Apparently life got stupid busy again and I was busy living and forgot to post again. It was only 8 months… How much could I possibly have missed? Oh boy. Here we go. Gonna try and keep it brief as I have a ton to cover.
School updates:
School came and went. Nearly anyways. Joe is just finishing up his final week and then exams the week after. Crazy kid was BUSY at school. Did well in classes and found himself on the junior basketball team again and also tried his hand at track and field. Did AWESOME at both. Next year should be fun now he has some experience in high jump. Keep up the great work dude!
Abby is DONE. I’m still struggling to believe that. My baby girl attended her final day of school on Friday and has no exams left. She is just – DONE. This year was a fun one! Victory laps are full of classes you WANT to take and she excelled in all of them. While she was there she rocked a co-op in the first semester where she was doing so well that they kept her after hours and allowed her to start her own side gig doing nails. Sadly just as things were really picking up the place burned down (yes, actually), and she had to finish her co-op a couple weeks early and sadly that ended her side job too. Then just as a cherry on the school year, she was selected to compete in the Ontario Skills competition for hairstyling. Again, big jump from her comfort zone and into Toronto she went to compete against others (including college students). Sadly no medals, but she did amazing. We are beyond proud of you Frank! Five straight years of honors and she did it all her own way. Can’t wait to see what you do next.
Sports update:
U16 Basketball season has came and gone. Not quite the the same result as the first two seasons, but given their division ranking and the solid competition this was bound to get harder at some point. The boys played well, but a short bench and tough competition made for a slightly humbling season. I am proud of all they were able to accomplish and the work the boys put in. Joe kept working his tail off day in and out to be the best he could. Season ended, and he’s already got his summer plans to further his skills for tryouts and the season ahead. With any luck we’ll be back in Haldimand with the Huskies for U17!
With basketball ending, baseball is in full swing! With the Bulls team coming up short with players, Joe and two other boys (Reese and Harm) have tried out for the Wilmot Thunder U17 T1 team. It’s an all minor team, but they are playing some good ball! Still have a ways to go to knock down some of the big teams, but its an amazing group of boys (and families!) and the progress shows week after week. The organization has been amazing and opened Joe (and the family) with open arms! Great kids, great families. It’s been well worth the extra commute!
Abby’s team is now U23! They keep adding ages to ensure the teams are big enough to actually have a league to play in. Happy to report the new squad of girls is doing well! We are 2-1-1 so far and really starting to come together as a team. Shannon and I are heading up the team again this year and really have a blast with the girls. Lots of new faces, but so far its been great! Abby’s hitting has really come along way over the last 1-3 seasons. Shes getting some POP to her bat and attacking pitches like I knew she could. Adding the hits to her great work on Short and pitching is a great way to round her skill set. Keep going Frank!
Automotive update:
Good bad and ugly. So as my hips been having issues (keep reading to find more out), and my new driver in the house (again, stay tuned..) I think it’s time to sell both the Ranger and the R32. Right now my hip, my son and my wallet would do much better selling off both and getting a single year round automatic vehicle. Still don’t know what I’ll get, but hoping its fun. While I’m talking cars — JOE GOT HIS G1. Yep! Both kids on the road now and he’s doing great. Only been a week for far, but hes getting smoother every time we go out. Won’t be long and he’ll be as good as his big sister.
The ugly part of that auto update, is Abbys cars. Though shes my girl and it was expected to have multiple cars — We weren’t anticipating this many this fast. As mentioned in my last update, her TDI died and needed to be replaced. She picked up a sweet mk4 Beetle. Sadly as sweet of a car as it was, she missed the 4 doors and larger hatch. She rocked the beetle till fall when she finally decided it wasn’t for her. She sold it and picked up a BEAUTIFUL red 2010 Audi A3. Read on black, lowered, exhaust and intake. MINT condition. She admired it in the garage a few weeks before making the switch from the freshly sold beetle to the A3. Unfortunately within the first week of the A3 being her daily driver she got T-Boned and wrote the car off. 10000% not at fault, but that doesn’t help the car. Thankfully she did well enough with insurance to replace it with another A3! Not as mint as the first one, but also less than half the cost of the first one. So she got the car, and pocketed some cash to boot. New one seems to be doing pretty good so far! Hoping this will get her through the next 1-2 years. Thankfully only real issue with accident was a minor concussion that thankfully passed in a week or so. Beyond thankful her and Donovan are ok.
House updates?
Nothing really to mention. Finally re-did the “hobbit” / tv / future theatre room. After the flood last year, I was in no mood to work on it. Finally got the ambition and spare funds and got it looking spiffy again. Few more touches to do, but its usable again now. Only other house task is re-plumbing the pool which is thankfully nearing completion. Dry fit all complete. Hoping to glue the joints this week and fill it up and get it open next week after we return from Joes ball tournament in Napanee.
Finally, health update:
I’ll lead with its nothing worrisome. Just very inconvenient and often very painful. About 18 months ago, I started feeling pressure in my left hip when I sat down. If you picture the little pocket in the front of your jeans pocket — that’s the location but on my left side. After a few weeks/months of pressure, I started getting pretty intense pain there if I laid flat on my back. Only way to relieve was to lift knee up. As time went on, pain intensified and often spread to side of hip and into lower back area. I did physio for 2-3 months before she said “it’s not improving, there is more wrong there than physio can help – go get scanned”. So an ultrasound, xray and and MRI later, I got my answer. Well, two of them. While investigating my hip, they found two LARGE hernias in my lower abdomen. These were the most concerning as location was apparently dangerous and the size and fact that two existed escalated things. About a month later I was in surgery for repair. The other issue, which is the source of my pain is a “complex labral tear” and a cyst which are likely a result of a cam deformity of my femoral head. Fancy way of say top of my femur is out of round from repetitious movements when I was you (suspect pitching) which eventually ‘caught’ the edge of my labrum in my hip and tore it. So far, I’ve been given a cortisone shot for pain and have a follow up in early July. Sounds like surgery will be in my future to fix the shape of my femur, sew up the tear and remove the cyst. Hurray for getting older!
I think that covers the major bits? If not, I’ll try and add them to my next update. When that will be remains to be seen. For now…back to my to-do lists and ball parks!