School Starts

School starts on the third of September for my youngest son. He has been bored all summer except when their band was playing shows. This weekend we have to go shop for some jeans and shoes, shirts and such since I swear his arms, legs and actual torso, got longer!! As I look at him, I see one very wiry tall adolescent and realize that my “baby” at 16 is nearly grown up.

I’ve been trying to suggest things for the guys to do, and for the most part they do keep busy but have those moments of boredom.

When school starts, all this will change. My youngest always tries to make the honor roll and loves school work, but is a far cry from being nerdy. This year he of course will run track, and pick up more credits at school. It’s great having a kid that tolerates school and actually tries hard not to miss a day.

AC problems

Go figure, this week has been the hottest and most humid weeks we’ve had so far this summer and the air conditioning unit went on the fritz. Normally in my younger days, I could handle the heat and wasn’t bothered with it at all, but now…not so much.

To say everyone is rather miserable, despite of fans in the windows and the floor and ceiling fans it feels like they are just moving the hot air around. The heating and air conditioning guy is booked solid and can’t get out here until this coming Monday. Umm, a bit late I would say, considering the heat index will no doubt drop by then. At least we are all hoping so.

In the mean time, I’m drinking plenty of iced tea and water, and my son and I are putting ice cubes in the dogs water. Everyone is kind of irritable including myself. I just keep thinking about when we didn’t have an AC and how we coped with it. People have dealt with this issue a long time ago, and didn’t have an air conditioner so,  if we must we must.

Enjoying the pool and duckie

When it comes to my kids and swimming, I do believe they are part fish. I personally was a spring and high board diver while I was growing up and then into my late teens. At one time I had considered training for the Olympics, but situations change and things happened that I never did get to go to tryouts. My youngest son has the diving gene in him also swims like a pro, but lately he’s smitten with a floating duck I brought for the grand kids.

We taught kids in our family how to swim as a natural part of our summer lives. We were always going to the water of some sort or fashion. Whether a pool, a deep creek or even the big Lake Michigan, we were always in or near the water on hot summer days.

I wish every kid had the chance to learn how to swim at an early age so they would never be afraid to be in or on the water. You have to learn young – before you become afraid of things like that. I think the perfect age is 4 or 5 for most children. Some people even like to take babies in the water and teach them proper breathing techniques. I think that is wonderful – we need more of this in our children’s lives.

Early school clothes shopping

Maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit, but I’m going to take my youngest son shopping for some school clothes tomorrow. He likes this one novelty type store that all the kids get a lot of their shirts and jeans from, so instead of ordering online, at least I can take him to the shop/store and make sure clothes fit, instead of sort of guessing like one sometimes has to do when ordering from the internet.

I haven’t gone shopping with just my youngest son in a very long time. It’s going to be nice to spend some alone time with him, since we haven’t had that opportunity to do so lately. He’s always off with his brother or hanging out with his girlfriend. Playing video games with him doesn’t count.

I think we’ll make a day of it, go shopping and out to lunch at his favorite restaurant. If there is anything else he wants to do, or any other stores he’d like to go to, we’ll also do that. I’m looking forward to this. I’m not so sure my son is, but at 15 he is pretending well, for me.