Doctors and Vets

The main beneficiary of medical insurance in our family is Evan. We've moved on to a high deductible plan recently but no one told Evan. So he picked a fight with a herd of streptococci and lost the first round. He's getting antibiotics to help him come back. Meanwhile, he'll tell anyone who'll listen that he had to pee in a cup and the doctor sent it to a scientist to check for what type of bacteria was making him sick. Learning opportunity.

This morning I put Crazy in her pet bag and took her to her annual checkup. The vet's office is next door to the Ferrari dealership. On the way in I informed Crazy that I'd buy a car from next door sooner that I'd spend money on her medical bills. For her sake and mine it would be better if the vet gave her a clean sheet. Turns out that she's fit as a fiddle and had a lot of things to tell the vet. Most of them with a scowl. Hopefully this takes care of doctors and vets till after our vacation. 

Happy Birthday Ava

Some time back I noticed that I had dropped the "neighbor" when writing about Ava. She's been away at day camp. It seems like she leaves home at the crack of dawn and doesn't get back till after midnight - we hardly see her. I think it has bothered me more than my kids. Vivian and Evan finally got to hang with her on Saturday night and then again for her big sixth birthday party at the park on Sunday morning.

It's hard to believe that you travelled nine thousands miles to become a part of our little group on this block of Austin. Here's a photo from your first birthday.

The other day over dinner we let it slip that you might not live next door to us for the rest of your life ("Yes, they may move someday") and Vivian cried in her bowl of nabeyaki udon.

Happy Birthday. I love you Ava (but I couldn't tell you at your party because Mexico was playing the Netherlands).

Saheli Dinner

On Saturday night we rounded up three other couples who like Indian cooking and went to the Ghoshes for dinner, leaving five children in the care of Essy and Sarah. At the Saheli (now Asian Family Support Services of Austin) gala last year we had won an auction item for a Bengali Night. Samira sent me the menu a couple of weeks ago. I've been salivating and holding off on eating too much of anything since then.

The hospitality, food and joie de vivre were fantastic. We started with wine and appetizers at 730ish and ended the evening with desserts and wine at 1130 (we had to hurry to relieve our teenage sitters). When we got home there were five exhausted and happy children asleep in three different rooms.

And there was cake. Mona made me one of her amazing cakes. Our darn guests who were complaining all the way back home about being stuffed then ate cake like they hadn't seen food in a week.

Thinkery

Vivian and Evan took Holden and Soren to the Thinkery. Evan is still fascinated with the liquid magnets and went right back there first. Vivian built a rocket from card paper and it performed pretty well in the compressed air rocket range. And that was the end of the educational portion of the trip. For the rest of the afternoon the four kids monkeyed around in the water lab and horsed it up in the outdoor playscape. Till Vivian elected herself "General" and got a handful of random strangers to "collect the spiders and get their venom" in the  little artificial brook outside.

Holden

Holden visited for a couple of days. With Soren, Baby Willa and parents. But for Vivian it was mostly Holden. Though they see each other infrequently they like to play and hang out ever since they were babies.

Religious Camp

This morning I went to the doctor's office to pick up Vivian's immunization record. Jo needs it for a religious camp that Vivian is attending for three days from this Sunday.

It's run by a liberal Islamic open-minded organization and we know the Imam. Mixed in with fun camp activities like swimming and playing, there will be the usual Koran readings, discussions, time for Vivian to reflect and write about her relationship with the Prophet, and Islam-themed craft making. Jo is not muslim and I'm an atheist. But Vivian's close friend is going to this camp, so we thought why not. Vivian doesn't have her own Koran. I'm sure they will give her one. And she doesn't - at least overtly, believe in religion or know much about Islam which may make for a rough few days. But hey, what's the worst thing that could happen? She ends up a devout muslim for life.

ps. Is this weird? I have a confession. This post is slightly misleading. Replace muslim/Islam/Prophet with Christian/Jesus. As I said, only slightly misleading. The real question is: Is it still disturbing?

Doing Nothing

Vivian and Evan - when you grow up you may wonder what your dad did. So back in September 2012 soon after Grandpa started living with us and I had a particularly hectic day I blogged my day with 10-minute updates. Since Grandpa died, I've gotten far better at doing nothing. Here a sample - this is what I did on Tuesday.

06:30: Alarm. Wake up alone. Everyone else is at Grandma's. Roll back into bed till 7:00
07:30: At Travis County Strength (gym)
08:35: Back home for a quick shower
09:05: Laying on the massage table for an Ashiatsu massage
11:00: At Fado Irish Bar for Uruguay - Italy game with Gordon. Mmmm Guinness
12:35: Suarez bites Chiellini
13:00 Depart Fado and start running errands that I should have done yesterday
14:00 Home - hello kids. Time for a nap. Long day.
16:30 Meet George and Guy for beer
19:00 Michelle interrupts beer with a text from the airport
19:30 Austin Bergstrom Airport to pick up Michelle and Nicolle
18:30 Evan and Vivian join me for an unplanned drive to Grandma's
21:15 Arrive at Canyon Lake. Nicolle and Michelle reunited with their children
22:45 Sitting in construction traffic on I-35 for 30 minutes. Vivian still wide awake
23:30 Back in Austin, carry kids to bed
02:00 Put "Altered Carbon" down
02:01 Fall into deep sleep immediately while still smelling faintly of mint and eucalyptus

Burning Bikes and S'mores

Last weekend Ava (neighbor) went to spend the day with us and Nicolle's six kids at Grandma's. The day before that is chronicled in 24 Hours At Lariat Ridge.

Vivian almost immediately rode her bike into the pile of ashes from the fire the day before and it in turn started smoldering. No one was hurt though a tire and a pedal will have to be replaced.

The rest of the day was eventless and fun. Nine children playing together. Nicolle had cooked and left a yummy casserole. Vivian asked for four helpings. Then they made s'mores over another fire. All the kids loved waiting till their marshmallows caught on fire. Neighbor Ava asked the wrong person (Jo) and was disappointed that the max limit was set to two s'mores per person (a few weeks ago mine was "as many as you want").  By the time we pulled into the driveway back in Austin there were three kids fast asleep in the back and it was past 930pm. 

Summer Reading

Here are two excellent science fiction books. I read Lexicon when Jo and I were in Montreal in May. And finished Altered Carbon this morning.

Max Barry is a writer from Melbourne. Lexicon has to be one of the fastest paced novels I've read. It's smart, makes you think, and it's very non-linear. If you pick it up my advice is to read it quickly otherwise you need to remember a lot of things to keep the plot straight. The idea is that people can make others do things against their will by speaking certain words. In the old days they were called magic words. Now it's become a science.

Nina gave me Altered Carbon. It's older - published back in 2002. Morgan is English. I thought "ahh - Richard K. Morgan - how unoriginal, even in the way you state your name" and then I read that the book at won the Phillip K Dick award in 2003. He writes a murder mystery set in the future when our digitized minds can be downloaded into passive bodies. Which makes ideas like death, life and love very interesting. 

Topless

At Grandma's pool if Vivian wants to run around without a t-shirt I don't insist on it. But recently there have been times when the boys have taken their shirts off, like at Vivian's school field day and at public pools where she has asked me if she can take her shirt off. I tell her no. She asks, why not?

I tell her that in most places in the world there are double standards. That a man's chest can be bared in public but because of some additional breast tissue a woman's chest is considered a part of her privates. She looks at me like I'm crazy. I tell her there are laws. We haven't yet gone as far as trying to discuss who or what those laws are trying to defend but that day isn't far away.

Then someone posted about the Tata Top on FB - a new bikini top in many skin tones with nipples printed on them. I like it when innovation disrupts.

All this is probably going to come back and bite me in the ass during a spring break in Vivian's not too distant future. But it's never hard to determine what's the right side in the battle for equality. And I'm happy to throw my vote to free the nipple. 

Done

Back in the middle of December we ripped one corner of our house down. Earlier (when it finally started raining in Austin again) we had noticed a leak in the bathroom ceiling. As Gunaraj and I pulled the layers up we realized that there was a slow leak in the flat roof of the deck upstairs where the gazebo support had been screwed into the roof below. The 2x6 lumber that held that portion of the house together had completely disintegrated. 

Gunaraj started the complex and long job of putting things in order. The rebuilding phase required almost every type of subcontractor because every layer of the house from the limestone masonry outside to the travertine tiles inside had been ripped out and then replaced. 

Last week the steelwork company installed the railing. We are done. Wow. Wouldn't have made it without Gunaraj's skill and careful thought.

Zilker Morning

On Sunday Jo went to a meeting for the day. Six hours with mothers of students from Vivian's school (there may have been a father too). The kids and I started the morning with a box of Legos and a bowl of grapes at a park bench in Zilker. I played a pick-up game of soccer. They watched and ate breakfast and played with Legos.

I had to finished prematurely when Evan needed to poop. We walked across the soccer fields to Barton Springs pool and visited the facilities there. Then we took a train ride on the Zilker Zephyr, ate cotton candy, and played in the playground, finishing the morning with lunch at the noodle bar at Whole Foods. By the time Jo came back we were showered and napping off our sugar crash.

We ended the day with a lovely dinner at the McGregors. Tim, Travis and I got to see the USA-Portugal game (and undoubtedly further weaken the moral fiber of the country) while Gordon cooked up a storm at the grill. The kids played. The ladies chatted. And when we left for home the first stars were blinking into the summer solstice night sky. 

Moral Decay

This morning Eric and I went to my neighborhood sports bar to watch the US play Germany. When we walked in there was a 3 hour wait to get seated. The bar was completely hidden from view by four successive walls of humanity so I assumed it would take even longer to get a drink. But then I caught the eye of a waiter who had served me the day before. Some waiters like to touch their customers - a pat on the arm or a tap on your shoulder. He's one of them. In the course of a minute we had drinks in our hands and his hands occasionally on us. For the remainder of the game we never had to wait for a drink. I left him a good tip.

On the way home I told Eric that I did what I had to for the sake of getting a drink. We laughed. Then Jo read the trending story of Ann Coulter and the World Cup. The popularity of soccer in America is a sign on moral decay.

I feel like she must have been watching me this morning. Game over, America.

24 Hours at Lariat Ridge

I woke up to a quiet house on Thursday morning. After working out and waiting for the railing people to come and install the railing I left Austin midmorning to join the rest of my clan. They were already at Carol's along with cousins Quinn, Ava and Cade. And of course Carol and her three dogs, Kerby, Tory and Sadie. Nicolle and Michelle are in the Galapagos.

I got there in time to help Carol change the pedals on her bike (from clip-ons to regular) and scrub one stubborn board on the deck that still leaks pine sap in huge quantities three years after becoming a part of the deck.  The kids swam. Then it was puzzle time - we worked on a pretty simple one for 9+ year olds that kicked our butts. While Cade and Evan napped unwillingly but soundly. By the time we finished, we lost Vivian and Ava who went outside looking for beetles and other insects (Vivian to admire them, Ava to stomp on them). Then all the kids went out and arrayed themselves at the bottom of the driveway while Quinn biked up and down like he had just won a motocross championship (he had a dream that he had the night before). Vivian (wrapped in a sarong in the first photo) "interviewed" him.  

Then I put up an awesome flag that Aaron had brought over for his mother last month. He made it out of wood and painted it and Beth distressed it. I hung it with quadruple redundancy on the string and double redundancy on the hardware. So that future distressing will be due to sunshine and weather and not due to 12 foot falls on unsuspecting children's heads.

Then the kids went back to the pool (a hard day around here) and I headed down the hill with my chainsaw. The drought and the brutal summer from three years ago killed several trees. Many were still standing. Till the recent rains and wind storms. After I finished sawing one downed tree a huge hornet stung me. Hard enough to draw blood and leave my left arm stinging from finger tip to shoulder. I packed up my tools for the day.

This morning Jo left for Austin while Carol enlisted the kids to drag some brush from past chain saw massacres down to the driveway. We have not had a burn due to dry windy conditions and the dead wood is piling up everywhere. Carol and I decided that we could do a controlled burn on the driveway away from other vegetation and close to a water hose.  The flame in the photo is about 10-15 feet tall. Controlled but not small. While the kids were helping me I got a picture of the littlest cousins taking a buddy pee together.

Afterwards Ava, Vivian, Cade and Evan went inside to draw. Vivian made paper slippers (called "sliders" because they are like slippers but they are better at sliding. While Quinn and I watched Costa Rica beat Italy. Then we headed home to Austin in Nicolle's very large automobile. Outside Austin I got nailed by a cop on a motorcycle but he pulled up the car behind me (people in Expeditions don't speed).  

When we reached home, as I pulled into the driveway, Vivian announced that we were back at our "blanca wooden casa". And I noticed that I didn't have house keys (they were with my car at Carol's) and Jo wasn't home. My whole left arm had swollen up so much that I didn't have a a weenus (Jen's name for the folds of skin at one's elbow). And I needed to pee like a race horse.

But the back door was unlocked and there was Benadryl at home and it all ended well. Except for the weenus - still waiting for that to reappear.  

Playground Therapy

Jo and the kids went to the splash pad to cool off while I went to watch the Germany-Portugal game. I met them by the "non-creek" outside the downtown Whole Foods. They were finishing lunch. I went to the noodle bar and got myself a bowl of spicy chicken noodle. Vivian and Evan ate most of it. Again.

On the way back we discussed the splash pad I was going to build someday in the backyard. Jo mentioned that the storm the other night had dropped a small branch in the backyard. On their little play set. This is a small lump of plastic consisting of a slide that we bought used for Vivian on her second birthday. She still adores it.

Evan said "You mean the small tiny useless no-good play ground in the backyard that no one ever uses?"

I'm guessing he's got some strong feelings about it.

The Beauty and the Beast

Evan and Vivian were chatting at the dining table. Suddenly,

Evan: "Is Kerby a puppy?"
[Kerby is Carol's Dachschund - an old dog]
Vivian: "No - she's old. She just looks small"
Evan: "How old is she?"
Me: "She's an old lady. In dog years even older then Grandma"
Me: [a moment later] "Please never tell Grandma I said that"
Evan: "Older than Grandpa?"
Me: "No"
Evan: "Is she going to die soon?"
Vivian: "Please don't talk about Kerby dying. Just thinking about it is making me cry"
Evan: [gleefully rubbing his hands together] "What will happen if Kerby dies tomorrow..."
Vivian: [crying]

Evan's a beast. But his bark is way worse than his bite.

These days he's watching a pretty bad shoot-em-up alien show on Netflix called "Ben 10". With full and total focus. While he and Vivian were in the midst of a Netflix mind meld this evening I was in the kitchen cutting a lemon. The knife sliced my finger - a small cut. I must have let out a rush of breath - I didn't even realize I had made a sound. In the midst of the roar of alien weapons from the next room I hear Evan.

"Daddy - are you Ok?" 

Hallmark Holiday of the Lesser

Happy Father's Day to you too.

Jo and the kids were at Carol's so I slept in. Then they showed up with lovely handmade cards and breakfast tacos. Evan signed his name by himself. Vivian made her card in the shape of an airplane and wrote on top and under the wings. A nice lazy day with one World Cup game thrown in (Argentina versus Bosnia-Herzegovina. So you don't really care about my World Cup rants on this Blog). Dinner at Five Guys. Dessert at Amy's. In the middle of the night Vivian crawled into bed.

The kids woke up this morning and planted miniature farms with grass and radish seed (we'll have photos for Uncle Tom soon). Breakfast at the kitchen counter. Shooting practice with the Nerf gun. Another summer vacation infused day at the ranch.

World Cup

It's upon us again. Evan was a baby the last time and I went to South Africa to watch the spectacle. Spain won the final match against the Netherlands to become the World Campions (not quite with as much irony as the World Series is won). I took this photo in the Soccer City stadium in Soweto moments after Spain won. The Spanish have collapsed on the turf while the Dutch are standing around in agony.

So far I have watched all the games of 2014 on TV. Brazil's Selecao is looking like it needs work but the right people, Neymar and Oscar, are looking confident. Croatia fought hard but it will be hard to get out of that group, specially as Mexico is looking hot.

In the second game Mexico beat Cameroon 1-0 though the score should have been 3-0 if the referees had replay vision (two wrong offisdes call on Giovani Dos Santos). The unfortunate Indomitable Lions have so much individual skill and athleticism but they never seem to be able to get it together on the world stage. For the most part Mexico outplayed them in the pouring rain. But Mexico will need it all if they end up facing the Netherlands in the round of 16.

Then came the third game - Spain vs. the Netherlands. The shocker. I watched it with Victor, a teacher at Vivian's school and a Spaniard.  I can't recollect another game when a champion was defeated so badly. The final score was 5-1 for the Netherlands. Revenge for the 2010 Finals and a clear warning to the others that they are ready to win it all this time. Though Spain will get it together and make it out of group play. But they will in all likelihood face Brazil in the round of 16.

The fourth game was Chile vs. Australia. When you find yourself in a group with with Spain and the Netherlands, you need to win your other group game. Chile came out swinging. They have talent. But Australia jumped back and hung in there. The Socceroos eventually lost 1-3. Chile needs to stop passing and start shooting at the goal line if they want to beat either Spain or the Netherlands.

Tomorrow Groups C and D play. The four favored out of those eight teams are Columbia (even without star Falcao), Uruguay, England and Italy, though only three of them will make it to the round of 16 because Uruguay, England and Italy are in the same group.

If you are can watch one game tomorrow, see the Italy-England match at 5pm central time tomorrow.

Summer Vacation

Today is the first day of Vivian's summer vacation. Last night I let her and Evan stay up till 11pm watching movies (Jo and I went to sleep and were woken up at 10:30 by a huge storm and 70 mile per hour winds and thunder and lightening). The kids didn't notice.

This morning we woke up slowly and went to Einstein's for breakfast. The kids ate their bagels at Magellan while Jo and I went to Vivian's parent-teacher conference. This evening she has a sleep over at Eleanor's. Next week she and Evan get to play with their cousins while Nicolle and Michelle go to the Galapagos. In three weeks we are off to the east coast for a week at Alu's and then on to Iceland and Faroe and Scandinavia for a month.

Summer vacations are one of the big perks of having kids.

80's Rock Star

On Thursday Vivian dressed as a 80's rock star and we sat through two hours of watching other people's children before we got to see her on stage. It was worth the wait.

You can see Vivian in center front. She's the one jumping.

This is the very peak of her achievements after two years at private school. Her teacher said that she practically choreographed the show and was the most enthusiastic participant. Instead of talking about her Spanish or her mathematics or her listening skills at today's parent teacher conference they went on and on about her dancing. I'm happy. It could be worse.

After Jo and I steered the conversation back to academics we did find out that Vivian has had a very good year. She is beginning to converse and write in Spanish. And she's finally turning in good work.

A story about her math. A few weeks ago Vivian's teacher celebrated her birthday. When I met her in the hallway that afternoon and wished her feliz cumpleaños she said "happy to be 25 finally!". I came back home and related that to Jo. Vivian's teacher is about the size of a small 14-year old and dresses like one. So we had no trouble believing that she had just turned 25. Last week her daughter showed up to help her in class. Vivian said that she was in the 11th grade. We were at Whole Foods.

Me: "There's a problem"
Vivian: "Why?"
Me: "Do the math"
Vivian: "How?"
Me: "How old are you?"
Vivian: "7"
Me: "How old is Ms. Gina's daughter? You are in the 1st grade and she's in the 11th"
Vivian: (after some thought) "17?"
Me: "Right. If Ms. Gina is 25 how old was she when her daughter was born?"
Vivian: (after more thinking) "Uh - 8? I see...."

Turns out that Ms. Gina is in her thirties. And Vivian's math skills aren't bad.

Ramsey Pool

It's safe to say that if I was a frog my tadpole years were spent in the pool at the Secunderabad Club. Swimming, playing, rough housing, eating chicken sandwiches, slurping mango softies (soft serves) and having a great time with by brother and friends. With no parents in sight.

I can't recreate that environment for Vivian and Evan in Austin. But we'll have a go at the Ramsey pool this summer. After a slow start with a shortage of lifeguards and over and under chlorination,  it's finally off and running. We spent a few hours there on Wednesday afternoon. Evan and Vivian met friends in abundance, ate snacks, and played with the pool toys. And stayed in the water till they were in danger of sprouting webbed feet.

Somewhere in there Evan asked where the water came from and I gave him the short version of Pool Filtration 101 with a quick glance inside the filter room.

Now to wean him off that floaty.

Pajama Party

On the last day of regular school for Vivian her teachers had planned a pj party. I made them breakfast tacos and Evan stayed in his pj's as a mark of sibling support. Vivian wore her doggy house slippers (which she *never* wears at home) and took her regular school shoes in her backpack. They watched movies, played silly games and ate popcorn. Great way to end a great first grade. Tomorrow is the very last day though Vivian will only be in school for a couple of hours for the Spring Concert.

And tomorrow is Evan's very last day at Grace Garden summer camp. Though I have not dropped off or picked him up as often as I did Vivian, I have been through the doors of that Methodist Church more times than most other building (besides home) in my adult life. Feels like the end of an era.

Noodles and Ice Creams

The kids and I love the spicy chicken noodle at the downtown Whole Foods. They have been making inroads into my bowl, so today they got their own (from which I dug out noodles and chicken for Evan and noodles and mushrooms and bok choy for Vivian). Then we had a craving for dessert - which we satisfied at Amy's. Vivian gets the Belgian chocolate with M&Ms and Evan the vanilla with gummy bears.

They played so hard at Amy's that they probably worked off their ice creams. I didn't.

Thinkery

When Jo is away - kayaking down the Rio Grand at Big Bend or floating on the Lazy River at the Grand Hyatt, I keep the kids active - mostly to prevent having to spend a lot of time at home alone with them. Today we went to the Thinkery after picking Vivian from school. It's Austin's new children's museum. We stayed in one portion. I could let the children wander in and out of three or four areas and stay in one place and keep an eye on them periodically. Vivian spent a few minutes in the lights room and then focused on building. Evan built for a few minutes and then played with the ferro liquid and the magnets. Easy entertainment.

My Penis Was Turned

I went to pick Evan up from Grace Garden summer camp today (Jo is on vacation as usual). Ms. Tammy was his teacher. I looked down at Evan and noticed he was wearing someone else's shorts. Ms. Tammy whispered that Evan had an accident. "He got to the bathroom in time but then there was a slight problem".

Ms. Tammy drew slightly closer and dropped another few decibels. "I had to put him in girl underwear - that's all I had. But it's plain white." She examined her hands carefully, not making eye contact.

I told her it was quite alright and thanked her and apologized on behalf of Evan. Then I turned to look for him. Evan has superhero hearing, specially when you least expect it. So from about 10 feet away while playing with his friends he overheard and decided to join in the conversation.

"Daddy - my penis was turned that way and the pee just went off there before I could stop it". While gesturing at his penis and his right side with his hands. 

Turdiness

Evan's been quite a turd lately. He yells "No" when you ask him to do anything and only changes his mind when threatened with a time out or a spanking. He talks back rudely in ways he must think as funny or macho but are neither. His jokes are lame. When Evan and Vivian get into it, we have to often remind Vivian of one of Jo's cardinal rules of life in India. "Don't encourage the monkeys". Except that there were real monkeys in India.

The other day he got into trouble for punching Vivian. A little bit later he did it again. I was getting ready to send him to the corner when Vivian took pity on him and lied and said that he hit her by accident.

We are hoping this is a phase. They usually pass quickly. And meanwhile he throws in just the right amount of hugging and kissing and saying truly funny or sweet things - just enough to keep us guessing and loving. 

The Morning After

After Field Day, I knew Jo would like a drink. Due to a fortunately misplaced party and friends who are willing to change their plans quickly, we ended up with a party at home. I think everyone had a great time but my memory of the evening is a bit cloudy. The next day we started slow. Chocolate pancakes for breakfast at Pacha. Then Vivian and Evan took the Lego pieces and made wine glasses and bottles. Evan carefully took the red piece off the  top of the wine bottle, poured himself a drink and the replaced the cork. I died laughing. Great parenting!