five years

With the renewal of our domain name, I see we are approaching five years of posts. It began with a picture of Ry sleeping. He must have been two. Ry was telling me all day Saturday what a great day he was having. He and I grabbed a doughnut on our way to the DIY warehouse to get some plastic cord for the weed whacker. Then Jack, Ry and I went to the Roadrunner fields to sign Ry up for fall ball and we put him in minors with the 9 and 10 year olds. That's where he wants to be, but Jackson is concerned about Ry playing minors in the Altamont league come spring. Jack was split about fall sports but decided he really wants to play soccer. Then the three of us drove to Nob Hill and got some comic books. Thankfully, there's a kids section. Ry got a Ninjago "graphic novel" and a Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, while Jack picked up a Lego minifigure. When we went home they played with Nico from next door. Nico brought out some play weapons and the three of them ran around the yards, climbing on the "treehouse" we built, hiding around corners and behind walls, with elaborate rules about spirits. Later we all picked up some movie candy, Icees, and other stuff at the Target on the way to see "Brave", an animated movie in 3D, at the big complex. The rest of the weekend was a bit of a blur. We had a meal in Nob Hill on Friday night, which is when we discovered the comic book store and also got some ice cream. That came after the bible camp show--lots of energy and singing and skits and scripture verses. We had mixed reactions to that. There also was a barbecue with some friends and a schoolmate's birthday party. Chores were completed. Jackson continued to check out his birthday wish list and run interference when Cyndi and I get cross. He does that with a good sense of humor. That's all I can remember for now. The rains have been coming. I'm afraid a roof vent is leaking. Everything is green and thriving. We got the water bill for June, however, and it was a shock.

on the Atlantic side

This post is a bit of a nostalgic indulgence from my regular posts about our family life. I just got an email that reminded me of my time in the Canal Zone during high school. Our class has maintained a good website for CHS, Class of 73, and next year will be the 40th reunion at the annual Canal Zone Reunion in Florida. There is even a link to all the yearbooks at the web site. My brother and Sandra have attended one or two, but I haven't been and I'm afraid I haven't been in much contact with my fellow Canal Zone brats, most of whom scattered all over after graduation.

Sadly, the Canal Zone is gone in some important sense and Cristobal now warehouses shipping containers.

This video, which I think is brilliant, captures where I lived in high school and the people I knew. I can't tell if the people who made it or who are pictured in it came just before or just after my time there, but otherwise it feels contemporaneous with my time there. Every time I watch it, I feel the tug for Panama and, especially, for the Atlantic side. It stirs my memories and invokes wonderful feelings about where I came from.

I once found this image of my home there. My home is nestled on the hill in the foreground, overlooking Gatun Lake, where we had a dock. The picture comes from a few years ago, long after we lived there.

The images and the words of the song in the video could hardly be more perfect. One of the things I recall was how we knew so many people there. It was never confined to our class in school. That was hardly ever recognized as much of a distinction. That may explain why the reunion in Florida is an annual event and attracts everyone who ever lived there.

plushies

There were bakugans and beyblades; there's still Legos; now the boys are into plushies, little stuffed animals, often of electronic game characters.

First, there was a large Angry Bird from our NYC trip.

Then Jackson got a Kirby.

Rylee got a Sonic.

Yesterday, Ry just got a Happy Om Nom from Cut the Rope.

These go in backpacks, they sleep with them, they play with them like puppets, and even make movies with them. Jackson is writing a movie script with plushies.

We just talked to Ariel (we were on the way to take the boys to our neighbors' church for Bible Camp), and she just returned from a trip to Brussels and Berlin. Chris was also on a work-related trip to Barcelona.

We finally had our neighbors over Saturday night with the Sanchez girl families for hamburgers and hot dogs. Eight kids running around outside and inside.

Brendon

Nicholas

Jackson

Lauren

Rylee

Anna

Leah

Nico

 .

A beautiful evening to sit outside until late. Rylee tried out Brendon's new skateboard and scraped up his forehead and nose. Jackson played the new Kirby Wii game and monitored his cousins. The next morning, Jackson, Rylee and I went to the skateboard park. The new park is growing, and you can see the grass coming in for the new soccer fields while the activity center is being enlarged. Parking lots are roughed out, but no groundbreaking for the pool, library, tennis courts, and basketball courts.

chores

Jackson approached me Friday afternoon with a proposal. It was apparent he had researched and thought it out, and I told him I was impressed. He and Rylee wanted to sign up to rent electronic games through the mail. It costs $16 each month, and there was a 30-day free trial. I was pretty sure that meant signing up with a credit card and we're on the hook in advance in 30 days unless we cancel. It's like Netflix for games.

He and Ry said they would do chores to pay for it and they'd split the cost between them. They figured they each needed to contribute $2 each week. They had all sorts of ideas for what they could do around the house. Jack wanted to sit down with me and discuss it. On Saturday, they both asked again and I said I was considering their proposal. We'd have to figure out what chores they would do. They wrote some down in a journal book Ry is keeping with songs he's writing. We made a final list. It includes kitchen chores, some bedroom and bathroom chores, and some outside chores. They were hoping to make a little extra money, so when I proposed $4 each a week, of which they'd get $2 each every Saturday, they were thrilled and spent the rest of the day figuring out how much they'd have in a year and how much they'd have by the end of this year. They also wanted to be sure that now that they were getting an allowance that we wouldn't stop buying them things. Since we do buy them things, I wasn't embarrassed how low their allowance is for these days. And they were thrilled.

The next day we wrote the chores up and put them on the refrigerator. We devised a plan for days and keeping track of them. Jackson began immediately doing his chores and together we signed up online for the games. They've been checking the mail already for their first game.

Some good rains this weekend. I worked outside finishing some projects of my own, sanding, priming, painting, repairing, adjusting, wiring, cleaning, mowing, trimming, pruning, weeding, and sweeping. Sunday evening we went to an Isotopes game with Don, Elley, Nicholas and Lauren. Low 80s, a very slight breeze, no threat of rain. The kids took off to get cotton candy and ice cream, and later they ran around the grassy berm beyond right field. I wished they were around for the Seventh Inning Stretch. The Isotopes kept scoring until they lead 12-5 at the bottom of the eighth. The visitors hit a series of home runs in their last at-bat, and got within two before the final out. All of the kids ran the bases afterwards and we drove home.

the fourth

Strange to have the Fourth fall midweek. Ry and I started the day by getting doughnuts, and then we went to the annual neighborhood parade. It's not our neighborhood, but we've gone several years now and we see all the cousins and Sanchez girl families. This year there was an early run for the first time. The parade starts after some patriotic songs are sung. This year there was even a prayer. Usually, the parade is headed by a firetruck, but this year, probably since they were all on fire alert, the parade was led by a patrol car. The kids followed on their bicycles as it drove around the neighborhood. Parents, strollers and dogs followed the children. Then there was a the small block party in the cul de sac, with games, face painting, a jumper, and a dunk tank, along with goodies to eat and a sno-cone machine.

Ry was excited for the Fourth and said he wanted to do two things: the dunk tank and the belly flop contest at the club. So he wore his bathing suit under his shorts and, sure enough, sat on the seat to be dunked as other children threw balls at the target which would unhitch his perch above the water. The boys had red and blue mouths from the sno-cones, and thankfully it was not a hot morning.

We went to the club before noon and found some lounge chairs in the shade, as the cousins and Sanchez girl families arrived to join us. Hamburgers and hot dogs, watermelon and sodas, appeared about 1, after I'd already swam some laps and even ran the cross country course inside the Academy, next door. There were some games along the pool deck and then the belly flop contest. Rylee almost missed it. He got in line with the younger kids. When it was his turn, he got up on the starting platform, jumped off, spreading his arms and legs wide, and landed with a big splash and lots of cheers. The judges pulled him over for the finals, but a bigger kid won the final flop.

For the evening, we went to Pete and Dorie's house for more hamburgers and hot dogs and chicken on the grill, while the kids played all over the backyard, some pickle with the baseball (Rylee got beaned in the noggin' and the seams left a red mark), some skateboarding with Brendon, maybe even some video recording (Jack's favorite creative activity; he talks about it all the time and wants some better equipment and editing software for his birthday). A big storm threatened, bringing a strong refreshing breeze and a drop in the temperature, but the storm cell moved further west. Because of the serious drought and fires, no one got any fireworks this year. After we drove home, Cyndi and the boys sat on the balcony and watched the show from the balloon park.

The monsoon season seems to have arrived. Big cumulus clouds gathering in the afternoons this week. Some heavy showers here and there. Lots of humidity and a bit cooler during the day and at night.

first rain

We've been around 100, humidity in the single digits, and not a cloud in the sky, and the whole time wondering when the monsoon would come, if it comes at all, to give us some relief. There have been some devastating fires around New Mexico and up in Colorado.

On Sunday afternoon, we took the train up to Santa Fe for $20 round trip for the family, watching the land from the top in airconditioning while the boys played with some new "plushies" on the train. They even filmed their play.

There's no shuttle between the depot and the plaza on Sundays, and many of our favorite New Mexican restaurants are closed on Sundays. We did a lot of walking. We skipped REI, since it was so late in the day already and went to the plaza. The plaza seemed so lackluster. It was hot and humid. There just wasn't the usual bustle around the plaza. Jackson took us into a bead shop. Cyndi did her JCrew, which seemed vacant of merchandise, and the boys and I went to our favorite toy store nearby, only to find it had closed and combined with a children's clothes store. When we found the new location, there was nothing in the budget range I had set and the boys were very disappointed. We ducked into the new history museum, free to residents on Sundays. We had seen one of the exhibits before and were very impressed, but this time the other exhibits just weren't interesting at all. We strolled into other shops. Jackson decided he wanted an obsidian arrow point, which we could not find, and Rylee wanted to find a superhero comic book. He and I finally found where our favorite bookstore had moved to, but there were no comic books. (A nice new location, however.) Meanwhile, Cyndi and Jack found a really nice clothing boutique with colorful dresses from Nepal just when the rain started.

You could smell the rain first. When it began to fall we ducked under awnings, or stayed along the edges of the shops, and even watched it sitting under the covered porch of the Hotel St. Francis. People cheered when the rain began and stood in the streets to feel the rain. We went to Del Charro just a bit down the street for a meal in the covered patio. We've been there before and stayed at the hotel. Then we went to get ice cream on the plaza before heading back to the depot. Jackson got served a mix of chocolate and peanut butter instead of chocolate, and we freaked out about that. Jackson was very concerned, and will never go back, but he was fine.

The boys and I started swimming during lunch time. We've only done a few, but it's worked out well. I get some laps in; the boys play. It breaks up their day. This was an unusual weekend because we ended up packing a lot in. On Friday, the boys and I went to 5 Star Burgers on Friday. Later that evening, Ry and I went swimming. He loved that. Saturday, Ry and I went to the skateboard park. He's working on landing on top of the half pipe. I worked on the lawn and garden, fixed some posts along the porch, repainted them and a patch of the porch ceiling, hung some outdoor lights Cyndi got a long time ago, repaired a slat on the bench, and the boys and I went to Whole Hog on Saturday while Cyndi went to a friend's birthday. When Ry and I went to get apple fritters and donuts Sunday morning, that's when we first thought to look for comic books. He loves to read, he loves all the superheroes, and it just seemed like a good idea. After the skateboard park, we stopped to get some lawn sprinklers and looked in vain again for comic books next door to the DIY. Cyndi had breakfast ready for us when we got back. After she went to body pump at the gym and I installed the new sprinklers, that's when we thought about going to Santa Fe for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, Jackson is having a series of little computer problems and he really wants to get more equipment and software to make his videos. He knows exactly what software he wants, what camera he wants, and he's desperate for a "green screen." (He's thinking ahead for his birthday and being very diplomatic and reasonable about it.) The computer problems may be related to the amount of memory his videos are taking up on his computer. We tried to get a flash drive to help, but now we are having problems with that, too.

On Monday after work I went to the Barnes and Noble, about the only bookstore left, and found a big selection of comic books. The ones I'm sure Ry wanted were rated for teens, but I found two--Sonic and Scooby Doo--that I thought were more age appropriate. He loved them. He read them both when I brought them home and wants more. He fell asleep as I read The Secret Garden to him. He stopped reading it himself a week ago as the chapters became longer and one of the new characters had a strong Yorkshire dialect.

Before he fell asleep, we got our first rain. We opened our doors. The high humidity made our swamp cooler ineffective. The weather pundits say the monsoon season is starting, the highs should drop as more moisture flows from the south and we get the late afternoon thunderstorms for the next month or so. Slim chances for local rains the next couple of days, maybe even Fourth of July on Wednesday, and maybe some serious rain next week.