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July 2001
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When we last left the Sherwood family, they were
spread across the map: Keith and Kristi were at home in San Diego, Bradley
was at church camp the mountains near San Bernardino, and Douglas was with
Nana back in Los Alamos, NM. For those of you who can’t stand the
suspense, there’s a happy ending: they all get back together again by the
end of the month. But not before more travels and travails.
On Monday, July 2, the Southwest van trip ended, and Keith and Kristi
returned home empty nesters. The previous morning they had left Douglas
with Keith’s mom Jane in Los Alamos, and set off with just Bradley on a
15 hour dash across New Mexico, Arizona and California to San Bernardino.
That very morning they had dropped him off at a week long church camp in
the mountains behind San Bernardino. They now had until the following
Saturday to do any thing they wanted (bed and breakfast, romantic get away,
quick trip to Catalina or San Francisco) while the kids were away. |
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So they painted the boys’ room. Don’t laugh:
it’s a multi-day job requiring the boys to be elsewhere, so this was the
perfect time. As we did with the master bedroom and family room last
year, we painted the walls, left the ceiling the original Navajo white,
and installed new, sturdier base boards. The color is yellow-gold,
and goes exceptionally well with the blue valance and bedspreads and with
the light wood furniture. Bradley was less than pleased initially
("Yellow!?"), but Mom and Dad ignored his comments the first couple of
days and he hasn’t mentioned it since. In hind sight, Mom and Dad
acknowledge that Brad is too old at 9 ½ to spring something like
this on. He needs (and deserves) to be consulted and made part of
the decision making process regarding "his domain." |
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Doug’s week with Nana (Keith’s mom) included
seeing three movies (Shreck, Dr. Doolittle 2, Cats and Dogs), getting Nana’s
garage door fixed, and eating lots of Chinese food. I don’t know
why Doug left California for New Mexico and then decided he had to have
Chinese food. Seems a bit backwards. He claimed he wanted duck,
but I think Nana got him chicken and told him it was duck. They started
their trip west on Thursday, but went via Durango, where they visited Grandpa
Art and Grandma Leslie (Keith’s dad and step mom). This was very
nice of Nana, because this would be Doug’s only opportunity this summer
to see them. (Remember Doug was recovering from flu the previous
week, so he didn’t make the Chama train ride with Art and Leslie, which
was originally intended to be the one summer visit.) Doug has not
been forthcoming with details about his time in Durango, but both grandmothers
report a scary incident where Douglas refused to hold a hand across a busy
street, and had to be picked up and carried across in a most embarrassing
way. |
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Both Keith and Kristi agree they could
never have gone to camp for a week at nine and a half years old without
knowing anyone else there, but that’s what Bradley did. He went for
three days to this same church camp two summers ago, but missed it last
year. When asked this spring what his priorities for the summer were,
Bradley put church camp number one, above all other possibilities (Baseball
camp, trips to relatives, Disneyland, etc.). Kristi and Keith marveled
at the mature young man they had in the back seat that made the 900 mile
Sunday van trip so easily. And they marveled at the independent young
man they picked up the following Saturday. Then they reintroduced
the concepts of schedule, parents, and obedience. And there was wailing
and gnashing of teeth… |
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Doug and Nana then arrived the next night, Sunday.
Jane, exercising her prerogative as a freshly minted retiree, stayed through
Friday before heading back to Los Alamos. While she was with us,
Jane, Kristi, and the boys went to Seaworld on Tuesday. And on Thursday,
Keith joined them all at Legoland.
And yet all this was not the end of summer vacations, at least for Kristi,
Brad, and Doug. On Friday July 20, Brad flew to Albuquerque and Kristi
and Doug flew to St. Louis. Brad was met by Grandma Leslie, they
picked up Cousin Chris, then headed to Durango for a week long "Camp Grandma"
for the two oldest grandchildren. Kristi and Doug were met by Grandpa and
Grandma Rafferty, and taken back to Bloomington, Il. |
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Bradley spent his week camping in Mesa Verde
and Pagosa Springs, white water rafting on the Animas River, and chasing
trains, both full size and model. The first paragraph (and only one
completed) of the story I asked Bradley to write about his trip:
"The first thing I did when I got to Albuquerque
was hug Grandma Leslie and go to my baggage claim. Everything seemed
to be going fine. But then the baggage thing stopped. A worker
turned it off and went in. He found a HUGE bag blocking the way.
He called an assistant. She came and helped. She called on
another guy. Finally they called a technician. My bag got out and
we left. A long boring drive to Durango ended in boredom."
(I think Bradley was expressing his displeasure with the writing assignment
in that final sentence.) He did sketch this map
of Pagosa Springs camping, however.
Although he didn't finish the story, he did allow some of his pictures
to be scanned, and provided captions
to his pictures and pictures from Grandma Leslie. |
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Douglas and Kristi enjoyed a relaxing
vacation at Papa and Grandma’s house in late July. Although it was
extremely hot and humid and sticky in central Illinois, we were still able
to experience some typical midwestern events. Douglas learned how
to ‘drive’ the lawnmower, went miniature golfing and for a go-cart ride,
got to see a working farm with animals, visited the St. Louis Arch, took
a short ride in Papa’s limo, and went out for ice cream or donuts quite
often. However, his favorite part of
the whole trip to Illinois, other than being spoiled quite well by
his grandparents, was watching cartoon network. We only subscribe to basic
cable at home, so Douglas thinks it would be better to live in Illinois
because of all the channels they can get! Poor Papa was booted out of his
favorite lazy-boy and denied his rightful position of channel changer holder
and channel surfer while Douglas was visiting! |
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The goal of the vacation for Kristi was relax,
relax, relax. And that was easily accomplished with Grandma waiting on
her hand and foot and spoiling her rotten. There’s nothing quite like being
taken care of by your Mom! The only real downside to the trip was the 98
degree temperatures with heat indexes of 110 outside, with the pleasantly
frozen conditions of max power air conditioning on the inside, which were
a bit much for the Southern Californian to get used to. Kristi’s vacation
favorites included eating out, eating Mom’s food, shopping with Mom, visiting
relatives, eating out, eating Mom’s food, seeing the rolling green farmland,
eating out, eating Mom’s food, spending time with her parents, eating out,
etc. But the highlight of the trip was getting to visit with two of her
best high school buddies. Her cousin Kim, along with Kim’s children, came
to Le Roy from Kankakee. Marcie and her two kids came in from Brownsburg,
Indiana. Kristi started kindergarten with Marcie and Kim and experienced
the whole small town life all the way through high school. |
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On Friday the 27th Keith was discharged from
Physical Therapy after 4 months. "There's nothing more we can do
for you; just keep exercising that leg." The following Monday Keith
had a last Doctor's appointment, and was declared, if not fully healed,
at least not needing further medical supervision.
Overheard lately:
Doug, at a friend’s house, to friend’s mother: "You have a very nice
house. I really like it." Friend’s Mother: "Thank you, Douglas."
Doug: "How much did it cost?"
Doug to friend: "How old are you?" Friend: "I’m six and a half.
I’ll be seven in November." Doug: "I’m just six. We skipped
my half birthday." (Ed. note: The half birthday, when we skip it, will
be in October.)
Kristi to boys: "Time to go to bed. We need lots of rest before
we catch the plane tomorrow. Planes are very heavy." |
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Harmless Childhood Habits that Aggravate Parents
to No End:
Brad has to wear socks to bed, no matter how hot it is.
Says sheets or covers will tickle him otherwise.
Doug cleans the sink after brushing his teeth. Very thoughtful,
it's just the manner in which he does it: before he starts he plugs the
drain, then brushes and spits, then runs more water and swirls it around,
then finally opens the drain. Somehow he's convinced he's saving
water.
Brad has taken California's electricity woes to heart, and now turns
off any light immediately, without asking if someone else might be using
it. |
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