It's Not As Easy As It Looks

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last week cruised by while I was prepping for travel to a meeting in Colorado Springs and this week I was there.


Here are a few updates.


Gymnastics - the kids continue to enjoy this very much. They even count down the days until they go. Chloe has been practicing walking on the balance beam (going forward and backward) and also doing somersaults on the beam. She works on body control, cartwheels and flipping around a bar. Dylan got to work on running then jumping onto a small trampoline then onto the vault. I think when they get bigger they get to push off the vault and fly into the foam pit. He walked across the parallel bars on his hands and feet, did the balance beam (front, back and sideways) and his chin-up hang time is about 12 seconds. I keep telling him that he needs to practice during the week on my chin up bar. I guess I need to put it up for him...


Their favorite thing to do is to jump into the foam pit, off the side, on the rope swing or from the vault.


Last week I got a blast from the past in the smelling sense. The parents are not allowed to go into the gymnasium during class, we are corralled in a waiting room with windows and tables. Usually when the coach comes to the door we are a ways away and the kids line up and wind their way to the door. Last week I was a little closer and when the door opened it hit me. That "sweet" smell of mats, plastic and sweat mixed with disinfectant. What a fantastic smell that is. If you've ever worked out in a wrestling room or went to a real gym. I'm talking about the type of gyms where there are basically free weights for pumping iron - not the fancy Bally's or Gold's with their fancy lights and floors and decor, though you might get a whiff of it back in their free weight areas. This would be the smell that would hit you if you walked into the gym Rocky started out in. That is the smell that reminds me of wrestling and working out. The smell of sweat, hard work and success. A million memories hit me all at once with that and it was quite a pleasant surprise.


Schools - Chloe's pre-school is moving very shortly from downtown Bethesda to right across the street from Marriott. Chloe is very excited for this to happen especially since her teacher, Ms. Heather, said her class could go on a field trip to see Steph. Not sure how Marriott will feel about it but there will only be about 5 kids in her Pre-K class. I know Steph is really looking forward to it too. It will cut down at least 20 minutes of driving for her each way.


Second grade is different now than when I went. This past week he had 3 tests. One was on Social Studies where he had to know the leaders of the different governments (Local-Mayor, State-Governor, National-President), why you vote and three Rights (Privacy, Religion and Speech). I think it's a bit slanted... I don't recall a right to privacy - only unreasonable search and seizure. Maybe I'm reading more into it and they are just simplifying for them but I'm gonna bet they don't stress the Second Amendment at all. Another was on math and the last was on Spelling.

We found out that he likes to challenge himself. They are working letter groups of 'ch' and along with their regular words they get to pick out a few in the 'ch' group for their own list. Steph was talking with some friends whose kids are in the same class, their boys picked out words like: pitch, catch, or change. Dylan picked out chameleon, speechless, pitcher, and Duchess..... I think they should get bonus points for picking out harder words.


My trip went well to Colorado. I flew in to Denver and met Uncle Milt for dinner on Sunday night. We hung out at El Noa Noa a little outdoor Mexican place. It's a cool place with a nice outdoor patio and apparently is a popular spot for family visiting Denver. I then drove to Colorado Springs for my meeting. For dinner Monday we went to an imported English pub - meaning the whole thing was imported. They handed out song books to everyone and the piano player would yell out the number of song and everyone joined in. Kinda like group karaoke - it was OK to sing out loud and it didn't matter if you were off key because chances are after a couple of half-yards of beer, the guy sitting next to you was too. The next day we toured the Olympic Training Center. It is pretty impressive and all privately funded with donations. They said the US is the only country that doesn't federally sponsor sport. Other countries have a Minister of Sport and provide federal money to support it. I kinda like our way better. Then to dinner at The Warehouse. I had venison for the first time in over 15 years - very good. While being a cog in the Corporate machine has its drawbacks, being on expense with food and wine is kinda nice.


Chloe and Dylan each put a 'present' in my bag for me. Chloe put in one of her horses and Dylan put in his stuffed Stitch. They enjoyed Colorado with me. Here's what we did.



Pike's Peak and smelling the wildflowers





Enjoying the Colorado sun and enduring fluorescent glare of the conference room.




They swam while I worked.




Steph handled being a single parent with ease. Well, at least with only a few incidents I'm sure. She has a new appreciation for those who have to do it full time with no sister around to help out. She did get another sonogram regarding the lower abdomen pain she's been having. Baby-wise everything is good. Dr. Alter said it could be ligaments stretching or even something like the baby sitting on some blood vessels. She is to take it easy. So far she's been doing OK on that. I think the stress from her job is the thing I worry most about. Now that I'm home, hopefully she can get some more rest.


Yesterday I was able to connect with Tim Slowey. He flew out here for work when I flew to Denver. Luckily, he was staying longer here than I was staying out there so he came up for dinner. It was good to catch up since we hadn't seen each other since I went to Boulder, CO for work with IO a couple years ago. Frank would have met up too but had to fly to California this week. His loss.


That's it for now. Stay tuned for the next episode.