretty excited about (and I was pretty good at, actually!).  We did some races on one of those giant carnival slides, and played a few games.  The boys enjoyed their snacks, and I got some ice cream.  While we were waiting and eating, we happened upon two Buffalo Bills.  Craig had to look at his phone to figure out who they were, but it was pretty cool.  My 16-year-old self would have been in awe, but 41-year-old me who barely knows who any of the players are (and could be their mom anyway) was just sort of happy to be there--and maybe a bit in awe of being near such talented millionaires in the same free ice cream line--hahaha!

I didn't take a lot of pictures because I didn't want to look weird, but it was a lovely night and I wanted to remember it a bit!

Ice cream truck to the right, game straight ahead

Food stations in the tents

More rides

Playing the squirt gun game--no wins, though!

On our way out, the sunset was pretty.

One last look as we left!

Oh, and there was a photo booth.  Most of our pictures were ridiculous, but we did get a great family picture out of the deal!

On our way out was also a table full of candy--Twizzlers, Laffy Taffy, Pixie Sticks, suckers, Bottle Caps, Sweet Tarts, candy necklaces, and more.  Most of us took a handful, and Carter filled up a little paper bag!  It was such a fun night, though the later arrival home definitely made Tuesday a bit harder!

Tuesday and Thursday nights we had basketball.  Same facility as last month, but a new team!

Yellow team!

His team didn't seem to gel as quickly as his last one, but he's playing with some kids who will be on his travel team in the spring.  It was weird cheering against some of his old teammates (one of whom is now a school friend, too).  They lost, but he scored a three-pointer in the first game.  At least they didn't lose by about 60 points like in the game prior to theirs, but they had to play that big winner on Thursday.  They only ended up losing by around 30, but at least Jacob got another three!  On Friday Craig went to a parents meeting for his new travel basketball team, so we got a slightly better idea of what that will look like.  But for now, Jacob's very happy to be playing again, even if his team is struggling a bit!

Speaking of basketball, most of our afternoon on Saturday was spent fixing Jacob's hoop.  After it blew over in the spring due to a freak gust of wind (had to be 50+ mph despite the breeze being barely 20 mph), it had a dented pole and bent bolt that made it hard to adjust the height.  It took me forever to get around to ordering the parts we needed, and then once they arrived, I was dreading trying to fix it because I knew it would be nearly as hard as putting it together in the first place.  Jacob was complaining about it again yesterday morning, and I took stock of a few things: we had nothing planned, Craig was in town, the weather was sunny and warm but not too warm, but it was also too windy for Jacob to want to be playing on it all day.  In the end it became clear that we had to get it done before the weather got cold or any other excuses came up.  So after lunch and a stop at the library, we started.  It took about four hours, all of it pretty miserable.  The top pole had to be replaced, and in order to work on that we had to disconnect the rim from the backboard, remove the backboard, and eventually remove the entire pole from the base because the only way to separate the pole sections involved slamming them on the grass (as recommended by the company and the internet, for good reason--it worked quickly after nothing else did).  From there we had to basically do a complete reassembly aside from some of the backboard supports.  It was difficult in spots to get the right angle, and Craig basically had to sacrifice his body to hold it up for lengthy periods of time while things were disassembled and reassembled.  Once it was almost together, I went to reattach the rim, and I realized that two of the bolts had damaged threads, so they could not screw tightly.  I think that when we originally attached the rim, the alignment wasn't quite right, so we left them as tight as they would go.  But over time, the constant wiggling on that part of the rim caused friction that wore the threads away or distorted them.  So, when we went out for a frozen yogurt dinner (you do what you have to do sometimes), we stopped at Lowe's and luckily found perfect replacements.  Oddly, when I started to tighten them, the alignment still wasn't right, but as I finished one, something adjusted and suddenly I could tighten everything completely.  Jacob noticed the difference right away this morning and was thrilled!  Thank goodness that is done.  It better not blow over again.  Two afternoons lost to that hoop is two too many!

Wednesday night I went to the parent meeting for Jacob's confirmation and other youth activities at church.  He is very grumpy about confirmation, which I realize is not ideal.  But if he doesn't do it now, he'll be out of sync with other kids his age and as a result might never do it.  He insists he has no friends at church, which I'm convinced is just him not trying.  Maybe they're not his type of people, but they at least have church and age in common, so it's not a stretch.  Interestingly, he's now getting religious instruction at school, so this may seem like overload to him.  But it's important, and as his parents I think we need to encourage this.  I hope the concept will grow on him as we go, especially if being there on the same night as youth open gym activities is a draw!  If he's not feeling it after the second year, I guess we'll have to think long and hard about whether he should actually make his confirmation, but I'm hoping by then he'll understand why it's important and will have embraced a stronger faith after all of this instruction from two different sources.  We may have to work around sports schedules a bit since we don't know what his basketball schedule will look like for a team he hasn't even tried out for yet, but there are two nights every week and if he misses one he should be able to make the other.  It will be a challenge, but it's one we have to push.  That starts this week already!

So, anyway, it was a busy week.  After the hoop debacle yesterday and with rain in the forecast today, we just went to see a movie this afternoon (Toy Story 4 - and now I'm bitter about the ending).  Tomorrow Craig is off to Philadelphia for a couple days for work.  That may involve a 6:30 bus run for a day or two, but we'll see how it goes.  It'll be another busy week--and pretty much all of them will be for at least a month until basketball wraps up again.  At this rate, Christmas will be here before we know it!  Yikes.  One day at a time...as usual.