A Head Case (and some other stuff)

It was a bit of a challenging week around our house.  Well, mostly the end of it.  

Early in the week Carter had his dermatologist appointment.  They weren't really concerned with what they were seeing but were admittedly confused by the swelling.  They said we didn't need to do the Cipro (which we somehow lost anyway--I swear it must have accidentally been thrown out), but should do an antibiotic cream.  He's been on it the recommended amount of time with no improvement (actually, is it worse?  I can never tell.), so we'll see what they have to say when I message them.  I have no idea what's next.

I'm continuing to meander through having a new person at work.  Some of it's good, some of it's hard.  No real complaints, I guess, but trying to be patient and thorough when you're explaining something multiple times in excruciating detail can be challenging.  I think she'll pick things up, but whether it happens before she gets annoyed with some of the menial tasks she's doing remains to be seen.  In-person days just feel so much more tiring, both because I'm an introvert who needs recharging after days of much more people-ing than usual, and because I constantly have to be a step ahead thinking about what to do with her or how to involve her.  In the long run it should be good, but right now it's just a slow-go.  It also makes me feel hesitant/guilty to take time off if she doesn't have enough tasks to keep her busy, which stinks because summer only lasts so long.

Life got extra complicated on Thursday.  I was working from home that morning because my office's annual baseball outing was that day, and the whole family was coming along.  In the morning the boys were messing around, as usual, and I went to try to break it up and ask them to stop.  They insisted everything was fine.  But then something went awry, as Jacob somehow pinned Carter down and seemingly his only defense was a head butt.  Multiple times.  Obviously that was a horrible decision on Carter's part, but as a younger sibling myself, I get it.  If I was rendered helpless by my brother (we had a few physical battles over the remote control back in the day, since we only had one "good" TV in the house that got every channel), I probably wouldn't have hesitated to do whatever I could to get out, with little regard for any physical damage that may occur.  It just doesn't really phase you when you're in survival mode battling someone twice your size.  I don't know if the head butts were enough on their own or if they just added on to when Craig accidentally hit Jacob in the head with a baseball the previous Saturday in Erie, but Jacob complained about a headache and immediately insisted he had a concussion.  Now, that seemed a bit dramatic at the time and Jacob tends to get overdramatic with his injuries.  Not that he's not truly injured when that happens, but sometimes he embellishes to make a point, or he overthinks his maladies and assumes the worst.  I'm not entirely sure if it's an anxiety thing, or an attempt to get us to pay more attention to something we're downplaying, but it's probably a bit of both.  But he seemed okay enough, so I had him take Tylenol and off we went to the game.

Once we got there, things started to go downhill rapidly.  He said he felt nauseous and his head was really hurting.  For a while he refused to eat.  He started to get panic-attack-ish, and while I felt bad about it, it was frustrating and potentially embarrassing since this was my work event and I had to manage that aspect of it as well as attend to him.  At that point I couldn't figure out why he didn't just stay home, but I guess he didn't want to be alone either.  We finally made it through lunch and I was able to mingle for a bit while the boys checked the outfield grass for balls.  They then went out into the concourse for a bit, but I got a couple panicked phone calls shortly after insisting that I come to the entrance to the picnic area (they never got tickets to come back in when they left).  Jacob was once again freaking out.  I took Carter back with me and Craig was going to handle Jacob.  He was trying to get a way back to his van at the arena so they could go home, but apparently that didn't happen because when Carter and I later went to our seats for a bit, they were there, looking much calmer.

After most of my work colleagues left the picnic area, Carter showed me the nice view from the outfield area in center field, just over from that picnic area, which is something not everyone gets to see.

As I said, after that we headed to our seats for a bit to watch some of the game.  It was an absolutely perfect day, upper 70s in the midst of a summer of humid mid-80s, with a nice breeze. 

Unfortunately the Red Wings blew it late in the game, when the other team got a boatload of runs.  At one point the boys took off while I was talking to a colleague, and I found out later that they snuck their way back into the picnic area (they said Carter forgot his sunglasses) so Carter could look for a home run ball that was hit out there during the other team's late surge.  And sure enough, the stinker got it!  And then he managed to get a bullpen ball at the end of the game, which he specifically got for Jacob since he was feeling so bad.  Add that to a lineup sheet he got from the home bullpen at the start of the game, and he had a pretty good day!

The rest of Thursday into Friday was pretty rough.  Jacob was miserable.  He blamed Carter every chance he got, even though the baseball thing might have set the stage and even though I had originally told them not to do what they were doing.  He went to the pediatrician on Friday and they basically recommended no screens for 36 hours and just taking it easy.  But he was miserable and complained a lot.  In his boredom, his new thing was asking incessantly for a dog.  I guess he decided that if he was going to be laid up like that (you know, because this is going to last forever--according to him, anyway, because concussions can take up to a year to heal, and of course that would be the case for him, even though his was likely quite mild), he would like a dog to keep him company.  Now, here's the thing...I get it, I do.  I think a dog might actually be helpful for him.  BUT I simply can't add a dog to my load right now.  I'm struggling mightily to just manage my house as it is.  I struggle to clean properly, to figure out dinner, to take care of simple tasks.  I'm frustrated that I carry a massive mental load and am expected to work full time and still manage most of the household tasks on a regular basis.  I've asked repeatedly for everyone to pick up some slack, clean up their stuff, not leave messes everywhere, sort through toys, etc.  I get a lot of apathy, honestly.  I know Craig is tired too and I know he thinks he handles a lot, but if we had to go task-for-task I think he'd be shocked at the depth of stuff that runs through my head on a daily basis, the undone things that just hang over me that I know should be done but that it would never occur to him to do.  The boys...well, Carter means well but struggles to realize the things he needs to do.  I'm pretty sure Jacob knows but mostly just doesn't care.  He sees the piles of dishes or clothes but knows eventually someone will come for them (usually Craig unless I'm loading the dishwasher to run it immediately, or something like that), so he doesn't bother.  But ultimately, the idea of adding a dog to that is unthinkable for me.  Even if the kids hold up their end of the bargain (and as we know, most don't), it will still fall on me to buy the food (or at least know it needs to be bought), feed it (or at least be aware if it was fed), find a vet (if not take it there), walk it (since I often walk anyway, which means poop duty that I don't want), take it out when no one else is here when I'm working from home most of the year (again, poop duty), and find solutions for things (like making sure it's not eating toys or stuffed animals or chewing furniture (which is now a lot more expensive than what we used to have)).  I don't want to have to find solutions for when we travel or be beholden to coming home in the middle of days out or worrying about it being crated too long, or being woken up at night if it decides it wants to sleep near me, or trying to make sure it doesn't eat potentially poisonous things outside or that get dropped in the kitchen, or cleaning up endless dog hair.  And speaking of which, I'm actually allergic to dogs so we'd have to try to get a hypoallergenic one, and presumably that's going to get pricey.  As is vet care and food.  Or fixing the Invisible Fence that got messed up when our sidewalk got replaced.  And honestly, I don't want to listen to a dog bark at passers-by all day or clean up poop or vomit or house accidents.  As much as the kids insist they'll do a lot of those things, I know how it goes.  And I simply don't have the bandwidth to add that to my plate right now, even if there will be benefits.  You simply can't know for sure if your kids will hold up their end of the deal or if the dog will be a good fit, and I just don't want to have to deal with all of that right now.  Whatever problems it will solve will be offset by others that will be created, and I simply don't have the mental or physical energy to deal with all of that.  But Jacob is asking incessantly and it's starting to make me crazy.

So, I tell that whole backstory because at one point over the weekend he and Craig were trying to clean the house (as if one round would offset years of non-compliance and convince me he was serious) and somehow he ended up banging his head on a shelf, which just made everything worse.  By Sunday they decided to go to the emergency room.  They said he likely had a mild concussion and prescribed some anti-nausea meds.  I don't love that he says he has pressure in his head so I would have probably preferred they did some sort of scan, but he also went to see a doctor Monday through Craig's connections (who he's seen for other things, too) who specializes in concussion treatment, and he didn't suggest that either.  He had some suggestions to do some physical activity 20 minutes a day to stimulate his brain, so Jacob did some light shooting that night and could also do a stationery bike or elliptical as well.  He seems to be improving, so I guess we'll see.  But the incessant dog requests remain and obviously he's still discouraged to have another hiccup among his physical struggles.  I feel for him.  It's just such a stupid, random round of bad choices and bad luck.

In the meantime, while Craig and Jacob were dealing with that, we opted to give them some space and just Carter and I made some plans for the weekend.  First up Saturday was my annual family reunion at Camp Pioneer.  I'd been doing a lot of work leading up to it, maintaining the Facebook page, updating the family tree, sending out emails, reviewing other documents and communications for my Uncle Jeff, who has been trying everything to get this reunion to survive.  It finally came and after a lot of agonizing over food choices (as usual), I made some food between Friday night and Saturday morning, and off we went.  

It was a warm but beautiful day, which is always a relief going there.  It was an easy drive and we got there just in time.  I wanted to be early but the prior couple days did me no favors.  It was fine, and we settled in for a tasty lunch.  We had our family meeting, shared about some of the folks we've lost, and then it was onward to the activities.  Carter really wanted to do the corn hole tournament, and somehow I got roped in, but not as his partner!  He and Grandma teamed up.  I ended up paired with my Uncle Mark, and our first match was against my Aunt Wendy and cousin Megan.  Somehow we managed to win, which was no small feat.  That meant we had to play Carter and my mom next.  We had a good lead initially but they made a comeback.  We took another lead, and then another comeback that put us away.  Carter took it very seriously!

That win put them into the finals against my dad's cousin and his wife.  Apparently they have their own boards and are really good because they dominated.  Ugh.

Pre-match handshakes

Carter looking pretty frustrated

Carter had a particularly tough round, so he beat himself up quite a bit when they lost, even though we reminded him they're really good and everyone can have an off game.  Still, not bad for the oldest and youngest players to make the finals!  It took getting down to the beach to shake his bad mood, but we had a lot of fun down there.  The water was as lovely as I've ever seen it--mostly clear and clean, super warm and refreshing, and hardly any rocks in one section.  The beach was still its normal rocky self, but we had a decent patch of sand to get building.

It's taken me over 40 years, but I finally realized you can use clean sand to cover the worst of the sections where the rocks and zebra mussel shells collect to make it a more comfortable walk!  We had some nice reduced-rock sand up near us to use, but a sand sifter like we have among our sand toys would have worked in the old days too.  I just dumped a couple buckets over the most uncomfortable areas, and voila!  We could walk across it way more easily!  Of course, this is just in time for this venue to have gotten super expensive and our reunion funds to dwindle, so who knows if we'll even be back next year, but at least I made this visit a little more pleasant.

It was such a perfect afternoon.  It really is one of my happy places, one of those spots where I feel oddly at home and at peace, even if that wasn't always the case.  My week-long camp experience there, for example, wasn't the best, but it was one of those life growth experiences you can still be grateful for.  I think there's something to be said for a place that holds memories, challenges you, brings you back to nature, and takes you away from reality for a bit.  Geneseo gives me much the same feeling.  As much as I loved it there, as a student there were moments it felt small and limiting, but it's tied to some of the most precious memories of my life.  Camp Pioneer can evoke memories of painful sunburns and seaweed stuck in my bathing suit, but it also holds memories of all of these reunions--lots of cousin time and beach walks searching for sea glass--as well as a couple college fall retreat memories with dear friends.  There aren't usually a lot of places where you can sort of track your life growth like this, coming back to the same place almost annually for 40+ years, but this place does that for me.

While we were on the beach, my mom yelled to us over the deck in the picture above that not only did the corn hole winners not take their prize (two Subway gift cards, meaning Carter and my mom could split them), but also that Carter and I won the Family Feud trivia contest!  We had a sheet to fill out during lunch to name the top three answers for a bunch of categories--side dishes at a family picnic, picnic activities, reasons people give to NOT attend a family reunion, books of the Bible, Jesus' disciples, etc.--and we won $20!  That all made Carter MUCH happier!  

After we wrapped up our sand castle time (once the moat was holding water for a bit and our castle collapsed), Carter learned to skip rocks and I combed the rocks for glass.  I ended up with a handful of pieces--including a couple turquoise but sadly no blue and only one green--and also grabbed a few more rocks for my front flower bed, which is nearly all Pioneer rocks.  Carter picked some fun ones to bring back as well.  We headed up to change and pack up.

As we got to the car, I looked over and noticed a couple larger rocks nearby.  Another family at the reunion had come back when we were packing up looking for a rock with their son's name on it.  They had misplaced it somewhere but it was nowhere to be found.  They went and grabbed another one but the mystery remained.  Well, I noticed one of the parking lot rocks had writing on it--any kid that's played on that shale-filled beach learns early that you can use one rock to write on another one like a chalkboard--and I realized one rock had that writing.  Out of curiosity, I hopped out of the car and sure enough, the rock had "Harvey" written on it, which was the kid's name!  They must have left it on the ground while packing up!  I called my uncle who was still inside since his was the only number I had handy, and he said my aunts were coming our way so I was able to give it to them so they could take it to Harvey's grandma who could get it to him.  Nice way to end the day!

Carter and I considered stopping at Darien Lake on our way back.  We did that last year and hadn't yet used our season passes this year, so I figured a quick stop might be fun, but he was tired so we just went straight home.  It had been a great day, though, and we had more on tap the next day!  But that's enough for another post...

Another Day, Another Game

We woke up on Sunday (now over a week ago, sorry this has taken so long to get written!) and started getting ourselves ready and packed up to head downtown for the game.  Sunday games are early and we wanted to be sure to get the giveaway (we shouldn't have worried).  The hotel breakfast was a bit underwhelming--Carter and I had waffles, Jacob and I had yogurt, and the eggs and sausage were a bit funky so we only had a bit of that.  We went to a Starbucks down the road to supplement, and then it was on into the city.  We parked a bit down the road in a ramp close to where we've parked before.  It was really too soon to get lunch ahead like we did last time so we figured we'd eat a bit at the game and then maybe get a good meal elsewhere after to make sure Jacob was well-fed.  

 We wandered down to the stadium and there was a whole setup on the road there.  As we grabbed a spot in the line to go in (with still probably a half hour until gates opened) we noticed a bunch of mascots wandering around, so Carter and I ran over.  He got to get his picture with the Pirate Parrot, who also attempted to eat his head after this picture was taken (but I missed that exact moment)...

...and Jalapeño Hannah!

We got through gates just fine, and Carter got his stuffed Sauerkraut Saul plush pierogy.  It's so cute...but alas, too big to complete our beanie pierogy collection--we had a smaller Saul magnet we got at one of our first games, and then subsequently bought all of the slightly larger beanie ones at additional games.  But because we had the magnet we never got Saul, and now we can't get one that's the beanie size--they have been perpetually out of stock.  And this new one is giant in comparison!  But it's so well done!

Our next stop was the team store to drop off Jacob's jersey to get fixed.  Then, since we didn't get much of a chance to walk around in the crazy heat last trip, we made sure to do it this time.  It was still a hot day, but the humidity was much better and it was still at least 10 degrees cooler, so it was much more tolerable.  Our seats ended up being in the sun, so it was sweaty but much more manageable.

I love this view of the Clemente bridge and skyline from the outfield walkway.

I actually just found out this weekend that there's a little grassy area just off to the left of this picture, outside the gates, with a bunch of giant numbers that face the water.  I think they may be the retired ones.  I guess we'll have to make a note to check that out next time!  

 

Craig got a picture of the boys with one of the giant bobbleheads, too.

Down at the other end of the outfield walkway was this measuring thing--check your height in balls and bases!  Just more confirmation that Jacob is definitely over six feet, even taking into consideration his shoes.  Our doctor consistently measures the boys short and we have no idea why.  We know from comparisons to Craig, amusement park measuring devices, and our own attempts at home that they're taller than what the thing says at the office.  So odd!

After a walk around, Jacob's jersey pickup, and some initial food acquisition (for everyone except me--I needed to decide), we headed to our seats in time for the game to start.  They had a decent view and a good chance for foul balls.  One landed one section over, just about even with us.  So close!

My main criteria is still being able to easily see the scoreboard, so I approved!

It was a Miracle League game so they had heavy involvement from the local players--a variety of differently-abled folks who got to stand with the starters for intros.  One even got to sing the anthem and another sang God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch.  The anthem singer definitely had some off-key notes but I give him a TON of credit.  Oddly he was still better than the embarrassing, horribly-sung, off-key anthem at the All-Star Game Home Run Derby the previous week that was sung by a professional singer who later admitted she was drunk.  The God Bless America singer was great--nothing fancy but generally right on key.  They did an amazing job performing in front of so many people, and the joy on the faces of those participants and their families was so wonderful to see.

Speaking of joy, these games are one of the few times all is right with the world for our family--those are genuine smiles right there!

The game itself was a rough one.  The Pirates couldn't get anything going at all.  The main highlight, as usual, was the Pierogy Race, which of course Saul won on his big day.

The Pirates ended up losing 5-0.  It stunk, for sure.  After the game we walked out to left field for the endless Kids Run the Bases lineup.  I got this picture of the boys while we waited.  Christmas card fodder, right there.
 

I love the top of the climbing apparatus out there.

And this Willie Stargell pop art is the coolest!

The actual running of the bases was a bit frustrating this time.  They don't want people stopping to take pictures and I was struggling to get anything.  I did catch this one of Craig and Carter as we walked on.

I couldn't get anything as he ran because I was trying to zoom in with my real camera and couldn't find him as I was trying to walk--and he was really fast!--but Craig got this one afterward.

We took our time getting back out of the stadium, and then debated our dinner options.  We went to the van and had second thoughts just as we started driving, so we moved the van down a level and walked across the way to Burgatory, where we ate pregame last time.  Unfortunately they had a 40 minute wait, which we did not have time for given the long drive home, but that actually might have been fine because the only alternative we came up with was driving about 20 minutes out of the way to Wahlburger's.  It wasn't that out of the way for the trip home, but still.  The food was good, but it was around that time we heard about Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race, so there was a whole lot of watching the TVs with interest while we were there.  After that we hopped back in the van and started the long trip home.  Better weather and no COVID this time, at least.  Craig inexplicably drove the whole way.  I offered, but I guess the timing was weird--he drove to get out of Pittsburgh and I could have driven once we did a bathroom and snack stop outside Erie, but he waved me off and then we didn't stop again until we needed gas and a bathroom break around Hamburg.  He again drove the rest of the way, probably because I'd been nodding off.  I think I could have done it, though.  Oh, well.  He was a champ.  We got home well after 11, I think, so it had been a very long day, but a fun one aside from the game outcome.

Overall, not bad for a last minute weekend trip.  I wish we could have done more--and I swear, one of these times we're going to do some touristy stuff and maybe a college drive-by or two--but it was a nice little weekend diversion, for sure!

The Best Kind of Detour

As you may recall, we knew another trip to Pittsburgh was on our summer agenda because of the screw-up with Jacob's new Pirates jersey not getting its front numbers.  We hadn't quite determined when that would be happening, but we had discussed a couple options including the Sauerkraut Saul plush giveaway on July 20 or possibly making it part of a larger road trip that could include Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and any number of other places in between.  Our summer schedule has been taking shape, and it isn't looking promising for any lengthy vacations.  We have a reunion this weekend, a reunion and an anniversary party the following weekend, a birthday party the weekend after that, and Craig's out of town for work for a few days at that time.  Add in a few appointments and a couple other other single-day activities to be scheduled, plus Carter's orientation and our Cedar Point trip (hopefully) around the end of August, and everything's spaced out just right to sort of jam up our weeks.  Now, I know we don't have to go to the parties (well, except the first reunion, which I'm involved with) and we could reschedule at least one of the appointments, so I'm sure we could fit something in, but it's going to get complicated.  I also have someone to train at work so vacation days will be a bit challenging to cram in--though I will do it if needed.  We don't really have any firm plans and no one will latch on to anything we've discussed, so we're just sort of in a holding pattern.  We've talked about Philadelphia or Maine, other things in Florida, and of course Atlanta is always on the docket, and I'm still holding out hope to get out west to see my brother's family at some point.  But nothing has really stuck.

So, in the midst of all that, somehow the July 20 Pirates game became our target--well, the boys' target.  Then Craig mentioned stopping in Erie for Waldameer en route, which was intriguing.  I thought maybe we could find time to do the Museum of Illusions we didn't get to last time, but that was a long shot.  Even with those possibilities, I was still sort of angling to do something better and make the most of another five-hour drive in that direction.  I also kept thinking about my messy house and all the busy weekends coming up.  So we didn't book anything.  Hotel options and tickets started dwindling.  We were still undecided (and unpacked) on Friday night when we got home, tired, from Jacob's last baseball game.  It wasn't looking good...but in the back of my mind I knew I would be blamed for squashing this and I knew it was important to the boys, so when I woke up on Saturday I started scanning hotel sites and apps again. I found one hotel that was both reasonable and had decent user reviews, and thankfully it had free breakfast, too.  It was about a half hour outside the city (in the wrong direction), but it could work.  It was really the only option, actually.  So I booked it, got out of bed, and started packing up Carter's and my stuff.

We'd hoped to get on the road a bit sooner than we did since Waldameer opened at noon, but we had a couple stops to make (Wegmans for prescriptions, then gas, and then a bathroom stop that turned into an Aldi stop en route about halfway), and then we decided to grab food before we got to the park, which was around 1:45 or so.  I should add that Craig and Jacob had opted to go explore Mercyhurst and try to find a place to shoot basketballs and/or hit baseballs, even though I think they would have liked the water park a lot.  Their day didn't go quite as well as ours since Jacob got hit in the head with a baseball and all of their Mercyhurst attempts fell short--everything was locked up.  But Jacob did get lobster at Outback, so there's that.  Carter and I ate our lunch in the car, and then the guys dropped us off at the Waldameer entrance.

Waldameer is a charming little park--pretty compact, a little old fashioned, not as structured as most, and not exactly a big thrills kind of park, but it's fun and had been on our list.  We went there in 2015 when Carter was only two!  Obviously he had to stick with the kiddie rides back then.  Jacob was just exploring bigger rides at that point and I think the Comet at Waldameer soured him on coasters for years to come.  Oops.  But we had put it back on our list as of last year when they added a water coaster to their water park.  Carter and I really wanted to check that out, and this trip seemed like a great opportunity.

We walked into the park and looked around a bit.  We figured a good starting point was Pirate's Cove, which is an old school, walk-through fun house.  There was no line so it was an easy one to start with!

This picture was from later in the day when I had a better angle

 

It's cheesy but fun--shaky floors, mirrors, optical illusions, glowing items, blowing air, silly displays full of skeletons and pirates.  It actually reminds me a lot of Kennywood's Noah's Ark, but obviously with a different theme.  It's from the same era of those cheesy, low-tech features.  The main difference is that Noah's Ark moves back and forth the whole time, making it a bit harder to navigate.  It's just good, silly fun.

Another entry in the same realm is the Whacky Shack.  I remember really liking this one when Jacob and I rode it.  Same concept as Pirate's Cove, but you're in a little car that takes you through all the silly displays and sometimes whips you around corners and gives you some little jump scares.  As you can see in the picture below, the cars make one outside appearance down a little dip, before re-entering the building for more fun.

The eyeballs near the peak spin, too!

It's really a fun throwback and made for a good way to start the day, even if it was a longer wait than would have been ideal--probably about a half hour.  But for me, it's a must-do!

By this point our lunch felt pretty digested so we hopped in line for the Steel Dragon, a spinning wild mouse.  It reminds me a lot of the one at Seabreeze.

From the line, which was elevated, there was this lovely view of a line of Rose of Sharon bushes with the log flume in the distance.  The flowers looked so pretty.  I'm not sure this really captured it, but I tried.

The coaster itself was fun--it had some good swoops and hills.  You can sort of see in the background the nearly sideways curve that the coaster car is on.  It was nothing crazy compared to a lot of what we ride, but it was really fun!

At that point we walked over to the big one, Ravine Flyer II.  I have such mixed feelings about this coaster.  It's a wooden coaster, with similar trains to Predator at Darien Lake.  Like a lot of woodies, it is rather rough.  But it's super exciting and feels like a runaway coaster even though it only goes about 60mph max.  One of the only other coasters that feels that way to me is Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood, but this one is wood so it has the rickety feeling to go with it.  The first hill is 118 feet, which isn't that high, but it feels steeper than it is.  It flies over the nearby road twice, which is different, but that part of track has ridiculous airtime so you're more preoccupied with that than realizing where you are.  It's way rougher than I'd like but I can't deny it's exciting! 

Carter liked it, but also felt its pain.  I ended up taking two Tylenol right away because I could feel it in my head.  I think with a re-track it would be outstanding.

After that we worked our way over to the Comet, the last "big" coaster.  That's the one whose airtime (and probably lack of seatbelts) ruined Jacob's desire to ride anything for a while.  On the way we stopped for a bathroom break and of course I had to get the park sign photo op because I have lots of these with Carter in them!

It was easier to see in person

The Comet feels a little like the Bobsleds at Seabreeze but is a little more of a traditional out-and-back compared to Bobsled's setup feeling a bit more "wild mouse".  It's another woodie, so probably rougher than I would prefer, but not nearly as bad as Ravine Flyer II.  As I mentioned, there are no seatbelts, just a bar, so that airtime is pretty noticeable on this one.  Definitely a fun ride.

We decided at this point--around 4:30--to go to the water park.  Lines looked massive when we came in so we figured by that point hopefully people would start to leave.  Either they'd be tired or hungry or the heat of the day was less intense so we figured that would work to our advantage.  It was still plenty warm, though.  We stopped to get a picture of the frog lifeguard, then headed in to change.

I don't have pictures from inside but I have a couple later on from the Sky Ride and when we were walking out.  We walked around a little to get the lay of the land and just quickly popped into the wave pool up to our knees or so to cool our burning feet.  Carter did run into the big pirate ship play area for a few minutes to shoot water at people and go on one of the little slides, but quickly came back because we had bigger fish to fry!

We only had a couple hours to do the water park so we opted to get in the endlessly long line for the water coaster.  If you haven't seen one, it's like a water slide that can go uphill thanks to water jets.  We were a little disappointed to discover that our combined weight was too light to go ourselves.  You may remember a number of years ago that a kid on an underweight raft on a ride like this down south flew up and off the slide and got decapitated by the tunnel.  Horrible.  So obviously we knew why it was a big deal, but the girl at the bottom of the stairs said they'd pair us up if we couldn't find another pair while we waited.  So up we went.  It was a 45 minute wait, but not terrible.  When we got to the top and mentioned to the girl that we were underweight, she looked mildly panicked and said that normally they're not supposed to let anyone up without a set group that hit the minimum weight.  Well...shoot.  She asked the groups on the first flight of stairs if there was a duo that was willing to ride with someone else, and initially it wasn't looking good.  Fortunately, an older couple (probably in their 60s) raised their hands.  Whew.  We weighed in and all was good...thank goodness.  We all laughed through the entire ride because the as the jets shoot you uphill, all that water comes up and over your back, so you get quite the shower!  There were probably three or four of those.  It was chilly but a really fun ride!

We were heading toward the racing slides after that and got sidetracked by the lazy river, whose line had shortened significantly.  As predicted, by the time we got through that 45 minute wait, lines were starting to dwindle.  The lazy river was fine--not a lot of obstacles but not bad.  That exit was right near a set of slides we didn't realize existed--a pair of simple twisty body slides that ultimately reminded me of riding the slides at Disney.  These were longer but felt very similar with their spirals and seated position.  I think maybe we did the double tube slide next?  It was a big slide that we could see rode really high on the walls when you went through a curve.  It was fast and fun to do together.  And the pool was SO warm!

After that we did a couple rounds on the racing slides.  I'm not a huge fan of face-first racing slides (on a toboggan-style mat) because of the water in the face issue, but Carter really wanted to do these because they were much more elaborate than Darien Lake's.  They were longer, had one open stretch not in the middle, and even had timers to give you your time and finishing order!  They actually weren't too bad, hence why we rode them twice.  By that point there was no line, but it was a long walk to go from the exit to the entrance again.  Carter had a hard time getting started because he was smaller and they started the timer so fast once you were up at the tube, so I definitely beat him both times!  

We were almost done and only had maybe a half hour left by this point so we headed to the last bank of tube slides--one toilet bowl, one twisty double tube slide, and one that ended up being dark most of the way and having a nice hill at the end.  We figured we'd do the toilet bowl together and then see if we had the time or desire to do the other two, and thankfully we were able to do all three.  The toilet bowl left us laughing because we got inundated with water multiple times (we got a bonus swirl because we missed the exit the first time around).  We did the twisty tunnel slide together and then split up to do the dark one separate.  We didn't realize it would be that dark, so it was a surprise.  But the end drop (with bonus waterfall at the exit) was cool.  The last thing we hadn't done were the extreme body slides.  They're the kind where you need to cross your arms over your chest and cross your ankles, much like Brain Drain at Darien, but minus the floor dropping out.  One was a straight down tunnel, and the other two were mirror image ones that did one big curve and then dropped to shoot you out into a pool.  When we were in the water coaster line, we watched people rocket out of all of them.  They would just fly into the pool with a giant splash.  We saw a couple littler kids have to get assisted once they hit the pool as I think it was pretty disorienting.  It was not my thing, but Carter really wanted to do it, so we did the mirror image ones at the same time.  I did question audibly why I was doing it as I went down, but in the end it wasn't terrible!  

With that we headed back to change and go back into the park, although Carter opted to stay in his stuff for the log flume, which was our next stop.  I don't think he needed to, but I don't blame him--he's used to Shipwreck Falls/Pittsburg Plunge giant ones, not smaller splashy ones like this one or Seabreeze's. 

The big hill on this one was a pretty good one.

I didn't go on this one last time--I stayed with tiny Carter while Jacob and Craig rode it--and I recalled them just being pleasantly splashed, so I was hoping that's all we got on this one.  It was a pleasant ride--through a misty tunnel, up and down a small hill with barely a splash, and then the big hill which seemed like a good one (and probably could get you if it splashed just right), but it really gave us enough of a splash to keep me damp for maybe 20 minutes, if that.  Carter changed out of his swim stuff and we started working toward wrapping up.  We rode the Ali Baba since that was a type of ride Carter hasn't done much.

I shared in my last Waldameer post that I spent my childhood wanting to ride the Rainbow at Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, and this was the ride that fulfilled that dream.  It's not super exciting, but it's still fun (and taller than a similar one at Seabreeze).

We considered a couple other rides but eventually decided we'd just do the Sky Ride.  I knew it wasn't the most exciting, but I had really wanted to ride it last time and didn't get to.  It was also shaping up to be a lovely evening sunset so I figured I could probably get a couple good pictures up there, and I wasn't wrong!

This is one of the shots I got of the water park.  If you zoom in, the blue slope is the belt that sends the water coaster boats back up.  The tubes in the background were partly the water coaster, partly the body slides, and partly the last tube slides we rode.

It was such a pretty evening and the view was pretty outstanding.

And as usual, the company was good!

We sent Craig and Jacob our Popeyes dinner order from the Sky Ride.  We wanted Raising Cane's since it was close to our hotel, but that was still a couple hours away so we had to settle for Popeye's. 

This view was overlooking the two sit-down slides that reminded me of Disney, and the tops of the double tube slide and its single tube sibling. 

When we got back off the ride, the lights were starting to come on and everything was looking so pretty.
 

On our way out we stopped at these funny mirrors.  Carter's face in this one just cracked me up!

We wrapped things up and headed out of the park.  From the walkway there was a better view of the water coaster.  To the left you can see the multicolored twists and turns of the racing slides.

The guys picked us up, and off we went toward Pittsburgh.  The sky turned all sorts of pretty colors as we drove. 

The hotel was about two hours away so it was a bit of a hike in the dark.  But eventually we got to our hotel past Pittsburgh, down near a casino southwest of the city.  The hotel wasn't great but it wasn't terrible.  It looked like parts of it were just recently redone, but other stuff still needed attention.  But it was the only decent one available and in the end it was fine...enough.  We settled in for the night and got ready for a long but fun day on Sunday.

News & Notes, Over It Edition

Getting back in the groove post-holiday has been a bit bumpy.  I guess my work week wasn't crazy--it was manageable--but it's hard having the kids home and summer is always a little frustrating because people are off or being very flexible with their at-home time, and it feels sort of pointless being in the office nearly alone most days.  I have a ton of things to work on but I'm waiting on a lot as well.  Our new person just started this week and by the end of day one I was already exhausted because my introvert self apparently can't up-shift that fast.  I'm looking forward to the help but also nervous about how it will impact the dynamics of our team.  The new woman is interesting--a few years younger than me, very put-together, divorced, no kids but a dog.  She's very nice, but I'm not sure how much we'll ultimately have in common and even though she had good reasons to want this job, I still feel like this will be below her and not last long, but we'll make it work for now.

We had a quieter week last week since baseball keeps getting rained out, though the kids and I each had doctor's appointments.  My doctor insists that my cardiac/carotid concerns are baseless.  I disagree, but I guess I will try pushing it a bit more and see if anything gets crazy.  She was fine with my slightly funky iron situation (though my ferritin was better than usual) and suggested I give up bread if I want my triglycerides to go down (if you're keeping track, that comes after suggestions of giving up meat, dairy, and gluten previously...fun).  The kids did okay in their appointments, all things considered.  Jacob's blood pressure was a bit lower, so that was progress, and his reflux has been less frequent.  Carter's mouth wasn't as healed as his doctor would have liked so he prescribed Cipro, but since Cipro has some side effects (I swear it was the beginning of a bunch of funky joint crap I've had--it does that), I decided to hold off until we see the dermatologist next week.  His weight is also concerningly low.  His BMI is at the very bottom of the curve.  He's a skinny kid but it's definitely fallen off a cliff a bit in the last 6 months or so.  The doctor initially assumed it was because ADHD meds suppress appetite, but I think he's eating just fine.  I thought for a bit it was because he was playing baseball a lot and burning a lot of calories, but now that school is out he's sitting around a lot the rest of the time so I'm less convinced of that.  I ended up having a sleepless night over the weekend realizing that there is a chance he has Celiac like Jacob and isn't absorbing properly.  The doctor is skeptical because he doesn't have any other symptoms like stomach aches or pooping issues, but Jacob wasn't exactly textbook either.  It absolutely devastated me to think that he could have it because he's so into certain foods that losing those forever would absolutely destroy him.  We bond over eating fun stuff together because it's something we can only do alone, and having that go away (and making our adventures more complicated in the process) would be so hard.  I'm currently waiting to see if the doctor wants to send him for blood work now or wants to wait another few months.  It's pretty agonizing.  

This week Jacob had his shin looked at again and the doctor wanted to try acupuncture.  He said it hurt really bad and he almost passed out, but he liked the feeling afterward.  He also had a little scare with what we thought was blood in his stool, but we're pretty sure it was just too much watermelon.  But the constant issues and freakouts are getting exhausting.  I get why he's frustrated but I don't know how else to help him beyond all we're already doing.  Now he wants our house checked for mold.  Sigh.  I get where he's coming from--I, too, panic a lot about health things and spiral for a bit initially.  I still get a sick feeling in my stomach every time I think too much into something, like what might be going on with Carter.  He just can't understand that some things just need to wait, that you need to give something time to evolve to see if it gets better or worse, before you call the doctor.  Eventually they'll just think you're a hypochondriac and stop taking you seriously, so there has to be a balance there.  The waiting is so hard for him, and I get it, but as the "responsible" adult I have to be a bit more levelheaded even if it's killing me as well.

Aside from all the health randomness, we had a decent weekend.  The boys played some baseball, I got in a long bike ride, I did a couple loads of laundry, moved some branches to the curb, and then cut out our dead bush in the front yard to add that to the pile.  That was exhausting in 90 degree heat and I still have a stump to figure out, but it's progress.  Of course, by the time I cleaned off the algae-filled siding, it took me a bit to recover and cool down enough to consider putting on my suit for a dip in the pool, and by the time I did, it was pouring and I missed my window.  I also did some errand running, utilized some Kohl's deals, and got more beads to make earrings.  It wasn't a bad mix of activities.  We also had a graduation party for our niece and nephew in Buffalo.  It was a little awkward because of the ongoing family issues, and Craig's parents ended up going out of town rather than deal with the "rules" for the party.  That was a bummer.  We did have a nice time catching up with some of Craig's extended family and having chats with our niece, her boyfriend, and her twin brother, and petting our niece's dog, but there weren't a lot of people there that we knew beyond that, so it wasn't ideal.  We did play some corn hole and stayed until around dark, but it wasn't quite what something like that would have been under other circumstances.  Heck, the over-the-top Dominican friend wasn't there either (ironically staying in the Dominican) so we didn't even get to recount our trip to her after she encouraged us to go back on Thanksgiving.

While we were there, we heard about the assassination attempt on former President Trump.  Obviously it's awful and those things should never happen.  I may not like him but he shouldn't get shot at.  A domesticated first-world nation should not have that happen.  That said, I do think this is somewhat of a product of the environment he created eight years ago.  We were talking at work this week about how we noticed a very specific shift in how people talked to our student callers (especially the ones with foreign accents) at the time.  We felt then and still do that his rhetoric was empowering the racists and general jerks to not hold back on their anger over certain things, including immigration and Muslims in America, "wokeness" and "snowflakes" on campus, and the like.  Suddenly the callers were being sworn at and berated, and that almost never happened before--maybe only if they called a wrong number, or maybe someone was just generally ill or unhinged.  Maybe it's a coincidence, but I feel like that's when that us vs. them mentality really got going and fed into the division that leads to drastic actions like this one.  I'm not saying he deserved it, but I do think the division he created has contributed to this climate probably more than anyone else. Regardless, it's a sad commentary on America right now.  Particularly now that people are bandaging their ears in solidarity.  What now?

Here's just a few pics from the weekend, starting with the pigeon coop outside my office.  They are doing homing pigeon research at the University, and they happened to build the coop on our property.  There were a bunch outside the other morning, so I visited.

Friday I got a big victory getting Carter to go through his many piles of school stuff.  He had so many papers and notebooks and half-sized pencils in his bag, and most of what came home in June was covering the dining room table completely.  I got him to sort everything into keep, toss, and take a picture before tossing piles.  I talked him through a bunch of the keep pile, and finally got most of it narrowed down to a small set of keeps.  His artwork got really fun at the end of the year, and I loved all of these:

I've seen someone else's version of this one and it was clearly better, but I thought he did a really nice job.

I'm still not entirely sure how this one is his, but he insists it is.  It's amazing and blows away pretty much everything else he's ever done.  Apparently that technique resonated with him?

My flowers have really been coming out, although now we've had a ton of rain (like, the pool is full rain) so I feel like it's inevitable everything is going to be fungus-ridden from here on out.  But my zinnias are coming!  All except one were bright pink to start out, but now we have a couple orange and a light pink.  They're still fun to watch.

My hydrangeas are coming along, and this half-and-half one amazes me.

I usually only get a couple of these in the back, and half the time the deer do them in, but they're always so pretty.

My garden has had a good number of snap peas, a handful of beans so far, some lettuce, and finally some tomatoes are ripening.  The zucchini and cucumber plants are growing and thriving, but the new babies have been slow to arrive and are taking their time to grow.  I have gotten a handful of wild black raspberries from the way back, and the blackberries are starting to turn red.  Everything feels a little wild right now, and my hanging porch flowers have been struggling, but my porch planter is beautiful, so I guess I can't complain.  I threw some new soil with Miracle-Gro into the hanging plants, so now I guess I just hope it boosts them a bit.  It hasn't helped that we had a ton of rain this week that's made the yard too damp to spend much time in keep things in check.  Weeds (and mushrooms) will likely be out of control next time I venture back there. 

In general I'm just sort of in a motivational funk.  I'm sort of tired and sort of distracted, and I wonder if this is some sort of low-level post-COVID thing.  In the past it's been headaches and fatigue, so I guess this is better, but I am noticeably off.  I desperately want a vacation even though I just had one, and yet know that I need a quiet weekend at home more than anything.  And we actually don't have many of those coming up, so who knows how long this house is going to look like this.  I'm really struggling with the "summer house" situation, which is a lot like "COVID lockdown house" except sometimes people go places, including me to the office three days a week, which means I come back to a house full of messes from a day of the kids grabbing food and using the bathroom.  We're just here together a lot and the house is feeling really lived in.  I feel like I need to vacuum all the time and wipe things down constantly, but by the end of the day I'm just spent and don't have the energy.  I had towels sitting in a basket for days and have had my clothes waiting to be hung up since yesterday (after already forgetting to bring them upstairs for a day), and that's not really like me at all.  It doesn't help that I'm putting in a lot of extra effort this week to teach our new person at work, but I guess that's going to go on for a while so I need to get used to it.  I'm really having a hard time figuring out how to get the boys to take care of their own stuff.  Jacob practically refuses to eat because when I'm here he wants me to make food for him, but I need to work and know he can do some things himself so it's annoying when he asks.  But when I don't do it, he just waits and eventually won't eat.  He doesn't know what to eat and doesn't want to eat the things he knows how to make.  When I was working today Jacob and Craig called me to talk them through making fried eggs, and then Jacob called me asking if he was going to get sick because he ate a couple unwashed berries.  It's incredibly frustrating when I'm at work and incredibly distracting when I'm here.  Everywhere I look there are things that need to be done and I'm really struggling with the mental load of that.  I've just sort of lost control of my summer and I feel powerless to get it back.  

Oh, and I realized that we have pretty much zero options for a vacation week unless we reschedule some things.  So that's fun.  We may have to make do with some smaller trips, but it's a little bit of a bummer.

Overall, between the health issues, work stuff, house stuff, too much rain, and another speedy summer, I'm just in a distracted, directionless funk.  I know we have some good stuff coming up but I am struggling to manage it all.  I'm hoping I cycle back to some degree of normalcy soon because summer is far too short for this crap.