Transition days are difficult. Difficult for Susanna and me; we have to get re-adjusted to either having the boys or having an empty house. But of course, most difficult for the boys; they have to adjust from living at one house to another. It is tough to watch them need time to adjust. It is difficult for the dogs. Okay, maybe not for the dogs; just extra exciting when the full pack is here, and normal exciting when not. I’m pretty sure nothing in life is too difficult for the dogs.
Today is no different. The boys take time to adjust. This morning they took time to write about their week at their grandmother’s house and are now taking time to relax on their electronics. But not for too long. It isn’t raining yet, so will be good to get outside and get some energy out.
I’m sure everyone works transitions differently. It is one of the stresses of a divorce. But one has to hope that two houses where the boys can find peace is better than only one house where there is no peace.
This week should be fun. So far the summer has been going very well. We will try to get some sailing in. Maybe visit Six Flags. The boys can have friends over. Susanna and I are only working two days each this week, so we should have lots of time to do family things. Maybe I can even convince the boys to help me weed the flower bed. But probably not.
It is difficult to be forced to take extra time off in the summer. But I am suffering through the days off this week by spending time with the family. Yes, life is good. In reality, while it may suck to lose the money, at least they didn’t furlough us in the winter.
The view of the sailboat at anchor from our picnic spot (with Susanna and the boys swimming nearby)
Today we had originally planned a Six Flags day. However, the forecast heat helped us decide that a day on the water was better than a day waiting in line to get in the water. So, this morning, we headed down to the boat picking up lunch at Subway on the way.
We again motored upstream. The wind is all downstream in the sound, but the boys prefer to swim in the river. And the trip downstream is much longer. We went up farther than we had on the past two occasions. Past Allyn Point in Gales Ferry on our right. On the way past Allyn Point we passed an outcrop of rock (across the river from the factory) that looked promising to stop for a swim and lunch. The chart showed a shipwreck not too far north of the outcrop, and we decided to check out he wreck first. The boys thought it was cool to find an airplane wreck in the woods behind our house last summer, and find a shipwreck this summer.
We did find the wreck. There isn’t much left of it, though we came a little closer to some of the underwater portions of the boat than I had hoped (but we didn’t hit it – so all is well). After the sightseeing we headed south to our anchorage. The river is warm and the current was pretty weak. The heat made it a perfect day for swimming. It is hot enough to be comfortable in and out of the water.
Ben exploring the rock outcrop
Susanna swam (or rather walked, the water was shallow) the cooler from the boat to the shore,and the boys explored the rock outcrop. We enjoyed lunch in the shade of some of the trees, and spent more time playing in the water after lunch.
We pulled up anchor and headed back mid-afternoon, and were home by 3pm. It was the best day out on the water to date.
Upon returning to the marina, we found that a family of swans was occupying our slip. The approach to the slip is slow, and they had plenty of time to swim out of the way, but they were not happy. It was a whole family of birds (parents and young swans), and the bigger birds didn’t like us disturbing their swim. Swans are mean birds.
I was able to improve the swim ladder by lowering it a bit, but it is still difficult for the boys to climb back in the boat (but at least now they both can climb in without assistance). I think this weekend I will head over to Defender and look for a better boarding ladder. If we are going to spend this much time swimming, it will be well worth getting a good ladder.
As threatened earlier, here are some more scans of old photographs of me. I decided to include them in a post rather than in a photo gallery. Every year I print a book from the posts on this website. This way, the pictures will show up in the printed book. It is too hot outside to do much, so here I am, scanning pictures.
Bill and me. Date unknown (best guess by when the picture was printed is sometime in 1982)Bill and me. Easter 1976Me on Mother’s Day 1984 (location unknown)Me in 1974My dad and me. Picture from 1977 in Warrington Township, Bucks County, PA
Will playing with his robot arm after completing the project.
I’m pretty impressed with Will. Yesterday we went shopping – no going shopping isn’t impressive. While at the mall, we wandered into the education store. He found a robot arm kit in the store for $60. After thinking about it for a while, he decided that he wanted the robot and wanted to spend the day building it. He used his entire allowance savings to purchase the kit.
It took him over six hours to build it. I had to help solder a couple of broken wires for him, but for the most part, he did the work. Later in the evening, when he lost pieces, he didn’t get frustrated. He came downstairs and waited until I was finished with what I was doing and then asked for help. That isn’t always the case when kids get stuck in a big project. It is an even bigger accomplishment for a kid with ADHD (and even more so on a medication break day).
Good job Will! I certainly didn’t get as much accomplished yesterday as you did.
One of the wedding decorations (thanks to Rebecka Petersson) was a wall of old photographs. My mom brought up some old pictures of me, so here are a few scanned in. The dates are a best guess.
I’ll scan and post more on other slow days.
Me (2 1/2 years old) and Bill (1 1/2 years old) in December 1975My first birthday (June 1974)Me in December 1975 (2 1/2 years old)My dad (Ted Curtis) in Maine (Summer 1977)Me and Bill with my Uncle John (Bill is 2 1/2 and I am 3 1/2)
Standing in the back yard (picture by Brigitte Laroche)
Some stories from the wedding and party (in no particular order). Of course, names were changed to protect the innocent. Okay, maybe they weren’t:
– The reception (for us) started when we pulled into the driveway. We were met at the end of the driveway by Vicki Sawyer, dressed in a nice white and blue dress. Covered in mud from playing in the yard. We knew that was a sign of a good start to the party.
– There are some very fun Swedish wedding traditions. One of the most fun is the tradition that allows people to kiss the bride when the groom is out of the room. I would like to thank the navy guys for leading the charge in maintaining Swedish tradition when I first stepped out of the room. However, the rule works both ways; when Susanna stepped out of the room, I was open to be kissed. And in the fine Swedish tradition – it is not gender specific. So I would also like to thank the navy guys for not leaving me out of that tradition. Just for the record, it wasn’t just the guys that kissed me (or Susanna for that matter).
– Leaving the sugar cubes out for the coffee wasn’t the best idea. The kids didn’t go for the alcohol. They went for sugar cubes. As far as I know, Tyler has the record with 11 sugar cubes that night. It also explains why he didn’t sleep very well.
-Yes, the Swedes and Americans can party. Lots of beer and wine helped. However, the 3rd and 4th graders can party as well. The boys were crazy after about 10pm. I think the sugar cubes helped. I think the boys stole lots of kisses from all the Swedish girls at the party (I won’t mention names…).
– And yes, 3rd and 4th grade boys will dance. If they are tired enough and given enough sugar cubes.
– Tucker was quite the center of attention at the party. He even wore a bow tie. However, the wait staff fed him enough people food that he didn’t want to eat anything at all the next day.
– Will and Ben loved pretending to be the Secret Service when dressed in their suits. They spent the half hour before the wedding ceremony at the door to the hall where we were waiting to make sure that people went into the correct door of the church. But they didn’t want to get out of the car at the end of the street and jog alongside for our drive to the reception. Go figure.
– In the strangest twist of behaviors – Will fidgeted less during the ceremony than Ben. However, both boys were amazing during the ceremony.
– Susanna cries at everything. Susanna’s sisters cry when Susanna cried. I think that made the first song they sung at the ceremony a little more difficult to get through.
– Rebecka and Sofia are wonderful singers. They sang two beautiful songs during the ceremony. Even if they weren’t “Does your mother know” and “Dancing Queen” by ABBA as I had requested.
Paparazzi photo of the boys helping get things ready for the wedding.
– Our neighbor was the perfect wedding photographer. She even spent time during the days leading up to the wedding day taking photographs of us getting the house ready. She did this without telling us. I felt like a celebrity – we had our own personal paparazzi.
– The boys were super excited about the party, they even cleaned out the second floor of the garage (including vacuuming, until Will vacuumed over a toy sheep), and made it a hangout for those 12 and under.
– If you send a wedding invitation to the President, he won’t show up. But you will get a card congratulating you on the wedding. Not sure if it is the same if you send an invitation to the Swedish King (in hindsight maybe we should have sent him one).
I am thankful for all of our friends and family that were with us (in both person and spirit) to help us celebrate the start of the next big journey in our lives.
Ben reading a congratulation card before the ceremony.
Maybe not the most formal wedding picture – but one of my favorites (photo by Brigitte Laroche)
July 1st was a perfect day for our wedding. It rained all day, and poured during the ceremony. But it didn’t rain at the reception. It was hot and humid. And it was perfect. We both had fun. The boys had fun (maybe a little too much fun). I think all the guests had fun.
We had a small group of friends and family join us for our wedding and reception. We enjoyed a mix of wedding traditions. But of course both the Swedish and US traditions involve having an open bar. Though we apparently the Swedish weddings normally go later than we decided to party.
After a busy week getting ready, and long day enjoying the party, we are all trying to recover. We are all still a little rough around the edges – Six Flags yesterday with the boys didn’t help, but was worth it. I think today should be a good quiet day to recover. I’ll take some time later to post more pictures (and tell more stories).
Bill walking our dogs Buffy and Candy in 1982 (Webster Groves, MO)
My brother, Bill, just switched jobs. It made the Kansas City, MO news:
“Polsinelli PC poached 10 lawyers from Husch Blackwell LLP this month, all in offices outside Kansas City.
A group of four Husch attorneys in Washington who specialize in government contracts started at Polsinelli on Monday. They include shareholders Daniel Donohue and Steven Weber and senior partners Claude Goddard and Walter Wilson.
That follows the addition of a four-lawyer corporate group in Chattanooga, Tenn., where Polsinelli has opened a new office, and three environmental litigators in St. Louis…
The St. Louis lawyers who moved to Polsinelli are shareholders William Curtis and Michael Wetmore and associate Marissa Curran…”
– Quoted from the Kansas City Business Journal (Paul Koepp, June 17, 2013)
It sounds like he made a good move. I’m sure it is a lot of work switching jobs. We all wish him good luck.
The view from my anchorage – don’t mind the mess of the mainsail.
We had a slow start to the day. Susanna didn’t get home from work last night until nearly midnight. I don’t sleep well until she is home.
So, we didn’t get the early start that we had planned, but sometimes it is important to sleep in.
I did some chores around the house in the morning, but by early afternoon I was ready to head back onto the water. This would be my first solo sail with the boat (and only the third time I’ve taken her out).
The wind was good. I was able to make about 3.5 knots with just the main up, and a little over 5 at times with both sails up. However, it is much easier to solo with just the main. I also decided to anchor for a bit, just upriver from the bridges. It was a chance for a snack and to try out the anchor. The anchor held – and brought up with it a bunch of mud that I had to clean off back at the marina.
Today’s sail:
Distance: 8.2 NM
Total time: 3H 20M
Average Speed: 2.5 kts
Max Speed: 6.2 kts
Lesson’s learned: I need a bit more practice backing out of the marina. However, my landing was nearly perfect. At least better than the group of 4 guys that came sailing into the marina with both sails up. They didn’t take the sails down until way late, and bounced their boat off the dock. I couldn’t laugh too much – I wasn’t any more graceful departing.
I’ll have to work on getting the jib down single-handed. I wound up dunking it into the river. At least I didn’t dunk myself into the river.
The boat sails very well with just the main up – it is very well balanced.
It is a long drive down the river from the submarine base marina. Especially when you have to tack your way upwind.
Susanna and the boys pulled out a couple of boxes of my old O-gauge train set when they were cleaning up the loft yesterday.
Bill and I found the core of the train set when we were kids. Webster Groves used to have bulky waste pick up days once or twice a year (for all I know, they still do). As kids, we used to walk around the neighborhood the night before the pick-up and see if there was anything good being thrown out. Kind of a pre-craigslist.
One year, Bill and I found a full, working, Lionel train set. I eventually bought out Bill’s half of the set. Over the years, I have periodically added to the set.
This morning, Will and Ben decided to empty the boxes out and set up the trains. The only working engine barely runs these days, and some of the old cars are broken. But it was a fun way to spend a Sunday morning.
The boys are now outside playing with the boy from next door. Will’s diorama is still intact. Susanna is sitting next to me on the couch, interrupting me as I try to write. I’m a guy; I can’t multitask at all. I guess it is payback for all the times I interrupt her when she is trying to play the piano. The dogs are outside, though I’m sure it won’t be too long before Tropical Storm Tucker wanders through Will’s town and flattens the trees and topples the train. Though hopefully the buildings stay dry – that would be a mess that I would rather not clean up.
