Book of Days post this evening reminded me of a story my Dad told last weekend. Military Kid and I were at his home Sunday morning, relaxing just a bit before we headed over to my sister’s home for brunch. I was still feeling full from the Birthday cakes and pies served the night before at my Dad’s 88th birthday party so we weren’t in a real rush to head over there. Somehow the conversation turned to trains and I asked the innocent question of whether my oldest sibling had the trains Dad had brought home with him from Germany after WWII. Growing up Dad never, ever spoke of THE WAR, and we kids were forbidden to ask questions about Dad’s role in WWII.

From little tidbits here and there I had learned over years that Dad was a medic in WWII, served in Europe, and traded his army issued cigarettes for goods he sent back home. A couple years ago ScienceKid had asked a question to Granddad about growing up during the depression. I was listening with one ear to my Dad’s story while my oldest sister chatted away. Suddenly she realized that Dad was telling a story about the Holocaust camps, something none of us had heard before and she looked at me with wide-open-eyes. Softly she said, “Listen. He’s talking about THE WAR.” He was sharing how his group entered this POW / Holocaust prison just after the Germans left, the people they met were nothing but skin and bones, the wonder he had that any were alive, and the piles and piles of dead people. His descriptions were more vivid and awful then any I had every read. It was easy to understand that years before he did not wish to talk about what he had witnessed. ScienceKid asked him about whether or not he every fired a gun in the war, but quickly learned that when the Red Cross was placed on Grand Dad’s arms the gun was removed, but still he was sent out into the battle zone to retrieve the injured men, or the dead men……

But this day Dad shared a fun story. Dad had won his platoon’s ping-pong championship (or Table Tennis for some). This earned him time off to go to his Army’s Division ping-pong tournament where he came in second place! He lost to the guy who claimed to be California’s Ping-Pong Champion. His prize, as the second place winner, was a train set. Growing up this train set was always assembled for the Christmas season, and Dad had given it to his oldest child, hoping that she would continue to the tradition. Unfortunately she has never done that and he is worried that she is more interested in selling it as an antique after he is gone. I hope not. But I will remember the spark in his eyes as he told the story, the spark of remembering a time in his life when he moved quickly, when his reflexes were quick, and he could slam that little white ball down where his opponent couldn’t get it.

And I’m glad he shared this story. It helps me to understand why we always had a ping-pong table in our home. I just wish he had shared the story sooner when it might have helped motivate us to play the game to try to beat the champion. For now though, I’m going to tell my kids all the stories I can think of, so they can know me and folks I want them to know too.

We are in the final countdown for our trip to the National Science Olympiad competition. YEA!!! Yesterday ScienceKid put the Storm the Castle data into Excel, made graphs, and did his little write-up as required by the rules to explain how he would use the graphs for a hypothetical counterweight and projectile. He also met with a Biology teacher and went over heredity stuff, again. He reviewed rocks and minerals information but he does need to gather a few more details for his notebook. This is one of the few study events where the kids are permitted to take a notebook in with them. However, at State’s SK told us afterwards that there was no time to use the notebook since there were 25 stations to visit for 2 minutes a piece. You had to just know the rocks and minerals right off the top of your head. Finally last evening we had our team meeting; shirts were passed out, travel plans shared, and the kids divided the items for the swap meet. Whew; just a few more things to do such as DH’s laundry which can’t wait but the house cleaning can wait. Both kids are ready to go into their events, for sure!

This morning ScienceKid and I ran Mission Possible through about 3 or 4 dozen times. I was there more for moral support then anything else. Doing important mom things such as agreeing with him that he has given this event all he can give it. He is so very ready to be done with Mission Possible. It is THE event he took because he felt it was his duty; because he was the only team member with any experience doing MP, and because no one else on the team wanted it. It is a build event that just sucks up time; big time chunks. I can’t count the number of hours SK has spent either alone, or with his 2 partners working the bugs out of this complex machine. But mostly alone, trying to figure out how to make sure that the screw turns every single time so that the next simple machine is triggered…… The catch for Nationals is that the kids do not know the required operating time for the machine until after they impound it, and they are only permitted to adjust one machine, the sand timer, to obtain the required operating time. Hit the OOT at Nationals and you can bet they should be on the medal stand (places 1 - 6), miss the OOT and…… oh well. Let’s not think about that.

If you are interested in catching a bit of the National Science Olympiad it is being broadcast, both the opening ceremony and the Award Ceremony will be on webcasting. SK will be one of four Tri-State team members to carry our Delaware state flag and team banner across the stage during the opening ceremony. The Opening Ceremony is Friday, May 18th, 6:00 central time, 7:00 est

The Award Ceremony is Saturday, May 19th, 6:30 central time, 7:30 est B-Division

This is from NSO:

Webcasting: We will be webcasting both the Opening Ceremonies and Awards Ceremonies. To receive the webcast, you will need a high-speed internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 or above. The website is www.shockervision.tv. Scroll down through all the ball games till you find the Science Olympiad site. We will go live approximately 10 minutes before the start of the ceremonies. This will be a free service. You will not need to set up an account before viewing.

ps—Yes, I am more than a bit nervous.  Both boys in the NSO competition, knowing that so much effort has gone into preparations, knowing that this year was such a very long shot for us to go to the NSO, and knowing that ScienceKid’s High School Team will not go to NSO makes this trip extra-special, and gets me extra-nervous.

Early this morning, while the fog was still thick in the air ScienceKid and I headed outside. He set up the trebuchet while I stretched out the metric measuring tape. Sure that he NEEDS more data he came up with three data sheets for us to fill in; just 286 throws to do this morning. The weather forecaster is calling for winds and rain starting later today and running through the end of the week. If we are going to collect this data it needed to be done now.

The first several throws went, I marked the distance, recorded the data, and threw the ball or hackey sack back to SK. Sorry, I can’t share how far he is throwing but will do so after next Saturday’s competition.

“MOM, DON”T LET THE BALL HIT THE GRASS. IT’S WET”

He makes a few more throws, and I throw a few more balls back. Of course they hit the wet grass.

“MOM, DON”T LET THE BALL HIT THE GRASS. IT’S WET” he shouts over and over.

“MOM, THROW UNDERHAND. IT WILL GO FURTHER” he screams back at me. My underhand throw lands the hackey sack in the wet grass and short of where he is standing.

I turn to head back to my spot; the spot I think the next ball will reach.

WHAM!! I feel this projectile hit me squarely in the back.

“WHAT WAS THAT!” I scream.

SK has no answer but just a shocked look on his face. Later it occurred to me that this is a kid who can’t throw a ball. The kid who wouldn’t be able to hit the side of a barn if his life depended on it. Wow, what a shot, what a throw! But no, I yell out in pain;

“THINK, PLAN, ACT.”

That’s our school motto. SK’s personal reminder to get hold of himself and take control. It’s just one of the many behavior modification tricks we have tried to use with SK to help him and to provide him with some tools to control his ADHD. SK is ADHD and impulse control is not yet his strong suit.

ugh, my back was stinging badly. Wow, did that hurt.

We move on, continue testing, joke around, and finally are finished. My back no longer stings. Later tonight once SK’s action has sunk into his brain he and I will talk about the morning, about impulse control, about Thinking first, and thinking some more, and then acting. I hope that someday he will learn to think first, even when he is upset with me.  Hmm, wonder if I’ll ever get there too?  Think, plan, act.

Have you ever been in the situation of where you have just so much on your
plate that you can’t see the plate, or the even table? That’s the situation
I feel I am in and have been in for weeks. So I was quite hesitant to leave
home and travel to my Dad’s for the weekend.. There was so much to do HERE, boys to supervise while they tested their various build devices. DH assured me that he would be present; “But will you supervise them? Will you make sure that they are working and not just talking?”

“I’ll keep them on task” he assured me again.

Dad turned 88 on Monday and on Saturday we were throwing a Birthday Party for him at my sister’s home up in Pennsylvania. There would be 35 - 40 people there for a sit-down dinner, and amazingly even though I never lived anywhere near where he now lives, I knew I would know most everyone there. And how could I not go to this birthday party?

Earlier in the week my sister had asked me to bring a cooked and sliced turkey, my chocolate cheesecake, and a triple batch of cauliflower salad appetizer. Somehow I fit all this kitchen work in so that by Friday at noon the preparations were completed. I was however, very hesitant to go. Would they get any work done on their Science Olympiad projects? Would the place fall apart without me? Of course it wouldn’t, but I also know how little is accomplished when the boys work on their own, and they have too much to do to just be left to guide themselves.

But how could I not now go to my Dad’s birthday party? This is the man who in August of ‘05 was diagnosed in Stage 4 Colon Cancer, and given about 6 months. It had metastasized to his liver, and just recently found in his lungs. He has fought the last 18 months by taking aggressive action to fight this cancer by undergoing 2 major liver operations; 4 more ablation procedures where the cancer cells in the liver are electrically zapped, and twice chemo put him into ICU for a couple weeks each time. He is a fighter though and believes that God will call him when it is his time but until then it is his job to fight by using all medical tools at his disposal. So, yes, he does have something very serious but is beating the
odds big time.

He also went on a month long cruise this winter in the Caribbean; amazingly, and he is all of 88. The cancer is there; it is growing, he’s on chemo again, and still fighting. We don’t know how long he will be with us, but we also aren’t asking that anymore.

So Military Kid and I headed NW to his home returning on Sunday afternoon. I’m glad I went, nice time, and it meant quite allot to him. It was also nice to get away from the Science Olympiad stresses too. When Dad retired back in ‘84 he was hired by a Brazilian company as a consultant. The company flew both my Dad and Mom to Brazil whenever he consulted for the company. These trips usually lasted a couple months and were always during our winter. So, back in ‘84, Jon, the Brazilian company’s new employee and his wife Bel were assigned the duty of being tour guide to my parents. The following years, whenever they were in town Jon and his wife were my parents guide. Jon is now the Plant Manager, and he and Bel have been to my parents home many, many times over the years. Imagine my Dad’s delight that Jon and Bel flew in just for my Dad’s party! From Brazil. It was the first time I got to met them too. We chatted allot, they are my age, and I’m hoping that their girls, 14 & 16yo will come to my home this summer for a month. They asked to take my boys for a month to help them learn Portuguese and
experience another country. Who would have known?

My brother didn’t come but sent flowers. Flowers are for the dead, my Dad always says. He semi-smiled as he looked at the flowers but said it just isn’t the same: rather had have him be there. Sis, less then 3 hrs drive wasn’t there either…..but the folks from Brazil flew in. I had a good time too, and who knows, maybe we’ll be going to Brazil soon.

If you have a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop near you, here is a promotion you don’t want to pass up!

On Wednesday May 2, from 5pm-10pm, ice cream scoops will be just 31 cents. That’s right, a 2.5 oz scoop for such a cheap price. What’s the catch?  The money raised from the sale of these scoops will go to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.   (Unfortunately we lived in a town that lost 6 firefighters in one warehouse fire and personally knew two o f the families)

Baskin-Robbins will make a $100,000 donation to help families of fallen firefighters. Check out the link below for more details.
Enjoy!

Get the whole scoop here:
http://www.baskinrobbins.com/Promotion/31cent.aspx

So much to say, but no time to write, no time to clean since there are boys to watch, and boys to feed, and boys are here and there and everywhere. And there is still so much to do before we leave for Nationals.