Sunday July 2
We had already kicked off my 9 day vacay with our little family unit, but were able to pick up Sam and Ray on Sunday. Jojo rode up with me to surprise them. Sunny skies and light traffic made for an almost pleasant trip home. We had big plans for the week, so upon our return we all just watched Moana as a family for the first time (albiet the 15th for Eliz, Jules and I). I love that movie. I may or may not tear up every time she sings How far I'll go.Monday July 3
Heath pool ya'll. It was Jules' introductory year, and it didn't disappoint. Like his dad, kid is obsessed with water. He took right to playing in all the splash pads, but it took him awhile to realize that he could walk in the shallow water. He just stood still and looked around confused. By the end of the day, he was wading up to his chin and had to be forcibly removed from the pool. Sam went down the big twisty slide, and Ray took it upon himself to try the drop slides and both the high and low dives. Brave little ones. Eliz and I retreated to the house while the boys stayed with Jojo and Felicia at the Newark fireworks. They texted us that Ray proudly ate an entire funnel cake. In the morning they texted us the puddle of vomit he left on their bathroom floor as a result.Tuesday July 4
Kind of the hit of the week. Our little neighborhood had a 4th of July parade and the boys decided they would like to decorate the wagon and pull Jules. It was about as cute as it gets. It had stars, stripes, and little cut out letters that read 4th of July. The police and fire department led the parade around the loop. They must have been in a hurry as they took off with the kids on bikes and left most of us behind. No matter. I had equipped the wagon with a bluetooth speaker and we marched on to Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA. At the end they had cookies, and Little Hugs to drink. Little Hugs! Guess what? Little Hugs suck in 2017. Another reason why the 80s are way better than this jerkass decade. Pooled-out from the day before, we spent the heat of the day lounging in conditioned air before carting our sparklers and smoke bombs to Jojo's for an evening of shenanigans. Takeaways: Jules likes playing with fire (both literally and metaphorically), Ray is a wild man and should be supervised even with tame fireworks, and Sam, while cautious, is a sure bet not to intentionally injure himself.Wednesday July 5
As if we hadn't had enough excitement yet, we awoke to make grand plans for the day. While deciding between Young's Dairy and the Newport Aquarium, a quick google mapping revealed that Young's was roughly on the way to Newport. A two-for-Wednesday was born. A miscalculation on my end coupled with Eliz' famous ability to underestimate how long it takes to get ready meant we had about 35 minutes to spend at Young's Dairy. Word to the wise, this is not long enough. The ice cream was creamy, and outside they had a few free farm attractions. Jules could not get enough time behind the wheel of an old tractor, and they all got to feed goats and see cows. Young's has a putt-putt and a potato-sack slide that I intend to experience when we return. Past Yellow Springs we drove by a train-themed splash pad that we also want to go to at some point. Newport aquarium is an interesting place. It's cool enough that you want to visit it occasionally, but it's not cool enough that you feel great about having driven 2 hours to get there. Oh, and when you're done, you get to drive 2 hours to get home. The boys all had some ahh moments, but I think if I didn't have Dewey's pizza afterwards I may not have enjoyed myself as much.Thursday July 6
Having blown most of our budget of both energy and money for the week, Thursday took a turn down Chill lane. In fact, we penciled in the word chill to a great number of slots on our Staycation calendar. I took the boys for a ride past a few of our family's old houses and went to visit the graveyard where a few of my grandparents rest. We spent the late-afternoon at my Grandma Charlotte's house, and it is amazing how a bin of old toys can still amaze my children in this age where Kindles rule. I love her dearly and appreciate getting to spend time with her. Having blown right through dinner time, we ordered pizza on the way home and downloaded Big Hero 6 and spent the rest of the evening chilling.Friday July 7
When the boys lived at home with me, we spent a great deal of time playing with toy cars. While amassing a nice Hot Wheels collection, we must have watched the Cars movie 20-30 times together on DVD. Cars 3 came out this summer, and I was touched when the boys said they wanted to wait to see it with me. We left Jules & Smom at home for this one and headed to our favorite movie theater. Keeping spoilers out, watching Lightning's maturation process along side my babies who are now pre-teens was more emotionally than I had bargained for. It was my dad moment for the week, and a beautiful one at that. Thank you boys for coming with me.Saturday July 8
Slip. And. Slide. We resurrected an old tradition of slinging ourselves down 100ft of sheet plastic in my parents' backyard. When we were deciding on activities for the week, the boys opted to cut out a few other traditions in favor of this one. It's a blast. It's always a blast. This year I fiddled around and added a wonky pool to the bottom. We tried to bolster it with bags of mulch, but some serious re-engineering will be required. I also need to figure out a way to keep the slide from shifting down the sides. Our buddy also came down and brought his GT350 for me to see for the first time. That is an incredible machine, but I can't let him know that.Sunday July 9
We did chores most all of the day. What started as a good team effort degraded into the usual bitching from Sam about having to do any work. He's a lot like I was at that age in that regard. I have no idea how to get though to him, because nothing ever got through to me. Chores suck, and like yardwork, are best left for retirement. Around noon I was disassembling the parade wagon decorations that served as a physical reminder that my vacation was at an end. Being stubborn, I convinced the wife that we had to hang on to our remaining hours. We had another family movie night with Cars, ka-chow. With the kids in bed, we had a few drinks and played video games until too late on a work night.Time is slipping away. I'm a year older, and again roughly another 6 months from a week's reprieve. But this was a week well spent. I am rested. My family has more memories together. And I want to sock every penny I can into our home so we can retire and make this a permanent thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment