Spoiled Child Meets Rejection

School starts in 19 days and we have three weekends left.  It is suddenly urgent to Gen that she make a trip to Clay Center to see her old friends before school starts, oh, AND she insists that she needs to stay an entire week. Apparently her entire existence depends on it. 

What the..? 

She has conveniently forgotten that I already let her do that this summer AND she also had a friend come stay here with us for an entire week.  So basically rumor has it now that her parents hate her and THAT is why she isn’t getting her way. She even stated that being an orphan would be a blessing and I informed her to be careful because that can be arranged. Gotta love teenagers, right? Syd just laughs at her sister’s mood swings which angers the beast even more . She has promised me she won’t ever become a teenager. Don’t let me down Syd; I don’t know if I can handle two hormonal demons at once. Eeeew, I shudder at the thought.  

Free Time at Last!

“Okay, so no softball practice or tournaments this weekend; what should we do?”

“Let’s go to the lake!’ 

There’s nothing I enjoy more than frolicking in water with zero visibility, tainted with fish pee and worse. *ugh* But, that is how the majority ruled so off we went. We packed a picnic, stocked the cooler, aired up the girls’ inner tubes, and then drove all over Douglas County to find the last two remaining air mattress’ for Daniel and me. By golly we vowed if we were going, we were gonna be the ultimate bums by lounging on top of the water, getting some sun, and exerting the least amount of energy as possible.  Plus that way hopefully I could avoid getting any nasty water in my mouth or nose. The beach area at Clinton is really nice and this was my first trip. The girls have been numerous times and love it. The sand was a good 350 degrees but the fish water felt good as long as I didn’t dwell too much on what might be in it.  The girls also had fun playing in the “chocolate pudding” on the bottom of the lake. They REALLY enjoyed smearing it on us when we least expected it. Syd found out the hard way courtesy of her sister that it sure doesn’t taste anything like pudding. 

We rounded out our evening by first, showering then we grilled some dinner, the adults had mojitos on the patio, and finally we watched a movie until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer. I love the girls playing sports but I could reeeeally get used to spending my Saturdays this way.

This week was packed full of activities associated with the USSSA 12U B World Series here in Lawrence. As the host team we worked setting up the extras that make it fun for the kids. We helped with registration, the skills competition, organized the opening ceremonies parade of teams, we helped clean up, and then we helped set up for the luau Wednesday night at the Aquatic Center downtown. The girls were lucky to even make it to Friday in this competition against teams from Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska, Illinois, as well as Kansas.

As of 10:00 am Friday Gentry wrapped up her season with the 12U Phenix. Since last September this team has played a total of 98 games. That, my friends is a shitload of softball and not many free weekends. I think she was surprised to find herself "a little bummed" (her words) today after the team lost their second game and she turned in her uniform. Now she has to choose between accepting an offered position on a young 14U Phenix team or go on countless try-outs spanning from Topeka to Lee Summit. High School softball at Free State is the goal and she has a year until that time comes so we have to prepare now. A year ago she had reservations about the team she is now leaving. Most of the girls were two years younger than her and some had never played competitive ball before. It was like night and day from what she was used to but she stuck it out. She made some good friends out of the deal and I think overall she matured as a player. Now to find a good fit for next year.

Turquoise Monster

This old, iron, cable bridge was real close to our cabin in Missouri. Cars would make a horrific hum as they crossed and from the moment I laid eyes on this turquoise monster I vowed I wasn't leaving until I walked out on it to get some pictures. Never mind that I nearly pee'd myself as I scrambled to get out of the way when a car suddenly appeared from around the corner and zipped across. I got my shots and that's all that matters.

 I love how the road appears to go on forever....

 This is the "road" and those are the trees below. Definitely wouldn't want to try crossing this thing in heels.

 

This simple yet breathtaking scene was the site Sunday for a roof top wedding we attended in downtown Lawrence. Thank goodness for awnings, a breeze, and a short ceremony cause after only a few minutes I could feel drops of sweat rolling down the back of my leg. At least I knew if I was slowly melting in the heat then all the other women were as well and surely their dresses would be plastered to their tooshies as mine was. All was good; the whole evening was amazing. We ate, we drank, we danced and best of all, two good friends started their life together.

Week 7

It dawned on me today that I haven’t given an update lately on Chatty. She has become quite the staple at the 6:00am work-out and today was #22 for her. Only six more to go and she will earn her first shirt! The only considerable difference from seven weeks ago is that my bubbly, happy-go-lucky Chatty partner has turned into whiney McWhinerton.

“I don’t wanna ruuun. Can’t I just check in and then sleep in the car until you are done?”  
"I hate hills! I never want to go up another hill as long as I live!" 

I have emphasized from day one that she can set her own pace; we don’t have to run together. We have kind of gotten into our own groove where we go at our own pace and then meet at our designated spot when we are done and it’s worked well. I don’t want her to burn herself out or be miserable and then not want to do it ever again. It’s hard work and she is the cutest lil’ stud muffin fo sho… even if she’s walking while her 40 year old mama out runs her. That’s right, I said it. I can officially out run my 10 year old! No brag, just fact. Whoo hooo! 

Hang in there Chatty, only two more weeks!

This weekend we traveled to Excelsior Springs Missouri to partake in one of our newly found pastimes; wine tasting! The Elms hotel and spa was hosting the 5th annual Missouri Wine Tasting Festival and I could not resist getting tickets and making Daniel take me. Actually, that didn't take a lot of convincing.

Nine hours of unlimited wine taste testing from some of Missouri's best wineries accompanied by live music and gourmet cooking demonstrations sure isn't a bad way to spend a hot Saturday.

One of the things I love to do when visiting a new town is to find the downtown district and find the local flavor. You know what I mean; like the mom and pop hole in the wall places that typically have the best food.

Downtown District Warsaw Missouri

 

Ventana Gourmet Grill.. downtown Excelsior Springs Missouri

My kids have finally come to accept that their mom is always going to be lurking with her camera in an attempt to catch them in the act of doing something totally embarrassing that can and will be held against them later in life. Luckily for me they have no interest in reading my blog so I can pretty much divulge whatever I want. (Muhaaa, haaa, haaa suckas!)

To set the scene for you, Gentry’s softball team has been practicing exceptionally hard all week preparing for the USSSA Softball World Series starting here in Lawrence on Monday.  The heat index has been well in the 100’s every night making it very sticky and uncomfortable for absolutely everyone involved. After four nights of being sweaty and gross she announces to me and her sister,

“Maaaaan, I have an itchy butt! Mom, what can I do for my itchy butt?”

“ Oh no Sissy, you probably have a heat rash.” 

“On my butt? Really? How did it get there? Oh dear.. I must go tweet about this.” 

So I know I don’t have any baby powder or diaper rash cream so I Google home remedy for heat rash and give her the low down.  She can either apply ice to cool the skin, dust with cornstarch, apply calamine lotion, or simply let her hiney hang out for all the world to see to get some air to the skin. She didn't like any of these but ultimately decided to try the cornstarch method after I assured her she would not end up with butt gravy. Yes, we were being gross but the jokes were just too damn easy and Syd and I were really enjoying ourselves at her expense. After a few minutes, from the bathroom I hear her call, “Mission accomplished soldier! Oh, that feels MUCH better.”

Cornstarch: It’s not just for Thanksgiving anymore.

Monkey Boy

 Does this poor kid stand an inkling of a chance with girl cousins? Perhaps in 10 years when he's 6'2.

Potato Protest

Gen's favorite food is chips and if I don't watch her sneaky lil butt, she will run to her room & devour the entire bag. In an attempt to curb her escalating bad habit I did the unthinkable: I gave her a "serving size!"  After she threw herself to the floor in protest she finally resolved to sit & eat her bowl like a good little girl... on the floor. What did I do to deserve these crack babies?!?

Effing Perfect

I am always taking pictures of obscure shit; food, drinks, weirdos on the street, etc. and exchanging them with a friend of mine. I said "exchanging"... yes, SHE does it too! So when I saw this in a store window on Mass St. I HAD to take a picture to send to her. I gotta have it! 

The Big 1-0!

Syd celebrated for two full days this weekend for her 10th birthday and there will likely be more partying tonight! Saturday consisted of her and two buddies going to the pool then loaded sloppy nachos, non-caffeinated cokes, and ice cream cake. They rounded out their diabetic coma with movies, popcorn, and six boxes of candy.

Tomorrow: The Dentist!

Syd & her besties

For her "official Birthday dinner" we thought we would bless her with the full embarrassing experience of being sang to not once, but twice in public. Once in Spanish & then again in what sounded somewhat like broken English. The dessert was tasty though and we let her enjoy the whipped cream hanging from her nose all to herself!

Happy Birthday baby girl. You bring more joy to my life than you will ever know and Mama loves you.

Glad to be home!

The girls, Daniel, I went on our first canoe float trip in the Lake of the Ozarks over the holiday weekend. We stayed in the same cabins we rented last Fall and the girls loved being right on the banks of the Little Niangua. We first had to settle the issue of who would occupy the top bunk since neither child wanted it. Syd was scared she would fall out and Gen simply didn't want it but finally said she would when I threatened to make them sleep together. Syd soon found out that she made a bad decision letting her sister live above her for four days.

Waiting to pounce...

The views surrounding us were amazing and tranquil even with the occasional hum of a jet ski zipping by. Saturday night we were pleasantly surprised to be serenaded by a guy playing bass and another playing guitar for the entire campground and surrounding homes thanks to their amplifiers and the still Ozark air. They sang everything from Jimmy Hendrix to The Black Crows to Michael Jackson until about 11pm.

Sunday we spent seven hours floating four miles. I'm absolutely a "hurry up, let's go" type of person so stopping to swim or fish for an hour just about did me in. The pace of trip was anything but hurry up and I could appreciate that as long as I was in the canoe where Mr. No-Shoulders couldn't get to me. I hate snakes with a passion; deathly terrified would be more accurate. So whenever we encountered one I would catch my breath and scramble for shore trying my best not to shriek in panic.

Gen informed me she wasn't paddling. She wanted a tube to float along behind. She did have to paddle some but mostly they both floated on their tubes... and other than the fact that Dan and I each had a canoe all to ourselves most of the day, it turned out to be a great idea.When they needed a break they would grab onto the back of one of our canoes and Daniel would say, "Gentry, don't be a drag." 

The others in our party were under the impression I had done this before. I didn't bother to tell them that I do hold the record at our house for Wii canoe racing so that kinda makes me an expert, right?

I think I took this right before Daniel flipped his canoe.. for the second time.