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August started with Keith, Kristi, and Douglas done with their summer
vacations and being home bodies. But Bradley was still out painting the
Southwest, attending Grandpa Art and Grandma Leslie's "Summer Camp for
Grandchildren 8 and Older" in Durango.
Keith and Kristi celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary on the eleventh,
and school started for the boys at the end of the month. |
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Brad spent July 29th through August 6th in Durango with Grandpa Art and
Grandma Leslie and cousins Chris and Ben. They hiked, camped, avoided
forest fires, went into mines, and visited ghost towns. This was the
first year they had 3 instead of just two; they're in for a real challenge
(or a rule change) next year when the last two grandchildren make the age
limit and bump the number to five. |
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With big brother out of town, only Doug attended the Penasquitos Lutheran
Vacation Bible School program this year. While our boys are quite fluent
in their Bible Stories, they attend this VBS every year both to get a taste
for other churches and how they do things, and the social aspect since so
many of their friends go to it. For instance, Doug's friends from school
and the baseball team Riley and PJ also go. It runs for 8 successive
mornings, and completes in a carnival in the church parking lot. The thing
is so darn big at over 400 kids that it must be one of the major focus points
of the church. |
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Our own church held its version of Vacation Bible School, called
Life Enrichment Week
, later in August. It occurs on four successive evenings, with
two separate tracks for adults and children. Three, actually, counting
the Youth (Jr. and Sr High) that go off campus for activities. For
some years now Kristi and Keith have been foregoing the adult track to help
stage the children's program. It is much more intimate than the Penasquitos
VBS at just 30 kids. Also, for the second year, instead of buying a
curriculum (did you know there are publishers who sell VBS packages every
year?) the pastor's wife and children's education director co-wrote an original
curriculum. The theme was Pony Express, and the week included
Native American Dancers, animals from the Wild Animal Park, candle making,
corn bread making and much more. Riley and PJ each attended an evening
with Doug and had a great time. |
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When Bradley was finally done with all his gallivanting about the country,
it was time to schedule his Baptism, put off since May. It was set
for August 25th, the day before school started. His Grandpa Bob flew
out from Illinois, and local relatives Great Aunt Betty and Jeff and Chrysanne
all came to church that day. They ended up getting a double dose of
Sherwoods as, in addition to Bradley's Baptism
, Keith was the surprised recipient of the church's Layman of the Year
award. This had been awarded back in June, but the church was having
a hard time nailing down the Sherwoods to present the award. Guess
they figured Keith was likely to show up to his son's baptism. After service
we invited pastors and Sunday School teachers (e.g. Spiritual Leaders
in Brad's life) back to our house for a reception. |
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Summer officially ended August 26 when school started for the boys.
Doug is entering second grade while Brad is going into fifth grade,
his last year at Deer Canyon Elementary School before middle school. Doug
has Ms. Dye, who we've never had before but of whom we hear good things.
Brad has Mr. Bueker, the fifth grade teacher everybody wants. After
a very structured fourth grade that was sometimes difficult for Brad, we're
looking for a more "self-esteem" year for Brad. Mr. Bueker has a
very free-flow environment that allows Brad to move around and talk as
opposed to sit quietly. Keith, another talkative first son, remembers
his fourth and fifth grade travails and marvels at the degree Brad is reliving
his childhood. |
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If school is starting for the kids, that must mean that Kristi is starting
the school directory. That means two and a half months of collecting
address forms; cajoling the office for calendars, class rosters, and teacher
emails; typing and formatting on the computer; scrambling to include address
forms turned in after the deadline; dealing with the district printing
office; and miraculously including address forms turned in way, way after
the deadline. |
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Keith's Aunt Judy from Virginia came for a visit in the middle of the month,
staying up in San Marcos with Great Aunt Betty. (Genealogy note: Judy
is Keith's dad's sister, Betty is Keith's dad's father's sister.) Judy's
visit prompted Keith to finally get Judy's artwork (that he had purchased
two years ago) framed and displayed prominently in the living room. Betty
and Judy came down to dinner once, and we had such a good time that we met
again two days later for dinner in North County, at the restaurant on the
end of the Oceanside Pier. After putting our names in, we wandered
the pier for 20 minutes. It is doubtful that Brad will pick fisherman
as avocation after watch a sand shark being gaffed, hauled up, slit open,
and having its no-longer-in-utero babies magnanimously returned to the ocean.
We all had burgers, not fish. |
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In an effort to squeeze every last drop out of summer vacation (and use
our molding annual passes at least once) we went to the San Diego Zoo. Keith
had never seen the Giant Pandas, let alone the baby panda (
Hua Mei
) born at San Diego that caused such a stir. The impetus for the
visit was the impending departure of said baby panda to China. Keith was
shocked to find that the baby panda was now 3 years old and as big as any
other panda. Still he counted himself lucky to see the sight, and
was reminded of standing in line to glimpse the first ever pandas in the
US at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. in 1973. |
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Both boys got a second and final dose of swim lessons at the YMCA before
summer ended. Doug had the opportunity to immediately put the lessons
to the test at an Indian Guide backyard swim party. He is slowly
getting more adventurous: he'd go after rings on the bottom at depths
he knew he could stand up in, but steadfastly refused to go down a water
slide. Swimming may be like bicycling: Doug will require constant and repeated
exposure, some times over loud protests. He will eventually take off,
but at a time of his choosing, not (by golly) at a time of his parents'.
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This summer has been pleasantly devoid of major house projects.
This state of contented affairs could
not, of course,
be allowed to continue. So Keith picked “Paint the Fence” from
the mental jar of Jobs Around the House, “Idea over
24 months old” category. This was the perfect job for the boys
to help with. It was painting, which they are always wanting to
help with when they see Mom or Dad do it, and it was outside, so drips
and splatters were inconsequential. Furthermore, the fence is a
rough-hewn developer’s toss-something-up-fast-and-cheap fence, so they
didn’t have to paint it to any degree of perfection. With visions
of Tom Sawyer, Keith set about painting one August weekend, and waited for
the eager marks to show. |
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And show up they did. Keith handed them rollers and brushes,
assigned sections of fence, and set about teaching the boys how to
paint. Several things became apparent almost immediately. First,
the boys were quickly cured of their notion of painting = fun. They
learned it was hard work. Douglas tired after 15 minutes and gave
up. Brad soldiered on, completing his assigned section but wanting
no part of any other sections or painting jobs. Secondly, Tom
Sawyer was not a perfectionist. Chief among his qualities was an
ability to let go, something Keith absolutely could not do. No matter
how rough hewn the board, there was a certain degree of finish he had
to have. This completely over done demand of quality on the undeserving,
ratty old fence was probably a contributing factor to the boys' quick
exit from the scene. It is certainly the chief factor in making
Jobs Around the House drag on for months. |
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Related Web Sites: Bradley's Baptism Life Enrichment Week |
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They Said It: Kristi: “I want to let go and let God, but I’d rather leg go and let Paxil.” |
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They Read It: Kristi: Nanny Diaries Brad: The Boxes Doug: Spacedogs from Planet K9 |