Philip and Joan joined us from London for the weekend. The kids loved seeing them- even Faith ran right up to Grandpa and immediately gave him a hug and told him her joke (Why did the banana go to the doctor? Because he wasn't PEELING good!). I was pretty impressed that at age 3 she could remember and retell a joke and get thepunchline right! They were all very loving toward both Phil and Joan. Tanner wanted to wear his t-shirt from the Clearlake family vacation and show Phil all the pictures from the reunion last year. Jake was excited that they would get to see him play quarterback in his football game on Saturday. Joan and Phil were great sports with all of our chaos and seasonal focus on football.
Friday night they took us all out to Chili's for dinner and then to the Capital High football game at Boise State on the "Smurf turf". This was Joan's first ever football game and I think she really enjoyed it! We all got into the action. We got to see Karly (our daycare provider's daughter) play in the marching band at halftime and our neighbor play corner back. Good, wholesome, "small town" fun!
The next day brought more football- and more drama then we had anticipated- for Jake's game in
Mountain Home. He had been practicing hard for two weeks for his turn at quarterback and he was really excited and a little nervous. Mountain Home is about an hour away so he kept referring to it as his first "travel game" which I guess he felt was really cool. Anyway, Brian and Jake took Joan and Phil early while I took the little ones to swim lessons. We picked up donuts for the team then met them at the field.
When we got there Jake and Brian were off on the sidelines, Jake obviously upset. Another parent told me that Jake had gotten slammed (hard!) during warm ups and had a bloody nose, fat lip, cut gums, and a loose front tooth. So.... I went over to them to see what was up. Brian was doing his best to talk him through it but sometimes a boy just needs his Mom. Next came probably one of my hardest parenting decisions to date (and, yes, I know they will continue to get harder): Jake was crying and crying and was obviously hurt. He said he wanted to go home and he didn't want to play that day. There was blood all over his shorts and shirt. Now, the mommy in me wanted to take him in my arms and take him home and let him cry it out. But I knew that in 30 min. he would be feeling better and would feel crappy that he hadn't played in the game. So...... I swallowed the "mommy" in me and summoned the "hard ass" in me. "No. We are not going home. You can do this. You can play. Show them what you are made of". I basically told him that he would be letting his team down and, more importantly he would be letting himself down if he didn't try. That I knew he was hurt but that I also knew he could do this. I'm not joking when I say I had to try not to cry. With a little help from his coach (and some children's Advil) we got him pumped up enough to give a few plays a try. I knew that once he got out there he would be fine (at least I was pretty sure, but also knew that it could cost me millions in emotional therapy later on).
My heart did swell with pride as I watched him run out on the field with his teammates. He got out there and tried his best. All I cared about at that point was that he got out there! The team killed them in the end, but the donuts seemed to help what little disappointment the boys had in losing! Afterwards the team went to Wendy's together. He was so excited that he had played QB. That night in bed I told him how that had felt for me- how I didn't know if I should have pushed him to play or I should have let him go home. I told him that it was really hard to make that kind of decision as a parent but that I did what I thought was best, even if it was hard. He looked at me, bless his heart, and said, "Don't worry, Mom. You did the right thing. I am really glad I played. I would have been so mad at myself if I had given up.". Whew... dodged another bullet I guess. It honestly had me rattled the rest of that day, though.
That night we all watched Rudy (thought we'd continue in the football theme of the visit) which everyone loved. Faith, of course, retired to our room to watch Lion King for the 3000th time. Sunday was beautiful so we spent a lot of the day by the pool. Faith made a new friend and wowed us with her ability to talk to anyone. She walked right up to a little girl and asked her name and how old she was and if she would like to play with her. They played for the better part of an hour in the pool. Later in the afternoon Faith came up to me on my pool chair and asked me if she could invite Ruby over for a play date. I said sure, thinking I would call the parents in a week or two. Nope, Faith had other ideas. She walked right over to Ruby's father (in a pool chair on the other side of the pool) and asked him herself. Too funny. She went back to the pool and told Tanner, "Now I have friends, too!".
We had a really nice visit with Brian's dad and Joan. It is too bad that we only get to see them once a year. We hope to make a trip to London to see them in a few years- maybe when Faith is Jake's age or so. The kids were sad to see them go.
This weekend we are off to SLC to see the Dew Tour and visit the zoo. Never a dull moment here in the Alan household!
It may be stereotypical, but while the boys all went to the Dew Tour Faith and I opted for a girl's day at the Zoo. The week leading up to the trip she was so excited about the fact that she and I were going to get to spend the day together, just the two of us. She had been telling Wendy and her brothers and anyone that would listen that she was going to the zoo on Saturday all by herself with Mom. I was pretty excited, too.
