Month: July 2022

Dad is a septuagenarian

Dad, congrats!

We have some fun memories, and often, they still come up in my dreams. Yes, I even had dreams about Merriewold this week.

Work took you to Greensboro a long time ago. You had no idea that it would turn into an awesome home for me and my brothers to call home, and grow up in (and now call home for another generation to grow). For that, I am thankful.

Summer trips to Merriewold were something for any kid to be jealous of. Swimming all day, par 3 golf, fishing, ping pong- it was a dream. Thanks for those happy memories.

Living in Budapest was amazing. Those are some of the happiest days of my life, and that experience still has an impact on the way I view the world.

Divorce sucked. But, God is in control, and Kiyoe popped into the picture. How did you get so lucky with her? Despite things, Matt Jake and I are full-grown men. And none of us are in prison. By the grace of God, you did awesome!

Hope your birthday is amazing. Love you,

-Luke

Staying home

Mercy (1 1/2) goes to an awesome daycare. They have a great playground, give the kids healthy food, and spend lots of time outside.

Last week, a few kids in her class got Covid, so we got some messages about this topic. Because I am bad at reading all of my emails, Taylor keeps me updated about the “need to know” messages like the ones from daycare, so I am adequately informed.

When I picked her up Wednesday, they said Mercy was coughing a little bit after her nap, and had a temperature of 99* (they are a little more on edge about these things this week). Wednesday night, we heard some coughing on the baby monitor, and gave her an at-home covid test.

Since the daycare counts infection “day zero” as the first day she gets a professional covid test, we went and got a covid test on Thursday. The daycare policy states:

“He or she can return to FACP when they have completed a 5 day isolation AND it has been at least 24 hours since they have had a fever without using fever reducing medication. They can then return if they are able to wear a properly fitting mask successfully for the next 5 days with monitoring. NOTE: If they are not able to properly mask for the remaining 5 days they will need to continue to isolate for the full 10 days and return after day 10 of Isolation.”

Friendly Avenue Christian Playschool Covid Policy

Since Mercy cannot wear a mask, start the clock: we will be juggling working from home AND sharing parent duties, and likely not doing a great job at either, for the next 10 days 🙁

Sanity

So the caption of this blog is “proud supporters of fun and failures”, but I haven’t shared many “failures”, so here goes.

Mercy has covid. So, for 10 days, either Taylor or I have to be home with her, and sanity seems to be running short. I know there are various views on Covid, but Rosie has continued to test negative, and neither Taylor nor I have had any symptoms.

I had an idea to pick up Rosie from camp, and do something a little different: while Taylor was out, rather than go home and eat dinner and go to bed, why not go to a park and enjoy a picnic? It seemed like a great idea, but it was a great fail. Mercy convinced me she could sit alone on a picnic table bench (through her many screams), and I reluctantly gave in. And failed.

A few bites into her food, she face planted on the concrete slab the bench was sitting on. It was terrible. She screamed, then I screamed. Then two minutes passed, then she asked to go on the swing. Then we went home. Then she wanted a sandwich…

Several google searches told me there were not any bad symptoms of a concussion, so we carried on. Just enough of a shiner to make dad feel bad, but she went on being Mercy, and hardly missed a beat.

Since we are slowly losing our minds at home quarantining with a 1 year old, we did a few more things to get out of the house:

We went rock climbing, and Rosie did awesome!

We went to a Hanging Rock state park, and swam, since Mercy has to keep distance from people:

A lot is happening. But nothing is really going on.

No vacations this week…nothing spectacular, but I think it’s pretty awesome. Just a fun week at home with my girls.

Rosie had a sleepover with her best friend Sydney, who lives 2 blocks away. We spend 5 days a week at our neighborhood pool. Taylor and I work from home, and shuttle Rosie to and from her various camps (not overnight camps yet this summer, maybe next year?). We also had a fun cookout at my man Houston’s house- he made an awfully good Boston Butt for all of us.

These kinds of weeks are fun. Sometimes it is hard because we set the bar too high– what I mean is Rosie is pretty darn active, so when things slow down, it feels quite dramatic for this seven year old to feel BORED. But thats part of it I guess… I’m awfully proud of my girls 🙂

Here is a random video from before we took Mercy to school one day last week.

Beach week has come and gone.

This year was so much fun. Though Taylor and I got off to a rocky start with a disagreement about how to install the larger carseat for Mercy (turns out I was right!) the trip ended up being great. Our small family had great attitudes, and really enjoyed our time together.

Taylor was busy as a mom, and an awesome daughter. She has infinite patience dealing with Mercy, and doesnt seem to have any limits when it comes to helping her mother as a host by cleaning, and helping everyone she can.

Rosie is an awesome big sister, big cousin, and friend. She had tons of patience dealing with not only a toddler-sister, but also a toddler-cousin, and both of them thought Rosie was the coolest thing in the whole world.

Rosie also had a friend on vacation at the same time, Dottie Kate. We got to visit with her several times, and it was fun getting to know her dad, Hense, throughout the week.

Mercy loves the beach. Though she came last year to beach week, I consider this to be her first REAL year at beach week, because its the first year she can walk. She was wiped out by the end of the week, as its hard to keep up with her big cousin Everley, big sis Rosie, and a household of grown ups all day long.

The food was amazing. Every year the menu for the week remains unchanged:

• Cajun boil on Sunday
• Pork/bbq on Monday
• hamburgers and hot dogs on Tuesday
• Fish Tacos on Wednesday
• Steaks on Thursdays
• Leftovers on Fridays

(did I get that right?)

Ted’s steaks are pretty top-notch. In fact, I havent been to a restaurant yet that can top the steaks the way that he prepares them. Maybe that’s also because I don’t often order the steaks that cost the much at a restaurant?

Breakdowns (the car kind)

In 2013, we got a chunk of money from our tax return, and used it to buy a 2009 Toyota Camry. Its a great car.

I have been changing the oil in it, adding engine cleaner fuel additive, changing wiper blades, air filters, radiator fluid, batteries, etc. on that car since the beginning. It really hasnt had any problems at all.

The downside of doing exclusively self-maintenance on a car, is that you can miss the “other things”.

In this case, Taylor was waiting to pickup her groceries for about 20 minutes or so, and when leaving the parking lot, noticed that something wasnt right. She pulled off before getting to the main road, and the car wouldnt start after that. It wasnt the battery, since that was changed 2 months ago. Luckily, a female mechanic stopped by, and made a few recommendations.

Because Taylor was leaving town on a work trip the next day, and I work from home, we just left the car in the parking lot for 2 days.

When it finally came time for a tow, I called and got the truck to come. Just a few minutes before he arrived, I tried one time to start the car, and it started right up. Maybe the car just needed a break?

The next day, still unsure what the issue was, and since Taylor was returning at midnight to the airport without a car, I used my lunch break to drop the “functional” car at the airport for my bride, and took an Uber home, so she wouldnt have to.

The car seemed fine, until it wasn’t. I picked up Rosie from her summer camp, and figured maybe it is the alternator? I left the car running while I picked up Rosie, and 10 minutes later, it was still fine.

A few blocks down the road, it wasn’t fine. The thermostat dropped all the way to nothing. There were no smells or anything, so I told Rosie, who was in the back seat:

Uh oh. As soon as this car stops, it is not going to start again. Let me see if I can get to a car shop or safe parking lot”

-Luke, in the midst of a breakdown.

By the grace of God, we made it through the red lights (this isnt the BEST side of town, per se) and took a right-turn into a jiffy lube type place. They said we needed oil, coolant, and we should be fine.

Awesome. Problem solved, and at $79 because I use synthetic oil, this is a great deal to fix a car. Rosie was a little frazzled, but we were safe as we headed to Mercy’s daycare while Taylor was out of town.

The problem was not solved. 1/2 way between the oil place and the day care, which is only about 1.5 miles away, the thermostat went all the way to the top, then dropped to nothing. Rosie knew the drill. We took as many right-turns as possible, not knowing if the car would start after coming to a stop, and with the daycare closing in 10 minutes.

I had 2 girls in a parking lot, and no functioning car. However, all is not lost. There are some great benefits from being born and raised in Greensboro, and this is a perfect example of how knowling lots of people can really save your butt. As I was calling my mom for an emegency pick-up, a good friend pulled up in her minivan to pick up her own 3 girls from the same daycare. Laura Peascoe, you are awesome.

We quickly moved the car seats to her minivan (safety first!) and made it safely home.

The car was towed, and the good people at Randall’s tire found the problem and fixed it: a broken radiator. Despite no leaks under the car or smells of radiator fluid, somehow it broke. $1300 is the going rate for that kind of fix these days.

So, will there be a new car coming soon? My goal is something fun to jump around town in, and kind-of manly because I am surrounded by girls. Also, I am a bit inspired (and slightly jealous) of my brother Matt’s yellow CJ-5. Maybe something like this could foot the bill?