New Marriage Milestone

Carrie dumped iced tea on me in the shower after I refused to promise not to play Shania Twain songs in front of her.

Shane's Wrestling Season 2018-19

Shane's wrestling season started this week! We are knee-deep in the busy season. Shane's old enough for the elementary practice now, so there are two practices a week. I'd like to go to at least one each week, but the plan is to go to two as often as possible. It starts at 6 PM, so I have time to grab Shane and get him to practice myself.

Monday, Shane buddied up with Hayden from soccer.

They were mostly productive. Shane doesn't really show any talent for wrestling yet, but he sure loves rolling around on the mats! He seems to really enjoy moving around, hopping, tackling, and the like. 

Wrestling is a great sport for a kid who loves attention. Whoever you're wrestling has no choice, but to focus on what you're doing! I still noticed that whenever I looked at Shane from on the balcony he was somehow looking back at me. I want to see what's happening, but I wonder if he'd focus more if I wasn't in the room. 

Shane ran into the very middle of the pile at the end of the first practice.

The second practice, Shane buddied up with Ryan. I heard Hayden calling Shane's name and felt a little bad, but my plan is to stay off to the side and let Shane listen to the coaches and go with the flow.

Ryan, by the way, knows a lot more about wrestling than Shane. His dad helps coach and works with the kids. I don't really do anything at home with Shane since we live in a "thud free zone."

Shane's been excited and having fun so far. I don't know if the twice a week will wear on him or make him enjoy the season more, but we're going to find out!

Wrestling and the Wrestling Club

The wrestling team is working together nicely...to do group push ups.

I enjoy the kids. We've got an eclectic group as usual.

The wrestling club, on the other hand, is defunct.

I feel bad, but the bus never came through. I started the club with the understanding that there would be a bus that could drive the kids from Walker to the High School. It's 0.7 miles and last year it was literally on a normal bus route. We sat up front and got off the bus about 3 minutes later. With a bus, I could bring the kids over to the wrestling room (Mats help with wrestling), introduce them to other wrestlers, and continue to coach the MS and HS unimpeded. It worked last year.

This year, the bus never materialized. I talked to the program director and he was frustrated. He'd been trying to get a bus for me and the fencing club and no one would return his calls.

I'm double-booked and being the head middle school coach ranks higher for me.

Random bus note: We have had our own, personal problems with the buses. After the incident with Shane, we asked if Shane could ride his old bus. It drives past his stop and the kids could wave at him. We didn't mind walking the extra 100 yards down to the other stop, either.

We were denied.

The principal tried to speak on our behalf, but the buses aren't run by the schools. They're run by the city and they get to do what they want to do.

I've driven Shane to school every day since. It's an easy drive and I get to work early, so it's working out well. I would have preferred for Shane to get to know the kids right around the corner better, but maybe I can leverage a, "I drove you to school every day for a year because...!" in the future.

The New Frontier (Short) - Ask me in person if you want the long story (I wrote a draft and it's still saved)

Carrie scheduled for our buying agent when we moved to Charlottesville, Peg, to come look at our house. The idea was to get tips for what we would need to do when it was time to sell our house.

I was surprised when I received an email about a "blank purchaser agreement."

Long story short, Carrie, Peg, and Grandma all went out to look at some land in Scottsville and fell in love. It is in a good spot by their definition and by my definition. The developer who owns the land is highly motivated to sell....., so we're going forward with looking at testing the soil, zoning, and all of the other possible hiccups.

If the land still looks great after the tests, negotiations, and prayer then we may have found the land we were looking for.

SNES!

My old SNES still works! They really don't make them like they used to!

Shane played some Power Rangers for a little bit before he switched to a good game, Mega Man X!

We've been playing off an on for the past few weeks. In the beginning, he couldn't beat the prologue mission. Now, he can get through the occasional level! He has a little trouble managing jumping and shooting or switching back and forth between them.

I played with Shane at first, but have faded so that he's on his own. He'd prefer if I was upstairs the whole time, but he seems okay with running down for help after he's lost three lives. I'd let him play it more if he was willing to play by himself and give me a break, but Shane prefers to always be where the people are.

NOVA for the Holiday

Thanksgiving means people travel.....and sometimes they travel somewhere it's easy for us to travel to! The Jeffers Clan gathered, so Shane and I joined the party!

Dan and Shar are currently living in Nebraska. However, he got called in for a big project in Boston. He's been making a ton of overtime money and felt like splurging. He bought his family a VR system while he was in town!

Shane got to try Beat Saber!

I tried it, too, but there's no video of that. Suffice to say, I would have been ashamed if I hadn't beat my 7 year old!

Dan has the same system in Nebraska. He was pretty good, but Shar was far and away the best.

Neat thing about VR: No one can block your view.

John showed up and joined the party while Bill trayed to shoot 'weiner dogs.'

Unfortunately, Igor was busy. His house is under contract and he and Casey are planning on moving to a house they're building in Colorado.

Benjamin had been sleeping when we first arrived. He was up soon enough.

Benny is the first of the Jeffers grandchildren.

Bill and Jill are doing a great job.

Cute babies are cute to the non-sleep delirious.

Shane somehow decided Marcus was his favorite to pick at while all this happened. Ironic, since Marcus is the largest guy in the house (Thankfully, he's the least combative from growing up, so there is that!). 

Shane actually got in trouble for trying to trip Marcus as he was carrying the dog, Oreo, out of the room. Shane timed the trip just right and it was almost bad. I made him sit in the kitchen until he apologized to Marcus.

Which took longer than advertised, because Oreo had explosive diarrhea as Marcus carried him! I can't make this up!

Marcus got changed, forgave Shane, and John showed off his models when our next pair of visitors arrived.

Matt was back in town! He brought Aiden over to say, "Hello."

Diane had been telling me that Matt "STILL" hadn't brought the baby over when he called.

Random: This is the only picture I managed to get with Ashley. She arrived late for the family picture and then left with Marcus and his girlfriend Lauren to see a movie.

But back to the kids.

Shane was by far the oldest. Benjamin is a month younger than Wolfie and a year younger than Aiden.

Random 2: I wasn't the only one trying to take pictures!

Honestly, I was tired from trying to keep track of all the commotion.

There were a lot of people, a lot of conversations, and a lot of noise to concentrate on and filter out in turn.

We stayed there with the Jeffers for most of the day. I believe we got there around 10:30 AM and didn't leave until 5:30 PM.

Shar had to catch a flight back to Lincoln and Bill and Jill were driving back, so it was time.

Plus, we wanted to visit Megan's crew!

Shane and B are a good fit. They're both raging extroverts! They started the night reading to each other.

Megan tried to get them interested in a memory game, at first.

Their attention spans didn't last.

Kathleen called and they all attacked to see her on Facetime.

Shane and B went down to the basement to set up some traps. Then they asked us to come and see them. Shane popped up behind Megan and rolled a yoga ball down the stairs behind her as she went down!

I would have died laughing except my 'Dad' reflexes kicked in when I heard the tink of glass. There were a a group of empty wine bottles sitting on the stairs the boys hadn't cleared out...

Nothing broke, Hallelujah! I had to give Shane a "Be careful" warning even as I mentally gave him a point for creativity (He won't know unless he reads this, though).

Megan had a game where there was a bomb the kids had to defuse before it's timer ran down. The boys loved it. B wanted to rescue her and Wolfie, as well.

I got to do a little uncle time with Wolfie myself.

Big B left to see a friend who was shipping out. I was drafted to keep Wolfie happy while Megan did some dinner prep for the boys (They had a lot of leftover turkey!).

Shane and I headed out when it was B's bedtime and went to Jama's. I tried to call Carrie and even logged in to WoW to see if she was on, but she'd fallen asleep early. I ended up playing tech support for Jama, farting around on my computer, and staying up later than I should.

Especially considering Shane woke up by 6:30 AM. Jama's new coach made for better sleeping for me....what I got of it, anyway!

Jama came down to greet us and escort us up to Ed's for breakfast.

Shane and I played Go Fish while Jama cooked.

Jama sent us to church well fed. We went to our church from Chantilly, New Life. We met up with John for lunch at Wegmans.

I forgot my phone charger at Jama's so we all went back to spend some time with her and then go on a walk. We found a snake soaking up some of the fleeting, Fall sun.

We killed a lot of time and hung out in a Korean bakery before saying our farewell to John. I gave Shane my phone as a distraction and he took a picture of me.

Given more time, I'd have tried to meet up with Megan again, Matt G, Travis, Drew, Gen & Chris, Ken....You can't live in an area for twenty years without making some connections! I love this holiday. I'm always thankful for a chance to see family and friends.

The Trap Life

I don't know how it's a 'trap,' but he says it's a trap. 

Belated Friday Event

Last Friday, Shane and I went to the playoff football game for Amelia! Ryan's the band director. The rains had destroyed their field, so the game was moved to Monticello HS right down the road from us. It was an easy drive!

But cold. Very cold. I never realized metal bleachers were heat vampires. The seat leeched all my body warmth out my butt.

We managed to stay happy, though.

Ryan stayed busy with the band. He let them have a small break, so he wouldn't be deemed an evil taskmaster and posed for a quick photo.

We stayed through half time and then called it a night. I looked up the score later. Amelia lost. They don't get to advance, but all their fans get to avoid cold metal bleachers. I'm glad wrestling is an indoor sport. I'll bring a towel or a blanket to sit on the next time I deal with winter bleachers!

Thanksgiving 2018

Thursday morning, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving! Carrie got right to work in the kitchen helping Grandma.

Shane and I popped over to where Grandpa was watching the parade.

Shane wasn't useless, though. He got pulled to set the table later on.

Me? I took pictures. I might have grabbed stuff from the garage every now and then, as well. I was glad I drove, otherwise I would have felt useless!

We had a nice turkey lunch. I had a wonderful nap on the couch right afterwards. It was a dream literally and figuratively: Grandma and Grandpa agreed to play Monopoly with Shane. Carrie was banker and rules assistant. I slept through it. I would wake up, listen for a little bit, and then roll over. They weren't done yet and I wasn't done yet either. Good times!

There was business talk, but there was a lot of house talk. Carrie and Grandma drew maps, calculated, and discussed things with great vigor. My estimates of how soon we'll be moving keep moving up.

Grandpa and Shane settled in to watch The Wizard of Oz.

That gave me time to write blog posts.

The next day, I played another round of Pandemic with Shane. I was hoping someone else would show an interest and join us, but Grandpa joined in all of the house talk.

Shane and I did play a game of Parcheesi with Grandpa before we left. Or most of one. Shane accused Grandpa of counting wrong and then called me a liar, so I called the game. It was a good opportunity for a lesson and we needed to leave anyway.

The ride home was uneventful. I'd hoped to stop in Richmond on the way back, but Carrie wanted to be home for a scheduled call with a client.