Ahh, Michigan

Ahh, Michigan.  Tubing today.

Actually we have been tubing every day.  My sister and her boys arrived on Monday night, and our days have fallen into a good routine.  We get up in the morning, have breakfast, and then go swimming.  We come up for lunch and then put in a movie for the kids.

After the movie we go back down to the beach and go tubing.  We fire up S&P’s bass boat, hook up Big Mable and hit it.  Big Mable is awesome.  It is like a giant chaise lounge for tubing.  You sit up really high, and you don’t get splashed much, which is nice.

The only downside is two kids cannot seem to go at the same time because they don’t weigh enough and the tube swamps.  So a grown up always has to go with a kid.  Oh, darn.  My sister and I both love tubing so it is such a hardship to have to go out with the kids.

Today we worked out a new system.  Everybody rides in the boat.  Then when it’s time to switch people on the tube we just pull it in and the riders climb on and off from the boat. 

The kids are getting braver so my dad is driving the boat faster and faster.  He is also doing these crazy serpentine patterns in the water so the tube goes ka-chung ka-chug ka-chung as we cross and re-cross the wakes.  Both the C-man and his cousin O almost wiped out, but managed to hang on. 

Then, after the kids were all done, we turned the tube around so my sister and I could ride chariot style.  This involves kneeling up on the tube and hanging on to the handles on the backrest.  This is about the most fun you can have in a swimsuit.  Goggles are recommended.

So we were flying around the lake having a grand old time, while our own father was doing everything he could to knock us off.  And then he succeeded.  My sister went flying off into the deep.  Princess O was spotting and apparently she did a perfect job of telling grandpa that we had lost Auntie S and he needed to turn around.

Unfortunately when Auntie S wiped out she must have knocked the air valve on Big Mable and she deflated.  Thus endeth the tubing for today.  We also need a new towrope because the one we were using got fouled on the boat propeller.  Oops.  Oh, well.  It was the last turn of the day anyway so it couldn’t have happened at a better time. 

After tubing dinner then fishing then bed.

Tomorrow more of the same.  Plus my brother arrives and the Princess gets to go horseback riding with my Aunt.  She is counting the minutes.

Off to Michigan (Yippee)

We are leaving for Michigan the day after tomorrow.  By “we” I mean the children and I.  This is our annual pilgrimage to Huzzy Lake to spend a week and a bit with my parents and my sister and her three boys.  We will do as little as possible.  I cannot wait.

Even packing to go to Michigan is a pleasure.  I don’t have to worry about fitting everything into the bags to get it on the plane because we are driving, and I don’t have to bring nice clothes.  There is no reason to look skinny and cute because I won’t see anybody I am not related to anyway.

Actually, I don’t know why I bother packing any clothes for myself at all.  I seem to end up wearing the same pair of shorts the entire time.  It’s not as disgusting as it sounds.  We change out of or jammies at about 10am, and have lunch at noon.  Then we put our bathing suits on and leave them on until approximately dinnertime.  So I don’t really have the clothes on for very long. 

I am only packing my most comfy, fattest shorts, and my favorite big t-shirts.  Comfort is the only watchword.  Stacy and Clinton would be appalled. 

S and P got a new bass boat that they keep in MI and S asked if I would be comfortable driving it.  I said I didn’t know, because I had never driven a boat before, but I would give it the old college try.  She is bringing the tube, the Big Mabel so the kids can go tubing behind the boat, and we probably can too.  She told me she found this tube online, and that it had great reviews, and then she found out it was called Big Mabel, and she just had to have it.  I agreed 100%.  Our grandmother’s name was Mabel so you can see why we needed this particular tube.

The C-Man is especially excited about the trip because he will be reunited with his best friend B for a sleepover on our way there.  B’s grandmother has a house in Sawyer, MI, at Exit 12.  We are at Exit 60.  How handy.

So the plan is to drop the C-man off with S and B.  We shall meet at Redamaks for a late lunch.  Mmm, the best hamburgers ever.  Then they will come up on Saturday to spend the day hanging out on the beach and tubing.  I think we will try for a very early start on Friday morning since we can’t get a head start on Thursday night.  I guess we could, but I am too cheap to spend the money.  I will just pack the car tomorrow night and make them get up early.  I wonder how early I can get them going.  Maybe I will promise them breakfast at burger king if we get out of here early enough.  I am shameless.  

British Grand Prix Report

Meh. 

That is my assessment of the British Grand Prix. 

McLaren’s Heikki Kovaleinen was on pole, and I was thrilled because Hamilton was back in fourth.  Mark Webber qualified second in the Red Bull.  That was Red Bull’s first trip to the front row of the grid.  Unfortunately for Webber he spun on the first lap and dropped way back.  He never did make up the places he lost and finished tenth.  Meanwhile Kimi Raikonnen qualified third and finished fourth.  He would have probably finished on the podium but in his first pit stop they gave him fuel but didn’t change his tires, and he lost a lot of time on worn rubber.  It was too bad because he had been reeling Hamilton in until then.

Alonso started P6 and finished P6.  So not the best, but not that bad.  Ideally of course you want to finish ahead of where you started.  However, he has had a couple of lackluster races so this is better than nothing.  He was running P4 in the closing laps but Raikonnen and Kovaleinen both got around him.  To be fair, he was on very worn tires at that point so that was probably what allowed the two Finns to get by.

Hamilton won which was kind of disappointing for me but Tom was happy.  So now I am sure the British Press will be back to calling him the Second Coming and all the snarky things they have said about him since the French Grand Prix will be forgotten. 

In other news, David Coulthard is retiring at the end of the year.  He is one of the last drivers left on the grid who was there when I started watching back in 1994.  I always liked DC.  He speaks his mind, he’s smart and he has that nice Scottish accent. 

I find it kind of unnerving that DC has announced his retirement.  People online have been saying that he’s too old, that he needs to hang it up to make room for new talent.  Well, he’s younger than I am.  Oy.  This does not do much for my self esteem.

Let’s Go Racing!

We went out to the Boone Speedway tonight.  Iowa’s Action Track.  This is a one third-mile dirt oval track in the next town over.  It hosts IMCA races and is the home of the IMCA Super Nationals.  There are stock cars; hobby stocks, modifieds, and front wheel drive races.  I don’t know anything about any of these kinds of racing, but it is always a lot of fun.

This is another example of small town Iowa at its finest.  They smooth out the track with John Deere tractors, and between the heat races and the finals they take kids around the track in an old school bus.  The PA announcer mentioned tonight that he had just graduated from high school with one of the drivers.  They have a special club for the under-12 set called racing rascals.  You sign your children up and they get punch cards.  Then they can get into every race for two bucks apiece.

Sometimes between race sessions they jump those school busses over a bunch of old wrecked cars, but not with children inside them.

Hot laps start at 6pm.  We usually watch that and then get some dinner.  You can have hot dogs, burgers, and slices of pizza, nachos, polish sausages (I find that strange, I always thought those were a Chicago delicacy), and my favorite breaded pork tenderloins.  They are so delicious.  You can get a beer for $3 or a bucket of beer for $9.  And when I say a bucket, I mean an actual bucket of beer.  They are made of white plastic and you can have as many cups as you want.  The bucket also has a lid on it with a pour spout so you can pour your beer without making too much of a mess.

The stock cars are my favorites.  Some of them have sponsors, and are all painted up like NASCAR cars.  Except of course the sponsors are things like the Dutch Oven Bakery, and Ed’s garage.  One of them even had a day care center as a sponsor.  Then there is always at least one car with no sponsors at all and their racing number either spray-painted on, or put on with duct tape.  Tonight one guy had a number 35 marked on his car with masking tape.  I always root for those guys.

There is usually a pretty big crowd but I always kind of feel like we must be the only spectators there who do not have a friend or family member racing.

Some nights we stay all the way to the end, but not tonight.  The children were up late last night for the fireworks and they just didn’t have it in them to go the distance.  We left with a couple of final stints still to run. 

Now I have that Indianapolis feeling.  I am kind of tired and headache-y.  I always get like this after a race.  I first noticed it after the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Indianapolis back in 2000, hence the name.  I am never sure if this is a side effect of sitting for too long on uncomfortable aluminum bleachers, or of breathing in too many exhaust fumes.  Perhaps it is a combination of the two, but it’s always worth it.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July.  It was a big day around here.  This is small town Iowa and people around here take things like the Fourth of July seriously.

Tom went to the office for a while this morning but he came home at about 10:30.  Then we saddled up and walked downtown for the parade. 

This is a pretty typical small-town parade.  It is full of local businesses and small-time politicians and civic groups.  They all throw candy, so the parade is hugely popular with all the children in town.  My kids got a pretty good haul, and the C-man had an exceptionally good day.  There was a clown throwing stuffed animals and he managed to nab one.  Needless to say Princess O was not pleased.  I told her she could have the t-shirt I caught.  A poor substitute but it was the best I could do.  She tried to take it like a man but I could tell she had her nose out of joint.

After the parade we walked over to Bandshell Park for the carnival.  This is new this year.  They have a couple bands scheduled in the bandshell, food vendors, a beer tent and bouncy houses.  We ate giant pretzels and nachos and then hit the bouncy houses.  There was a giant slide and a couple of obstacle courses.

Our after dinner activities included lighting sparklers and snakes on the driveway.  Snakes are as lame now as they were when I was a kid, but the children find them fascinating.  Tonight we were stacking them up to see how many of them we could get to burn at once.  That was fun.  We still have about half of them left so I’m sure we will do it again tomorrow night.

At about bedtime we all got into to car and went over to the football stadium parking lot to watch the fireworks.  We got there at about 8pm, and they didn’t start shooting the fireworks until about 10.  So next year we will have to remember to go later.  There was plenty to do though.  The kids ran around in the (dry) drainage ditches, and watched other people shooting off illegal fireworks.  They have informed me that they would like to get some of those for next year.  I don’t think so. 

Not the best day

It has been a sad couple of days around here.  The C-man’s best friend B has moved to Chicago.  The C-man is sad because he played with B almost every day.  He is wondering what he will do with himself every day.  I am not sure what he will do either.  I will have to try to keep him distracted, at least for a few days.

And I am sad too because B’s mom was one of my good friends.  This is the thing that sucks about living in a college town.  People are always leaving.

Of course, they are only moving to Chicago.  My sister lives in the Chicagoland Metropolitan Area; my parents did too until last fall.  I have always kind of considered Chicago my home base.  If people ask where I am from I always say Chicago, and I still call it “home” even though I haven’t lived there in 15 years. 

My point here is I am sure we will still see them, but it will not be the same as having them right next door.

Da Cubs

Mark Grace is calling the Cubs-White Sox game on Fox.  Well, he’s doing the color not the play-by-play but you know what I mean.  Regular subscribers will know that I LOVE Mark Grace.  I have had a raging crush on Gracie since he came up with the Cubs in 1988.  And that, my friends, is pathetic. 

So, even though the Cubs are losing 3-2 at the moment I am thoroughly enjoying this.  But I would be enjoying it more if we were winning.

I am getting worried about the Cubs.  We dropped two to the Orioles and lost again yesterday against the stupid White Sox.  I hate those guys.  I really hope this isn’t where the wheels fall off.

On the other hand, the Cardinals keep losing too.  A teeny tiny part of me thinks maybe the forces of nature want this to be the Cubs year.  I don’t know.  I don’t generally believe that kind of stuff, but I have a really good feeling about this season for the Cubs.  Next century is this century and all that.  I suppose time will tell. 

As Annie Savoy says in Bull Durham, “It’s a long season and you gotta trust it.”

4-2 Sox now in the bottom of the second.  Come on boys.  Don’t blow it.

 

Go Cubs

 

More Softball

We won!  Well, actually I didn’t have anything to do with it.  The Princess won, with the rest of her team of course.  It was another exciting game.  The Medics (that’s our team) were leading 4-0 going into the top of the 3rd.  Then the other team came to life and tied it up.  Oops.  When it was our turn in the bottom of the third The Medics scored two quick runs.  Then The Princess walked and represented the winning run on the bases.  Gulp.  She stole second, and then she stole third.  The batter got a hit, and my baby crossed the plate!  Medics win right?  Wrong!  She didn’t slide.  You have to slide into home.  It’s in the rules.  Not many of the umps enforce it, but this one did.  Nuts.  Luckily it was only the first out and the base runner behind her remembered to slide on the very next play.  Medics win.

That win gave them third place in the tournament. Yes, The Medics were playing for third place.  They played on Monday but lost a heartbreaker.  I think the final score was 10-7.  So close.  And of course we still had to play again tonight anyway. 

It was hot tonight.  We were in the shade, sitting still and we were still sweating.  Now that’s hot.

So, our plan was to watch the Princess play then pile into the car and grab some fast McFood and get back to the softball fields before the end of the championship game.  As planned we all piled into the car and drove to our Fast Food Restaurant of Choice after the last out.  When we pulled into the parking lot Her Royal Highness said, “Oh, I left my glove at the ballpark”.  Grrrr. 

Tom took the car keys and drove her back to the fields, meanwhile the C-man and I ate some deliciously bad food.  Tom and the Princess return about 20 minutes later with no glove.  One of the other parents took it home and will deliver it at a later date.  They eat and we go back to the fields again. 

In the meantime it had started to rain and there was a lot of lightning in the distance.  We get back to Softball Central only to discover that the game has been called and the medals have already been handed out.  Nuts.  Her coach said one of the other parents would deliver the Princess’ medal.

Back into the car, and home again.  When I went outside to get the kids swimsuits off the porch I found her medal hanging on our front doorknob.  I put it on her placemat.  She will be so pleased in the morning. 

And boy am I glad that’s over.  I hope she doesn’t want to play in the fall league.

Why I should never watch the Cubs

Every time I watch the Cubs they lose.  I am watching right now and they are losing 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh.  

I should turn it off, but I just can’t.  Sorry Cubs fans.

The French Grand Prix Report

I should write my French Grand Prix report but I am too discouraged.  Alonso started third on the grid, and the best he could manage was 8th place.  Nuts.  He did not have a good race.

But then, neither did Lewis Hamilton.  He started P13 because of a 10 spot grid penalty and only managed to finish tenth.  So technically he had a better race than Alonso because he went up three places and Alonso dropped five.  But Alonso got one point and Hamilton didn’t get any, so there.

That’s two races in a row where Hamilton hasn’t scored any points for those of you keeping score at home.  The British press has begun sharpening their knives.  I think they are about to knock him off that nice pedestal they built for him.

So the winner is:  Felipe Massa.  Congratulations to him and Ferrari.  His teammate Raikonnen was second.  He drove about half the race with a broken exhaust so a good effort from him to hold off the rest of the grid. 

And the best news of all is that Jarno Trulli in the lowly Toyota finished third.  This is the first podium for Toyota since 2006 (I think).  But of course if you want to know for sure you should check a legitimate F1 news site.  This is just me thinking out loud.

Anyway, Trulli has always been one of my favorites so I am very happy for him.

Next up is the British Grand Prix from Silverstone.  This is my favorite race.  And rumor has it the drivers might boycott the race to protest a recent hike in the cost of a super-license.  I really hope this is just a rumor.  It would suck if my favorite race didn’t happen this year.  And of course, it really is all about me.

I love that they call the racing licenses super-licenses.  I always wonder what they look like.  I mean do they have a big red S in the middle of them?  It would be interesting to know.