Three weekends ago: Indy/Fort Wayne

 Three weekends ago we had a big weekend and I'm just getting things under control and so it is time for the blog post.

Isaac had his first USAC competition in Indianapolis, and of course he got the morning slot so we had to stay overnight.  Ben was going to come with us, but in the end went up to Mackinac Island to have some bonding time with his mom.  We left Friday night, obviously.  I had wanted to leave about fifteen minutes earlier, but things happen and we left just a little later than ideal.  The drive was good until we got close to Indy and I saw that we had missed being able to take our preferred route by about 10 minutes due to a nightly road closure.  Oh shoot.  Well, I couldn't really look at the map very well, but we went the opposite way on a highway and only got to our hotel six minutes later than expected.  So we must have been going in a circle.  We got into the hotel and the kids got to sleep.  It wasn't all that late, so I did a little grading and then went to bed too.

In the middle of the night we had to weird things happen.  1) A car alarm went off.  After waiting a few minutes I finally got up and looked out the window.  Hmm...is that our car?  I went to find my keys to turn it off, but luckily it turned off right as I grabbed the keys.  I can imagine it though - two car alarms going off at once because I couldn't think straight in the middle of the night to see if it was my car.  2) Joshua yelled, " ZOUP!" (pause) "Ha!"  And went back to sleep.  It was our rally cry for the rest of the weekend and could always make Isaac smile.  

Saturday started out pretty well, although we maybe should have gotten there fifteen minutes earlier.  Not a huge deal.  There were six routes for Isaac, and he really wanted to top at least one.  Well, he topped the first one on his fourth try.  Ok, goal achieved.

The next two hours were...a bit harder.  The routes were hard.  Some of the lines were long.  A mistake was made.  Isaac was feeling the pressure.  We took a break and had a snack.  The coaches had been around and talking with him, but at this point they started talking with him a bit more.  

There was one route he hadn't tried yet, so after a very nice talk from the coach he went over to try it.  Aside: the coaches were amazing.  They're always amazing, but, as one put it, they want to make better human beings.  Becoming a better rock climber is just a secondary goal.  Isaac ended up spending the last half hour and all ten tries on this route and he got so, so close.  He got one hand on the top hold several times, but couldn't quite get his second hand on it.

He was disappointed.  We had another pep talk.  He tried climbing it after time was called but he was so tired by then that it just didn't quite work.  But since time was called, the pressure was also off at this point.  He had something to eat, walked around a bit, and started to shake off the bad parts.  He said, a day or two afterwards, that he enjoyed it.  I loved watching him as always.  It was definitely a good growing experience for him!

After lunch we headed over to Fort Wayne to see family!  They also had some competitions away from home on Saturday as JJ had double header soccer games, so we got to their house a few hours before they got home.  In the end, it was rather nice though.  It gave Isaac some times to unwind, take a shower, and work on a math test before cousins and all the fun showed up.

I didn't get many pictures at Fort Wayne.  The kids kind of just disappeared after dinner.  We had a fire on the deck with smores.  I talked with Nathan and Liz.  We left a bit after lunch on Sunday.  It was a short trip, but it was also really, really nice to see them!

Oh, while I wasn't with Ben, obviously, I did get one really nice picture sent to me.

Thursday: still laughing

I: what are we watching for dinner?
A: I'm not watching anything for dinner.
I: no, what are we watching for dinner?
A: I'm not going to watch anything for dinner.  I'm going to eat my dinner.
I: hahahahahaha

Wednesday: bath, trunk or treat

I gave Snackxalotl and Catcachino a bath today.  They were both pretty happy about it, although Snackxalotl wanted to play in the water more.

We went trunk or treating at church tonight.  Isaac was a rock climber.  Joshua was a Creeper and made Ben go as Steve.  I'm not sure anyone realized that Ben was dressed up too.

Monday: school pictures, fall dinner

Both school pictures have come in...

Joshua wore the same shirt as last year.  We knew that ahead of time.  I like this picture better than the last one.

Isaac missed getting his picture day when he actually dressed up a bit for it.  It got cold, so dressing up wouldn't have worked as well.  This picture is also ok, but we have some better ones from the mid-summer family pictures.

I also made the once a year meal of ham and squash.  The squash went over well (which is good, because I froze quite a bit of it).  I tried putting it in the air fryer this time instead of baking and mashing it.

I didn't finish my grading today, but I did get a surprising number of other things done.  I graded in the morning, had coffee with Pat, took a short nap, and then accomplished stuff.  I'm hopeful the toilet is fixed, the squash was cubed, Christmas cards and other pictures were ordered, the kitchen mostly cleaned, a few emails dealt with, and more!  After a slow start this morning I was a bit surprised.

Saturday: lock-in

This morning before anyone got up Joshua made us a "lock-in"  (i.e., escape room).  He usually does a nice job with these things, so I was somewhat excited to do it.  I had had an itinerary of the day in my head and it did not include a lock-in, so that was the part I was a little annoyed with.  I got over it.

Anyway, Joshua had put a bunch of items on the table and there were several that I thought were going to add to the story but were complete fakes.  A large bowl of Lego dots, a stack of books, and two glasses filled with colored water, for example.  The first puzzle was a little confusing, but after that we figured things out pretty well.

In other news, the cats finally posed for a Christmas card picture.  I had on my calendar, "Christmas Cards!  Just do them! Now!" because we always get to December and I'm overwhelmed and don't want to do them.  So obviously, I'm going to do them in the middle of one of my busiest semesters in a while.  I'm only getting 25 though, so that should keep the crazy to a minimum.

Friday: status

Groceries: gotten.  I was only asked once if I got groceries.

Toilet: probably fixed.  It might have a slow inner leak.  One time I noticed the water level inside had dropped an inch and therefore the valve was slowly leaking water into the tank.  It is function for now but I need to keep an eye on it.

Black belt recertification: Done.  I wasn't going to do it, but the timing has been rather inconsistent.  It's been a while since the last one and I wanted some new material for the next several months.  I didn't feel confident in everything, but the teachers said I'd be fine.  I was fine.  I wasn't great, but I was fine.  (Think normal belt test, but for black belts.  There isn't a rank up associated with it, but I need a certain number before I'm allowed to go to the next rank of black belt.)  

Friends: Joshua and his friends got Boba tea after school.  They were all so excited.

Laundry: put away

Grading: in progress

Kitchen: almost clean

Nap: taken

Thursday: groceries? groceries? groceries?

Oh my children.  

I usually get groceries on Wednesday.  I didn't get groceries on Wednesday this week because I ended up getting groceries last Friday and wanted to work on the toilet this Wednesday.  The number of times between yesterday and today that I've been asked if I got groceries is a little insane.

We are out of milk, but that's usually not what they're asking about.  Joshua is usually asking about donuts.  Isaac...I'm not sure what he cares about.  Furthermore, they know I work on Thursdays.  They just can't wrap their heads around the fact that I haven't gotten groceries yet.

If it wasn't for being out of milk, I might not even go tomorrow.  Milk is rather important though, so I'll go.  Oh, I guess we're out of apples too.  It's an Aldi week, so there might not be donuts.