Jacob Crosses Over

This was an actual conversation in our house tonight:

Scene: Disgusting, slobbery dog with her even-more-gross tennis ball jumps up on our bed.

Me to dog: Yeah, I don't want you up on our bed with your dirty ball.

Jacob bursts into uncontrollable giggles.

Me to Jacob: Ummmm..what's so funny?

Jacob (not very convincingly): Nothing

Vaughn: What are you? Ten?

It's good to know Jacob can still hang with the best of fifth-graders. The dog had no response.

Maui Pt. 2

We've returned from what was possibly the laziest vacation ever. We managed to do a little something every day but a whole lotta time was spent laying around the condo. In fairness, it was 90 degrees every day with 85 percent humidity in the morning.

I dragged my new mandolin with me so I forced myself to "play" each day; but this generally consisted of watching a ten minute YouTube video, playing the three chords I've learned for a few strums, and calling it a day (with a silent promise that I'd get serious once I get into lessons).

The happy couple looking fabulous

When he wasn't uploading pictures to Instagram, Vaughn's thing was to have 'rap battles' with Jacob that entailed both of them furiously writing away for a bit and then facing off to recite their raps over beats generated with Garage Band. They got better but neither one of them were particularly consistent with either rhyming or cadence. But then, what do I know? (Not much but I'm pretty sure incorporating "Powell's Books" into your rap isn't very street. Jacob).

The activities surrounding the wedding were very fun. Most days people did their own thing but we all met up to watch the sunset and toss the frisbee (which I cannot do but am not half bad with a Nerf football). The wedding itself was lovely and fun. Vaughn was an enthusiastic ring bearer and Jacob performed his ukulele song flawlessly.

It's always tough to come back from vacation. I think that both Jacob and I are working on figuring out how to live life so it doesn't feel like we're living from vacation to vacation. It was kind of a drag to step off the plane into pouring rain and I'm sure this will be a groggy week at work, but it's always good to be home.

Maui Pt. 1

There is a sticker on the bulletin board in our condo that says, "Please take off your Shoes before entering but no switch to better shoes when you leave." What does that mean? Jacob and I can't wrap our heads around it. It seems to imply don't steal any of the shoes in our house but that doesn't seem very hospitable. I guess it is just one of the mysteries of the island.

I've come to Maui with three basic goals (outside of the obvious of seeing our dear friends Lindsay and Sarah get married): Don't drown; don't get eaten by a shark; don't get sunburnt. The first two seem pretty easy but the last one is going to be rough. Luckily we've packed FIVE tubes of sunblock for 7 days here so I'm hopeful. The bulk of the guests at our condo complex seem to be over the age of 65 and I'm amazed at the their ability to bask in the sun like leathery honey baked hams next to the pool.

It's our first day here and our timing is all off. I barely made it to 7:30 last night before crashing out hard. Jacob woke up at 3:30 in the morning and would not stop pestering me to get up until I sternly told him he was annoying me (kind of like the verbal equivalent of hitting a puppy with a rolled up newspaper - NOT that I would do that. It's very old-school thinking and besides, anyone who has spent any time around any of my many animals over the years knows that I have no patience for discipline. Or training of any sort).

I think this crab is actually dead

Just as they did the last time we were in Maui, the boys took advantage of the time change and headed out to play basketball at 5:30 am.  I left not much later to walk the trail that runs along the ocean. It is insanely hot and muggy here so it was nice to get up before the sun was too high in the sky. There are plaques along the trail detailing interesting bits of Hawaiian culture and history. At one stop, I read about Eddie Pu (or "Mr. Aloha" as he was also known).  With a ti leaf wrapped around his forehead and only a towel, a walking stick and a bag of trail mix, Eddie walked the entire circumference of Maui each year for decades. I made the mistake of paying over $9 for a modest bag of trail mix during our first visit to the store so, while I hope to do a bunch of walking, it's going to have to be with a cheaper snack.

There's a lesson in this somewhere

Vaughn drives me crazy when he leaves his dirty clothes all over the house. Truth be told, all three of us are slobs but unlike Jacob and I, he can't be counted on to jump in and pick up. After numerous requests to remove his clothes from the bathroom went unmet, I instituted the new rule that all dirty clothes needed to be worn on his head until they were taken to the laundry basket where they belonged.

Vaughn is unphased by my new rule

We take Vaughn to a concert and he is not impressed.

There's been a serious decline in the quality of Vaughn's musical choices in the last year. Previously, he could be counted on to basically listen to whatever we did but now he's getting his own tastes and opinions and they are leaning toward hip hop and pop. When this came on I threatened to lock him the basement with a bunch of punk rock albums until he came to his senses but now I've thrown in the towel and just grit my teeth as he sits in the front seat and commandeers the car radio.

The other night we decided to take him to go see Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails and I hoped the energy of the show would maybe have a slight deprogramming effect on him. On the way there, we gave in and let him download the 'Explicit' version of the new Eminem song. Up until now, we've made him get the clean versions but I realized
that all kids hate having their music censored because their parents are all bunchy about the lyrics or message or whatever (how many times did I miss out on "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood when it was in constant rotation in the '80's?). Jacob also pointed out that we were taking him to a show where the lead singer growls about wanting to "fuck you like an animal." Parenting is a constant barrage of contradictions.

Anyway, despite having a pretty good time, he had been at a water park all day and started wearing down early. We had to cut out about a half hour into Nine Inch Nail's set, which made me sad since I missed them in high school when I had the flu. I don't think we changed any hearts or minds last night- but we still had a pretty good time.

A Phone Call

Vaughn had an assignment tonight as part of his Service Learning Journal. The assignment was called "A Phone Call" and the instructions read:

Most of us have a person in our life that we don't see very often and would love to receive a phone call or letter checking in and catching up. A simple gesture of a phone call or written letter can make someone's day very special. Choose a person who is of an older generation to call or write a letter to. 

Nice sentiment! Vaughn chose his Grandpa Lou who it's fair to say he sees on a pretty regular basis. We tried to coach Vaughn on some meaningful questions but because he is pretty lazy about homework, he went with three questions that just scream "catching up."

1. How was your day?
2. Do you have any plans for tomorrow?
3. What did you eat for breakfast?

Actually, now that I think about it, those aren't bad "checking in" questions for an older adult but I don't think that was the spirit of the assignment. When we teased him about the quality of the assignment, Vaughn actually tried to pin a little blame on my dad by saying that he just said his plans for tomorrow were to do "something indoors" rather than naming something specific. My dad, for his part, confessed that Vaughn's giggling throughout the interview made him think that perhaps he and Sten were playing a trick on him (which would be fair since they did try and slip my dad a couple melatonin a few years ago when my dad was babysitting them. Once bitten…)

The best part of the assignment was the final question: How did you feel about the conversation after? How do you think it made them feel? Vaughn's answer? "I think it made my grandpa feel more included in my life."

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Faithful readers know that each year for my birthday, Jacob learns and plays a song of my choice. This year it was "Wagon Wheel" and although I got an 'official recording' with all the editing, I love this version I shot on my phone.