Haircut Please

 

Gage has continued his part time profession as Gavin's weekly barber.  At least this time they are doing the haircut in the yard where we don't really have to worry about cleaning up much hair.  Truth be told, though, Gavin never gets more than like a millimeter or two trimmed off so it's quite funny that they go through this whole ritual to basically leave things as they are.  We will see how long this partnership lasts...

Deviant Critters

 We recently put in a bird feeder that hangs from our Cherry tree in the back.  This deviant little guy keeps trying to hang from his toes and shake the feeder so that it drops the birdseed down below where he can get to it.  Judging by the amount of bird seed currently sitting on our deck seat cushion, I guess he has been quite successful at it.  We might have to rethink something here or get better at counter measures. 

Come Steal Me...

Well, Gavin is driving Tara's old minivan (we call him "Van-Dingo") these days as we purchased my mom's Honda Pilot from her more recently.  Apparently, this is how much Gavin is currently valuing the ride.  I came home to this and just had to take a picture.  We find the van parked in front of our house, front driver's door wide open, garage door wide open, and no child to be found.  I think the only real thing missing is a sign posted to the side of the window saying "Please steal me, right now".  Sometimes, I just have to wonder what goes through these guys' heads.  Needless to say, we had an open and transparent conversation about the state of things that I came home to.  We will hope to not have a repeat performance of this one...

1st Day of School

First day of school for Freshman and Junior years!  It's wild to think we have two high schoolers now (at least for a bit longer).  Both of these young gentlemen are feeling confident and excited for the first day.  We are fortunate to have two guys that are social and enjoy their friends at school but are also very good students.  I know everyone has their own unique struggles with their kids, but at least this is one battle we don't really have to fight too much.  I hope they have an awesome year!

New Bike Glow Up

I previously wrote about Tara's new bike day, and while the ride and fit were amazing, she was hopeful that we could do a bit more to make it feel more "lady-like".  I worked with James at Tribellas a bit more to see what we could do and we came up with this amazing pink and black floral handlebar tape, matching shiny pink water bottle cages, and a couple of white and pink Tribellas water bottles.

It wasn't a drastic change but paired with her nice Aloha Zoot cycling kit that is heavy on pink and black, it really came together, I think!

Here is a nice view from the ride of all the colors working together.  I am glad that Tara has come to really enjoy riding, as this is something I can see us doing together for a long time.  Now, she has a nice bike to make it all a bit more fun, as well! 

PT For Gavin

Gavin had been having some back pain playing soccer, so we decided to get him checked out with Larry at BUILD in Louisville.  He is our go-to PT in the area and always love to hear the stories my guys come to him with (both related to their injuries and unrelated as well).  We checked some balance items with him to assess supporting muscle control and stability.

Another activity to see how he supports different movements with his body.

We also took a big look at his hamstring flexibility, which was a major issue that probably contributes to general tightness and some muscles pulling in different ways on his spine.  Not surprising, Larry was quite shocked at his lack of flexibility.  After a thorough evaluation, we had some good marching order on how to loosen him up and try to get back to playing pain free.  Thanks again to Larry at BUILD for all of the help.

Yellow Jacket Invasion

It seems like every few years we have a need to call our "Bee guy" to come help us with something.  Such are the joys of owning a house, I guess.  Well, this August, we had noticed a decent amount of traffic coming to and from one of the awnings above our garage and upon closer inspection, this is what we found. 

These guys apparently found some seam just below the shingles to try to make a hive/nest and were just going about their merry little business.  Unfortunately, we don't exactly share the same beliefs about what qualifies as a suitable home, so we had to help them find somewhere else to go.  It costs a bit of money, but I always feel better about letting someone who actually knows what they are doing deal with them rather than me hanging off some ladder 20 feet up trying to spray these guys.  In the end, we reached a nice agreement that they couldn't stay and the problem was solved...until the next time I guess.

New Bike Day for Tara

After quite the wait, it was finally new bike day for Tara!  This is her new Specialized Road bike that we just picked up from Tribellas for her.  She had been measured a month or two back and they had everything ordered and put together for her.

There are a couple new things with this bike for us: disk brakes rather than rim breaks, electronic shifting rather than manual shifting, and it's a double rather than a triple up front for Tara.  I do know it should be a pretty big step up in quality and comfort from her last bike!

New School Schedules

Every year we eagerly await the school schedules.  Most of the classes are known, with the exception of a few electives.  However, the teachers for each class that they have and which off periods they have are always a big source of anticipation and subsequent discussion amongst their friends.  This year for his freshman year, Gage has CP Biology, L2K, AP Human Geography, Spanish III, Integrated Math II/III, and English Lit.

Gavin, now going into his junior year, has quite the aggressive lineup, AP Calc, L2K, AP Physics, AP US History, AP Lang, and Weightlifting/Drawing.  He had a few friends that took one more AP class, but we thought this was already crazy enough.  He will have his hands full for sure, but he is a pretty good student.  I know I didn't take anything close to this for a class schedule when I was in high school.