Summer, school and all that jazz

It's been a rather different summer this year.   The past few years have been busy with kids visiting and running around to get them to their various activities from swim class to dance class and whatnot.  This year, with Jonah living with us during the school year, we spent most of the summer with just one kiddo underfoot.  Not that the house was any less noisy, but there was a little more elbow room.  Jessica has her hands full with her own little one now, so didn't visit this summer and Mitch stayed down there to look for a job.  Jonah spent most of the summer down in Utah with his Mom, but not before we popped him with a surprise.

Derek received a gift card from work for the Great Wolf Lodge (an indoor water park resort) earlier this year and we decided we would take Jonah and Juliana there after the school year finished, but before Jonah flew to his Mom's.  However, instead of telling them where we were going, we said we were heading south to Portland to visit with some friends.  

When we got to the Centralia area, Derek and I talked about stopping some place for lunch and "wandered" the roads to find something suitable to eat.  Not seeing anything appealing on the streets, we pulled into a conveniently located hotel to "check out the restaurant there or ask the hotel desk for recommendations for food."  This hotel had some large wolf carvings out front, I might add.  Derek wandered the lobby with the kids while I talked with the front desk. 

With a thick brochure in hand (with colored wristbands sticking out the top), I go back to the family and tell them we should try the restaurant at the hotel. Jonah is still oblivious and thinking this is merely a rest stop on the way to Portland.  At the restaurant, I tell them about this resort we stumbled into and all the features it has... it's an indoor water park and apparently guests at the hotel have full access to the water park, but they need to wear these wrist bands (while I am handing them out).  

Jonah puts one on and goes back to staring at his phone, but not before asking "so when are we going to Portland?" "Um, Jonah... we're not going to Portland.  We're spending the weekend here. Surprise!"  At which point he proceeded to tell us how much we sucked and that he was never speaking to us again.  He would have been more convincing, had he managed to keep a grin off his face when he delivered those lines.  

You think he would have learned by then.  Not two weeks earlier, we were driving home from somewhere when Derek takes a detour.  Jonah asked where we were going and Derek launches into a spiel about how we were thinking about changing cell phone carriers and going to a Verizon store to ask some questions.  Jonah starts to worry about having to change his phone (he loves his phone) and asking why we are doing this.  As we park the car in the lot of the Verizon store, Derek "changes his mind" and he detours into the Cold Stone Creamery next door (which was the destination the whole time).  If I recall correctly, he told us we sucked that time, too, and that he wasn't going to speak to us afterwards.  He wasn't about to pass up ice cream over a non-speaking issue.

In the middle of summer, Juliana and I attended a mini-family reunion on a Baltic Sea cruise.  Uncles, Aunts and cousins from the States, Hong Kong and Canada were there.  Juliana spent quite a bit of her time playing with her cousins and making use of the Kids Club aboard ship.  I almost didn't know what to do with myself with that alone time. I have so many pictures of Juliana and her cousin Jaden together, they were nigh inseperable and ran to give each other hugs whenever they met.

Towards the end of summer, Jonah returned and everything was all about Escape the Fate this and Escape the Fate that.  If you didn't know, Escape the Fate is a band and Jonah's favorite.  They're touring with the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with a handful of bands, including two other bands that he likes. As it turns out, one of his friends from school had a birthday recently and her (yes, a GIRL) mom gave her a gift of concert tickets and permission to invite along two friends.  She picked Jonah and another female friend.  Being the dutiful parents we try to be, we talked with the Mom and eventually met her to talk through the details of the event and compare rules/expectations - no drugs, no smoking in the car, etc. So now he has our permission to attend this concert, so long as he keeps his grades up and his homework turned in on time.  Otherwise, he'll get this permission revoked.  He's doing great so far and the concert is in 2.5 weeks.

Luckily this year, Jonah seems to be enjoying his classes more than last year and doesn't find this term's teachers to be annoying.  One of his classes this term is acoustic guitar.  I may have to figure out a way to record him practicing...