Day 84: O'Dark Thirty

We started the day very early. By early I mean basically the middle of the night. 

A 3:45am wakeup, 4:15am out the door, 5:15 dressed and on the ice first practice for Camden's Mites Flyers hockey team. 

Five Fifteen A. M. 

I heard that youth hockey often has early morning practice. I was prepared for this. But Five fifteen ice time you guys. Getting up at 3:45am and having to function as a human being? Should I just insert an IV of caffeine directly to my veins? Should I just stay up the entire night prior and not go to bed until after practice is over? How to people handle this?

To be honest, I thought waking Camden up at O'Dark Thirty was going to be a nightmare. I flipped the light on, whispered a quiet "Cam, wake up!" and after not receiving any sort of response, I said a tad louder "Cam, Flyers practice" and suddenly he shot out of bed, saying "OH MY GOSH, my first hockey practice!!!!" And he was dressed and downstairs in 3.56 seconds. 

This kid loves hockey more than any kid loves anything. 

Cam in the white jersey during pre practice warmups

After practice was over and we had inhaled our first cup of coffee, we had a solid hour and a half before Intro (the weekly hockey camp he's been in for 8 months now) was going to start. 

It was only 6:30am. 

So we headed to the nearest Starbucks that was open and used some giftcards to get breakfast and a second round of caffeine. 

Maybe hockey players invented coffee. 

Correction: maybe hockey parents invented coffee. 

The great thing, in theory, is that we were done with sports by 9am. The bad thing is we were basically in a hungover state for the rest of the day, and ready for bed by 4pm. 

I hope we get used to this. 

Day 83: Do, Or Do Not, There Is No Try

Today was a big, huge, gargantuan day for Camden. Possibly the biggest day of his tiny life. 

It's hockey team tryouts today!!

The term "tryouts" was used loosely, and pronounced "assessments" in adult language. The only kids that were cut from the two 8u teams were the ones that really can't skate well enough to keep up safely with the rest of the kids.

But don't tell Camden that, because we told him if he didn't work hard or pay attention they'll cut you immediately from the team!!

Whatever it takes to make him work as hard as he can.

The excitement coming from this kid was addicting. He couldn't wait to get on the ice and show them what he's got. 

The tryouts took about an hour and a half, and at the end, Cam stopped every coach and asked "did I make it? Did I make it?!?"

Every coach told him he made it.  


Then Cam announced "We NEED to go to Mary's Pizza Shack for dinner. Because it's my two favorite things today, hockey and Mary's pizza." And so we did.

Introducing the newest Santa Rosa Flyer, 8u Mites division!

Day 82: The Night Before Hockey

It's the night before real, full blown hockey tryouts, and Cam is just full of flutters. He's BEYOND excited, jittery, full tilt bouncing off the walls waiting just waiting for tomorrow to come, hoping he makes it on a team. 

I won't lie, I'm even a little nervous for him. 

Calen and Dad were away at baseball practice tonight, and Cam just couldn't settle and insisted that we needed to watch "a hockey movie", so we watched The Mighty Ducks of course. 


Cam sat here and I watched him out of the corner of my eye, grinning and giggling and announcing "THAT'S A PENALTY!!!!" and then bouncing and clapping and laughing as we watched the movie, and then blurting out:

"I CAN'T WAIT TO BE ON A REAL HOCKEY TEAM!!!"

This is what he's meant to do. He doesn't care about anything the way he cares about hockey. 

Good luck tomorrow, Bam. 

Just a kid with his hockey stick and his lollipop, shooting a few in the garage

Day 81: Back To School Night

We made it through an entire first week of school, so let's celebrate surviving a week of getting lunches packed and battling common core homework with Back to School Night at the boys' school!

This is a fun little introduction to the school that Two Rock Elementary does every year. There's a barbecue dinner provided while the principal discusses how the school operates and introducing all the teachers and all that jazz. 

I love this little school. There's only one classroom per grade, every teacher seems to know every student (and parent), and it's just an intimate little wonderful school.

After the assembly, we head into the boys' classrooms (one at a time obviously) where their teachers do a little presentation and explain the curriculum and classroom goals and whatnot. 

I'm pretty pleased with both the boys' teachers, and we got to see some of their little projects they've already worked on this week as well. 

It was such a neat night seeing the kids' "home" away from home and meeting the teachers that are molding their little minds. 

Sitting at Calen's desk. I felt like I needed to sneak this picture because the teacher was talking and I was "using a cellphone in class". Like I'm in 4th grade or something. 

Calen's "flag" with his loves. Baseball, basketball, football, Star Wars and his puppy Rebel

Camden made a bird feeder for "finches" in his class this week. So cute. 

Day 80: When In Doubt, Use Duct Tape

Camden's tryouts for travel Mites hockey is in three days. 

Like real, actual tryouts, for the first time in our kids' little lifetimes. Although MOST kids make one of the teams, not necessarily all do. 

We've been working a little extra hard off the ice the last couple weeks on stick handling. 

I don't know a ton about hockey, but I do know that Cam generally has a bad habit of skating with only one hand on the stick, which is fine when you are an adult pretending you're in the NHL, but as a first year little Mite player, he really should have that other hand on there. 

And how do you teach a 7 year old how to keep two hands on the stick?

Duct tape the hands on the stick, obviously.

Camden thought this was hilarious, of course, and in the process his muscle-memory was developing on where to have his hands and keep his hands. He skated on his rollerblades up and down our sidewalk, over and over, 

Can we do this with all things? Like, duct tape him to his desk at school, the chair at the dinner table, the pillow to his head at night? 

Hopefully no neighbors saw him and thought that him being duct taped to a hockey stick was some form of ancient Canadian child abuse or something. 

He really did have fun. I swear. 

Disclaimer: no tiny hockey players were injured in the making of this blog post. 

Day 79: Lazy Dogs

We had a day off from work, sports practice, and any other responsibility, so while the kids were at school, I laid like a slug in front of my Netflix babysitter all.damn.day. 

Much needed laziness. 

Rebel pretty much sums up the day. 

Day 78: Blackberries With Cam

Calen had baseball practice again tonight, and since Brad coached Camden in spring ball, he's helping coach Calen in fall ball. Since they were gone most of the evening, Cam and I had a little date planned. 

We grabbed some beach buckets, hopped on our bikes (actually only Cam did, my bike has a blown tire...see a theme here?) and headed to the outskirts of the base, to a secret spot I had seen this morning while walking that was just FULL of blackberry bushes, and spent the next hour picking as many blackberries as we could find. 

When we came home we had special vanilla ice cream with fresh blackberries and watched a couple of Toy Story shorts. 

It was nice getting out and having special time with Cam. We plan on making blackberry jam in a few days!

Day 77: Sunday Funday

It's Sunday, and Sundays always start with hockey. 

We get up stupid early (generally around 5am), drive up to Santa Rosa, gear Cam up and have him on the ice by 7am sharp. He skates around and does drills and scrimmages and whatever else they teach at hockey camp for an hour and 15 minutes while I suck down coffee and try to act like I'm not totally shivering under my ski jacket, unlike the veteran hockey parents that are totally comfortable in their short sleeve shirts and flip flops. 

Sunday morning routine, walking into hockey!

Post-ice dress down. Rosy cheeks, sweaty hair, smelly kids. 

After hockey this morning Cam and I headed to the store to get him a much needed new bike. After a year and a half he had finally outgrown his old one, and while we let the size of his bike slide for a while, but then he completely blew out the back tire, and we decided it was time to replace it. 

He sat on several bikes, and after much deliberation he picked one two sizes larger than his last bike (which is still very large on him, but the one size down from it almost looked too small) that is a dark matte grey/black with bright orange trim, the colors of his Flyers hockey club, of course.

He spent the rest of the day riding his bike with Calen in the parking lot, happily announcing to every kid and adult that came by "I got a new bike!!!" and learning how to use hand brakes (a new thing in his little world). 


Calen spent the time riding his own bike and taking his next door neighbor classmate and lady friend for a ride on his pegs. 

Someday he will realize the significance of taking a girl for a joyride on his bike. For now it's totally benign, but girls certainly seem to flock to Calen. 

Day 76: Next Time Send An Owl

Cam and I had to run errands today while Calen was at baseball practice with Brad. 

Running errands is less than fun, especially with a 7 year old, but we try to make it as fun as possible with the "scan game" (an app where you scan barcodes and get points) and detours through the toy section to create imaginary Christmas lists. 

We rebelled a little at Costco by letting Camden ride in the big section of the cart (gasp! shock! horror!), and as I gradually piled all our crap around him, he announced "You are CRUSHING me with all your junk!!!"

Also, 100 bonus points to Target for creating a Harry Potter section at the front of their store, including a cardboard "9 and 3/4" platform and a sorting hat for our entertainment. 

Earlier this week, Calen and I poured over this section with glee. He told me the Sorting Hat told him "Gryffindor!!!". Today Cam said the sorting hat couldn't decide, but it might be Slytherin. 

This would explain both my kids. 

Next time I have to do errands, I should just send an owl. 

Also bonus photo of Rebel and Juno begging while I cooked dinner, because cuteness. 

Day 75: Passing To Bob

It was a school day today (weird, isn't it), so for most of the day I cleaned the house and black bagged some closets now that the kids aren't home judging me for throwing away broken crayons and McDonald's toys.

After school today, Cam tried out his new gadget Brad made him for practicing hockey off the ice. We already have the "ice", a finished plywood board with furniture polish rubbed on it and a cheap plastic net at the end for him to practice shooting. But we wanted him to also work on stick handling and passing/receiving, so, with the help of Pinterest, Brad built a passing "bounce back" device, using materials already floating around in our garage: two pieces of wood, a bungee cord, and some hooks. 

The idea is, when he passes the puck to it, the puck bounces off the bungee cord and returns to him. He can do this over and over and over at any distance. 

Because we didn't know what to call this thing, we named it "Bob", and pretended it was another hockey player. 

So Cam spent half an hour or so passing the puck back and forth to "Bob". 

This cost us zero dollars and works like a charm. Great work, Bob. 

Day 74: The 2nd Day of 2nd Grade

It's the second day of school, and per request, Calen rode his bike to school with all his friends. 

Camden would have loved to have ridden his bike, but his bike broke in the middle of summer vacation, and so he has had to live without for a while. 

So I drove Cam to school this morning and walked him to his classroom. Not because I HAD to walk him to his classroom, but because I wanted to pretend he was little just a bit longer.

Cam likes being driven because he can actually get a word in for once in the car without his brother being there. We always have the most random and funny conversations. 

After I picked him up from school this afternoon (and Calen was still riding home with friends), I accidentally stepped on a frog in the laundry room, in which Cam was FURIOUS ("You SQUASHED my froggie!!!!"). Luckily, I found two more frogs in about 4.3 seconds outside the house to make him happy, and he gleefully shoved them in a mason car and somehow caught three live flies with his bare damn hands and stuffed them in the jar too. Somehow the flies survived, probably because they were the size of the frogs. 

Nothing says boys like frog catching in the kitchen

Just stay little forever, Bam. 

Day 73: The First Day of 4th and 2nd

Somehow, someway, I woke up this morning and my little babies, toddling around in their diapers and dancing to Disney Junior songs, are standing tall in their new outfits, fed and ready to walk out my door to FOURTH and SECOND grade, you guys. 

How in the hell did this happen? By 4th and 2nd, surely you mean 4 and 2 years old, as I always see them in my eyes. That was just last week! There's no way! Y'all are crazy. 

And yet, here we are. 

I am stunned by how BIG the boys looked today. Even though Cam hasn't really grown over the summer (who am I kidding, Cam just doesn't really grow), Calen has completely sprouted 7 feet and turned into a little man-boy-thing. 

As per tradition, we always take first day of school pictures with the same chalkboard sign. 

Calen specifically said he wants to be a "vulcanologist", which I either someone who studies volcanoes, or some guy on Star Trek. Either way, we compromised on "Scientist" when he grows up. Or, a car designer, because he has been completely and totally obsessed with cars since he was six months old. 

Camden of course wants to be a garbage man, because of course he does. 

I drove them to school this morning, and Calen mentioned he was super excited but kind of nervous. Camden was upset that he didn't have the infamous Mrs Jones, his teacher of the last two years. As we walked up to the school, Calen held Cam's hand and walked him to his new classroom. He of course saw Mrs Jones on the way and gave her a huge hug, then said hello to his new teacher, and he was fine. Calen was thrilled to find out there are 3 new boys in his 4th grade class, making a grand total of eight boys (and 16 girls). I was sad (inside, of course) that he was SO big and SO old, but Calen surprised me, as he usually does, and stopped on the way to the playground to give me the hugest hug. 

And just like that, the bell rang, and they were off on their new adventure. I stuck around in the "multi room" (gym/cafeteria) for the "Boohoo/Yahoo Breakfast" and chatted with other parents that were roaming around like little lost puppies without their kids. 

And then I went home, cried a little like a baby because my babies are all grown up, and then reveled in the freedom of doing whatever I wanted for a couple hours in the middle of the day. 

And then I remembered, I still have one more baby at home, so he needed a chalkboard sign too. 

Happy first day, boys.  

Day 72: Ice Cream For Dinner

It's the last day of summer vacation!

What? How? Where did it go? Didn't they get out of school like, last week? I'm pretty sure that summers feel shorter here, because they go back in mid August, which is most definitely summer, you guys. Haven't they heard of the "no school before Labor Day" world rule?

Anyways, the last day of summer for us generally means ice cream for dinner!! 

As per tradition, we headed out into town to Powell's Candy Shoppe (or whatever they've renamed it to now) to pick out some super special toppings from their bulk candy section. Favorites include chocolate rocks, gummy sharks and snakes, and sour patch kids.

This year's movie of choice was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the old one, with Gene Wilder), because candy and chocolate, obviously. 

And now that they're loaded up on sugar, let's launch them into bed to get ready for school!

Day 71: Back Into The Groove

We are back home, into our routine, and getting ready for school to start in two days! Holey Moley!

We wasted no time and headed into town first thing to get the boys some much needed haircuts for school.

With haircuts almost always comes Lunchables for lunch, and a trip to the "castle playground" (Leghorn Park). 

Cam, in true fashion, went on far too many spinny things at the playground, and ended up barfing in a Taco Bell paper bag in the car as we were driving home. This is real life, you guys.

Don't try this at home, kids

Once we got home and settled some tummies, the boys decorated their pencil pouches for school, and then we went to their school for an "ice cream social" before baseball practice. Because nothing solves upset stomachs like ice cream and rigorous sports (luckily, Cam didn't do the baseball practice). 

We came home and finished unpacking (i.e. throwing everything in the garage to deal with later) and went to bed early to rest up and get ready for the last day of summer tomorrow.