Monday Evening Weekend Wrap Up

Wow! I had to go back to my calendar to even see what I did this weekend. Take a deep breath, and you may need a glass of wine before this is over - buckle in! Ready? OK.

Friday was fine, the usual get The Boys off to school was a bit different because it was Donuts With Dads morning, when the Parent Faculty Club provides donuts, juice and coffee for the kids and the special men in their lives, be they Dads Step Dads, Uncles, Grandfathers, or Family Friends. It starts 30 minutes before school, and The Boys were proud to show off The Dude to their classmates. But for me it meant getting The Boys ready early, and The Dude out the door too. That went uneventful (which some days is all we can hope for). Next thing I know, there are helicopters hovering over The Boys' school, and the house. I figured there was probably some sort of traffic back up, but NOOOOOOOOO. I left my house for a quick trip to shoot the Sunol Water Temple (see Friday's post), and the overpass to get to the freeway on ramp in the direction I wished to travel was closed. If I'd known, I would have gone through town. Instead, I had to go about 10 miles out of my way turning around and coming back. And the news vans were circling like vultures too, so I knew it was big time. You can actually read an account here, but I figured it out by listening to my radio on the way out. I wasn't surprised by the accident itself, as I've seen near misses a bunch of times, but the car hit the tanker - the second trailer on the tanker, so the driver had to have seen the first section go by, and then decide s/he could get, what, under the second trailer? So I got back home, and to The Boys school to volunteer for my usual Friday Art. We ended up under lock down about an hour later while hazmat did air quality tests, and the kids freaked out. As of tonight, the road next to the high school is still closed and 4 houses are still evacuated, I think mostly because of all of the equipment still at that outlet from the storm drains. They tested all of the drains in my neighborhood, and we couldn't smell the fuel at the house or school, but we did smell it both a block East and West. Friday night was the swim team kick off BBQ, and the traffic made it quite the adventure to get through town to the pool. It was also my sister's birthday, and her family was there too. We tie dyed shirts, played "get to know you" games, a trivia contest, little kid alligator races, a pie throwing at the coaches, BBQ, salads, desserts, chips, soda, oh and swimming. The Boys were exhausted! Oh and I won 2 chairs at the raffle which will come in handy all summer at the meets! Got home after 9, and the boys went to bed. I stayed up (though I have NO CLUE why at this point).

Saturday The Youngest had an early Baseball Game, and I bribed the kids to get to the field on time by promising donuts for the second morning in a row. We got there in plenty of time, the game was good, The Youngest hit well, but was distracted while fielding - I think it was a combination sleep deprivation and sugar coma. The Dude had left the house early to attend high school graduation for the son of friends, and teach another son of friends how to SCUBA dive. He also helped set up for that nights party. I got The Boys their lunch and snacks, got us all changed into more presentable clothes, and headed to the party. It was nice and quiet, the boys swam even more, played ping pong (Table Tennis), soaked in the hot tub, played drums and soccer and had a blast. I got to visit a bit with some friends I hadn't seen in a while, but I was distracted while keeping track of The Boys and ensuring a mild level of mischief. Got home around 10, sent the boys to bed and stayed up again too late.

Sunday morning I cleaned out the garage while The Dude emptied out the off site storage. He came back and we loaded it all into the garage. Ran to the store, made a potato salad, got the kids fed, then went to a kid rock concert that was a little young for The Oldest, but he liked it because he loves music. Both Boys sat and listened during the first set, and when invited on stage, spent the entire second set dancing and playing air guitar. They had fun! Stopped by the house so The Dude could catch a nap, and went to The Folks' for Sis' Birthday Dinner. It was nice, the food was great, and the boys all played together. We were even fortunate enough to witness the fledgling of a nest of 4 (what I think are starlings). This was a bit of a forced fledgling as The Oldest opened the drawer they were nesting in. They all managed to make it to the top of the fence before nightfall though, so it couldn't have been too much earlier than they'd have done anyway. Got home just in time for baths, showers and bed.

Oh, and I also did all the dishes, laundry, rinsed tie dyed shirts, washed the dog bed because Duke puked sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning. I wonder if he'd had friends over for a party, and the dryer lint trap looked like it could support a small litter of pups - yes there was that much fur in it!

And today? Today was The Youngest's first day not in after school care, so I picked him up at 11:50 while on a conference call, made him lunch (OK, opened a lunchable). That was after the other 2 simultaneous calls, one on each ear where I was asked a question in both within seconds of each other. Thankfully, they both understood what I was doing, and waited patiently while I split my brain into 2 distinct meeting answers, and managed to coordinate the muting and unmuting of phones correctly. I also got caught up on my project paperwork, answered questions via e-mail, IM and phone (making me acquire adult onset ADD), ran The Boys to swim practice, The Youngest to Baseball, back to swim to pick up The Oldest, make dinner, and do dishes (again). I'm pooped, and this weekend shows no sign of being any less a scheduling nightmare.

I certainly hope you were able to relax this weekend, and though it was busy, I was spending time with my family and friends, which I would rather do than just about anything else!