Nick's Life: May 2017

As the school year winds down, I picked Nick up one afternoon from AfterCare (because he likes hanging out after school.) It was the start of our bachelor weekend with Brandi in Georgia visiting family. He wanted to play "Stratego", a board game in the library.  So I sat down, and we played for almost an hour with a couple other kids coaching us. We were very popular, as if I was the only Dad ever to sit down after school and hang with the kids. Our weekend together was a bike ride, going out to a movie (Boss Baby), a swim, and generally relaxing. We went to the rental garages for Spring maintenance on the cars in storage, and Grandpa went with us.  He challenged a lethargic Nick to a footrace, and they sprinted the length of the garage building. Nick beat him by a step or two, but I can't tell you how impressed I was at 77 years of age, my father hustled probably half the length of a football field and never even huffed a hard breath. 

At school, Tom Nehring from the karate school came in one day unannounced to do a demonstration... he's done those for as long as I can remember. When he realized Nick was my son, he made Nick the assisstant, which gave the kid a sense of importance for the day amongst his peers.  Tom's still a good guy.

With our list of summer tasks, we're going to have the basketball backboard reinstalled at Dad's house. I had a closely-sized piece of plywood in the garage for probably ten or more years waiting to be used, so Nick and I painted it one afternoon in preparation. It was his first use of spray paint, and I wore more paint than he did from the exercise.

When Brandi returned home (to her free-range eggs on strike), we visited Greenfield Village on Memorial Day weekend, where it was civil war re-enactment day.  Nick cared more about the Train around the park than anything else, but the actors were very impressive, and the weather was perfect.  Afterwards, we drove to the Cass Corridor downtown to the open house for Tiny Houses, a start-up for Detroit revival by a local church.  Dinner was at Bigalora in Royal Oak, where we could eat and walk outdoors and enjoy the evening (still don't do that in most of downtown Detroit... but it's much improved.)

Nick's independence continues to expand, as he increases his personal preferences, like picking his own shampoo (some version of Old Spice, must be making a comeback).

Pictures linked here.

Jason