ESY #3

ESY is in session.

It's been three years since I last worked Extended School Year. Not much has changed. I recognized a lot of faces from my previous tours of duty. I'm paired with a teacher that I last worked with 9 years ago as a substitute.

The first weeks is always chaos. Today was the calm before the storm. The buses will be a mess tomorrow when the kids start. That's when the fun really begins!

It's a six hour day with kids there for five. I'm an IA (Instructional Assistant) again to avoid paperwork and too much responsibility (it is summer!). The program will last for five weeks and then I will be off again!

I am eager to meet the students. They are a very different bunch than I normally work with. Most of them are excited to be back in school. I'll get to re-familiarize myself with the Hoyer Lift, too.

Kitten update

The cats are getting along. Carrie's pumped. She took Bucket to work on Thursday! My wife is addicted to cute.

A Full Saturday

I didn't think there'd be many garage sales the day after fireworks, but Carrie found a multi-family one online.

It was farther away, but why not? The weather was great, and an adventure is an adventure, right?

The neighborhood turned out to be a re-purposed military base. Carrie noticed right away.

"You see that? That would be the parade grounds." It was a sports field by a field.

"That would have been the commandant's office." It still looked commandanty.

"That would've been where the PX was." I think it was now a school.

The area had a neat feel to it.

Carrie got to play American Picker. She bargained for a cabinet to refinish...

...and a coat of arms, just because!

It would've been too long a journey to come home completely empty handed. Shane got a toy dinosaur for a couple of bucks.

We drove into downtown Warrenton to look around afterwards. It was a neat looking main street. We wandered around before stopping for lunch.

Shane practiced his photography skills while Carrie and I took our turn eating.

Shane doesn't look very enthusiastic in the photo, but he loved Carrie's monte cristo.

On the way home we stopped at a Wawa (sweet!) and again at the farm.

The animals are free to look at, but Carrie had a bunch of change for goat feed.

It was a good way to break up a slightly longer drive into easy chunks.

Shane must have been worn out. He took a three hour nap! I woke him up to go visit Nana, Pop, Jama, and Indy. We all went to the park. Shane played on the playground, Carrie beat me at mini-golf (again), and then we all went by a pond to feed the fish and turtles.

Sunday is going to need to be a day of rest! We've been busy this summer!

A Peaceful Fourth

Happy Independence Day readers!

We didn't celebrate Independence Eve, but we did drop by Nana and Pop's for a fairly simple Fourth.

Shane and I wore our kilts for Nana. Don't let her tell you otherwise; She loves them.

Plus, it's been fairly hot. 

Shane must have felt the advantage, because he didn't rip his kilt off like the first time we put it on. He could use some modesty training.

"Do you want the boy to be weird?!" Nana asked. 

We had plenty of snappy come-backs. The banter is all in good fun. Just like Carrie stealing Shane's wheels.

Shane loves to be outside. He started the morning playing with moon sand with Pop. During lunch, Shane bonded with the salad tongs. He wouldn't put them down.

We ended up using them to dig up rocks.

Shane pretended he was a crane.

We took the kilt off before nap to prevent wrinkling the ruffles ("They're pleats!" -Carrie). Shane wasn't out of energy, though. He loves roughhousing around.

During nap time, John came over to play some xwing and then Kim and Ryan came by to hang out, too. None of my siblings were around, but we had a small party anyway!

It did not last long. Everyone had places to go for the evening. Ryan and Kim went to his parents. Nana and Pop went out to feed the homeless. John headed over to meet with our other friends, and then Carrie and I took Shane home to check on the kitten after a day away.

Nothing crazy. Just a nice day off.

Fourth of July Footnote

The Fourth of July is very different when you have a sleeping child you don't want woken. :)

They're still fun to look at.

Taking it easy. I'll write something tomorrow.

Dancing Machine

I try to avoid posting anything student related. However, I think I'll make an exception here since they were video-taping my dancing machine who doubles as my son.

Shane dancing at the wedding was hilarious, so I decided to pull this one out of the 'vault!'

Kim and Ryan's Wedding: The Reception

Kim and Ryan's reception was held at a country club. Pennsylvania has some beautiful landscapes!

Everyone hung out while we waited for Kim and Ryan to make their appearances. Tired was etched into Shane's face. He was also all done with waiting! 

When he saw Kim and Ryan drive by the terrace for some final pictures he said, "Daddy! I need them!" He wanted to dash off in pursuit. I managed to compromise: we walked out part of the way (to the "No one past here" sign) and we hid behind a bush. 

"Surprise!" Shane yelled. Kim and Ryan laughed as they drove by. Shane didn't understand why the golf cart didn't stop. He wanted to go with them!

Shane could not be contained. He got to walk in with Mommy for introductions, and then he wanted to yell out and join the toasts, prayers, and speeches that kick off a wedding! He would've jumped in on the first dances if I'd let him.

He got his chance at the dance floor soon enough!

My son is a dancing boy. I may have to get him some lessons or he'll look like me out there. 

By the way, Shane is NOT shy.

Shane wanted to get out there and strut his stuff! All of his energy spilled out in a torrent. Several people almost squashed him, so I was very thankful whenever he had dance partners to reign him in. Lord knows, he didn't want to dance with Dad.

Carrie, Shane, and I sat at a table with Grandma, Grandpa, and the adult members of the bride's family. 

Shane caught our server, Charlie, in a candid photo. Phones are awesome for keeping feral toddlers occupied.

Photography classes may ensue. Less fingers would show up for sure.

Grandma and Grandpa borrowed my phone for a selfie. Can you spot why I married my wife?

Photobomb success, Care-bear!

There was a photo-booth outside that was supposed to get the silly out of our system before the meal, but we're a playful family.

Hopefully, Shane will remember me as fun and not just the "Get off the floor!" guy at the wedding.

Throughout it all, Ryan and Kim kept smiling. They made rounds and talked to everybody. It's a lot of work getting married! They looked like they enjoyed it.

It would've been fun to hang out and enjoy the night with them once all the food and obligations were finished. Wedding receptions are usually a ton of fun. There's friends, food, cake...

Did I mention the cakes yet?

The cakes looked amazing! 

Both of them!

We didn't get to try it sadly. It was after 8 PM when we packed up a cranky Shane for an hour drive back for bedtime. The cake hadn't been served by then. I get hungry looking at the pictures.

Kim and Ryan's Wedding: The Wedding!

Kim and Ryan are officially married! The ceremony was Saturday, June 28th, 2014. 

Shane was the ring-less ring-bearer. The bride and groom know my son well! 

However, Shane would have done well with the rings. He walked down the aisle next to his Mommy a perfect gentle-tot. Shane hammed it up. He loved all the attention. His smile was ear to ear and I swear he posed for at least a couple photographs. Shane is a cute customer.

Once he delivered his pillow, Shane and Mom sat down next to me in the front. My phone already had "Where's My Perry?" running with all of the sounds muted. Reasonably silent toddler: Accomplished!

The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch. The pastor had a clear sense of humor throughout. At one point, he said, "Ryan, I love you, but you're supposed to look at her when you say the vows!" The actual vows were fairly long. The pastor would said a few words and then Ryan or Kim would repeat (pending on who's turn it was to say them). The only scripture was at the end when the pastor said, "Be fruitful and multiply! But take your time!" 

I'm looking forward to when the wedding photographer posts more pictures online. I'm no artist, but Ryan and Kim made for a photogenic couple. I want a nice picture of my own hot wife and cute son walking down the aisle, too!

Shane could only stay good for so long. He was back to his hyper, rolling across the floor, trying to duck under pews self after the ceremony. Carrie and I hung back to let everyone else go through the receiving line while Shane cavorted around with his Captain America shield bribe. I made sure to stick it back in the church lost and found before we left. It was incredibly tempting to keep, but I figure if someone loses something at a church they should expect to find it there!

Kim and Ryan got a bubble send off. Then Shane got a bubble party!

That was the only time I pulled my phone out. I was too busy being part of the moment. We were getting ready to back out when they pulled us back in for some family photos. I want to see those, too!

Kim and Ryan must be happy with how things turned out. They were full of smiles and if something went wrong then I certainly didn't detect it. They were still smiling when we saw them again at the reception.

Congratulations, Kim and Ryan! The next time you visit Shane I'm going to point out your rings.

Shane's First Movie

Today was Shane's first day in a movie theater. Carrie and I took him to see Ice Age 4. It was $2 Tuesday!

However, 15 minutes after the allotted start time the manager came out to say the movie wouldn't play.

Oops.

They put on the Lego Movie instead. It's a good movie, but it was too much for Shane. He asked Mommy to turn it off and said he was ready to go.

We ended up eating ice cream and playing at a Chick-Fil-A instead. Shane was mad when Carrie and I were ready to go!

We got free passes from the movie mess-up, so we'll try again some other time.

Cell Phone Trouble

My phone has been a pain in the arse lately. It finally got to the point that Carrie, Shane, and I went down to a wireless store to do something about it. I'm also waiting on more photos to be posted from Kim and Ryan's Wedding, so I can steal a few. My phone was in Shane's hands whenever we wanted him to sit still for a bit.