It's Just Like Riding a Bicycle

Last Friday, when we went to pick up the large vinyl run-through banner that the Booster Club had purchased for the school several years ago, we discovered that it was missing. Since we had been planning to take it to the game that evening, we were a bit bummed, but, figured that a more thorough search of the school would turn it up before our next game.

Apparently, not. The banner is still missing, and, since we want the boys to have the experience of bursting onto the field through a banner, Booster Club President Extraordinaire and I decided to re-awaken our inner cheerleaders by making a banner on our own.

The effort required alcohol, but, the outcome was acceptable.

Ok, yes, the saying on the banner is corny as hell. What can I say? We wracked our brains to come up with a clever saying for the banner, and, I actually had something pretty awesome worked out...

...if only the Athletic Director had approved (he did not).

It's ok; the boys have a banner-allbeit a corny one- to run through, I got to relive one of my fondest high school memories, and I could feel the school spirit. Which, goes to show, you can take the girl out of the school, but you can't take the cheerleader out of the girl.

Or, something like that.


*Edited to add: We forgot to add the hashtag to the Workinghardhavingfun at the bottom of the banner; that has since been done.  It's is the coach's team motto, and, while we still host anger for the coach, BCPE and I agreed to add the motto to every banner. After all, we don't want our karma to be negative.

Thus Ends the Summer of 2016

I am planning to bust out the fall porch decorations this weekend, you know what that means, right? Summer is O.V.E.R. Insert sad face, here.

On the bright side, we all know that I loves me some fall, so, moving on.

Before I do, however, I want to check in with my Summer Bucket List items to see how badly I sucked at them.

1.  Eat my weight in locally grown cherries. Oh, friends, I NAILED this one! In fact, if I had to estimate how much I spent on cherries, the total would probably rival the expense of a new Coach bag. I mean, it would have to be last season's bag, purchased from an outlet, but, still. Cherries were my jam.

2.  Host at least three porch nights. Welllll, I hosted two, so, close, but, no cigar.

3.  Churn a batch of homemade ice cream. This so did not happen. I wish it had.

4.  Celebrate the 4th of July at the lake, with good friends. Another success! I'm, what, 2 for 4? Only half-sucky so far!

5.  Get our annual photo of the children in the spillway of the dam. This also did not happen. When we were at the lake, the water was too high to access the spillway, plus, we were missing Kaley. I have high hopes for getting this picture again eventually, though.

6.  Do Stampede in a way that would make my Dad proud. I did ok on this one. Not great, but, not terrible.

7.  Finally have the star gazing party that Jana and I planned years ago. Again, did not happen. At this point, I think I need to accept that it will never happen. Maybe someday, years and years and years from now, when we are grannies?

8.  Take the kids to the drive-in. Yep, never happened.

9.  See the following movies: Captain America: Civil Wars (Yep), X-Men, Apocalypse (Yep), Finding Dory (Yep), Independence Day: Resurgence (Yep), The Legend of Tarzan (Nope), Ghostbusters (Yep), and Bad Moms (Yep). This was, indeed, the Summer of Movies. We also saw Jason Bourne and the extremely forgettable Sausage Party.

10. Grow the perfect San Marzano tomato in my garden. I actually have grown numerous perfect San Marzanos. They are delicious and I am somewhat amazed at myself.

11. Finally perfect the "beachy wave" hairstyle. Yeah....not so much. I still have faith that it is possible, however.

12. Photograph the perfect sunrise and sunset.  I got this one half-right. I got the sunset, I just wasn't up early enough to ever catch the sunrise. Well, I was up, I just wasn't in a position to photograph it, darn work schedule and all that jazz.

13. Tour the wineries outside Neighboring City. I actually decided to put this off until the fall; the weather was way too hot this summer for traipsing around a vineyard.

14. Spend a day at the pool with the kids. Vegas, baby! The pool at The Paris was spectacular.

15. Drink my morning coffee on the porch as often as possible. This one was easy; the weekends were made for coffee on the porch.

Ok, so I didn't totally suck. Of course, there is always room for improvement. Tune in tomorrow, when I come up with a random list of crap to challenge myself to accomplish this fall; top of the list: WINERIES!

This Is How We End the Summer

Saturday morning, we loaded up the RV and headed for the hills to spend the long holiday weekend with Jana and Co. The weather forecast was a tad bit on the sketchy side, but, we figured that we would just make the best of whatever sunlight we got.

And, make the best of it, we did.

Jana's mom, step-dad, and brother had decided to come along, so, between us, we had three motor homes and a motorcycle trailer that the boys commandeered as their own personal mini-RV, which, made for an impressive campsite once we circled the wagons.

We decided to take advantage of the clear skies by exploring an old tunnel that had been dug into the mountainside as a way to transport water from the high mesa down into the valley; the tunnel has been abandoned for years, but it is still as sound as it was the year it was built.

Jana and I discovered the tunnel by accident when we happened upon a fenced off air vent while hunting pinecones. We had no idea how deep the hole was, or what it was used for until we returned to camp and asked Jana's mom, who grew up in the area and knows a lot about the history.

Once we knew what we were dealing with, we tracked down the opening of the tunnel and, with the aid of headlamps and flashlights, we went exploring.

The tunnel wasn't too long, and, we decided to walk aboveground on our return trip, while the boys opted to use the tunnel again. There was one other air vent in the tunnel, in addition to the one that Jana and I had found, and we made the boys pose for pictures at each one. Because, that's how we roll.

Once we got back to camp, we spent the remainder of the day relaxing, preparing dinner, and enjoying the campfire and a guitar serenade from Jana's brother.

Then, we hit the sack so that we could get up early on Sunday for a full day of Jeeping in the high mountain trails.

It was a really fun trip and I almost didn't want to come home. But, I had work to do, and, the boys were jonesing for technology, so, home it was.

Now, I need to get ready to start my workweek, knowing how challenging it can be for me to wrap my brain around a short week.

I know, first world problems, right?

Final Score, Pirates 40, Rams 21

Last night's game was awesome! The boys took control early in the first quarter and they maintained it throughout the game. Each boy had a chance to prove himself, either on offense or defense, and they had a great time doing it.

The Man-Cub, Mikey, and Tones were honored as Team Captains, and it was really cool to see them at the coin toss, especially knowing that Dad's flipping coin is still sewn tightly into the Cub's uniform.

Despite the two hour drive to the game, the crowd on our side was large and loud. Several of the girls on the volleyball and cross country teams came for the game, and Hugh led them in cheers each time one of the boys had a tackle, run, block, you name it, they cheered for it. I'm thinking about buying him a skirt and some pom poms.

The moms were equally loud, and, with all the football bling we were wearing, we sparkled almost as loudly.

What can we say? We had a lot to cheer for.

The crowd was pumped, cheering like crazy people throughout the game, and, at the end buzzer, the boys sang the school song to us with enthusiasm that was contagious.

The celebration after the game was equally festive, and, there were hugs all around, despite the fact that you could have wrung the sweat out of the boys' uniforms and that the smell that came with it was, shall we say, unpleasant. No matter! Love these boys too much to care.

It was a great way to start the season and I can't wait for our first home game, which happens next Friday.

Let's Get This Party Started

Last night, the Booster Club President Extraordinaire hosted the first football team dinner of the season. Because the coach still has not supplied us with a list of the underclassmen parents (despite having promised it to us several times, now), I, and a few of the other Senior Boosters turned out to help.

The boys enjoyed the hamburger fry, descending on the buffet line like it was a recently fallen carcass and they were a pack of starving wolves. It wasn't the first time I have witnessed the phenomenon, but it was one of the most impressive displays of scavenging that I have seen to date.

After decimating the food supply, the boys retired to the yard for riotous games of cornhole and some soda can pyramid stacking that confirms they are 100% ready for the challenges of college frat parties, if not for college course work.

After feeding the boys and cleaning up the scraps, the adults retired to the dining room, where we spent the next couple of hours punching out photos and assembling the pins that parents had ordered for the season. While I lost track of how many buttons we made, I do know that we cleared $400 in profit, which, at $3.00 a button, would indicate that we made a shit ton.

Or, approximately 130 or so.

By the end of the evening, we all felt pretty much the way my friend, Clara indicates in this next picture...

...but, we were done (with this round, middle school sports still to come; kill us, kill us, now).

Tonight, we travel over the mountains for our first kick-off of the season. The boys are pumped, the parents are pumped, and we are ready to take this season by storm!

Friday Night Lights, y'all!

Happy 10th Blogiversary To Me

Ten years ago, I started this blog with a post that basically consisted of me issuing a vague threat to my uterus. A lot has changed in ten years, but, my uterus still misbehaves on occasion, so, at least there has been some consistency in my content.

All joking aside, ten years, wow. Where does the time go?

Back then, Queen B was known as The Girl; she was pre-pubescent, alternated between salty and sweet, and was entertaining enough to spawn numerous humorous posts .

The Cub was still the Cub; he was toothless, often injured, maimed, or broken, and fully versed in fart jokes. Actually, some things never change, because, the same could be said for him, today.

Some things do change, of course. We have experienced growth, gained friends, lost loved ones, and battled back against sadness.

On the pages of this blog, I have documented milestones, preserved memories, captured photos that have allowed me to freeze time, and created a legacy that will (I hope) live on beyond my time on this Earth.

It's been a privilege to write here, and, while I can't say for certain that I will still be writing here ten years from now, I can say that I would be happy if that were the case.

I would also be happy to see this waistline again, but, we can't have everything.