News & Notes, Truly Random Edition

I can find no cohesive anything to string these topics together, so truly random it is.

• I started smell training this week.  We stopped at the natural food store over the weekend for the first time (the one whose commercials were always truly bizarre and like something out of a drug trip with dancing people in fruit costumes) so I could buy the essential oils needed for it.  We also found an odd treasure trove of other interesting things, like more flavors of Jacob's gluten-free licorice and an extra cheap price on Just Water, which Jacob loves, and every possible flavor of a stevia-based soda pop.  The training consists of smelling four oils twice a day - rose, eucalyptus, clove, and lemon.  I'm supposed to really think about what they should smell like and in theory try to rebuild some of those nerve pathways in my brain.  It seems pointless when I can smell nothing, particularly since I'm not 100% sure anymore what clove or eucalyptus smelled like--I'd know them if I smelled them--but supposedly that's not a big deal.  It's supposed to take months, but at this point it's worth a shot.  Sometimes I feel like I get a whiff of something, but who knows.  I really need to get back on track and call the acupuncturist, too.  I am convinced there's some sort of pinched nerve or something since I momentarily get taste now and then.  I just read about some specific acupuncture treatment that worked for someone who never smelled, so it always makes me wonder if it's just weird enough to work.

• Summer school has begun for Carter.  We dipped our toes in last week, just doing a lesson or two here and there, but I'm pretty confident now that if I give him medicine in the morning, he can do two lessons in a row three times a week pretty easily.  I figure on the other days I'll just try to get him to read, or maybe do a bonus lesson here and there.  We just know it is supposed to be 45 minutes each for math and reading per week, which is tough to measure since Carter sometimes takes a while because he stops to talk about what he's doing.  They can take about 10-20 minutes each, so I figure if he does three and maybe a bonus one here and there, he'll be fine.  I actually think he'll be fine regardless because I bet some kids won't even do that (based on the school year), but he does have a teacher looking over his work in the event something looks amiss.  He's been really great about it, though, which is promising.  No complaints or whining for breaks or anything like that.  Let's hope this keeps him in learning mode and carries over to the school year!
  

• COVID cases are going up again.  The delta variant is taking hold and it seems like cases in a lot of areas have doubled in recent weeks.  It's concerning for sure, especially because pretty much anywhere you go these days no one is masked and distancing isn't really happening either.  We've still been wearing masks almost everywhere, especially because the kids should anyway and we're trying to be supportive and also not catch anything and pass it to them.  It's getting downright awkward to go certain places because we might be literally the only people masked.  At Jacob's basketball game the other night (more on that in a second), there were maybe a handful of other people with masks in the entire building, and even kids didn't have them.  It just makes me wonder if people really don't think it's an issue?  Have they not read the news (or more likely, do they just not believe it)?  The tough part right now is that Jacob is eligible for the vaccine, but I'm a bit hesitant to have him get it.  To be fair, he's already had COVID, and depending on what you read, that can be just as effective as the vaccine, maybe for longer than they thought.  Add in that there have been cases of heart inflammation among young men, and we have a rather active boy who could be badly impacted by that, it's a little scary.  I do try to tell myself that COVID can cause that issue as well, and under normal circumstances it would be a higher risk of getting COVID and having that problem than getting it from the vaccine.  But if he's already had COVID, is that the case?  I feel like we'd never forgive ourselves if something went wrong either way, so it's an impossible choice.  Complicating matters is that the CDC said vaccinated students don't need to wear masks in school, and I know he'd much prefer to not wear one.  However, my guess is that by the time school restarts, community transmission might be bad enough to necessitate masks again for everyone so it might not matter regardless.  We'll have to make that call pretty quickly if we decide to get him vaccinated, so he's fully protected by early September.  I think we'll need to let it happen because the risk is tiny, but it's still one of those weird parenting decisions that's harder than it should be.  All of this makes me worry most for Carter, who still can't be vaccinated and is at the mercy of others to help make his mask-wearing effective.  But it's so frustrating that we basically just have to protect ourselves because pretty much everyone else has stopped trying.  It's going to be a rude awakening in the next weeks to months when things start getting bad again.  At least we never got out of the habit.
  

• The weather has been brutal lately.  Up until recently it had been a pretty decent summer.  Not a lot of rain, reasonable temperatures.  But then we had a couple stretches of 65-70 degree temps, lots of clouds, and a TON of rain.  I've never seen it rain so hard so many times as in the last couple weeks, and more is coming tomorrow, just in time for the first day of Carter's season-ending soccer tournament.  The night we went to the drive-in was bad, then last week there was rain that flooded a ton of areas from here to Buffalo (even my parents' basement had a leak when runoff from their garden made it through a basement window), and then a couple times over the last few week it has poured so hard I swore it was going to come through the roof.  I keep having to dump water out of my hanging plants, probably close to a cup each.  Mushrooms and fungal spores popped up all over the yard this week.  Our pool filter opening only has a couple inches above the water.  It makes it hard to do anything outside, even when it's nicer, because things have been damp and humid, and it's maybe even harder to schedule things since it's a lot of pop-up thunderstorms that move around a lot.  But the perpetual cloudy days and worrisome rain have taken their toll on me mentally.  It's depressing and frustrating when summer is short enough as it is.  I feel a lot more impacted by the weather when I'm home and can see it all the time, maybe even more so than when I worked in an office with windows because I can actually go out in it more than when I was on the 16th floor.  On the bright side, at least I have access during the periods of time when it's decent so I can schedule my daily wander accordingly.  I'll miss that when I go back to the office.  But it's hard to have a summer stretch like this where it's hard to enjoy it--in the pool or otherwise.
  

• Speaking of the office, it's official - I have to go back one day per week in August and then back full time in September, minus one remote day per week.  I picked Thursday, so I can schedule all of Carter's appointments that day.  I'm hoping they'll be flexible about the week before school starts, because it will be awfully challenging to manage child care for one week if they're not.  My one problem is that my big monitor will need to go back to the office and my plan to use our small TV did not work, so I'm either going to have to schedule big data days around my remote days or buy a monitor.  I really do need to get back to the office but I'm nervous about early mornings and adding a commute back into my day.  I'm really going to have to ease into it, particularly the early wake-ups.  That might take me all of August.  And let's not talk about how challenging it might be to dress myself after all this time--although I am looking forward to digging back into my lonely work wardrobe!

• As I mentioned earlier, Jacob had basketball on Wednesday.  While he is still playing with another team from the organization he played with this spring and summer for a tournament this upcoming weekend, on Wednesday he was with the JV team from his school.  Craig found out through a fellow school dad Facebook friend that the JV team was playing in a high school summer league, and through some series of events, Jacob ended up getting on the team.  Most of the team was the existing JV team, but it seems there's one other kid younger than him who was not on the team this year, along with the little brother of another team member who was on modified with Jacob but played up on the JV team at times this year.  That kid isn't actually that good but their dad is ill so we wondered if maybe they were doing that to make it easier for the dad to see them both play at once.  Anyway, the team isn't very good--three kids basically pass to each other or play "hero ball" taking it in on their own.  Jacob had four points and some great play in the first game but limited playing time and opportunities in the second against a stronger team.  We had to do a lot of talking him down after the game, but hopefully as the coach becomes more comfortable with him, he'll get more opportunities.  This all feeds into a whole other issue that could have Jacob switching schools next year (there's a whole big long story to that one), but let's just say this didn't help matters.  It's fine, he's fine, everything's fine...but next spring could have some intense discussions!

• Our local library has basically been under construction since the pandemic started.  Last February they started working on the bathrooms and lobby, and then the pandemic hit.  They finished up the bathrooms around the time the library reopened, but then they worked on the facade, which necessitated a different entrance.  Then they closed off the children's room for a massive renovation and expansion, which has led to some very close quarters maneuvering through the children's books for the last many months.  Well, last week it opened back up, and coincidentally we had books due this week so we had a chance to go check it out.  Of course, we had to wait out yet another massive rainstorm that hit just as we were ready to leave, which was already the second big one of the day.  We got to see lots of lightning in the distance and some ponding nearby as we drove.  But the library was pretty amazing!  I think the space has pretty much quadrupled, and it's so pretty and full of interactive activities.  Maybe too many, since I may never get Carter to give me feedback on books again!
  
  There's a spot that has a loft area, complete with a two story tree that has a ball track that sucks balls up to the top, where kids can then put them on tracks back down.  The whole thing makes noises, which I actually found really distracting.  The place must be downright chaotic during the day right now.  It was pretty much just us at that time of the evening (now that the library is finally open later than 7pm).
  
  

Top of the tree sending balls down

The space is so big that some of the shelves are still empty.  A lot of books seemed missing but I can't tell if there was a run on them in the first few days of the opening, or if they sent all the books back to the smaller branch that wasn't open, or they just haven't shelved everything yet.  It was weird, and I've decided a reorganized library is as bad as a reorganized grocery store, but it is quite the space.

The stone arch in the distance is basically where the old room entrance was.  There used to be fish tanks all along the wall to the left of it, and admittedly I miss those.

At the bottom of the tree sending balls up

There are tons of places to sit, and a whole bunch of creative play activities.  There's magnetic tiles and cool translucent blocks on light tables, a wall of movable gears, another wall of movable ramps, dollhouses, castle blocks, a garden with fake veggies, magnetic letters and tiles, a play kitchen, a giant Lite Brite, and a pretend store that scans products!

Carter had fun exploring, and I have a feeling I'll at least have an easier time convincing him to come with me in the future.  It's nice to have everything back open, though!

• Still not really any progress on the vacation front, but we're definitely heading into a busy stretch nonetheless.  Both boys have sports this weekend in separate cities, next weekend is a wedding and family picnic, then one quiet-ish week before Jacob does basketball camp and Craig flies to California for work.  That's followed by another potentially quiet week until my brother and his kids arrive and we have another wedding and another family picnic over the same weekend.  Hopefully the following week we can do some things with my brother's crew, and by then we're really in the home stretch of summer, which is slightly terrifying.  I have a couple potential weeks for vacation, should we be able to plan something, but one may not be feasible due to a work conflict.  I missed having a full summer slate last year but I'm finding all of this a little challenging nonetheless.  Coordinating all of this with work, then facing down a fall of possibly more normalcy if the virus doesn't ruin it again.  At least any boredom we have with our current state of affairs has an end date, but it's hard to trust anything anymore or even know if we can go back to our old ways and pretend like all of this never happened--at least as far as getting back in our old routines and being okay with them.  But the delta variant could blow everything up again, so who knows.

Well, I think that's enough for now.  Random, right?

Finding Our Fun, Part 2

As I mentioned in my last post, I was a little bummed that my two days off after the 4th were a little uneventful.  The pool time was nice but I had really hoped for something more.  Jacob had basketball practice on Tuesday night so it was just Carter and me again.  He was asking about going to a playground, but I was bored by all the ones that were coming to mind.  Then I remembered that there was one near the Seabreeze Amusement Park that I saw a friend post pictures of, and it looked cool.  I figured we could go there, benefit from the lake breeze on a warm evening, and maybe even walk out to the pier nearby.  It was in the same area that Craig and I did our anniversary date many years ago.  I think this playground is relatively new, though.  It's actually a great playground for all ages--they had some great little kid equipment, but the big kid stuff was downright awesome!

First up were these spinning cattails...

Carter had a harder time than I did getting them to spin--I think the higher center of gravity helped--but eventually he was getting me to spin him, which caused my phone to fling out of my pocket every time!

The next thing was perhaps the coolest thing I've ever seen on a playground.  It was like a manual version of the swings you find at an amusement park (which, ironically, we could see spinning across the street at Seabreeze).  They had little discs you sat on, and then an adult would run while holding on to one and get it spinning.  We saw one dad who really had them flying outward.  Initially I was hesitant to get on (until I saw a bunch of other adults riding and felt confident it would hold me), but in the meantime I got better at really getting it moving!

Carter was slowing down quite a bit by the time I took this video, but I wanted to include it just to show what it did.  

It was a really nice night despite the hard rain earlier in the day.  I could tell it might be shaping up to be an interesting sunset with how pretty the clouds and sun were.

The playground had a lot of fun, different features.  I liked the front of the "boat" here.  I think we were so enchanted by the setup and wheel we forgot to climb this part!

There was a little rock wall section that Carter enjoyed (especially since his climbing experience at Dick's a few weeks back), and the area below it had a dial you'd spin until you heard a chime, and then you'd hit one of four buttons to hear a "water" sound--either rain, a creek, a waterfall, or a splash.  I wonder if the turning of the dial "charges" a battery inside just enough to play your selection.  It was neat!
 

The fish to climb was cool (and extra hard if you climbed underneath against the slope), and the best part was that at the top you could see over the brush nearby and into Irondequoit Bay!

The cargo net frog was fun, too.  You can see the main equipment from here--the slides were among the best I've found for big people and there was plenty to climb.

They also had a see-saw, and Carter loved going up and down with me!

He also took pride in making me dizzy on a spinning pedestal seat!

When it became clear that the sun was getting closer to setting, I dragged Carter off on a walk to go watch it from the beach.  As we were walking, I captured this shot of the very pinkish-red sun.

And that's about where my phone died!  Thank goodness I had my camera.  As we walked to the beach I showed Carter the bridge that swings into place in the winter.  It swings to open the waterway in the summer, then closes to connect Irondequoit to Webster much more easily in the winter.  You can see the track used to move it down below.
 

It was a pretty view over the bay opposite the sunset.

I had originally wanted to do the pier, but then got confused on which path went where since they both looked sandy, so we eventually ended up on the beach.  I decided to take off my sneakers, and eventually Carter followed suit.  We walked down toward the water as the sun started disappearing behind clouds.

We stuck our feet into the water, and then into the sand.  The water was cool but tolerable, and the squishy sand felt good!  After a few minutes, the sun peeked back out of the cloud as it set further.

Eventually I realized I could ease my feet all the way into the sand.  Carter thought it was like quicksand, and I guess in many ways it was.  The sand in that spot was so easily infiltrated by the water that everything just sunk.  We have a book about quicksand and it definitely brought it to life a bit.  Carter eagerly sunk his feet in, too, when I showed him how.

After the sun set for good and we'd had our fill of sand, we had to take a few minutes to sit on a rock and brush the sand off our feet so we could put our shoes back on.  It was a bit of a process, and admittedly I ended up with some sort of blistery spot on my toe by the time we got home, probably from a small piece of sand (or more likely zebra mussel shell) getting caught between my toes and rubbing as I walked.  Small price to pay for a fun night, though.

Next we walked all the way down a very long pier.

We passed by a bunch of people fishing and Carter eagerly pointed out things in the rocks and shallow water--some real, some imagined!  He also asked why there was only a guard rail on one side of the pier--a very good question!  Maybe the lake side is too rough for one to stay in place?  Or that's the only side that would have waves to push you over to where you'd need the guardrail?

Looking all the way back toward shore

It was such a nice evening--warm and peaceful.  We were both getting tired and it was getting late, and since I didn't have a working phone I was also eager to get back to the car to charge it and call Craig (which didn't end up working anyway--my charger was acting funny).  But I had promised Carter one thing--that we would get one last ride on the swing thing, which had been heavily occupied for the rest of our time at the playground.  Despite it being nearly dark when we got back, there was still a big group at the playground and one family hogged it for a while.  Luckily it was bedtime for them at 9:20, so they headed out and we hopped on--me included this time!  It definitely took some careful coordination to run and spin it, then hop on without missing a beat.  Somehow I did it without hurting myself, and Carter probably could have spent all night spinning! 

I was actually pretty good with that spin, although on the way home I could feel the head fog I get from motion sickness--it was very similar to how I feel on the rare occasion I get carsick (usually after looking at a phone) or if I go on an amusement park ride that's just a little too spinny.  But it was worth it for Carter's joy.  It truly was the coolest playground equipment we'd ever seen!

The next day, after my first day back at work, Jacob had basketball practice again.  Rather than spend it on the same playground we got rained off of the previous week, we did a couple errands and then took the seven minute drive back to the playground we only got five minutes on, so I could fulfill my promise of getting him back there!

Big surprise, his first stop was on this spinning ride!  This one was a bit much for me, but I did what I could to spin him.

The playground was really cool.  There were lots of different things to climb, and even had challenges for me.  

The big set of ropes and cargo nets (to the right above) was a lot of fun.  It had a "tunnel" of ropes up, and then two different levels with spots to sit.  I absolutely love this shot looking down at Carter from my perch on the top level!

One piece of equipment had plastic bongos, and the thing next to it had two-color cylinders that you could turn to make patterns...or in my case, a secret message!

There was a zipline/tightrope combo, a cargo net to climb, and a bar that Carter did flips on, which you can see him doing below.
 

This was an interesting spot, with a twisting ladder and a curved cargo net.

This flexible surfboard was suspended on both ends and was very hard to balance on.  It took me at least a couple tries to stay on for more than a few seconds, and eventually Carter got it, too!

We had a solid half hour to make up for having to leave the last time, and had a lot of fun before we had to go back and get Jacob.

If that wasn't enough, we went to another playground on Saturday before dinner!  Well, two actually, but they were at the same park.  One looked cool but was busy and a little muddy due to the crazy rain we had this week (Saturday was the one good day in the middle of a lot of rain), so we moved to a smaller one that was empty (and closer to the basketball courts), which made it easier for us to play tag and me to climb.   

First playground, top of the rock climbing tower

Second playground--my crazy climber!

Of course, I wasn't as eager to run and climb this time because earlier in the day I ventured out on a bike ride and made it all the way to Spencerport.  It was a nearly 13.5 mile trip, which was pretty long for my first ride of the year.  But it felt good to be out and getting a workout in the process.  I decided to take the canal path because it was a pretty simple trip, no thinking involved.  It probably wasn't the best call after days of rain because there were a lot of puddles to dodge, but it was manageable.  The last time I went all the way to Spencerport, the bridge was under construction.  This time I crossed over and briefly checked out the main drag in the village.  But knowing my ride was long enough, I headed back pretty quickly.
 

It was a quiet day on the canal, perhaps because it was cloudy--the sun arrived just before I got home--but I did see some kayakers and one small motor boat.  I also saw an inhabitant of my bucket list, one of the rentable houseboats I discovered on our Sam Patch adventure.  I saw one sailing, and right ahead of it were three docked at Spencerport!  They come with bikes and everything, and I desperately want to take the trip up the canal and dock for meals and snacks (and bike rides) at all the little towns!

If you zoom in, you can see the docked boats right near the center of the picture, and the sailing one in the distance behind them.

So...we still haven't had tons of adventure, but I was happy we got out to enjoy some small ones this week.  Now it's back to a full week of work and trying to get into a good groove with summer school.  We dipped our toes in last week but need to get on a real schedule this week.  And, of course, I still need to try to squeak out some time to plan a real vacation, among all these family events and work commitments.  Time to do the impossible! 

Finding Our Fun, Part 1

So, as usual, we're heading rapidly toward mid-July and I'm having a summer bucket list crisis--panicking that all the things I wanted us to accomplish this summer are not going to happen.  After a summer where it seemed like we did a whole lot of nothing other than swimming in our pool, this summer is quickly booking up--to the point I'm not sure where a real vacation might fit in.  Craig has work commitments during the week and most of our weekends are booked up by family events, which is not a bad thing but makes for some tough decisions after a year of missing out on almost everything and wanting to cram it all in this year.  And yet lately it's felt like we're not taking full advantage of the free time we have, and I am craving adventure and vacation more than ever.  Given the preoccupation around here with basketball and screen time (and an obligation to work), it seems to take a gargantuan effort to break out of the mundane, day-to-day routine.  We got a decent start over 4th of July weekend, but we're still definitely a work in progress.

Last week I was working through the end of our fiscal year at work and drooling over the prospect of a five day weekend.  The week after the fiscal year but before books close is usually a good week to take off, particularly when I don't have a desk to clean and organize and file things into.  On Wednesday night, the last night of the fiscal year when I was facing down one more day of work, Jacob had basketball practice and Craig was working, so Carter and I had to take him to practice.  We were thrilled to discover an amazing playground at the school and were excited to take it on.  

Well, after probably five minutes, Jacob yelled over that practice got moved and we had to go to a different school a town over.  We were so bummed to leave this playground behind mostly unexplored, but I told Carter we'd make it a point to come back.  Luckily, the new school did have a playground but it wasn't quite as exciting.  Still, we managed to fill a good chunk of time here.

Carter likes playing tag, which is actually really hard on playground equipment because there are only so many routes to go, and he also likes creating obstacle courses for us to run.  While I'd mostly prefer to just climb and have fun together, that is how he likes to play so I try to go along with it as much as possible.  He was a crazy kid climbing that twisty slide and generally running me around.  So, I felt a little bit of relief when it started storming and we had to run to the car, but then we were stuck sitting there waiting for Jacob for a long time--particularly since coach extended practice another half hour after half the team was late due to the venue change.  Not my favorite hour-plus, but we managed.

The next night, fresh off my last day of work, we were looking at the weather and debating when we should go to the drive-in--and if we did, which one.  We love the one in Perry that has mini-golf, ice cream, and amazing food, but it's a hike.  The one in Avon is closer and has the bonus of close proximity to our favorite gluten-free pizza place, but it's less of an event!  We were interested in both of the movie selections at Perry, but the double feature is just way too late for an hour drive home.  Add in some unsettled weather for both Thursday and Friday evenings, and we were just stumped.  Well, I checked the weather shortly after 5pm as I got ready to make dinner, and suddenly the forecast looked better.  Knowing how much Craig really wanted to go to the drive-in, I relented and we made last-minute plans to order food in Avon and head to the show.  All was well until we got about halfway there and noticed a giant black cloud that clearly made the 15% chance of rain moot.  It started raining moments later and kept raining right until we got our food and drove to the drive-in.  That's when we saw this:

It turned out to be a gorgeous night.  We thought it might be a little cool, but I actually ended up taking off my hoodie part way through Peter Rabbit 2.  The movie was cute and we had a pretty decent night overall--no real arguing for spots or anything like that.  

Even though the rain held off, there was lightning in the distant sky pretty much all night, and as we drove home it got worse.  We hit rain about 15 minutes from home, and boy did it come down.  It was pouring at home, and it's been a long time since I've heard that much thunder that loud.  It was very close to us--according to the weather channel app there were lightning strikes less than a mile north and a mile south.  It was actually pretty nervewracking, and in fact a house on the other side of Rochester did get struck.  I was very happy when it finally wound down.  

On Saturday we had plans to go see the Toronto Blue Jays in Buffalo!  When the current baseball stadium in Buffalo opened in 1988, there was a lot of talk about getting a major league team.  I think Buffalo might have even been in the running in the early 90s when Colorado and Florida (now Miami) came into the league, but it never panned out and Buffalo had to settle for having a really decent minor league stadium that set the stage for a new era of modern stadiums.  As you may recall, I spent a summer working in that very stadium as a Bisons intern in 1999, and it was one of the best summers of my life.  I'd only been back once since, and it was even more exciting to come back and see the stadium all decked out for its current occupant, the Toronto Blue Jays, who can't play in Toronto due to the Canadian government's very strict COVID restrictions.  It stinks for Jays fans and we all miss going to Toronto, but it's cool that Buffalo finally gets its chance as a major league city, no matter how temporary it is.  The Jays played in Buffalo for a bit last year, but there were no fans, so getting spectators this year (especially since capacity restrictions were lifted) has been such a fun thing for the city.  I swear at least a quarter of my Facebook friends from Buffalo and Rochester have gone to a game!

As I said, seeing the stadium all decked out for a new team was simultaneously cool and weird.  I miss the quaint feeling of the Bisons (and my sentimental connection to them), but the Jays were the first major league team I saw (and the one I saw most for many years), so there was some pride in seeing my hometown stadium be called their home.

 

The stadium hasn't changed a ton since I worked there, although the outfield is quite different and the Jays changed it even more by putting the bullpens out there and fancying up the party deck area.  Also notable is that the big building in the picture below is a different color than it used to be (burgundy instead of tan), and all the new buildings from Harborcenter (to the left in the picture below) were never in the outfield view.  Oh, and there are also safety nets running the full length of the baselines, and that was my first experience with that. 

Small world--the family two rows down to the left is from Rochester and I went to college with both of the parents!

But the stadium still felt oddly like home in spots--like when we were standing at a concession stand and it occurred to me that stand most likely used to be the guest services booth when I was an intern.  That view was just a little too familiar!  There were funny things like that, but at the same time, it's been over 20 years and I guess it would be weird if things weren't different.  It did feel really neat to see major leaguers and know this was a more important game than we're used to seeing in that stadium.

I will admit I got a little emotional being back at a sporting event for the first time in so long.  I mean, even before I was a sports nut I'm not sure I spent more than a year away from games.  We almost always went to a Sabres game or Bisons game at some point, so not having been at anything in over 15 months felt pretty crazy.  It was still a little nervewracking out in the concourse or sitting near the same people unmasked for two hours, but we trusted the outside air and relatively low infection rate, especially since it was warm day.  Oh, and did I mention I forgot to put on sunscreen because I got distracted in the van on the way in as we drove by a recently collapsed building and a part of Buffalo that's seen a lot of changes?  Somehow I managed to keep the sunburn to a minimum but I was panicked most of the game, especially at the end when I could feel the burn.  I put on aloe the second we got in the van, and I think it helped.  My arms, legs, chest and forehead had some, but it mostly faded within a couple days.

Despite the lifting of most restrictions, there were still some reminders of COVID life, like the upper deck full of mostly cut-outs.

Despite being a little bored, Carter was up for a selfie with me...and notice how Jacob's baseball obsession around Carter's age paid off with a perfect hand-me-down shirt to wear for the occasion.  He also had a Team Canada Little League World Series hat that was once Jacob's!

The Jays had an awesome game and won 6-3.  The older boys decked themselves out in Jays attire over the course of the game (I couldn't find the Buffalo Blue Jays shirt I wanted that day but it's coming soon), and overall it was a good day.

Yes, Craig is blinking, but I don't often get pics of the three guys together and the fact Jacob is rapidly gaining ground on Craig is crazy.  Pretty sure he'll have outgrown his school uniform pants (again) by fall.

Since we snacked pretty well at the game, we finished off the night with a trip to my childhood favorite ice cream spot, De Dee's Dairy.  The ice cream is huge and we all really enjoyed our frozen dinner.  Carter nearly needed a bath after his (still working on the best licking technique when it's melting), but it was so good!  We turned in for the night at my parents' since we had a family 4th of July party the next day.

We had to run to Walmart that morning to pick up a gift I ordered for someone, and then grabbed a small lunch since we knew we'd snack at the picnic by mid-afternoon.  Carter had really wanted to go to a playground the prior night but we just couldn't make it happen, so we opted to stop at one on the way.  It had a good court for Jacob and a playground Carter has liked in the past.  

He climbed up that pole!

I'm not sure if these bars were supposed to be like men's gymnastics parallel bars, but Carter was entertained by them. 

The picnic was a lot of fun.  It was great to see family, particularly all of my cousins' littles--one cousin has a 3-year-old daughter (and a boy due any day!), another has two-year-old and two-month-old daughters, and another has a 10-month-old son.  That was my first time meeting the two-month-old, and it was so great seeing all of them.  The hostess (my cousin's wife) set up an activity for the kids to use squirt guns and paint to make artwork, and even Carter got into that!  He has a couple of them framed in his room now!  The kids mostly kept themselves occupied with cornhole, and I was able to catch up with aunts, uncles, cousins, and my parents.  It was a hot day but there was lots of shade...and some family-favorite whiskey slush!

Back at home I had a couple more days off, but they were relatively uneventful.  Carter had soccer Monday.  We spent some time in the pool both days since it was really hot, but despite my hope to do something more fun as a family, that was about as good as it got.  And we actually got chased from the pool on Tuesday because a thunderstorm passed through suddenly.  But like last year I'm keeping myself happy with my flowers.  

 

My hydrangea is blooming!  It's so pretty and this pic barely does the colors justice--pinks and purpley-blues.

A new flower this time--a different kind of bachelor's button than what usually grows in our yard, in a hanging basket with my beloved zinnias.

This zinnia is basically perfection.

Almost all of my zinnias are smaller this year than the nearly fist-sized ones I had last year, but the colors are wonderful and they're coming fast and furious now in five different spots.  My garden is also coming along.  The romaine has been wonderful for my salads, but it's starting to bolt so those days might be limited.  I harvested one cucumber (with a bunch more coming), a zucchini is close, and my snap peas and beans are almost there--in fact I ate a snap pea today!  My tomatoes are going crazy again in plant growth but the tomatoes haven't ripened yet.  I did have one unfortunate loss this week.  Apparently the deer finally discovered my pumpkin patch.  They did a pretty solid job on it one night, and despite grabbing some Irish Spring and stringing fishing line to spook them, they came back and ate more the following night--even trying to eat one of the soap pieces (but it appears they spit out the piece and the bite they took).  I ended up using more fishing line to tent off the top.  There are two or three plants that could recover--two still have buds and one wasn't quite at that stage let but still has a couple leaves, so it's possible.  I threw about six more seeds in the ground, but more than likely they won't mature in time.  I'd rather still have something to watch grow, though, so it's worth a shot.  Stupid deer.  But I guess we've been lucky all these years.

So, despite my disappointment with the second half of the long weekend, I guess the first part was pretty good.  But by Tuesday I took matters into my own hands!  Stay tuned...

Videos, Vacations, and a Wedding - A Retrospective

It's inadvertently been a bit of a nostalgic week.  I guess it has just served as another healthy reminder that life goes fast.  

Monday was Craig's and my 18th wedding anniversary.  It was a bit anticlimactic as he worked outside the house pretty much all day, and even if that wouldn't have been the case, we'd have been shuttling Jacob to and from basketball and sitting at soccer in the blazing heat in the evening instead of celebrating.  Hopefully we'll do something eventually, but the day itself was a bit of a dud.  I got flowers and candy when Craig got home, so that was nice.  But hopefully we can jointly give it the attention it deserves soon.

Eighteen years is a long time, though.  When you celebrate your first anniversary, anything in the realm of 10 years, let alone pushing 20, seems monumental.  Even in a situation where you hope to be married forever, you hear about people celebrating late teens, 20s, 30s, etc., and it just seems like it's so far away and will take forever to get there.  And then you have kids and get distracted and it seems like things speed along reasonably quickly, to the point you hit 18 and you're like, wow, that was a long time.  If it was a child, they'd be graduating and moving into legal adulthood.  So I guess our marriage is officially an adult, right?  

I looked back through our wedding photos to find one to post, and oddly felt some sadness and regret.  One issue is that our photographer was a good friend, and while she was a professional (and very budget-friendly), the results weren't quite what we were hoping for, at least in retrospect.  Not that we even knew what to ask for, mind you, because that was before wedding photos became such a major "thing".  Now we know about what kind of dramatic, creative, fancy posed shots in amazing places people get, but I suppose we didn't put enough thought into it then.  Ours ended up being extra simple and bright sun caused some squints in one set of photos, and there just weren't a lot of opportunities to do more in different settings, so what we had in each pose was limited.  I printed a handful over the years, but that was about it.  I've long thought about trying to fit back into my dress (not a problem up until a couple years ago but I think I might have an issue now), getting us both all done up (plus the kids) and doing a "redemption shoot" at cooler places that would be a nod to our wedding but take into consideration who we are now.  Maybe the arena where we met, maybe Rochester landmarks like High Falls, Highland Park, Maplewood Rose Garden, or the Memorial Art Gallery steps.  I felt pretty on my wedding day, and I suppose the pictures capture that, but nowadays I feel like pictures look almost magical--like a surreal beauty of both the bride and the scenery, and I don't feel like many of our pictures really capture things that way.  They look a bit "everyday" despite being a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Another tinge of sadness was when I realized how our relationships have changed with our wedding party.  I still see Mary, of course, but those visits are mostly down to concerts, which has obviously been a while now, and due to some differences in socio-political views, I worry about how our conversations might evolve when we finally do hang out again.  Another bridesmaid I've only seen once since her wedding 13 years ago (not for lack of trying for a number of years), another is now my ex-sister-in-law (sigh), and while I still see my cousin plenty, our relationship is no longer as close as it once was either.  The only exception is Heather, who I probably see far more now that her rapidly growing baby boy makes frequent visits an even higher priority, whereas previously it was easy to let life get in the way and rely on seeing each other at church over the holidays (thankfully our parents switched churches to the same one years ago!).  We always just picked up right where we left off anyway, but now if we wait too long, her baby boy won't be a baby anymore!  Craig's side is much the same.  Aside from his brother and my brother, he sees and communicates with his three friends pretty rarely, not for any specific reason other than phases of life have changed things.  It's hard to understand why life does that, but I know we're also not alone in that reality.

Watching our honeymoon video a number of months back was actually pretty sobering because it was a very clear reminder how much we have aged.  I feel like I look pretty good for 42, but seeing my extra young, baby-faced 24-year-old self in the video was like, wow, maybe I have changed a lot.  Same with 30-year-old Craig, although he really got himself into shape over the last couple years so in many ways he seems younger than he did for a long time.  But it's one of those reminders (like the Friends and Real World Reunions) just how mercilessly time passes when you're preoccupied with being busy with life.

Lately I've been obsessing over trying to plan some sort of summer vacation.  We didn't get to do much last year, and the prior summer was pretty underwhelming as well (only one trip to northern New York), so I can't let another summer go by without some sort of significant, memory-making getaway for us.  We've been trying to figure out a Disney trip for a couple years, which the pandemic further derailed.  I started thinking about it for late this summer, but we'd previously asked Craig's parents about using their Disney Vacation Club membership for accommodations, and I have no idea if that would be available on such short notice.  Also, with this new delta variant of the coronavirus gaining strength, I don't know if it would be wise to take unvaccinated kids on a plane or down to a decidedly anti-mask area that will more than likely be extra cranky about going back to any sort of restrictions.  It could cause another spike by the end of summer, and I'd hate to have all those plans and then risk canceling them.  So maybe that has to wait longer.  But I'm coming up short on where we should go.  The DC side trip we were hoping to take for Jacob's basketball fell through, and Jacob will most likely be going to DC in the spring with school.  I've long wanted to go back to the Jersey Shore, but it seems like such a long drive and my favorite place to stay is so expensive--not to mention it's hard to get a place nearby under normal circumstances, let alone now when people are desperate to travel and partial to primarily outdoor locations.  One trip we will likely take (maybe on its own, maybe with something else) is to the new Legoland downstate.  I want to go there before the boys are too big to appreciate the family-friendly rides and theming.  I mean, Lego is pretty universal, but I can see where they'll lose some interest in the coming years, so I'd like to get that done now.  We also want to hit up Darien Lake closer to home, though my parents mentioned that as a potential activity when my brother and his kids come east in August, so that's on hold for the moment.  I suppose there are so many places we could go, but I'm just not feeling creative.  And with Disney on the horizon, money is obviously in the back of my mind.  But I know we need to do something because the regret from the last two years weighs heavily.

As I thought back to our past vacations, I realized Carter may not even remember much about real family vacations since he was pretty young when we did vacations that were not based around tournament travel.  We did a pretty good job during Jacob's first tournament summer adding in activities around games, including the Hershey factory tour, a day in Philadelphia, a quick stop in Gettysburg, and two baseball games.  The second year we were less successful due to schedules and locations, but I know Carter loved Howe Caverns and Jacob loved the Basketball Hall of Fame that summer.  Prior to that, we did a pretty good job making the most of the cities around us, doing Toronto in 2016, Erie in 2015, and Syracuse in 2014.  We did zoos, museums, baseball games, and more on those trips, which was much easier not having to work around wacky lacrosse tournament schedules.  We also did a pretty good job in those summers supplementing with amusement parks and other daytrips.  But Carter was only three on the Toronto trip, the last real vacation.  We had a couple vacation-like days on the North Country trip, but my guess is Carter has very little concept of a real vacation.  I can't wait for him to experience Disney, but anything beyond these kinds of local trips still seems overwhelming right now, for so many reasons.

Looking at photos of our previous trips (both to reminisce and to inspire ideas) brought back a lot of memories.  Some of those trips were so challenging we swore we'd never do another one (particularly Toronto), but those memories were important to try to make at the time.  The kids were impossible to manage in the hotel room and inevitably complained about half of what we did, but looking back we did some pretty fun stuff and I'm glad we pushed through.  I have missed going to random minor (and major) league ballparks since I have a reminder of those trips whenever I use our second bathroom that has walls full of pictures from each park.  The Royal Ontario Museum (with Chihuly) and Casa Loma were great experiences, and Howe Caverns was definitely memorable for both kids.  We've done some great zoos and had some great amusement park and water park visits, both on vacation and closer to home.  But we had a lot of in-between moments on our trips that I wish would have been better or easier, but even if the kids don't remember everything, we do.  I just wish more of it was positive.  But if our first Disney trip could come out with positive memories almost eight years later, almost anything could.  

Vacations got easier a few years ago--the Veterans' Day weekend trip to Maryland for lacrosse was the first one I remember going well, although the prior summer's lacrosse trips had their good moments, too--and I always tell our therapist that I think we do better when we're on a mission.  At home the kids get bored and ping between full on screen use to Jacob using less-effective means to get Carter off screens, and eventually something goes horribly wrong.  But when we're out in the world with a purpose, we seem better.  The kids seem distracted enough most of the time to lay off each other, and we experience some new stuff, which does wonders for me and should be good for the kids if they take it in properly.  But over the last couple years those experiences have been limited, and while part of me is craving adventure badly, the other part is a little overwhelmed at the thought and isn't quite sure how to venture out from our hermit life.  So, I guess I need to get creative and start thinking through our next adventure.  I have a starting point, I think, but just need to figure out some other stops to make it a full trip.  We'll see how far I get, but the beginning of the holiday weekend has been a good push in the right direction.  More on that soon...