Summer Madness Coming to an End

This is the last week of youth kickball. Tuesday night Kevin & Sam's team plays. If their team will take 2nd place overall in the league. If they lose they will take 4th place.

Wed night my 7th-9th grade team plays and after the game we are all headed to Coach Beth's house for an end of season celebration. The parents are bringing all sorts of goodies, so that should be fun.

Sometime in October, I'm going to have an end of season party for the kids and hand out awards. Awards for 1st and 2nd place overall, most home runs, most runs batted in, and most improved player will be handed out.

Two weekends ago we had gorgeous weather! It was too nice not to get out & about. So the boys & I headed over to Stillwater for a Sunday afternoon. We had a nice lunch outside on a restaurant patio overlooking the St. Croix River. We got to watch all the big boats go by and watch the lift bridge go up & down a few times to let the big boats go through.

After lunch we walked along the sidewalk next to the river. Then we headed to the little downtown area. We didn't go into many shops as the boys really aren't into that. But I did manage to get them into a knick knack store. They had some really neat Cuckoo clocks. Hand carved and intricate. Kevin made one of them sound off. It played music and chimed and went cuckoo, cuckoo. So I asked him how he did that. "Well, you just move the hands mom". Ok, so I went for the big one. I moved the hands and nothing happened. Well, sort of nothing. The store clerk came over & asked me if I touched the clock. I couldn't lie as I had been caught red handed touching the goods. Ok, well you need to leave. Ok, not gonna argue with that! So out we went. You can't expect a grown mom to keep her hands off the cuckoo clocks. You have to make sure it works! Maybe they should be kept in a case of some kind for curious grown ups like myself.

After we got kicked out of the knick knack store, we went across the street to a coffee shop. They had cave tours (click cave tours to read about it) . It was a really neat tour. Even the kids liked it. Its not the kind of cave that you typically think of. It's quite wide and easy to walk through. Our tour guide was full of info and humor. Definitely worth the tour.

Kevin has his first night of Robotics tomorrow night. His dad took him to the initial meeting. You know, the one he had rights not to go to. When he came home from the meeting he couldn't wait to sign up. I'm sure it was just a bad idea because we brought it up.

Growing up in Middle School

It's beginning to happen. He's growing up. The other day he told me that he could no longer play with the littler kids as now that he's in Middle School that's no longer cool and he doesn't want to be caught and be the laughing stock.

Also, the other day I was fiercely trying to get him to sign up for the after school robotics program. He was thinking of all sorts reasons not to, which I couldn't understand why. So I finally told him "Well, you are signing up for Robotics." Of which his reply was "I have rights to you know, and I don't have to sign up for it if I don't want to."

Well, I sent in the registration and his first Robotics meeting is on Tues. I told him to at least give it a chance and see what it's all about before he decides. I'd hate for him to miss out on an opportunity he actually might enjoy. He's just so cautious to try new things and put himself out on a limb.

He's been enjoying Middle School a lot, and we are starting the growing up process. It'll definitely be an interesting year of 6th grade.

Remembering 9/11

It is hard to believe it was 8 years ago that the horrible terrorist attack was taken upon the USA. I remember the day vividly, as do many people. I was sitting at work when some one came running through the building telling people to turn on their radios, a plane hit the World Trade Center. Everyone thought, hmmm…some stupid person hit the Center in their little Buddy Holly plane. All the TV's in the building were tuning in. Employees throughout the building dropped everything and got to a TV. The employee break room was packed. We saw the second plane hit & couldn't believe what we were seeing. It was like some bad nightmare, or really good special effect movie. It seemed so unreal. How could something that awful really be happening? Employees looked at each other to see if they were seeing the same thing. Then we saw the Towers collapse. Faces of shock & disbelief filled the room. Complete silence. No one knew what to say or how to feel. It was so much for us to consume in our minds.

We somberly went back to work, with sadness in our hearts and minds coming to terms that this indeed was reality. Our country was under attack. We got back to our desks and listened to our radios. It was all you could hear through out the building. No office chatter, no keyboards plunking, no phones ringing. Then we heard that the Pentagon had been attacked. Fear was in us. What was next? How could this be happening? Who was responsible? We kept listening as the news came in and we just listened. Then the news of the 4th plane crashing in a field came through. It was unbelievable. Was it going to end? How many more planes? How many more people? And most of all where? Where would the next bad explosion occur?

Planes were grounded. People stranded at airports. Everyone's lives forever changed not matter how attached or detached to the people involved.

I went home for lunch and it was odd. Not one single plane in the sky. The sky was quiet and still. I work, live, and drive on the landing and take off path near the airport, so seeing and hearing planes is an every day, let alone every hour occurrence. It's a part of my daily life. To have it suddenly still was a strange reality of it all. I felt numb the rest of the day. How will I explain this to my children? How will I explain to them that such horror was true to life? How will their young minds even understand? How would this event impact them? I decided at home we would not have the TV on and I would keep the horror from my children at least for that day. Plus I could not watch it over and over and over. It was too horrible.

I contacted the airport and offered up my home to house displaced air travelers. It was the most I could do to help out. I felt we needed to pull together as a society and I needed to do my part. They declined and said things were taken care of but thanks for offering. All I could think of was how lucky I was to be with my family safe and how many people's family were suddenly torn apart and how many families were worried about loved ones stranded in airports around the world on what was supposed to be just an ordinary Monday morning.

The whole week following the Attack of 9/11 adults and children were waving flags on street corners and on bridges. Flags at businesses were at half mast. A feeling of coming together, patriotism, and how much we really do love our country was overwhelming.

As, we take a moment to reflect upon the events of Sept 11, 2001, let's remember that Freedom comes with a heavy price. When you see a soldier on the street, at the store, at the airport…make sure to say THANK YOU. They are making the ultimate sacrifice for the people of America. They put their lives at risk for freedom. They make sacrifices you and I could never know. They deserve respect and honor. THANK YOU!!

Living La Vida Kickball

Kickball has pretty much been my life the past few weeks. I am coaching 2 teams. One team made up of 7th-9th graders and one team made up of 4th-6th graders. Kevin & Sam are both on my 4th-6th grade team.

My teams are great!!! The kids are so fantastic and the past few weeks have been so extremely rewarding. It is so nice to see the smiling faces of these kids having so much fun on the kickball field. I have had many parents thank me for bringing the sport into action and how much fun their child is having. Did I mention how great the kids are? I wish I could bring them all home with me. Well...I take that back. I'll just settle for the one hour each week I get with them listening to me. Did I just say kids listen me? Wow, now that is a new concept. Just add Coach Bonnie to my never ending list of titles.

Besides life on the kickball field....(Yes, I do have a life outside of kickball believe it or not)

I was in a wedding this past weekend. My good friend Jo that goes on my girls trips with me got married. I was one of her bridesmaids. The evening before the wedding we had rehearsal and went to dinner at the couple's favorite Mexican restaurant. It was good.

The day of the wedding I had my eyebrows waxed, my eyelashes tinted, and my hair done up really pretty. My hair stylist is awesome. She's young and energetic when it comes to hair. She knows hair! I told her she's the hair expert, have at it. I had no idea how I wanted to wear it. So she went against traditional updo style and gave me a really rocking updo off to the side. It was so adorable. I absolutely loved it. And wow, I got so many compliments on it.

The wedding was a complete blast. One of the most fun weddings I've been to. I've been to a lot of fun weddings. This one makes the top 5 (mine of course is number 1). But now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever been to a bad or boring wedding. Or wedding reception for that matter.

Yesterday my oldest caveboy had Middle School orientation. Yikes!! MIDDLE SCHOOL! Orientation was all day long. He met his teacher and class mates. He got his locker assignment and learned his combination. Their lockers are tiny! I'm not sure how they are supposed to fit all their books, hats, coats, ect. in there. When I went to school you should shove a person in your locker. I guess they are moving away from that? Nobody will be fitting in these lockers. I don't think they even a full 2 feet wide. They are only about 3 1/2 feet tall too.

Here is the little big man's daily schedule, which rotates on a cycle day. Blue & Green Cycle Days.

General Music / Phy Ed - Health
Math Lab / Phy Ed Health
Art / Science
Art / Science
Math
American History
Reading
English
Homebase (Study Hall/Homeroom)

He also got a map of the school. Yes, his school is quite large. It is 2 levels and I got lost going through there when I went to pick him up from orientation. Kevin seemed to know his way around, so apparently they navigated their way around a few times during orientation too.