The Bits: September 1st Through September 15th

Kicking-Off September Bits!

The Rams home game days this fall means we'll be in the stands waiting for Josh and the marching band to do their halftime thing!  They also sound fantastic as the pep band, if only the announcers in the box would stop playing competing music over the sound system every other time they start up.  Bonus for this first game: Singsations sang the National Anthem, so we also got to see Zac and Ben do their thing.  Well done today, my musical boys!  Note: it's great that BYU blue works for Rams blue, too.  Note number two: Luke says, "Books are better than football."

A Labor Day bike ride with Dad.

When all the brothers have school except for you.

Celebrating Tommy's friend Issac's braces-removal day with some caramel.

Tommy has been plotting the making of a "jungle in a jar" for awhile, but he needed to wait for a party before we'd have soda bottles.  At long last, thanks to Ben's birthday, he could realize his dream.  Ben thought Tommy's idea was so cool, he wanted one, too. 

If ever there was a picture that captures Luke's brain, this is it.  He received his test scores from the beginning of the year this very day.  He tested at the level of a 9th grader in the first month of school in math, and an 11th grader in the 8th month of school for reading.  Yet...yet...he can't figure out how to put his paper into his binder the right side up.  This kid is certainly smart but scattered, and it makes this mama a bit crazy in the head!

Josh and part of the MRMS band playing for the D20 Board of Education meeting.

Hosted our first RHS XC Pasta Party!  These runners are seriously the best!  I was nervous to have close to 50 kids at the house, but they were polite and helpful, AND there was enough pasta.

A quick, blurry, "woah, did I look like that all day?" photo from the 10 minutes I was at the AIES Family Dance with my Tommy.  In a mom-fail moment, I double-booked our family for the pasta party on the same night as the dance and the camp out.  Thankfully, Zac's girlfriend, Marin, brought Tommy to the dance in time for the zoo fundraiser stuffed-animal raffle (THANK YOU, MARIN!), which is what he really wanted to be there for, and which he sadly did not win.  I met them there later for one dance, and then Tommy was ready to go. 

Taking advantage of the nice weather while it lasts, the Deacons and 11YO Scouts had a hammock camp out near Mt. Herman.  Adam is officially called as an 11YO Scout leader now, so he went as both dad and leader.

When you crush your SAT Part II: Look who wants Zac!  He's not interested in the intensity or cost of the Ivies, but it's fun to be wanted.

Sports Saturday!  Zac and Ben were in Lyons for the St. Vrain Invitational.  We were on pins and needles back home waiting to hear results.  Ben set a new CO PR, finishing in 16:20!  Whaaaaa???  He placed 6th and was only 15 seconds behind no. 1.  Zac stuck with his time from the previous week, but said it was his favorite course yet.  The same day, Tommy played his first soccer game of the season.  They lost 2-1 in a nail-biter finish, but played a solid game.

A great shot of Ben's solid finish that a friend up at St. Vrain took for me!  He looks so strong and focused.

Rampart Regiment March-a-Thon!  It is the marching band's only fundraiser of the season.  They march all day, completing all the movements, as well as beginning the fine-tuning their show.  This show, Ex Machina, will be perfected over the next two months before State.  At the end of the day, they presented the show to family and friends.  It looked and sounded great and I can't wait to see how it evolves over the season!  Thank you to those that supported Josh's fundraising efforts!

The boys didn't want to stay for the Academic Accomplishment Assembly on their half-day, and a lot of their peers didn't stay, but I am thankful they humored me and went anyway.  They will discover soon enough that they are just two of the many people out there who work hard and do well (and that sometimes even those that don't work hard can frustratingly do well), and that might make them feel less special than they are.  But right now, I want them to feel special, to KNOW they are special.  It's great that they are successful enough and awarded enough to think that this is really no big deal, but I hope that they hold onto these moments when they're out there in the world, and remember that they are smart and can work hard and find success, even when it seems harder to come by than it did in high school.  Congrats on making the Dean's List, boys!  A 4.0+ is not an easy thing and you should be proud of yourselves.  Dad and I sure are!

One more Wolf award--next month he gets to move to Bears!

Running book gifts: I love that Ben's friends know him so well.

Zac got the memo!  Pictures of Zac and his pals at the Senior Walk and Service Day.  Thanks, great kid!

Rock Canyon Invite!  It wasn't anyone's favorite day, and it's a million degrees in CO right now, so that made for a rough one.  Ben and his coach tried a new race plan, where Ben hung back and then played pick-off.  Ben wasn't excited about it from the get-go, and, indeed, he discovered that he likes to be a front-runner and not a come-from-behinder, so they'll stick to the way he usually races for now.  He still performed really well and placed 7th, with a great time of 16:37, but Ben felt he could have been in the top 3 if he had run his usual style of race.  I'm glad he's flexible enough to try new things, which allows him to learn what works and what doesn't.  It's a great time in the season to test those things out.  Zac ran a 20:52, slower than previous races, but still an amazing run.  He doesn't even realize how amazing it is to run 3 sub-7:00 miles in a row!  Love my hardworking boys and these amazing Running Rams! 

A good number of the kids on Tommy's team have played together for a handful of seasons now, and it's been cool to watch them improve over the months and years.  Passing, shooting, keeping to their positions--win or lose this season we're seeing some real soccer happening out there and it's awesome.  Go, Raptors!

A night with the team at the Switchbacks game.

Josh's first marching band festival and competition: Harrison Band Festival.  Rampart placed 2nd!  They looked and sounded fantastic--and Josh had the best time spending the day making music and hanging out with his fellow musicians.

Zac's Senior Trip: Nice, Monaco and Heading Home

WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, AUGUST 1ST, 2ND AND 3RD

The idea for the French road trip came all the way back when Zac originally proposed the destination for his big senior trip.  He wanted to see Paris, but he also really wanted to see Nice.  I think Nice has caught his imagination ever since the spring musical from his freshman year, The Boyfriend, which is set in Nice.  How to see both Paris and Nice?  We will do what we Conlins do best: ROAD TRIP!!!  The musical had a song called "It's Nicer in Nice," and they had it right.  It sure was nice! 

We had been so active the entire trip, doing all the things, seeing all the sights, so I promised the guys that when we got to Nice, it would just be time at the beach.  And that is what we did!  There were no plans; we just did what the moment told us to.  We relaxed on the rocky (ouch!) Nice beach with the French, American and Italian tourists (yes, there were some topless sunbathers), swam in the refreshing Mediterranean, did a little shopping, walked the Promenade des Anglais, and drove into Monte-Carlo, Monaco for our last dinner in Europe.  We had lived it up, and it was time to relax and enjoy our last couple of days with one another.  It had been 16 years since it was just the three of us, and although Zac doesn't fit in my arms quite like he did back then, it had been fun to be a trio for a short time once again.

Our last day, as we bobbed in the blue Mediterranean, we talked about what our top three things were.  As we each shared, we also each said, "Oh! Yeah!  That's one of mine, too!"  We really couldn't say what we enjoyed most because we had loved each adventure for what it was: sometimes something brand new, sometimes something surprising, sometimes something we had dreamed of seeing, sometimes a unique adventure, sometimes something shockingly beautiful.  So much to love for so many reasons! 

Thursday midday, we returned the rental car (Adam may have danced a jig, and truly relaxed for the first time in 6 days) and got on the train back north to Charles de Gaulle.  It was then that all the travel wackiness hit, all at once at the end.  There was a crazy lady on the train who was literally beating herself up.  It took us forever to find our hotel at CDG after a very long day of travel, and everyone was hot, tired and grouchy (apparently there are, like, 5 different Ibis hotels by the airport).  We had a long delay getting onto our connection at Heathrow--something about a broken part of the airplane that makes it so the AC was out (but it's OK, we'll get the plane down to 90* inside and then still fly you on the broken plane; it will cool down once we get in the air).  Then, once we were seated on the (hot, broken) plane, there was a bag that had been loaded on, but the passenger never showed up (scary), so they had to get the bag off, oh--and the plane was still broken so the AC was still off while we sat waiting for the mystery bag to be found.  Safety cards were working double duty as impromptu hand fans all over the plane.  At last it was time to take off for home.  Honestly, with the weirdness at the end, it made us all the more grateful that we had avoided any real snafus the rest of the trip.  We arrived home safely to our sweet babes and awesome (but exhausted) Nana and Papa.  And we even caught a glimpse of Greenland from the air, which was really cool.      

Well, there you have it.  We have arrived at the end of our last France post.  I'm a little sad because it means I am done reliving it while writing about it.  But now I have it all recorded to come back to again and again.  It was the first of five amazing adventures with our boys, and it set the bar incredibly high.  I am so grateful for all that we were able to do and see on this adventure, but what makes it so treasured is that Adam and I got to do this with Zac.  To share this with our precious oldest son was a priceless gift, and the memories and feelings we have from it will stay with us forever.  I hope Zac will hold the memories of how it felt to share this with us in his heart as he heads out into the big, wild world to find his way, just as he should, even if it means a piece of my heart is now out there in the big, wild world with him.   

The name of the condo complex where we stayed in Nice. My grandpa was named Cecil, so we thought it was a good omen!

We did not know the beaches would be rocky!  That was a surprise, and not an awesome one.  Our feet were bruised by the end of the first day.  But we were in Nice, and on the Mediterranean, so it was alllllll good.

The Mediterranean.

How did that car even get in there???

The yachts of Monaco.

We saw 3 Lamborghinis!

The reflection of the Casino Monte-Carlo in the Sky Mirror.

The Sky Mirror in front of the Casino Monte-Carlo.

We did not see James Bond, but there were a lot of people just standing around outside hoping to catch a glimpse of someone famous!

I'll take one of each!

Last dinner in Europe--a French/Italian hybrid.  Zac saw the menu and said, "It's in Fritalian!"

The Porsche version of the General Lee.

We would have had to take out a second mortgage on the house to make the opening bid.

Good night, yachts.

Last morning in Nice.

Goodbye sweet DS3 chariot!  You were zippy and tiny and awesome!

Zac and a macaron.

Airport sushi?  No.

Homeward bound!

Greenland and icebergs.  I wonder how big they actually were.  We were pretty high up there!

We missed you, too!  (Welcome Home Bars made by Josh).