summer

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It’s been awhile.  How’s everyone doing?  I haven’t written a blog in three weeks.  It seems that the summer season has gotten the best of me, but with Labor Day being the official end of summer I am ready to put out some blogs.  I did the usual things that I always do during the summer.  We did some beach trips.  We did some surfing and camping.  We attended a few barbeques.  I had my weekly wrestling match with my pool cleaner.  However, there are some other things that happened that are above and beyond the usual.

My son inspired Karen and I.  He was on the swim team this past spring for the high school freshman team.  We saw how exhausted he was and how intense the practices were and then we saw the transformation of his body.  He was already in good physical condition, but the swimming chiseled him like you wouldn’t believe.  Karen found a swim class every Saturday and Sunday morning and off we went.  It has been very challenging for two people who never swam before.  The first couple of weekends wiped us out completely.  We would swim in the morning and then come home and eat everything in the refrigerator and then fall asleep on the couch.  The kids were worried about us.  Lo and behold, after three or four weekends, we were able to swim in the morning and then function normally the rest of the day.  We’re going to continue it throughout the fall.  We definitely feel better and more energetic.

Ever since our dog Domino died in February, my daughter Jennifer has literally been on her hands and knees begging for a puppy.  Her persistence has paid off because I caved in late July and said okay let’s get a puppy.  Well, the conversation turned into how one puppy would be lonely during the day.  One puppy turned into two puppies.  I found them on the internet.  There pictures were adorable (I’m a big softy).  They were cute little fuzz balls, but they were in Arizona.  The breeder was nice enough to drive them to Temecula because she wanted to visit her grandmother.  Chloe and Bear joined us at the end of July.  They are cute and fun and they sure do poop a lot.

The midlife crisis kicked in again.  Just when you think it’s going to subside, it flares back up again.  I’ve always wanted a convertible ever since I can remember.  I decided to sell my truck and buy a convertible.  In this economy, it took two months to sell my truck.  My enthusiasm to get a convertible waned as the summer progressed, but then lo and behold someone bought the truck and I was out test driving convertibles with my daughter Jennifer the following Saturday.  The first car I drove was a beautiful silver Mercedes CLK 55 AMG.  I told the salesman that I was going to go test drive some other cars and that I might be back.  He said there is no might about it.  He said after driving this car you won’t want any other and he was right.  Two days later I bought the car for my 42nd birthday!

Now, for the downer of the summer.  It’s a cool hundred degrees late in the afternoon on a Friday in Escondido, CA.  The RBV, Orange Glen, Castle Park, and Santa Fe Christian football programs come together for a four team scrimmage.  It’s a great format because you get to play against three different teams in an hour and a half.  Stewart got his shot at starting cornerback and on the third play from scrimmage a running play came his way.  He and the outside linebacker made the tackle and then a couple of other players came flying in.  Everyone got up except Stewart.  He has a broken tibia, that’s your shin bone.  Ouch!  Doctor says three months in a cast from his toe to his hip.  He is definitely going to learn the meaning of patience. 

I hope you all had a great summer.

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summer

Hey Teacher! Leave Them Kids Alone!

Things used to be so simple back in the day.  You either took a regular class or you took an honors class.  The highest your gpa could be was 4.0.  The SAT was a maximum of 1600 points.  Sports had a season and they weren’t played year round.  You got Thanksgiving and the day after off.  You got two weeks at Christmas and one week at Easter.  Pardon me, I’m not being politically correct.  I should have said winter and spring break.  Back in the day, summer was very long.  You got out of school around the middle of June and always went back the day after labor day.

Things have gotten so complicated.  There are regular classes, honors classes, AP classes and international baccalaureate classes.  They even have honors classes in Spanish in case you can’t speak English.  What’s the point?  Why so many classifications?  It turns out the colleges don’t give a rip whether you were in regular or honors.  The colleges only care about your gpa.

I personally am not sure the regular classes are rigorous enough, so I have suggested, encouraged, pushed and demanded my son be in the honors classes.  I don’t expect the international baccalaureat because that’s just too much work if you’re in sports and not inclined to that much academics.  My son is with the program.  He hasn’t balked at the challenges and did well last year. 

Getting to the point of all this, I really want to know who the moron is that starting assigning homework over the summer.  This is what happens to honors students these days.  They get homework assigned over the summer.  This is really irksome to me.  Do these teachers have any idea how hard it is to get a fifteen year old motivated to do homework over the summer?  Talk about government intrusion into my life, I just can’t take it anymore.

You’re probably not much that different than my wife and I.  We divvy up our parental responsibilities.  It just so happens that it has been my responsibility to make sure my son does his summer homework.  This has been like pulling teeth.  At the beginning of summer, we decided he could have until August 1st without having to worry about any school work.  So on August 1st we sat down and made a schedule of how much he should do per day, so it could all be done with a week to spare.  In this way, the last week of summer could be totally carefree.  I don’t think it’s going to turn out that way.  The educators have turned this into my angst and I’m not happy about it.

I can honestly tell you that growing up I never had as much homework as my kids do.  I never did homework over any summer.  I don’t even remember doing much homework during the week during the school year when I was growing up.  I feel sorry for this generation.  Why is everything a race and a pressure cooker?

I’ll never forget what my dad told me on my graduating from UC-San Diego with my bachelor’s degree.  He shook my hand and said, “Congratulations, nobody cares.”

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summer

Is Summer Over Yet?

Everyone has their favorite season.  Some people love winter because of the snow and the cool crisp air.  Some people love the spring when all the flowers come out and the trees and grasses turn green again.  Some people love the autumn leaves falling to the ground.  I happen to love summer.  I love the hot days.  I love the long days.  I love the warm evenings.  Why am I ready for it to be over?

When school gets out for summer, there is a collective sigh of relief from everyone.  The school year is a grind for everyone.  The teacher’s have had enough.  The kids can’t take it anymore.  The parents are worn out from helping kids with homework and end of year projects.  The first day of summer is usually a beach day.  The kids are excited.  Mom gets the cooler out and loads it up with snacks.  The beach chairs and boogie boards go into the back of the car.  Everyone has a great day at the beach.  You come home a little sunburned and a little salty and there’s no homework for 10 weeks.  Yeah!

Where has all the goodwill gone?  The last I saw it was under a pile of laundry by the garage.  The time before that is was under a couple of dirty dishes that were found on the ground outside’s someone’s bedroom door.  I didn’t realize we had room service here.  There has been a complete break down of society in the last six weeks.  The school year brought structure to daily life that doesn’t exist during the summer.  It’s hard to have structure when you get up a 10am, watch tv and then eat breakfast at noon.  I don’t know what’s going on anymore.  People are coming and going out of this house and I can’t seem to keep track.  When you’re at the beach until 10:00pm at night and it’s your turn to do the dishes, they don’t end up getting cleaned.  When you’re spending the night at a friend’s house and you didn’t fold your laundry, it just ends up on the floor.  Help!

The worst part is trying to re-assert your parental control.  The wife and I were happy it was summer also.  We know the kids need a break.  We want them to do fun things during the summer, but you can’t have fun every minute of the day.  We still need some dishes washed and some clothes folded, but they are resisting.  Six weeks of no daily routine and the kids have gone feral on us.  Finally, this past Tuesday, I had to wield my fatherly powers and get everyone’s attention.  Yesterday, Karen finally had enough and whipped this place into a frenzy.  I almost had to leave for a couple of hours:)  We had a family meeting and the kids even admitted they haven’t been doing their chores and promised they would get better.

Hope you’re having a great summer.  I’ll see you at the beach after I wash the dishes.

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