--Husband disappeared for 10 days on his annual required work trip to California. (What a shame, right? To be forced to spend time in a Hilton on the Torrey Pines golf course? The only tragedy, here, is that I couldn't figure out how to stow away...) I only mention this because it's so amusing to me, with 2 self-sufficient teenagers in the house these days, how little the temporary absence of a parent affects our routine. I mean, Derek drove him to the airport, so we could keep the extra car around while he was gone...both boys foraged for their own dinners every night, with minimal input from me...and everyone basically went about their routine. So...yeah, it was pretty much business as usual around here.
--Riley finished out his academic year (halfway through High School, yay! Or rather...whoooaaa...) with a new, decidedly-NOT-improved final exam schedule. You see, he had one test each morning, then "review sessions" for other classes every afternoon--regardless of whether he actually, you know, had an upcoming assessment for the course in question. I'm sure this isn't how they planned it, but the current structure would have resulted in a whole lot of hours sitting in a classroom trying to study while surrounded by the distraction of other students...and whatnot. So when he requested to come home and do his work here, in the peace and quiet of his bedroom, we allowed it. (Unexcused absences be damned...)
--Meanwhile, the college dude had been at liberty for about a month...living his best life of sleeping until 11:30 (and it's not even like he stays up that late! The boy just needs his 11 hours per night, apparently...), watching ESPN, playing FIFA19, exercising occasionally, hanging out with his posse when they're available, eating at all hours...and generally being a "shiftless layabout" (one of Husband's favorite terms of all time, although I couldn't tell you where he picked it up). Oh, and to his credit, he has been doing some leisure reading (thank goodness for that, at least).
And speaking of free time: one day he and I were talking about Disney movies, for some reason (perhaps because Frozen II is coming out at Thanksgiving, and we're both super-excited about that) and he mentioned that it might be fun to re-watch some of the classics we haven't seen in a while, as well as newer releases we never got around to catching in a theater. This offhand suggestion quickly became somewhat of a...Quest, if you will. First, I recorded Moana, Zootopia, and Finding Dory, all of which had shown up on regular TV.
Then we hit up the library (slinking into the Children's Section, without a tyke in tow, like we were renegade cartoon-ophiles on some kind of unauthorized...DVD heist, or something. THAT was kind of hilarious...) To date, we've raided their collection for: Brave, Incredibles 2, both Wreck-It Ralphs, The Princess & the Frog, Coco, and Tangled. Holy animation overload, Batman--that's a heck of a binge! Only 7 more on our To Do List, with 8 weeks to go until he needs to be returned to UofSC. We can do this!
--Then, more entertainment: I enjoyed a brief visit from a Maryland amiga (and her spouse, who I felt like I should know after our many years of friendship, but had never met IRL). We got to catch up, dine at one of my preferred Carrboro eateries, and even join the bootcamp crew for a misty Sunday morning walk (and Whole Foods breakfast, which is always the reward for a workout-well-done...or whatever, honestly; we don't judge, and we certainly don't stand in the way of the coffee or buffet!)
On another java-related note, I also had a chance to meet a local pal for a calm, uninterrupted cup o'caffeine, before the Summer Madness descends on her household. (Her offspring are younger than mine; hence the very real possibility of 2-1/2 months of unstructured mayhem. Yikes...) And finally, I attended the regular Wednesday night pub run, which is only notable for the fact that I completed the 3 mile loop...WITHOUT PAIN! Whoo hoo (let's all keep our fingers crossed that the arsenal of tricks I've been employing to wrangle the..."fascist plants" tormenting my foot...continue to be effective. 'kaythanks...)
--And finally, 3/4 of the fam took in our first Durham Bulls game of the season. (Riley opted out, since we chose to go on the last day of school, and he was in R&R mode after the big end-of-term... hoopla.) The only slight wrinkle to the agenda was the unexpected, unexplained power outage we experienced that--bright, sunny--afternoon...stretching into evening. We therefore left our younger son alone, hoping that the electricity would be restored at the promised target of 6:30 p.m., so he'd be able to feed and occupy himself in our absence. (Fortunately, it was, and he managed just fine, left to his own devices.)At the stadium, we were treated to a stunningly gorgeous, surprisingly crisp night, as well as an impressive interlude of quality baseball. The home squad roughed up a visiting Major Leaguer (Jordan Zimmerman, rehabbing a strained elbow) for several innings, on the way to a solid 6-3 win...and I actually had to don my jacket...in NC...in June. So all-in-all, we really couldn't ask for a more perfect first trip to the DBAP for 2019.
And there you have it: all the current events that are fit to report. But now that both kids are "on vacation" for a while, we'll see what kinds of...shenanigans...they (we?) get up to in the coming weeks. Stay tuned...
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