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Sunday, August 31, 2008

Demolition Derby

I have discovered that I am a complete and total embarrassment to my 14 year old son.

Not that I didn't have some clue that this was the truth. Aren't all Mothers an embarrassment to their son's? Doesn't it start when they refuse to let you kiss them goodbye when they leave for school? (For me, I was banned from public kisses around 10 years old)

I, however, have apparently gone too far in the department of making my son not want to be around me.

We went to the Canfield Fair on Friday night to watch our friend compete in the Demolition Derby. I decided to be fun Mom and take the boys a few hours early to enjoy some rides.

First, I apparently take too many pictures. Evidence of this is my, "Evolution of the Ride", series of Jackson and Caeden.



I think it's pretty clever...Cameron just said "you have to take that camera everywhere, don't you?!"

Fortunately for him, several members of his football team came by at that moment and I told him to go off and hang with them for the next few hours. I gave him some money and sent him off. I thought that was pretty darn big of me. The relief on his face was palpable.

Eventually, he found us at the Grandstand for the start of the demo derby. As our friend started to compete and I was cheering him on from the stands, Cameron half-whispered to me in an extremely irritated voice, "he can't hear you Mom"!

At which point, having had enough of his disdain, I turned to him and said, "am I an embarrassment to you Cameron?" - thinking this would make him think about his attitude towards me...

He looked at my, lowered his head, and said, "we'll talk about it at home"...

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - My Best Shot Ever



I actually took this picture..I took it...ME...at the Blue Jays game last week! Pretty damn proud of myself I am...

The One We Left Behind...

I had every intention of explaining Cameron's absence from the Canada trip, and our insane overnight journey through the wilds of Buffalo, and completely forgot.

Football is serious business - SERIOUS business in our part of the world. Friday night the entire town shuts down to watch the Varsity games. They even sell season tickets!!!

The seriousness extends down to the freshman, except for a select few of the pre-determined stars, if you miss a practice, you don't play. Cameron wanted to play, and he's still trying to prove that he CAN play, so we made arrangements for him to stay behind at a friend's.

As for our journey? Simple - We were NOT going to miss his first game, whether he played or not; we would be there.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Boardman Versus Cuyahoga Falls

SEASON OPENER
Boardman 20
Cuyahoga Falls 0

Cameron is Number 6...he played Cornerback for the entire game. I think what that means (remember I am a football mom in training) is that he has to go after the wide receivers and bring them down. He plays on the far outside and appears to be the last line of defense if the offense breaks through the line. In other words, he has to be fast and strong!



This won't be the only position he plays this year. They are still working him as wide receiver during practices.

He doesn't have as much confidence as I thought he would - he thinks he's too small and not strong enough.

So my job has become super-confidence-building-mom. I have become very adept at pointing out his strength - especially when he decides to try out moves on his brothers...NOT!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Voyageurs Have Returned...

We had a lovely visit to Canada, sans Cameron. Great weather, lots of time with family in Barrie, a bit of history thrown in for good measure.

These pictures are from Sainte-Marie-Among-The-Hurons; a beautiful Jesuit/Indian village that has been recreated in Midland, Ontario.

John golfed that day...

I had been lamenting the fact that all my friends were away on their own vacations, but it actually made the trip much less stressful and jam packed. We were even able to hang out at the beach for an afternoon!


The highlight would have to be the Blue Jays and Yankees game we took in on Thursday.

The boys rode the Toronto subway for the first time. For me it brought back really fond memories of my years spent going to school and working in T.O. What a great city.
By the way, I wish I could say the bottle in my hand was mine but I was holding it for the girl taking our picture! Not to say I didn't carry MANY bottles of wine on the subway in my day :)

The non-highlight was the drive home - arriving home at 3am after leaving John's nephew's wedding that ran an hour to two hours late the entire day!

Actually the real non-highlight of the trip was driving anywhere with John. We are the worst - I mean divorce court worst - at driving together. We both had serious uglies in the van. Thank God Jackson and Caeden wore headphones most of the trip.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The 1st Annual Summer Olympics

Inspired by the greatest athletes in the world, our family hosted the 1st Annual Rogers Olympiad...yesterday...in our backyard.

The nations of the world gathered to compete in swimming, track, and soccer events.

Represented by the most physically trained athletic specimens in our home, the following countries competed:
United States, featuring our lone American citizen Caeden
Canada, the Canuck cheerleader Jackson
France, the oh-so-French Cameron
Australia, the hockey playing John
Great Britain, me, because I kind-of have relatives from there!

First events - swimming. The 44 foot freestyle was a hard fought, to the wire, one-one hundreth of a second photo finish...won by FRANCE! But the 40 something mother of three was the story of this race, taking the silver medal!



Next event - football discus. The U.S. fought a hard battle but the gold medal went to...France!



Next up - the track qualifying events. The top qualifier...France!

And finally soccer qualifying won by....................france....




These Olympics will continue when the U.S., Canada, Australia and Great Britain return from an international goodwill visit to CANADA! France has to stay behind and do more training...

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Stay Away Mom!

Why are these pictures so far away from the action you ask?

Because if I actually got out of my car and walked over to the field to take a picture I would be banned (by my son) from EVER coming to another practice again! I'm such an embarrassment.

So - Cameron is the blur wearing the yellow jersey...

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

O-BA-MA

Every time he comes to town I get closer and closer to actually shaking his hand.

Today he looked right at me...or it might have been the Mayor, who was sitting right in front of me and who incidentally provided me with my reserved seating pass into the event (Thank You Mayor Williams!)

Ohhh...how wonderful he is...(I gush like a smitten schoolgirl...)...I want to be his friend...or at the very least an adviser on how to NOT become a politician like the rest of them!

Maybe I could be his adviser on all things Canadian...his inside track on high taxes, universal health care, and Molson beer...

Friday, August 1, 2008

It's Caeden's Turn...

The youngest child always gets shafted. Never enough pictures...never enough time...

So it's Caeden's turn...soccer practice has started.

Notice the tongue sticking out...just like his father when he plays sports.


And also notice how he's the only one talking? Youngest child syndrome - needs to make sure he's noticed...

But...oh...how beautiful he is...guess I'm a little biased...