You Should Be Dancing

One of Jake’s favorite game machines

For a day that started out with some pain for Jake, last Friday ended up being memorable.

Our older son drove in from UTSA Thursday night, because he had his final appointment with the dentist who has worked on his expensive implant for several months. Soon Jake will have a permanent crown in the space where his pulled tooth is missing (its root had fractured) and won’t look like a goober anymore (well, when he isn’t wearing his temporary flipper).

I’ll kind of miss that gap-toothed smile, which always made me laugh, but I’m sure that he won’t.

Jake was planning to stay overnight at Chase’s Houston apartment, because they, along with Josh, were going to drive to College Station the next day to play Dungeons & Dragons with friends. I wanted us to see “The Lego Movie” (all four of us loved it!), so we picked up Chase and drove to the nearby Edwards Theater.

Picking out a song

The boys were glad we were early, because there’s a Dance Dance Revolution machine at the theater. Both of them enjoy getting their exercise and showing off their moves with this particular money-waster.

Follow the lighted arrows!

I thoroughly enjoyed watching these two besties having fun together. The action was fast and furious, but both seemed up to the task.

Jake plans to move into Chase’s apartment after they both graduate in May.

Catching their breath

I have a feeling this DDR machine will see a lot of their respective sneakers and sandals in the future!

One-Word Wednesday

The Mister’s brother, Mike, turns 65 today. They sandwich their sister, Carol.

Birthday!

The Mister, me, our niece Melissa, Mike, his wife Paula, and Carol at Mike’s Texans-themed birthday party last Sunday; wish they had won for him!

A Fun, Frustrating Time

Tanner, Chase, and Josh know where to look, not my sons.

What a nice weekend we enjoyed! First, both boys came home from UTSA and SHSU. While we waited for my younger son to arrive Friday afternoon and join his brother, we entertained my older son’s good friend Josh and my “third son,” Chase, who both attend college in Houston. Or should I say that they entertained me. It was good to get their take on life (and Runescape) and talk about what their post-graduate plans are (hard to believe that they’ll be done with college in May).

The boys met their pal Tanner Friday night at Buffalo Wild Wings to eat, chat, and play trivia (the Mister and I helped our disc golf friend Eric’s team and sat nearby). Saturday night (yep, cheap Mom relented so the boys could sleep in) we watched “Thor: The Dark World” movie and really enjoyed it (Loki is such a witty bad guy).

So stubborn!

Then I spent the next couple days trying to get my younger son to cooperate and let me snap a pic or two of him.

“Stop it, Mom!”

Naturally, he refused to play nice. When I told him that one day his children will enjoy seeing photos of him, he replied, “You’ve taken enough pictures.”

Really, son? Enough?!? That word is not in the vocabulary of the momarazzo!

The two brothers (yes, Jake got his hair cut)

At least he put up with the usual pose-with-your-brother-before-you-leave harassment. Guess I’m thankful he threw me one little cooperation crumb.

Wonder what the photographic Thanksgiving break will be like . . . or do I.

One-Word Wednesday

Yesterday morning I fell during my run. Just tripped over nothing and landed hard on my right knee and arm.

Ouch!

Fortunately, a guy was nearby to help me up. After I recovered on a park bench, I walked the mile back home. Painful and embarrassing!

Living the Suite Life

Notice the circled ticket price. Yowzers!!

Here’s a dose of very unwelcome reality: Our hometown Houston L’Astros have lost at least 100 games for three straight seasons, including this one. We’re a whopping 38 games behind the first-place Oakland Athletics in the American League West Division (and, yes, I’m still protesting that stupid, forced move from the beloved National League). We easily have the worst record in major league baseball, winning a paltry 34 percent of our contests.

But they’re still our team, and I support them! Of course, being a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, it’s easy for me to root, root, root for the wretched, pathetic, and pitiful. That just comes with the territory.

Mind you, supporting them doesn’t mean that I attend many games. After all, Minute Maid Park is well out of my 10-mile comfort radius. So when the Mister told me that we had tickets for last Saturday night’s game against the Angels, I hesitated to agree to go. Until he added the kicker . . . our company’s bank provided our seats. In a suite!

Sweet!

Quite a view from the not-so-cheap seats

Having suite tickets means great parking, sharing nicer bathrooms with fewer people (it’s on its own private level), and all the food and drinks you can consume. The menu included pulled pork, chicken tenders, hot dogs (of course), salad, and amazingly good cookies (which is why I ran nine miles that morning).

Buy me some peanuts and . . . .

Plus there were snacks like popcorn and one of my all-time faves, Cracker Jack. What’s not to like?

Well, of course, the Astros lost once again. I guess sometimes you just have to take the sour with the sweet suite.

Discin’ in Huntsville

You can see a basket just past the trees on the left.

A lot of times wherever we go, we just happen to find disc golf courses.

Well, especially when the Mister decides we need to find them!

The kid and the Mister tee off at hole 1.

Last Sunday when we visited our younger son and his roommate, RJ, at SHSU, we walked off some of those Chili’s calories by throwing the Mister’s discs at a local course. And when I say “we,” of course, I mean them.

Hey, someone has to snap photos!

The kid advises the novice.

RJ doesn’t play disc golf, but that didn’t stop my son from trying to indoctrinate him into his favorite sport. It would be nice to have some company when he decides to practice.

Lots of rusty chains on the baskets

Our disc golf pal Eric had told us about a nine-hole course at Huntsville’s Eastham-Thomason Park, which is pretty close to the boys’ on-campus dorm. Thanks to the Garmin, we easily found it. The kid’s bag was in his room, but he still enjoyed tossing the plastic again.

Looks like the advice worked!

RJ’s a good athlete, so he started to get the hang of throwing after awhile. All he needs is lots of practice and continued help from his roomie.

How low can you go?

The course was typical of ones that are shoehorned into parks. The above basket was almost on the ground, probably to discourage players from flinging their discs into the creek behind it. A spray park and walking path raised the possibility of hitting innocent people.

Fishing for a disc in a different part of the creek

Still, a disc golf course within a mile or so of his new home is important for my son. It gives him a great outlet for releasing the stress of studying (and I sincerely hope I’m not making an assumption that he actually is studying!), as well as a way to sharpen his skills.

Here’s hoping he doesn’t bean someone in the noggin’!

A Little Traveling Music, Please

Still can’t resist my older son’s beautiful blue eyes!

The Mister and I pulled on our traveling pants (big pockets for lots of snacks) Saturday and yesterday and put about 560 miles on the Honda Odyssey.

Our goal? To take our sons out to lunch at their individual colleges.

Result? Mission accomplished!

Our older son was first on our list. Saturday we drove the 190 miles to San Antonio, picked him up, and went to see “We’re the Millers,” which was surprisingly good despite the awful, woeful, disgusting abundance of foul language, even by Jennifer Aniston (you’re better than that, Jen!). Then we enjoyed lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and chilled for a bit at his nice apartment.

No commercials rock

Finally, the Mister and I hugged our senior collegian goodbye (we probably won’t see him until Thanksgiving) and made the three-hour trip back home. We lightened the load by attempting to harmonize to songs played on Sirius XM’s the Bridge station. Usually putting that capital L to our foreheads, though, is the Mister’s inability to remember most of the lyrics despite his fine singing voice coupled with my out-of-tune pipes despite knowing most of the words.

Our finest moment? Our rendition of Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville.” Even Simon Cowell might have been impressed! And, yes, we were 1 for what seemed like 236 songs. At least we weren’t shut out!

RJ and the kid

Yesterday we pretty much repeated the procedure, but without the movie. Fortunately, Huntsville is only 88 miles from our house; it takes about 90 minutes to get there. We picked up our younger son and his roommate, RJ, at their dorm and made the scene at Chili’s, which was their choice.

Yum!

Naturally, the kid needed a molten dessert pick-me-up. It doesn’t take much to raise his spirits, thank goodness. After a stop at Walmart and a small disc golf course to play a few holes, we returned to Sam Houston Village. There we deposited the boys, gave our freshman a hug (we’ll see him a few times this month thanks to disc golf and SHSU football games), and then it was back to our horrible harmonizing.

Whew! Glad we don’t have to labor on Labor Day!!

Five for Five

Gotta love the yellow.

Last Sunday morning during my five-mile walk in our neighboring master-planned community, several sights moved me to snap pics with my Nikon S6200.

Let’s call it five miles, five photos. I started off with the sunflowers, which finally are blooming everywhere this month.

Do you see what I see?

Next there was this rabbit trying to hide in the grass. I usually see at least a half-dozen bunnies during my walk.

Looking a little blue

This odd-colored catfish caught my eye. For some reason it was lazing around near the lake’s shore.

Refreshing!

The best friend of a walker/runner during Houston’s notoriously steamy summers? Sprinklers! I doused myself in one of them after I captured the scene.

Pretty in pink

Near the end of my journey, these purty petals almost blocked my way along the sidewalk back home. I think they wanted to be included in this post.

And so they are!

Beauty and the Beast Poetry

Purply agapanthus buds spill forth.

So lovely to behold!

A probable water moccasin looks scary in a nearby lake.

But this is not, the truth be told!!

Sidebar: Photos snapped with my Nikon S6200 point and shoot.

A Wild Fish Tale

My Nikon S6200 captures the startling scene.

It started with a loud splash. Followed by a bright orange flash.

Immediately, my attention was drawn from the wildflowers along my walk last Saturday to the lake. Were those gigantic goldfish grappling with one another close to the shore in my neighboring master-planned community? Perhaps they were Magikarp, the fish Pokémon . . . which could mean that Ash Ketchum and Misty were close by.

I jogged to the edge of the lake and quickly pulled out my Nikon S6200. About half a dozen huge fish were struggling so near me that I could look them in the eyes!

This reminds me of unruly preschoolers.

In fact, I could almost hear them calling out. I had never seen anything like this before. It was amazing!

Are you looking at me?

I cut my four-miler short and jogged home to grab my Nikon D700 and Nikon 105mm macro lens. Then I drove back and looked for bursts of electric orange. There were several places along the long lake’s shore where I saw activity.

Always travel with buddies.

As I snapped away . . . and as the fish got close enough to actually splash me . . . a guy walking along the shore told me that they were koi. What were the big critters doing? Spawning.

A koi sandwich

In early spring, the male koi sandwich the female and start bumping her. This forces out the thousands of eggs in her body, which then allows the guys to fertilize them. From what I saw, it’s a brutal process involving a lot of thrashing, crashing, and mashing.

This looks uncomfortable for the gal in the middle.

The overgrown goldfish attracted attention from just about everyone on the walking path. Privacy was not an issue for them!

The gang’s all here.

Yep, when it comes to spawning, these koi aren’t so coy!