More Special Olympics last week. We had Area over the weekend, which is 8-9 hours of heat, waiting, and about 15-20 minutes of actual competition. It’s fun, but long. They have a fun tent where the kids can go play games and get big prizes. Derick chose to dance to the karaoke. He did very well in competition and got first in both his categories. Unfortunately, in his race, he ran so fast that they knocked him down to silver because his previous race was so slow. Like he was cheating, or something. And Ethan came in dead last of 7, but he somehow got 4th. It’s Socialist Special Olympics. Good thing the boys don’t care. I’m still working on not caring...
That night, Greg and I gave the big closing presentation for the Youth Conference for our church. We were exhausted and so were the kids, but I was happy that it worked out really well and the energy level was still pretty high. We had a great time and have I mentioned before how much I love teaching teenagers!? I do. Even on days where I don’t. Part of Youth Conference was a dance, and we took our boys. They were SOOOOO cute dancing. Mostly Derick. At one point, he walked over to a girl, grabbed her hand and led her out on the dance floor. It was so darling. He held both her hands for 2 seconds and then dropped them and walked away. I died laughing. Looks like we’re going to have to work on the social etiquette. It’s hard when your 14 year-old can’t talk, but we’ll work on it anyway...
Monday, Grace got sent home from school vomiting. Poor thing. She planted herself on the couch and didn’t move from the spot for the next 18 hours. During that time, I had a phone interview about our Mormon.org video. I had to leave my room in the middle of it and pat her back and hold her hair out of the way. It’s all glitz and glamour around here, folks!
Later that day, Greg took Jane to the Rangers game. He was surprised when the Lexus Valet Parking was full (if you come in a Lexus, they park you for free). That has never happened. Then, he drove around and all the lots had long lines and were still full. He was too cheap to pay the $40 valet. So, he parked at Walmart, bought something, and then walked to the stadium. When they got in, they could hear lots of noise, but assured themselves that it was some pre-game stuff. Then, they saw playing on the monitors and they asked someone what was going on. Turns out, the game started 45 minutes before the time printed on the tickets. They were in the 3rd inning.
At the end of the game, he went back to Walmart to discover his car had been towed. He and Jane walked a mile and a half to the lot and paid $250 get it out. It was then that the $40 valet didn’t look so bad anymore. They got home at 11:00 pm. Greg was ticked and exhausted and Jane was thrilled and energized with the adventure. Sweet Greg never let on to Jane that he was annoyed. He let it all out once he was in our room. He’s an awesome dad. On the way home, he told her, “Jane, I just saved you $250.” She asked how. He said, “In the future, when you are tempted to park somewhere that warns of towing, you won’t do it because of tonight. And you’ll be $250 richer. You’re welcome.”
The next day, was Grace’s first state-wide testing and she missed it because she was sick. She was SO sure she could do it, but she was grey and shaking and I told her she couldn’t. She slept for the next 2.5 hours. The next day, she was able to go to school for her first (everyone else’s second) state wide testing. Every year, I have made Jane a special breakfast for her tests. This year, I was teaching seminary, so I just couldn’t. Rather than be disappointed, Grace got up at 5 am, got her dad out of bed and had him take her to the donut shop, where she picked out Jane’s favorite donuts and drinks. Then, she set it all out on the table with a little sign that said, “Good luck on your STARS test, Jane. Love, Grace!”
80% of the time, she may send me to the brink of insanity, but the other 20% of the time, she channels The Little Princess and it almost makes up for the other 80.
Good times. Good times.
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