Cube Me!

Oh boy, this is a dream come true for a certain 16 year old in my house. The Rubik's Cube National Championships held this weekend at MIT. For the past 3 years he has had a large obsession with the "cube". He learned how to solve the 3x3 by watching a youtube video one second at a time over and over again until he could do it - and do it quickly. He soon moved on to the 4x4 and had been given vast array of all things Rubik every Christmas.

We brought him both Saturday and Sunday. The auditorium was hushed and cool and relaxing. No one ever spoke loudly. No one shouted or yelled or cheered. All that could be heard was the quiet click-twist-click-twist motion of both the competitors and the audience members who kept their hands in motion with their own cubes. The "rounds" were subdued and a quiet call was made for each group to begin.

It was oddly meditative. I kept checking on Carter thinking..."you like this?"..."ok, you love this!" Such a grin on his face. The holy grail for Rubik's fans aficionados. There were many categories of competitions...pyraminx, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, blindfolded and one-handed. Is it wrong to admit I brought my book and read for a while? No one cared. The focus was entirely on the stage.

This was in the lobby. This is what a $1,000 worth of Rubix Cubes look like. Some of the kids were in middle school or younger and they had their collections spread out and just spun the colors to their hearts' content. There were vendors selling the big daddy cubes and "Lubix Cube"...something to make it spin faster. The host told the audience at one point that they were going to try to move things along on Sunday afternoon because "people had planes to catch". Of course they did ; )

This was a National Championship after all. An auditorium full of folks a lot smarter than me! But not better, right? Got some good mom points today. Lucky for us, we were just a short ride from home.

Here's a t-shirt worthy of bragging rights...and an all white cube to go along with it.

Twist and click and twist and click and twist and click. In the hallways, stairwells and auditorium.

Anna's Taqueria provided us with an awesome lunch! Lucky MIT kids to have such a place right on campus.

I found myself on that campus nostalgic for a lot of things. I only went to 2 years of college and I didn't have a great experience. I went to the "wrong" school and wasn't happy. But being on this campus at MIT, relatively quiet in the summertime, yet still brimming with energy, I am a little sad for what I didn't have...but very excited and hopeful for my sons who are on the verge of their own college experience.

May I take this moment to say that there was a great symmetry to the day not only in having the colors in the cubes line up (ha ha) but to seeing my son cross the very same street on the very same campus that his father and grandfather have walked before.

the migraine carries on...

Day, oh I don't know, 5? I've lost count. It starts at 7 a.m. and continues all dusty day. We are getting new sewer and water pipes and it's JUST SO LOUD. I know it has to be done and believe me I feel worse for the men who are literally in the trenches. But the slow growl of the trucks and the jackhammers and the grime everywhere and having to park my car around the block and trek back and forth over the neighbors yards...has done me in.

At least the dog has something to look at.

Mom remembers when...

Who can believe that this son of mine is 16 today? If there was a cuter kid...well of course, all of my kids are cute, but Carter has these rosy cheeks...

and impish grin and completely long eyelashes that I always told him were wasted on him!

Can you tell what his favorite show was? And how he never took off his "Survivor" buff? Did Survivor make up the name buff? I don't remember hearing it before or since used to identify that printed piece of stretchy poly-cotton blend that cast members wore as shirts, skirts, headbands and neckwear. We had about a dozen in the house and he and Brady either wore them around their head or around their wrist. For years it seemed like! Go Georgetown soccer!

Too cool on vacation in Maine.

I gather he is trying to look like a tough 7 year old at a Patriot's Superbowl Party. Is it working? You be the judge. I think the angelic face and grease paint cross each other out.

Sweet 16

Is there another word for "sweet" when it's a boy? Well it was 16 years ago right about this second that his sweet boy came into the world. The second of 3 boys he is charming and funny and sweet and has been since I can remember.

He has great friends and they wanted to take him out to lunch for a birthday celebration. So nice!!!

I provided the limo and although I wasn't there I suspect they all had a great time...other than not being able to get the cute little glass bottles of Coca-Cola that I bought opened. I didn't realize they weren't twist off and I guess the limo driver didn't think 16 year olds would need bottle openers!

After a few shots (pictures, people, pictures!) I did the right thing and went home. Love ya, Carter. You wanted to be 16 and now you are ; )

Yankee Homecoming - Day 7

If this ain't summer...please tell me what is. Wrestling a giant bag of warm! fresh! kettle corn while waiting for the concert to begin.

Celebrating BIG birthdays with friends.

Sprinkle, sprinkle little Pam.

And enjoying the wonderful music of the Air Force Liberty Band out of Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts.

when live gives you lemons....

as in ~ when they are replacing the sewer pipes on your street and the noise is making both your teeth and windows rattle at the same time...it's time to get out of Dodge.

Go North young men! We thought a day in Rockport would be nice. And it was, but very warm. I tried to convince them to go to the beach but without any luck. Usually sitting on the rocks you catch some sort of breeze, but this was just a still summer day, beautiful, but not very refreshing even by the ocean.

So we grabbed some hot dogs and fries at "Top Dog" and...

had a great time playing with their magnet board. Sometimes the day brings unexpected things and sometimes you can have a lot of fun for a little money. If I had brought them to some lovely canopied place for lunch overlooking the harbor they would not have enjoyed their lunch as much as getting to play around with these word magnets and watch the cooks grills the hot dogs and sing to whatever was on the radio.

After an hour or so we retreated to air-conditioned Nordstrom because my little artist had a handpainted tile right in the floor there. About two years ago the Stone Zoo worked with the newly built Nordstrom on children's handpainted tiles to be placed in the floor in the children's department. It was a fundraiser, (50 bucks!) but I loved the idea as it would be a permanent installation. I had to work on the day of the Grand Opening party and so all of this time later, I had never seen Ronan's tile. Little cutie has mom's sunglasses on. He won't EVER wear any....but if I bring an extra pair, he puts them on. It's cute, well, for me. Carter cracked up everytime he looked at him and Ro kept saying "what are you laughing at?"