Every year someone in this house gets a little older. This year it happened to be Jess, and what better way to celebrate getting older than to spend the day on the lake with some great friends and perfect weather! For the past few years we’ve wound up on the lake near the end of the summer. Every time we go out we have a blast and make a point to do it more often. Of course the more often part never happens, but we still have a great time.
In years past we’ve had a bigger boat, more people, and MUCH MORE DRINKING! However, with every passing year our bodies get a little bit older and the responsibilities to ourselves and our kids goes up. The decision was made to tone back the consumption and tone up the fun. This turned out to be a pretty smart choice. Rather than ending the day feeling completely smashed and unable to take care of the kiddos, we came home a bit sunburned, maybe a little light headed, but totally able to hang with the boys and not wish we had made better choices throughout the day. I probably should have put just a tad more sunscreen on my arms, but that’s about it!
The group of people on the boat was interesting. Usually its a circle of friends that pretty much all know each other. Yesterday there were certainly some that had met in the past, but we also had some new friends. My sister and her husband were there, we had some old friends we hadn’t seen in a while, and some new friends who brought a great mix to the crowd. In addition to new faces, we also had a tube for pulling behind the boat. Usually we end up in a cove somewhere jumping/sliding off the boat and just kinda farting around the lake. This time we took turns tubing around and really being a bit more active. I think this was clutch in the assistance of not getting demolished by the son and a-a-a-alcohol.
So the birthday boat day was a total success this year. No one totaled their car the night before and had to spend the day in a sling and on pain meds and we subjected to the abundance of fireball in the sky and fireball in a shot glass. It was a great day and we will do it again. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Maybe next time we can take our boys out on the lake. I think they really would enjoy it. Maybe not Jack, but by the time we’re back on the lake he’ll be nearly two, so it might not be so bad. Wait… almost two?! That means he’s almost one now. EEK!! Where has the time gone.
But not the Charles Dickens kind. Well, actually I’ve never read the book, or even seen the 1998 movie starting Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow. So perhaps it’s exactly like that. However, for the sake of this post, let’s just say it’s not.
During that small window each day when it’s possible, Jess and I had a great conversation. We talked about how we have a bad habit of planning big for pretty much anything. No matter what it is, we always set the bar high, but inevitably our reality is far from the expectations. I’ll use last night as an example. For the past few weeks we’ve been planning a fun night at our house with some friends. They were going to bring their kids up, we were going to make some appetizers, they were going to make dinner, we were going to have some drinks and general hangoutary. The kids would play, the music would be on chill, the wine would flow, and at the end of the night we’d all feel good cause the thing we’d planned for weeks had finally happen. Now it’s not like these friends live close or we see all the time. This takes time to plan due to distance and a total of 6 kids between the two couples.
Well, no about 30 mins before we were expecting a phone call with a “we’re on the way!” we got a call with “um…. something’s come up and we can’t make it.” [Insert a lot of the story that I’m going to leave out]. Jess and I both were left with disappointment and a ton of food, wine, and baklava. The next hour was spent trying to figure out how to salvage the evening and still make it epic! Not so much with “let’s calk up our losses and just hang out at home.” It had to be who can we call, where can we do, how can we still have the BEST. NIGHT. EVER. Eventually we decided to go to Target, buy a new game we could all play, get some take-out (it was going to be the best food we could find) and enjoy the evening playing our new game, drinking the wine we had and generally having a grand old time. By the time we got home we had a new game, an order from Burger King and at least 1 grumpy kid. Ok, we’re still going to make this EPIC!!!! Fast forward to post wine and whopper time and we’re on the couch playing Lego Jurassic World and I’m the only one that actually enjoys the game. Ten thirty rolls around and we’re in bed ready to call it a night.
So a night that we had been anticipating for a while fell through, no bigs. The our plan B was put into motion and kinda flopped. Again, nothing to fret over. But for what ever reason going into any plan Jess and I both have a tendency to build them up bigger than they should be. This happens more often than not. Its something we can work on I’m sure, but really it just comes down to not trying to make things a bigger deal than they are.
Life can be simple unless you deem it otherwise. There’s really no reason to get hopes up over something that is rather trivial. Going on a Disney cruise? Get your hopes. Going to the store with 2 kids and expect it to be a total success AND everything is on sale? Keep things realistic and you won’t be flustered when you walk out of there and your kids have no shoes on and are pissed off cause they were out of free sprinkle cookies in the bakery. Life is ever changing and its best to change flow with it. Everyone wins and I fully expect to win. All the time.
I honestly don’t even know where to begin. My last post was in December of 2014, and it’s now July 2015. That’s WAY to long to go without posting. So today, I start again.
But where to start? Do I make a post about Jack, Lane, Tough Mudder, my new tattoo, the basement, work, beer, the gym, or somewhere else? Too much has happened over the past 7 months to capture it all. There’s just no way to get it all into a post, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten more things than I’d ever be able to share here.
So now that I’ve wasted the first two paragraphs talking about how much I haven’t talked about in the past year I’m just gonna get right down to things.
Jack:
Jack is about to be 9 months old. We love this guy! He’s got so much personality and is such a Turner that it hurts some times. He’s not quite rolling over consistently yet, but he’s certainly done it a few times. He is on baby food, eats everything, and is growing like crazy. Right now he’s teething and about to cut his 8th… or 9th tooth. We’ve lost count as it happens so rapidly. The other week he started saying “dadadada” and then “mamamamama”. So talking isn’t far off. We’ve got a walker that he really enjoys being in because he’s mobile. I have a feeling this kid will be walking before he can craw, which is something he’s not really been keen on as of yet. So, this is a far cry from the last time I posted about Jack. He still frustrates the hell out of us, but I don’t know of any 9 month old that is just always the perfect baby. Oh, and he’s trending about 8-9 months ahead of his age as far as clothing, so that’s always fun.
OCR (Obstacle Course Races):
Watch these. That’ll pretty much sum things up. Jess and I have done both a Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash this year. I have 2 Spartan races coming up in the fall and can’t wait!
Work:
Work is work. I’ve been working on the same project for the better part of 2 years now. The good thing is, its not something that has either a budget or end date. I can always add more features and functionality and as long as our sales team sells it, I’ll be in demand!
The house: I don’t know what I have / haven’t posted about in regards to what’s been done around the house. We’ve done more landscaping in the back yard, had some more trees cut down, painted some rooms, re-arranged furniture, contemplated finishing things, started new things and generally been home owners who own a home that always have something to do. Also, it seems that no matter how much water I put on the grass it doesn’t want to turn into a golf course.
Lane:
Where to even begin with this kid?! He’s grown so much in the past year that it’s hard to capture it all even if I posted every day. There’s nothing this kid can’t do, especially if you ask him. As a general rule he really can do most things, and even things he can’t he’ll give it a try. This kid surprises me all the time. He wanted some yogurt out of the fridge the other day, so he found a stool, took it into the kitchen, climbed to the top shelf of the fridge and got it. He only likes to ask for help, so you can watch him do something on his own. He loves his family, gets frustrated and communicates why, tells jokes, remembers things that both Jess and I have long since forgotten, is able to follow even the most complex of directions. I want to freeze time so I can keep him at this age forever, but I am also excited to see what’s next in his big little world.
Friends:
It seems that these days its becoming more and more difficult to make time to hang out with my friends. We’ve all got kids now and syncing up schedules and such is always such a chore. On the off chance that we do get to hang out, its a great time. I love my friends and have some really great people in my life.
Jess:
Speaking of great people in my life…. This woman. She’s my best friend. My companion. My wife. My everything. There are days when she frustrates me, days when I frustrate her, but at the end of EVERY day there is such a deep love and respect that I can’t imagine any other life. She has grown so much as a mother, teacher, and person in the past year and I am just so proud of all the things she has accomplished. There really is a never ending list of ways I love her.
The gym:
First off, I still HATE pull-ups. I have continued to get stronger, faster, better, and more well rounded in the gym. But my hands and my grip are still weak and no matter what I do, I will most likely rip. I did the Memorial Day Murph, which has 100 pull-ups and despite finishing I did some serious damage to my hands. Despite my pull-ups not getting much better, I’ve increased the weight that I can lift via deadlift, clean, jerk, push press, drastically. But with that being said this past week I discovered that we all have bad days and my bad day was an abysmal performance while trying to do a bench press. In my attempt to simply do the same weight/reps I’ve done before I failed. A lot. This left me with a sour taste in my mouth, but at the same time, it gave me a drive to get back in the gym and work on my weakness and turn it around.
Varicose veins:
I had them, not so much any more. Many, many, many years in the making and I have finally gotten ride of the veins that were so unsightly in my legs. I’m only about a week out from my final procedure, but I can tell that things are improving. In about 5 more weeks all the swelling should be down and I’ll have some silky smooth legs! Well, maybe not that much, but they’ll be tenfold better than they were.
Chase:
We have a teenager. And a teenager he certainly is. One minute he’s dancing and singing in the kitchen with us, the next he’s completely shut him self into his room and won’t join us for anything. He has some massive mood swings and they come out of nowhere. With that being said, he’s still a really good kid. There are other teens out there that are just unbearable, but not Chase. He has all the signs of being a teen, and just like with our other two kids, eventually he’ll grow out of that phase and move on to the next one. Hopefully the football he’s signed up for that starts in the fall will help him with that.
All the rest: Like I mentioned earlier, I can’t begin to cover everything. My goal is to keep posting and try to capture as much of the day-to-day as I can. Pics, videos, Tweets, etc., I’d like to get it all, or at the very least a majority of it.
Every year someone in this house gets a little older. This year it happened to be Jess, and what better way to celebrate getting older than to spend the day on the lake with some great friends and perfect weather! For the past few years we’ve wound up on the lake near the end of the summer. Every time we go out we have a blast and make a point to do it more often. Of course the more often part never happens, but we still have a great time.
But not the Charles Dickens kind. Well, actually I’ve never read the book, or even seen the 1998 movie starting Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow. So perhaps it’s exactly like that. However, for the sake of this post, let’s just say it’s not.
Jack:
Lane:
Chase: