November & December 2018

We've been so busy trying to push our house over the finish line that we nearly ignored everything else, including Nick.  At one point he said out loud, "When am I going to get some attention?" It's not that bad, but as an only child, it seems that way.

We had an emergency one evening where we left Nick with Grandpa, so they had an extended bonding experience. Out and about together, Grandpa needed a tissue, which he rarely is caught without a handkerchief.  Nick's advice, "Blow your nose in your sock, that's what I do." I think that goes beyond even a generational gap. Regarding hygiene, Nick discovered the razor, and took it upon himself to shave.  A lot. Places that were not meant to be shaved. Lessons to be learned.

He had a play date with a friend of Brandi's who has a 14-year old son, Aiden (everyone's kid is named Aiden).  Who loves trains. You can imagine the ensuing excitement. The boys hit it off instantly, and Nick got ideas for what he (thinks he) is going to do in our basement for a train table.  We'll set up something for him. He also voluntarily donated all of this small wooden trains, tracks and villages to Carrie's young boys, which I took it all to them for Christmas. Just turning two years old soon, they are coming into the train phase. 

There was a trip to Atlanta for Brandi and Nick, with gifts exchanged, fireworks, and mostly the boys spending time separate from each other on their laptops. We had a small Christmas at home before they drove to Atlanta on Christmas Day, in which Nick got one of the expensive model trains he wanted badly (and then Aunt Megan spoiled him with a second one.) Brandi's cooking and new pajamas, a solid holiday. I went to Cincinnati for two days, which also was mostly eating, Jeff and I anchored at the end of Miranda's bar, watching the action around us. Robin relived her childhood memory with a new inflatable banana, which made for easy commentary the entire day. Finally I had my annual holiday dinner with Donny, but with neither of us in Florida this year, we surrendered the beachfront cocktails for dinner at a cool microbew in Saline called Salt Springs Brewery, built from an old Catholic church. 

Nick and I also practiced more driving before the holiday, and he's nearly ready to go out on his own.  He just needs to talk less and look at the road more. Nick's quote of the month, from the backseat of the car, "Oh God, it's Nickelback!" 

Pictures here, including his school pic.

Jason

October 2018

"Do you agree?" This is Nick's current verbal crutch, uses it in every conversation, drives me nuts, but it's not as bad as some of the stuff I got stuck on as a kid, which I need to remember.  His writing is stronger than his verbals, very strong, in fact.  He's been selected to write a presentation and stand-up in his class, and the content around war planes is well-written, and a good read.

School hasn't been too bad. Too much gym class, says Nick, and I agree. And the usual peddling of crap for Christmas, which I refuse to sell at work. Nick got his first detention after school, for being late to class too many times.

Our activities this month were a bummer, for the most part.  We saw the English version of the opera, "The Magic Flute" at the Valentine Theatre, which we were unanimous in our conclusion, was painful to watch.  Three hours of cackling was too long.  On another weekend, we drove to Alma, MI to ride the Polar Express train to Owosso, MI. The ride was 2 hours each way on the train, 4 hours at the stop, too much time trapped on a train with no heat (just our car) and annoying passengers.  The horrible day of wind and rain toppled a tree over the tracks on the ride back, which cost us another cold hour on the return trip.

Nick intended to skip Halloween this year, then changed his mind and went out in his karate gi at the last minute, realizing it was the best time ever.  The guy who lives on Meadowbrook who grills burgers and hot dogs every year upped his game to ribs and bacon, which was outstanding  Also slipped a photo from Halloween at Morpace in here, as the team dressed up from the move Mean Girls this year, very well done.

He's going to have a beard here soon, with the chin hairs pushing their way through. At least he's consistently wearing deodorant now.

I made a short trip to Cinci for Noah's homecoming, where I watched most of the game in the pouring rain, but the trip was well worth the moments: I helped him tie his necktie so he was ready for the presentation on the field, and saw him with five girls under his umbrella protecting them from the storm.  So proud of the kid!

The picture here is Nick with Amber's youngest, Joey.  More photos this month.

Jason

September 2018

I try to ask Nick how it's going at school. I attempted a simple question, after asking about his routine, I regressed to, "How many times to you visit your locker in a day?"  He stood there, long pause talking to himself, must have started counting over three times, waving his finger as he retraces his day, and after 2-3 minutes of waiting, he says,  "Four."  Ugh. He's clearly strong visually, which came through in explaining his first week of school.  Once again, two years in a row, he failed to get off the bus, as his mother watched him pull away on the first day; this year, he says, "The bus stop changed and I was waiting for it to circle back."  It moved four houses down.

We continue to try and play '50 Questions' with him, but when the answer is 'Loggerhead Shrike' there's just no point.  He's becoming the king of random, with razor parades around the bathroom when no one is looking.

We visited the Michigan Renaissance Festival for the first time. It was unusually hot, wet and muddy, so we didn't last long, but it was good to see it once. The cosplay is really impressive. We did more damage with a new purse for Brandi and some Krispy Kremes on the way home through Troy.  Brandi and Nick didn't have much more luck at the Indian Creek Zoo.

Photos here.

Jason

August 2018

Nick and I did attended the Woodward Dream Cruise again this year, on the curb early (there's a photo from our spot), and out before noon. Getting a pizza at Bigalora and a stop at Mustang Alley is becoming our ritual.  The Catholics tries to squeeze us off the curb out front of the church, but we were not moving!  We also stopped at a local car show near home... if we pass one, it's worth a few minutes to see the cars.

Continued heat, lots of swimming, including at night, as it's still hot when I get home from work.  And bike rides. I brought the Monte Carlo out for a couple of weekends, and new tires, so weekend evening cruises have been the norm. Bikes needed tires too... I guess I spent a lot of money on tires this summer.  Posting here a few photos of Brandi and Nick visiting the 577 Foundation to see the gardens, when they picked up his sculptures from last month.

On the Last weekend of the month we helped Grandpa shape trees and plant some new ones.  Nick was eager to dig before we started, but the heat slowed him quickly. He's more into the pool after the work is done.

Pics here from August, including one that shows Nick has now passed his Mama in height, so we'll call him 5' 2" for now.  School starts next week, on to middle school.

Jason

July 2018

Nick is driving regularly now, behind the wheel alone of the Chrysler (not on my lap, too big for that now!) We find parking lots, and he starts with brakes only and coasting, then accelerating and holding speeds, and he's getting the hang of parallel parking (a manly trait). There's been a cop hiding in our regular lot lately, so we've had to switch it up a little.   Nick also achieved the rank of green belt this month, and hangs with his friend Ali when not in karate class.

He attended an Art Camp in downtown Toledo for a week, focused on sculpture. I was expecting to end up with ten ashtrays around the house, but his creations were very impressive, from plates to cups (I suppose ashtrays aren't acceptable anymore.)  Most of the summer has been quiet and predictable: Nick shucking corn, washing the car, a good two week period of heat kept us in the pool.  We don't get far away since we can't take our eyes off of the house construction, which has slowed to a pace that suggests we could be a full year to completion.  And the Morpace merger, which fills in the rest of my free time; photo here of me on stage sharing news about the merger to the newly combined company.

We did a day trip in Cincinnati, to the beach at East Fork State Park, and the afternoon hanging with the family. Pictures are of Nick and Noah pressing quarters against the wall with their noses (anything to keep them quiet), and Miranda and Brandi in some kind of contest to balance Oreos on their head and into their mouths. It was fun evening of pizza and relaxing, made easier by my trip to Columbus for work the day before. The photo of me in the Shoe is because one of my coworkers is an OSU grad and we stopped on campus for lunch.

Pictures here from July.

Jason

June 2018

Nick's voice dropped a full octave this month, as he grew to a couple inches taller than Brandi.  He's clearly taller than his friends now, with an early growth spurt.  He calls out to Brandi at night, 'snuggle me!' and the deep voice sounds like a grown man.  He's on a new schedule now with school over (picture of him with his teacher here), doing more chores to carry his weight around the house, from yard work to dishes (he throws water all over the kitchen but gets the job done.)

We took a full day together on the town on the day after school ended. We drove a Lamborghini Huracan at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, a road track along Woodward. I had an awesome driving coach, but didn't get over 100 mph as I couldn't afford to wreck the car. After lunch at Bigalora, we sent to the DSO downtown in the evening where they played music from the movies.  Excellent show, left Nick tapping out the theme to 20th Century Fox with his feet, and whistling the Pink Panther for a few days.

I took him to fireworks at Luna Pier one evening, where he wandered the (crazy) crowds in search of food and people watching and dead fish along the beach.  Brandi took him to our house being built, where the firworks over the high school football field can be seen from our second story window. It's been two weeks of heat to end the month, and we're by the pool every day. I also take him out driving now, since he's tall enough to reach the pedals, why not?

We still struggle to communicate.  I ask him about playing his computer, and he says, "It's ok. They threw me off the server and into the blender." I have no idea what that means.

A few photos this month linked here.

Jason

May 2018

Nick wrote his own blog around school camp. From our perspective, his mother paced the floor with a glass of wine for four straight days until the end of the week.  Upon return, he was wearing the same underwear from the first day, and half of the clothes in his bag didn't belong to him.  He did seem to shower at some point, which was good.  He was more than thrilled to get home to a nice hot bath, which requires like nine inches of water for a swim (I advised him to dial back the water bill, which he says he needs to, "immerse his spectacularity".)


Nick's first piano recital was outstanding, him and all of the other kids (two of which belong to Lori Fisher's clan of nine.)  His biggest concern going in was someone throwing pies at him.  He took it seriously, arranging his bench precisely to start, and played flawlessly.  He also advanced to blue belt this month, and his sparring is getting better. He can't explain anything to me when I ask, such as when I asked him about one of his opponents, his description was, "he's the same size as his sister."

We got a day at the park for a walk, and stopped at a local car show on the way back.  It's all about the school year winding down now, and preparing for summer.  I'm looking forward to the end of 'dabbing' and 'flossing'.
There's a few pictures from this month.

Jason

Fifth Grade Camp

(Written by Nick)
When I got there, I went to my cabin and unpacked my stuff.  Afterwards, I went to lunch and then fishing, but I didn’t catch anything. One person did catch a hybrid. Later we went to this thing called fantastic fish and learned about different types of fish (which I already know mostly about that, lmao) and the director dissected a fish to show us the origins of it. After dinner, I played capture the fish and it was awesome.  In the evening we had a campfire where we sang songs and did hilarious stuff.  Then we went to bed. 

Next day, we went to breakfast and after that we did reptiles and amphibians where we got to hold snakes and lizards and turtles. Then we went to this class where we studied rocks and minerals. After lunch we had LLC and we did role-play during that, so first we had to cross two trenches, then we were blindfolded and we had to feel our way through the place, then solve a code and I solved it and got the rights to talk for the rest of the class. After LLC, we tie-dyed shirts, which was amazing. After dinner I went up into the loft and played loft games before bed. 

On the third day, yada-yada-yada, then we did drama which included skits, also amazing. After lunch we studied aquatic life where we found dragonfly larva, water scorpions, caddisfly larva, mayfly larva, damselfly larva, hellgrammites, leeches, and many more. There was an archery challenge which was AWESOME.  We performed our skits and they were funny. 

On the final day, we had OLS and made shelters to protect ourselves. We also tried to start a fire and failed very badly. After lunch and we studied wild edibles which is about learning those things that can be eaten and what can’t.  I went into the loft again for some drawing, and after that we had dinner and went to bed.
On the final morning we woke up, got packed, ate a little something and went home. I had a better time sleeping there than at home surprisingly, and on the last day, one of my cabin mates was allergic to spicy foods and he went to the restroom and it smelled HORRIBLE.

April 2018

Nick and I started a new show this month on Netflix, "Fastest Car".  We watch most of an episode each evening, up until the final race of the show, then save it as a cliffhanger for the next evening.  His car passion comes and goes (it's not like his laptop, which never gets old.)  Out of the blue, he drew an engineering-like design for windshield wipers with better coverage.  We played a racing video game at Dave and Busters when we hung out with Dawn and Phil, but he was more into the Jurassic Park games.  I'm just trying to keep him active, like outside shooting baskets and riding his scooter.


I asked Nick to peel himself away from the laptop long enough to dry dished and fold laundry, which I found him a half hour later under the warm laundry pile, asleep on his bed.  Not that he isn't helpful, he awoke one morning and made me breakfast before work... although I'm not as into burnt garlic toast in the morning as he is.

Most of this month was lost on our house, having it ripped apart from bad OSB, so Nick spends a fair amount of time at home alone since we don't drag him over to the house with us every time.  He's capable of a little independence, again with the laptop keeping him distracted.

- Jason

Nick at the Beach

This is just a great set of images of Nick at the beach over the years. Certainly not the only instances, as we've been to Clearwater Beach a couple of times as well, but the poses are coincidental, and fit together perfectly.

March 2018

Nick tested for his purple belt this month, and sparring has begun on Saturdays. He's cautious in selecting an opponent, as it's quite an adjustment to have someone throwing punches and kicks at you for the first time (this, I know.)  I don't stay to watch, but he comes out from class having had quite the workout.


We saw the play Shrek at the Valentine Theater in downtown Toledo, as my friend's daughter was the star, and Nick loves her shows.  The picture here is Nick with Carly afterwards. My coworker Greg brought his boys down for the show as well.  It's not a secret Nick's attraction the shows is a stage full of high school senior girls... one look at his Google search history makes it obvious.  That said, he was also on stage for his own school play, which is the picture of him laying on the ground, hat pulled over his head, taking a siesta.  Brandi and I also had lunch this month downtown at the M Osteria, which was excellent.

This Spring has been his growth spurt... he's now taller than Brandi, and is passing his outgrown shoes down to Grandpa.

We've been somewhat active, like attending Aiden's birthday party at Dave and Busters, even with me travelling so much (NADA in Vegas), and Brandi feeding the contractors on our house.  There's just not many photos this month, so no extra link.

Jason

Spring Training 2018

Nick and I flew to Tampa at the last minute to watch some Spring baseball, catching two games over a weekend.  We stayed in Maderia Beach, and jutted between Lakeland, Clearwater and Dunedin.  While he's not a huge baseball fan, he can follow the game, and got in some activities that interest him: building on the beach at sunset, riding in the Mustang convertible, and of course lots of steamed crab at dinner.  The highlights:

Friday afternoon was Mets @ Tigers in Lakeland, where we ate a helmet full of cheese fries, and the Internet was clearly inaccurate about our seats being in the shade.  French Fries drowning in nacho cheese in a helmet was our snack, and the helmet came in handy for digging on the beach later in the day. Box Score

Friday night we walked along Madiera Beach, from digging in the sand for nearly two hours, then to dinner at SeaBreeze Grill where he had us both covered in butter, and ice cream after dark.

Saturday afternoon we tried a place called BurgerFi, organic hamburgers, which was excellent.  Then to Dunedin for the Tigers @ Blue Jays, which was cloudy but warm, and the small stadium really puts fans close to the field.  We had dinner at Crabby's in Clearwater Beach, at Nick's request, just before the rain moved in at sundown. Box Score

My best takeaway were the cozy confines of Dunedin Stadium, where we were so close to Miguel Cabrera, we could have patted him on the back as he walked by.  Nick was not impressed, more likely to remember our server from Crabby's, Taylor, who made the biggest impression on him. Getting up at 3 AM for the flight home gives him an idea of what his Dad does when traveling for work, but Nick was an easy travel partner for the entire weekend.

Pictures here from the trip.

Jason

February 2018

Nick has some really good writing skills. He wrote a fiction paper for school on running in the woods from people chasing him, which was an impressive read. It's difficult to imagine small details and put them to paper, but he's got a knack for it.  That said, we bought a card and candy for his mother for Valentine's Day, and he signed it, "Happy Ash Wednesday." (After whining that he didn't get anything, I reminded him, "this gift is from you, dummy!" to which he smiled and remembered.") And he signed a birthday card for his friend Aiden, with a monetary gift inside, "Hope you enjoy the free cash."  He's a creative writer, not necessarily smooth.  He also posted a note on the bathroom door in need of privacy, that said he was 29% done with homework and not to be bothered (image here.)

He lost his last baby tooth this month, to which he exclaimed, "This one should be worth at least fifty bucks!" What a view Nick has on life.  We spent some more time building our hockey arena in Minecraft, of which he is very proud.  We'll work on a video of that soon.  The photo here is of Nick building a snow cave along our driveway after one of the heavier snowfalls this month.

Jason

January 2018

Now an orange belt and participating in the advanced classes, Nick is into weapons and sparring at karate (I know this because I bought him a bag full of stuff that weighs more than him, including the black gi.)  I visited the school for the first time on a Friday night for a Ninja Party, which Nick won from the school. Nick was called up upon to demonstrate a few moves, and he is amazingly attentive and structured in his karate class. His friends Will, Ali, and Aiden came along for the evening, and we went out for burgers at Quimby's afterwards.   

Karate and piano were not enough to fill Nick's time, so Brandi decided to sign him up for Scouts.  His friend Xander from Karate is in a troop at St. Clements Church, so that's where he joined.  After the first evening, I put him on the phone with Brad to compare notes, since I know nothing of Scouts.  Then I end up at a pancake breakfast and kid's service when Brandi can't attend.  I connected with a kid named Brody who does impressions of cartoons.  Good bunch, but I don't know how we keep up with another commitment.

He got a new XBox One for Christmas, and a new game that came out in January followed for his birthday, Railway Empire. So Nick peeled himself away from his laptop... to spend time on the XBox.  It's been such a cold month, outdoors activity is limited anyway.

Word of the month: 'nipple-a-gyna'.  Have no idea what it means, regardless of the context in which he uses it.
I've taken Nick's name out of the post titles, as I suspect he will not want to be the focus of this blog soon.

Pictures here.

Jason