At The Besh

On Friday I went to Adam's kindergarten class "Author's Celebration". The kids had previously created their own stories, typed them on the computer, and then the teachers, Ms Getty and Ms Remias, bound them into nice laminated books.

The kids were so excited about the party. They were all hanging out the doorway of the classroom eagerly watching for their parents to come walking down the hallway for the gala event.

Adam's story was titled "At The Besh" (At The Beach) and it was dedicated to "my bruther". It was a fascinating saga about going to the beach, skimboarding, digging a hole, and then going home. The author is a 6 year old that likes playing with his DS (Nintendo).

The parents went around and listened to each student read their story and then the parents wrote a "compliment" to the student. After the readings we had lemonade and snacks.

Presidential Wax Museum

The kids take their positions in the wax museum

Derek as Richard Nixon

Derek comes to life whenever someone touches his Watergate tape

William Taft and Abraham Lincoln

Photo Op for the parents

On Wednesday Helen and I went to see Derek and his class put on their Presidential Wax Museum. They've been researching their assigned president for weeks and Ms Crumley, their teacher, decided that a wax museum would be more fun than a written report.

Some kids chose to act like their president while others acted like the wife or the child of their president. The kids had to come up with a prop that their wax person held, so that when someone touched the prop the wax person would come to life and give their spiel. Derek was President Nixon and his prop was a cassette with a "Watergate tape" label.

The kids did a great job and they all seemed to have fun with the project. There were lots of parents and kids from other classes that came to see the wax museum. We were so proud of Derek. He worked hard on gathering his information and did a great job memorizing it and repeating it with some flair. We especially loved his "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore" and "I am not a crook" lines.

Mother's Day

Gathering before lunch

Getting seated next to Mike, Chris, & Lindsay

Don't know exactly what's going on here, but Lindsay looks cute (sorry Chris)

Agatha's family

On Saturday we took my Mom out to Norcross Station. My brother, Jason, joined us and we had a nice lunch on the porch. The weather was beautiful and the boys persuaded my Mom to take them to the park across the street to play for a little while before heading to Adam's baseball game. I spent most of the baseball game talking with one of the other Dad's whose also on my tennis team. We rehashed each painful moment of our tragic loss earlier in the morning.

On Sunday we went to lunch for Mother's Day at Two Urban Licks. My sister-in-law, Agatha, set it up. She was trying to save herself the trouble of multiple gatherings and invited everyone (22 people) to one big gathering. All in all it worked out well. The restaurant is located in a warehouse loft on the east side of downtown in the Moreland Ave\Freedom Pkwy area. It's definitely the most hip place we've eaten at in, well, as long as I can remember. We were a little worried it would be too hip (cramped, foo foo, not kid friendly), but the space was open so we didn't feel claustrophobic at all - even with our big group. We sat in an atrium area that was being flooded with sunlight. It was so bright that we had to get the restaurant to send a couple guys up to close the roof. The food was, indeed, foo foo (expensive and smallish portions), but it was good and the small portions just meant there was plenty of room for dessert. We were on the late side for lunch and with the large group we were kind of dragging on, so the waitress was ready for us to leave. Helen said that she saw the waitress actually hold her arms out in a lifting motion as to say, "Ok, you can all leave now." You know they want you to leave when they don't even offer dessert. Someone in our party forced the issue and ordered some dessert, but it wasn't long before the guys were back up removing the roof again. It had rained since the roof was put on and when they moved the roof we all got wet below. We canceled the dessert order and complained to the manager. He was nice and took some off of our bill.

Helen's brothers run a limousine business and her brother, Paul, said that he had taken some prom kids to a cute dessert bistro called Chocolate Pink. After some intown parking hastle we made it. Someone mistakenly thought the price for an entire cake was the per item price and we were all headed out the door when the mistake was recognized. We were glad we stayed. It was a neat little place and we had a nice time. Everyone else ordered, but no one ordered the "Chocolate Pink", so I figured I would try it. After all, that was the dessert that the place was named for. We all agreed that it was the best one.

I don't have an abundance of fond memories of my time at Georgia Tech, but I told Helen that driving around downtown\midtown Atlanta with friends in the beautiful spring weather was one of the things I always enjoyed.

One Down One To Go

Adam's baseball season came to an end on Saturday when his team lost their second game of the double elimination tournament. It was a quick 2 and out and we're thankful for that. There were a lot of bad attitudes on the team and the chemistry just wasn't there.

Derek's team won their first game of the tournament on Friday night. It was an exciting atmosphere. There was a big contingent of relatives in town to cheer the team on. The game was back and forth. Derek's teammate, Chris, hit a "real" home run to put the team up 8-5. I say "real" because it actually went over the fence. There have been a number of error aided home runs this season, but this was the first ball to leave the field. The other team tied the game, but we prevailed in extra innings. At the beginning of the season one of the kids said something about hitting it over the fence and the coach said that it was unlikely, but that he would treat everyone to ice cream if anyone hit it over the fence. So we all went out for ice cream after the game.

On the way home Derek was telling us how Tommy, the best player on the team, used to be really nice to everyone, but now he's not. I told Derek that Tommy was just focused and that he's probably tired of the other kids not making plays when he's out there making plays. I was thinking that would be motivating information that Derek would internalize and use to reinforce his determination to make some plays and not let the rest of the team down, but instead he responded that maybe he didn't want to play next year. Arghh!

After the talk with Derek about making plays we fast forward to Saturday morning. My tennis team was playing in the second round of the ALTA tennis playoffs. We have a strong team and really think we can win the city championship at our level. In the playoffs we play best of 5 doubles matches. Typically, the 1st line or pairing on each team is the strongest and the 5th is the weakest. There are rules that limit the captains from "sandbagging" or stacking stronger players lower in the lineup. Our team went in thinking that we would take the 1st and 3rd lines and then hope to take one of the others. I play on the 1st line and we have not lost all season and neither have the 3rd line.

We were a little off from the start. The other team rushed the net relentlessly and put a lot of pressure on us, but we still managed to win the first set 6-4. My partner is the best player on the team, but has a weakness in that when adversity hits he can't seem to pull out of a tailspin once it starts. Usually we are the stronger team and are able to avoid the situation. However, on this day we could not get on the same page. He insists on blasting the ball whereas I'm more of a hit em' where they ain't guy, which infuriates my partner as he would rather I blast the ball as well, especially when things aren't going well for us. I just ignore his frustrations and just try to focus on making my shots and when I do everything usually takes care of itself. For me, the most important thing is sticking together as a team and helping your partner get comfortable with the shots he's comfortable making.

We lost 1-6 in the second and seemed to roll over after getting down the second break. I was frustrated with myself. We just couldn't seem to pick each other up. One of us would make a shot, but the other couldn't follow. I wasn't nervous, but I just couldn't get comfortable. Often times courts are slightly sloped for drainage purposes, but these courts were unusually sloped. Also, I'm sure the other team's rushing of the net was a factor, but I have a good topspin lob and the other players were not very tall so I was confident that I could lob them (much to my partner's consternation).

After the second set I was more pissed and ready to win the third. My partner replied that we were not going to win because the other team controlled the net. I just ignored his comment, but it was with that feeling of confidence and teamwork that we went into the third set. We lost 4-6. I've been trying to figure out how we lost, but it's all a blur. It was like watching your favorite football team that's been killing people all season with their high power offense lose a game to what looks to be an inferior team and worse not play the way they had been playing all season. You just can't figure out what happened to the team that looked so great in all the other games.

I definitely did not make the plays that I should of. Tommy (from Derek's baseball team) would not have been happy with me. But the most frustrating thing for me is that my partner and I are almost always stronger players than our opponents (at least at our B-2 ALTA level), but when we face a little adversity we can't pull together and overcome it. One of the guys on our team said it was like watching a train wreck...you could see it coming but there's nothing you could do to avoid it...there were no survivors.

I had to leave immediately after our match in order to meet everyone to celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom, so I didn't get to see the other matches. We won at 3's as expected, but our 2's lost in 3 sets after having 2 match points. Our 4's lost in straight sets after having multiple set points to win the 2nd set. One of our 4's has a great overhead and usually controls the match, but he estimated he only hit about 5 of his 30 overhead chances that day. Our 5's were winning and more than likely would have won. So, again, if we would have won at 1's we would have won.

I was despondent most of Saturday and kept reminding Helen that although I was interacting I was really, in the back of my mind, just rehashing the fact that I lost over and over. I didn't sleep well Saturday or Sunday night either because of recurring thoughts about the match. But somehow Helen doesn't share my sense of despondency. In fun, I accuse her of having moved on and not giving the loss the true respect that it deserves. She jokingly acts like it does matter to her. I jokingly tell her it's not like it's one of her work problems that can be just blown over as this is about my personal failure and sense of self worth. But I'm getting better - I swear.

Road Trip

In the midst of all our activities, we're also trying to plan for a 2 week road trip that will commence when the school year is finished. It's always been a dream of ours to travel with the kids and see all the different parts of the country (and maybe even the world when the kids are old enough to appreciate it).

If everything works out, our plan is to do a beach vacation, ski vacation, and 2 week road trip every year (with a Disney vacation thrown in every few years). The road trip may not always start from home. For example, we may fly out to the Southwest or Northwest and start from there, but the idea is to explore the various parts of the country in some detail.

We were leaning towards the East coast this year, but my sister Katie hinted that she and her beau Todd may be getting married over Memorial Day weekend in Louisiana. I told her that we needed to know because we were planning a trip. They couldn't work out all the details, so the wedding is on hold for now, but we had already decided that we would just plan our first road trip for the Louisiana\Texas area anyway. If the wedding didn't happen - no big deal.

I really enjoy the trip planning part. I could even almost just plan the trip and not actually take the trip. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to involve the rest of the family in the planning to the degree that I would like. I feel like being involved in the planning raises the anticipation level and is part of the fun of the whole event.

Actually, now that I think about it...that never really happens. Usually, when I hear about a family or a group of people taking a trip, it always seems like one person makes all the arrangements and the rest of the group just goes along.

My siblings and I arranged to send my mother on a trip to the destination of her choice for her 60th birthday. My mom hasn't traveled much, but she enjoys it and she has always instilled an appreciation for culture and the arts in her children, so we were not surprised when she chose Italy as her destination. My sister Kelley and her boyfriend, Paul, agreed to accompany my mom. My sister and I assumed that my mom would really be engaged in the planning of the trip - after all the trip was for her and it was to a destination full of all kinds of things she loves. However, my mom was content to let my sister plan it all. In my mom's defense, she works alot and often just doesn't have much energy. In the end it all worked out. My mom got to relax and follow my sister's lead and they all had a great time.

Here's a rough itinerary of our trip:

Day 1 - Drive to Mobile, AL and spend the night.
Day 2 - Sightsee in Mobile. Drive to New Orleans and sightsee before heading to Todd's place in Pierre Part, LA.
Day 3 - Visit with friends and family in Pierre Part and let Todd cook for us.
Day 4 - Drive to New Orleans for the day to sightsee and return to Pierre Part to spend the night.
Day 5 - Drive to Baton Rouge, sightsee, and see Katie's place in Spanish Town, and spend the night.
Day 6 - Drive to Houston, sightsee (NASA, etc) and spend the night.
Day 7 - Sightsee in Houston and drive to Galveston to spend the night.
Day 8 - Sightsee in Galveston and drive towards Corpus Christy to spend the night.
Day 9 - Sightsee in Corpus Christy and drive towards San Antonio to spend the night.
Day 10 - Sightsee in San Antonio and drive towards Austin to spend the night.
Day 11 - Sightsee in Austin and spend the night.
Day 12 - Sightsee in other parts of Hill Country around Austin and spend the night.
Day 13 - Drive towards Dallas\Fort Worth, sightsee, and spend the night.
Day 14 - Head home via I-20, miscellaneous sightseeing, and spend the night.
Day 15 - Miscellaneous sightseeing and arrive home.

It's things like trip planning that make me wonder...what did we used to do before the internet? I found all kinds of great resources. In addition to all the internet stuff, I also ordered a Texas travel guide and have been reading it in bed most nights. It breaks the state into several regions and then has information about all the towns in each region - lots of interesting stuff. I also ordered a New Orleans travel guide.

There all kinds of great internet sights about road trips. Here are a few of my favorites:

Factory Tours - We love to watch how things are made on the Discovery Channel.
Hampton Inn Landmark Locator - Neat search tool for finding landmarks in a particular area.
Road Food - Where the locals eat.
MSN Road Trip Articles - All kinds of great road trip articles.
Road Trip America - The premier road tripping site.
Tracks and Trails - Neat family that started a business offering customized RV trips.
The Gaidus Family - My favorite. This site is awesome. They have two boys (like us) and share our interest in creating lasting memories. When I showed Helen the site and the pictures of their boys growing up here in 1999 and here in 2007 - she cried. You can just feel all the great memories they've created for their family.

The Home Stretch

We're in the home stretch as there's only a couple weeks left in school. Before kids, the school year used to drag at times for Helen, but now with all our family activities the year flies by. I keep telling her that she'll be retired in no time, which makes her think she might be able to make it. But then I tell her that of course the kids will be grown and gone as well and that makes her cry.

On Tuesday, Helen had the last tennis match of her Calcutta season. She was paired with Katie L. who was tied for first going into the match. Helen and Katie won the match and Katie won the first place money. Helen was happy that she didn't let her partner down. Last season Helen was the big winner. The tennis group is going out for dinner tonight to celebrate the season.

On Friday, we all stayed up too late and watched the last Lord of the Rings movie, "The Return of the King". Thankfully, the boys did not have early baseball games on Saturday.

On Saturday, my tennis team was in the first round of the ALTA tennis playoffs. We've been in the playoffs many times over the years, but almost never make it past the first round. The weather was not cooperative and each of the first two teams only got to finish one set. Our team was up a set in both matches, so things were looking good.

Helen and the kids had a relaxed morning. Adam had plenty of time to get all his knights out and make plenty of forts and "movies". Derek continued to work on his "President Nixon" project. Helen prepared some appetizers for our sister-in-law's baby shower. When I got home, I took over watching the boys so Helen could finish getting ready for the shower. She picked her Mom up in Roswell before heading to the shower in Powder Springs. It was a long day, but she had a good time visiting with all the girls and baby sister, Lindsay.

I was thinking the baseball games would be rained out and maybe we would go see "Iron Man", but no such luck. Derek had a game at 1:30. Afterwards we went to the shoe store while we waited for Adam's game at 4:30. We got Derek some new running shoes - size 7! He's got a little room to grow into, but still. They're even a little big on Helen.

On Sunday, my tennis team finished the rain shortened match from Saturday - and we won so we'll live to play again on Saturday in Marietta. In the afternoon, Derek had a makeup baseball game, but the other team canceled so Derek's team just practiced. The weather was beautiful and it was a great time. The players, siblings, and parents were all out there and the kids really learned a lot. For some reason, in this league, the teams don't practice - they only play games once the season starts. The kids would really be better off having one practice and one game a week rather than two games.

The regular baseball season is over, but that doesn't mean it's over over. There's still the double elimination playoffs, which could drag out until Memorial Day. Maybe Adam and Derek's teams will both lose quickly.