It was a busy two day weekend. We usually
have that Friday off but Erin and I both worked to take this coming Friday off for Paul and Sandy’s wedding in Pennsylvania.
Friday we did take a lunch together which
we enjoy to do once a month or so. In the evening we almost got caught up on Heroes season two. The season premiere for season
3 is Monday night.
On Saturday we awoke very early as it was
game day. Liam was finally going to have his first real game. We were out the door by 7:15 to meet on BGE Field in Lusby,
across the bridge, at 7:30. Liam’s Pax River Raiders were playing the Solomons Steelers on their field. For Flag football
the field gets split into three fields cross wise 30 yards wide. Liam was funny earlier in the week. We were heading home
from practice and I told Liam hey you have two games this weekend isn’t that great. He thought so too. I then said yep and
Sunday is a make-up game. All the sudden he groans “Aw Dad I don’t want to wear make-up”. I busted a gut over that one!
The boys looked sleepy but soon got excited
to play when they started to stretch. As much as I can recollect both teams scored a couple of touchdowns. Liam’s blocking
continues to improve. He is working on catching and throwing. The ball looks huge in his hands. He has a lot of determination
and really enjoys his teammates.
At half time the boys got orange and apple
slices. It gets a bit messy so Erin and I will do cheese sticks and granola bars our week. The games only last an hour so
by nine the referee needed the field for the Pee Wee game. The parents line up on the field and make a tunnel for the kids
to run under while we cheer for them. They love it and are all smiles as they run through.
We then headed home for a bit to change
clothes and get a breather. The morning wasn’t even over yet. I worked on photos from the game while we stalled heading up
to the County Fair. Last year we forgot and got stuck on the road parked while the Fair Parade occurred.
The boys were a little quiet on the way
up until they saw the Fairgrounds buzzing with activity. When we got in we stopped to eat some lunch. Yikes 27 bucks and not
a lot of food. Fair food is getting expensive! Liam was very anxious to go on the rides so we headed over there. The boys
started out on motorcycles and then jet skis. Jaxson tagged right along and by the smiles on both their faces they were having
a great time.
I took my annual try at the three pointer
hoops. No luck this year. I didn’t get the boys a stuffed animal. There is always next year. We then went over to the grandstands
and watched jousting. The horses were beautiful and Jaxson kept saying Horseeees! The kids were using a joust pole to get
hoops. It was fun to watch for a few minutes but Liam reminded us about the daunting Dragon Coaster he was anxious to ride!
We headed back to the rides and Liam patiently
waited through one ride because he was excited to ride in the front this year. Liam gets a very serious look when he is on
rides like this. He is all smiles afterwards but very serious while on them.
The boys then took a ride around on the
little train. They had a good time circling the track up in the engine while Liam rang the bell. Liam and I then ran into
the fun house. We both cackled and laughed while we looked into all the fun house mirrors making our legs long then short.
Tickets were starting to run low so we
took them over to the moon bounce and they exhausted some energy there. I had just enough tickets for Jaxson to have a special
ride by himself on the Big Rigs or Big Ucks as he calls them. He loved it. Everytime he came by he was either sawing the wheel
or waving Hi Mommy or Hi Daddy at us. Liam pouted a little about not going on but eventually realized he got to do the coaster
by himself.
Erin
then let the boys play the duck game where there is always a prize. Liam got a treasure chest he loves and has played geocaching
with and Jaxson got a baseball piggy bank he promptly threw and it broke.
We then headed over to look at the animals
starting with the goats and sheep. We even got to see a couple of sheep getting sheared and to look at the wool. We stopped
in the 4H building and looked at some cool exhibits including one where Liam guessed hazards in a farm display.
Liam was very excited to see the rabbits
and we checked out the poultry and pigs. Another stop was through the school projects and then on to the photos where we saw
a few kids we knew who had won ribbons as well as Erin’s co-worker Sandie. Liam and Jaxson
then got badges from the Sherriff’s department and Liam got to try on some riot gear.
A last stop in the farm museum and Liam
and Erin caught a few moments of the dog show.By then we were all getting tired so we stopped
by the grocery and picked up a mess of crab and went home. We were all pooped. We were on stand by to watch our friend Lisa’s
baby boy Ashton but her Uncle had everything under control.
Erin and I caught the last episode of Heroes
season two and then she hit the hay. She was pretty tired. I was in bed by 11:00 myself.
On Sunday Erin
made a nice breakfast and we puttered for a little bit. Liam had another game at noon. We had to head over the bridge again
to Cove Point Park. We stopped by and picked up Lisa’s son, Eric, to take him with us as he plays
on the Raider’s too. We
Drove up to an almost empty parking lot.
By noon
Coach Tony was there and 8 players but NO ONE from the other team, the Prince Frederick Eagles. A few phone calls were placed
but no answers. The Raiders VP then asked Coach Tony to scrimmage against the other Raiders flag team. So all the kids got
to play. The other team wore green flags and we wore yellow but it was hard to tell who was who. I stood on the sidelines
and helped shuttle kids in and out as we ended up with a dozen or so boys to play.
After the game we stopped and got gas and
I got some shrimp for lunch and we headed home . The kids took a long nap and I watched the Skins beat the Cards while Erin worked on a sewing project. We enjoyed a nice steak meal and Erin
and I watched half of The Love Guru with Mike Myers but she was too tired to finish it. I then watched the Cowboys beat up on the Pack.
Next weekend will be busy again. Erin and
I will be going to Paul’s wedding. I am Best Man so I will be helping Paul with any needs he may have during the weekend.
Erin is looking forward to hanging out with Noah who we will see Saturday and will be staying
with us overnight after the wedding. On Sunday we are going to help Mom move the last stuff from her old apartments basement
bin.
The boys will be in good hands. Erin’s co-worker Lindsay and her family will house sit for us which we are most appreciative of. Liam is also looking very much forward to our friend, Mr. Rick taking him to his game
next Saturday morning. Erin and I are looking forward to October and a few weeks of downtime.
Boys are over their Strep, and we are all relatively healthy.
Friday, since Loida's Daycare was closed, the boys spent the day with some fellow flag football team members. Our
friend, Lisa, watched the boys for us, so they joined her three for a total of 5. Bless her! They had a great
time playing Star Wars and wearing capes.
While the boys were at Lisa's, Russ and I were at work. I had an especially nice bonus upon my arrival. I
had won tickets to a Redskins Football game the following Sunday! You see, my boss has season tickets. Whenever
he can't go, he puts the game's tickets up for a company drawing. Whoever has the time to go, lets him know, and he
puts our names in a hat and has his son pick one. Well, this particular week, my odds were 5050.
So, once I heard that I knew I had to find daycare for a rather lenghthy time on Sunday. Knowing what a dream come
true this would be for Russ, however, made the frantic requesting/begging all worth it. Though Lisa offered, I really
didn't want to have to ask her to watch the boys again so soon. Luckily, our friends Janet and Bill stepped in.
I suppose it helped when I enticed them with future tickets should I win again. ;)
I tried delaying the news to Russ a little, but he was having a rough day at work, and my teasing was not well received.
Therfore, by noon, I let him off the hook with the surprise tickets. He tried to fake a lack of enthusiasm, but I knew
better and finally got him to admit that on a scale of 1-10, the news rated a 7. I'll take that. (he admitted that a
10 would have been Superbowl tickets!)
After work, I picked up the boys from Lisa's. They had a great time. Once home, I commenced to cleaning out
the inside of the van. When I was just about finished, Russ called and asked if we wanted to meet him at the alley for
a little bowling.
Ok, so I dusted off our bowling gear, and loaded us all in the van. We arrived to a busy alley, but managed to
get a couple lanes on the end as long as we kept score by hand. We figured we could do that. We had them put bumpers
on one lane, and we had a great time introducing the boys to the art of bowling. It was so fun. Liam could almost
throw the ball himself, and Jaxson would wave to the ball as it departed, saying, "Bye Bye Ball, see you soon!" It was
so cute, and the expressions on their faces were of pure joy!
(sorry it's blurry, but look at those CUTE shoes!)
My score was pretty good, and I was glad that I was capable of even lifting my ball despite my shoulder surgery.
Russ was a bit rusty, but he was pretty distracted with helping the boys and doing our math, so I'll give him that excuse.
;)
Saturday morning, as usual, it felt great to sleep in. We all enjoyed breakfast together, and then I decided to
go out and mow the lawn. Other than that, it was a pretty lazy day, and it was just nice to spend time together, seeing
as though we'd be apart from the boys the next day.
Russ and I stayed up kind of late watching TV, but we got to see the opening skit of SNL with the spoof of Tina Fey portraying
Palin, and Amy Poehler being Hilary. It was hilarious!
Sunday was the big day. We packed light, and dropped the boys off at Bill and Janet's around 9:30. They were
looking forward to playing with Rosalia. Then Russ and I headed up to FedEx field.
Our free tickets also included a parking pass, so that made things easy. We hopped a shuttle from the parking lot
to the stadium and meandered our way with the other 80,000+ fans donned in Redskins attire (ok, there were a few Saints fans
around too).
It was amazing that amidst all those people, we happened to run into Liam's coach at one of the stores in the stadium.
Truly is a small world, I guess!
So we made the trek up to the nosebleed seats. We both had to admit that we experienced a little vertigo once we
found our desination, but to just BE there and see the whole stadium was pretty cool, and the vertigo wore off quickly.
Really, even though we were up high, we could still see the field clearly. I brought binoculars, but Russ didn't even
need them since he knew the players so well.
Just as the game was about to start, a man with two teen age boys stood in the row in front of us. He says, "I
think you're in our seats!" We say, "No, let's see..." and we pulled out our tickets. Though the actual tickets
DID look different, the identifying seat numbers were exactly the same.
I was irritated that we had to deal with this at the start of the game. I calmly told the man that he should go
find an usher. He did, and she compared the tickets before telling us that we'd have to go to customer service.
So the guy takes Russ's ticket and goes with the usher. A few minutes later, his teens return only to tell us that customer
service wanted to see us as well. So I quietly grumbled as we gathered our stuff. We pushed our way through the
crowd and fought our way to the head of the customer service line. By this time a couple of police officers were involved.
One officer escorted us all down to the main level ticket office. Fortunately, there were TV screens all around, so
we weren't missing the game.
A lady cop took our tickets to a back room and told the other officer to stand by (in case we made a run for it, I suppose).
She returned with the tickets, and with my help, sorted them out appropriately. She pointed to the other guy's tickets
and said, "These tickets were reported stolen." Then she pointed to our tickets and continued, "so these tickets were
re-issued, and are now the valid tickets." WHEW! So, she took Russ and I aside to get some more information.
We felt bad for the other guy, as apparently, they were fraud victims. However, we were relieved when we were excused
to return to our seats.
The whole adventure realy didn't take that long, and we were back in our seats about three minutes before the end of
the first quarter.
The rest of the game was great. The score was neck and neck, and Russ was like a little kid. He even "made
friends" with the guy next to him, and in front of him, as they compared plays and shared high-fives. I enjoyed seeing
the game as a whole and experiencing all the hype and excitement.
In the end, the score was 29-24 and the Redskins fans celebrated all the way out of the stadium. It was really
great. The ONLY downer was that it took our shuttle bus about an hour to get out of the stadium parking lot and pack
to our parking location. Still, even that was fun, because we had common conversation with the people around us, and
everyone was in great spirits despite the hot day.
We picked up the boys a bit after 7:00. Bill and Janet said they were really good. On the way home, Jaxson
kept complaining and whining that he didn't want to go home, but wanted to see "Ro-Lee-A!!!" We think he's got a bit
of a crush. However, when we stated our theory, Liam corrected us by saying that Rosalia was HIS girlfriend. MY
MY.
It was a nice weekend. We felt bad not seeing the boys all that much, but they had their own great times, and it
did Russ and I good to have a day to ourselves... even if it was amidst several thousand football fans!
Honestly, it felt really good to have a three day weekend to do whatever we wanted to... be it sit on the couch and watch
TV or venture out into the wilderness.
Saturday morning it was nice not to be awakened by an alarm. Still, it wasn't long before the pitter patter of
little feet woke us up. It was nice to just lounge in bed as a family for a few minutes before getting some breakfast.
Unfortunately, when Jax crawled up in bed with us, we quickly noticed that he was feverish. We got the inkling
that his mouth and throat hurt as well. Therefore, I gave him some Tylenol and spent a lot of the day just snuggling
him. We've learned that some of the best medicine is simply a warm body to snuggle in against.
Liam happily played about, and we did manage to clean up the playroom. Later that afternoon, Jax felt a tiny bit
better so we went to go get a few groceries. I kept him in the sling, so he was warm and content. He slept most
of the trip. Crabs were on sale, so Russ enjoyed them. Liam got some shrimp and I got some Sushi. Jaxson
was not interested in eating much more than a couple of crackers and a little juice.
Sunday morning we enjoyed some sticky cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Jax seemed better, so after a while we decided
to go fix up a couple of our existing Geocaches, and find a couple of new ones that others had put out.
It was a great day. The breeze was cool, and bugs and frogs along the trail were bountiful. We had pretty
good luck finding the caches we had on our list, and found our old ones to be in pretty good shape as well.
We only ran into a couple of small environmental challenges. The first was when Jax and I were attacked by a very
angry bumblebee. It was nice to discover that Jax did not have a bee allergy, although I had my cell phone in hand just
in case. I was also stung, but all our points of contact quickly went away. So, while Jax and I were battling
bees, Russ and Liam were apparently getting infiltrated by chiggers.
We were pretty tired when we got home, so we just got a couple of pizzas from Wal-mart to cook. Wal-mart pizzas
look pretty good... but we weren't impressed.
After the boys went to bed, Russ and I caught up on watching some episodes of Heroes via Netflix. We have to watch
them on the computer, but they come in really well, and if we turn the little loveseat around, we're pretty comfy.
Monday was Labor Day. Seems I'm always doing lots of Labor on Labor Day, but that's okay. I used the
day to catch up on several home projects. Russ was very helpful and even the boys assisted with a few chores.
I got the laundry all done, changed the linens, steam cleaned the den, changed the furniture around a little, and sewed up
a couple of costumes that I'd promised for daycare.
In the background on TV we were watching a show on Planet Green about making Greensboro, Kansas into a green community
since it was virtually wiped out due to a tornado. It was pretty interesting.
Sunday also revealed the Chigger damage. Liam was covered on all parts of his body except his face and arms.
Russ had a few on his legs too, so we figured it was when they were together sitting on a bench by the water. The thought
of Chicken Pox DID enter our minds, but since he'd been vaccinated agains that, pretty much ruled it out. Still, I had
concerns that because there were so many bites (and he was so uncomfortable) that I should probably get him into the doctor.
Jax, too, had some sort of odd rash on his back and chest. I thought that was just dry skin, but decided to call for
an appointment the next day.
Tuesday, Russ and I doubled up and took the boys to the pediatrician. First, Dr. Sheth looked at Liam's bites.
There wasn't much he could do for them, other than assuring us they weren't Chicken Pox. Then he looked at Jax's back,
raised his eyebrows and quickly said that was a sign of infection. Jax tested positive for Strep Throat. That
caused Dr. Sheth to go ahead and test Liam since it's very contagious. Yep, Liam was positive too. Off to the
drug store we went. Russ went to work.
Tuesday night wasn't too bad, although Russ and I were pretty tired. Wednesday morning, Russ awoke with a sore
throat. Jax seemed feverish again. So he decided to stay home, but I told him we'd better get ourselves checked
for strep too, just in case. Of course, getting in to see our doctor wasn't as easy as seeing the pediatrician, so we
had to go to Urgent care. UGH... two hour wait in a discusting waiting room stuffed with sick people. Not fun.
Turns out, we were both negative, so that's good. My turn to go back to work.
Never a dull moment... even when we don't anticipate any drama!
