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Blue Shark

I snapped these photos of our hermit crabs a week ago. They were climbing a branch/log in their enclosure. "Blue" (aka Blue Shark) had obviously gone first, followed close behind by "Gold" (aka Gold Sparkles). True to their personalities, Blue was clinging to the top of the branch looking as if he wished he'd never tried this climbing thing, and Gold wanted him to keep moving, clearly unaware he had nowhere else to go. She would wait for a few minutes, then smack him with her claw and try to push him along.

Chuckling, I grabbed my cell phone and snapped these photos, little realizing they would be used one week later to eulogize our beloved "Blue".

He was a good friend and companion, as hermit crabs go. He was always the cautious one, perhaps because he was older and more frail. The weekend we got the crabs, they traveled with us to Bob & Bill's birthday party, but stayed behind when we went to the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold banquet the following day. Many people thought the crabs were named in honor of the banquet, but in fact they were named for the decorations on their first shells.

The lady who sold us the crabs told me they generally lived 30 days to a year. They were supposed to be "tide-him-over" pets for Harrison while we lived in our apartment, until we could get moved into our house, so I figured that life span was right up our alley. We didn't know we'd have them for over 6 years!

Late last night Harrison came into the kitchen with tears streaming down his face, holding Blue, who was uncharacteristically out of his shell, but not moving. A brief assessment made it clear that Blue had passed away. We shifted out of "getting to bed as soon as we can" mode to "holding a crab funeral and then getting to bed as soon as we can" mode.

Harrison called Grammy & Grampa with the sad news, and they came right down as we hurried to make arrangements for burial and a celebration of life.

Harrison selected a Ziploc brand snack bag for interment, and adorned it by enclosing a water-type energy Pokemon card with the remains. I found a small wooden cross from my kids' crafts bucket, and we put Blue's name on it to serve as a temporary grave marker until we could do a more proper stone marker.

Having thus prepared the body, we took our lantern and a sharp-pointed garden spade out to Yuxia's shade tree, and held a brief but moving ceremony. Everybody said a few words, Grammy first, followed by Grampa, Mom and Dad (Harrison introduced Julio as Blue's primary caregiver, who would obviously have more to say than the rest of us), then Harrison gave the final eulogy, recalling that he had recently seen Bambi when he first got the crabs. When Blue was reluctant to come out of his shell, Harrison would imitate Thumper, calling softly "It's all right", and Blue would come out - only for Harrison.

We held a brief reception, during which Harrison ate "ocean adventure" dolphin-shaped chicken nuggets, and we discussed all our friends who are waiting for us at the rainbow bridge. Finally Harrison felt comforted enough to go to bed, and the evening came to a close.

Rest in peace, Blue Shark.

Golden Father's Day

It was an extra-special Father's Day this year, at least for Clan Martinez. Harrison was baptized on Sunday, June 21, 1998 - which also happened to be Father's Day. This is the first time since then that Father's Day has fallen on June 21, so we decided to dub it Harrison's "Golden Baptism Anniversary".

no surprise - not many people at church for the 9am service
(Dad's Day plus a special 10:30 service at a sister church)

Harrison helped me demonstrate how a yoke works to ease the burden of a heavy load (Matthew 11.28-30) for the kids' message

JM & HD after church

(NO PICTURE AVAILABLE)
Julio had a hankerin' for chicken schnitzel,
so in keeping with our "Yoke" theme,
we headed to the Amanas for lunch at the Ox Yoke Inn

we spent a few hours at home, then gathered at grammy & g-boy's for movie and game night

rarin' to go

after watching "Ghostbusters" it was time for Trivial Pursuit Jr.

HD cleaned our clocks

Julio & Harrison took some time to discuss political cartoons before bed

...and another awesome Father's Day was history. Hope yours was as pleasant as ours!

CONGRATULATIONS, BEN!!!

I am so proud of my nephew, Ben! He won a blue ribbon and a trophy at his very first horse show - only his 3rd time riding a horse! You can read all about it by clicking here.

Summer Snapshots

Ok, this is promising to be a crazy busy summer, with the three of us going to rehearsals nearly every night right after we get off work, so my posts will be few and far between. Thanks to my new cell phone that has a camera, when I post it will be very picture - laden, with photos that are not the best quality. But, hey, it's an update...

Long ago we decided HD should get his own cell phone when he turned 12, because it would be a good safety/security tool when he got to middle school. We realized this spring that he would be in middle school way before turning 12, so one of his b-day presents was the promise to get a cell phone before school starts.

We told him we would pay for the basic, bare-minimum, cheapest phone that also had a camera option. If he wanted anything fancy, he'd have to pay the difference. So he saved $100 in birthday money and allowance, because he wanted a phone with a full keyboard for texting.

As is the way in Harrison's world, it just so happens that they had the perfect phone - touch screen, full keyboard, and camera - on sale for $80. It was also a buy one, get one free item. So I got a basic $40 purple phone, and Julio and Harrison got two fancy phones, one for $80 the other free, so basically $40 each. HD got more than he wanted and had all his money still in the bank.

HD's new phone came in handy during the Franklin music orientation. He was able to download free game demo's and send picture messages to Julio.

Harrison at callbacks for The Music Man

learning Gary Indiana

waiting for dad to finish his callback auditions

Julio took a work "field trip" to a Chicago Cubs game, but it got rained out.

HD & Julio at a lecture at the Eastern Iowa Observatory. After the lecture, they let us observe Saturn through the giant telescope.

Harrison's favorite soccer practice. The rain poured down so hard, it was like going through a car wash.

Soaking wet!

I made him strip down to his skivvies and sit on towels for the ride home.

Julio on the way home from his first ever play practice.

Harrison pretending to be thrilled about our "field trip" to explore fiber options to help his digestion problems.

Harrison & I had our own "take your child to work day" the Monday of the last week of school. They had to go to school an extra week due to snow days, and the teachers were showing movies and killing time, so we knew he wouldn't miss anything. This picture was taken at a movie theater - we were the very first customers of the summer for the free kids movies!

Julio tucking in Zuki

HD at Music Man rehearsal

Music Man rehearsal - HD and I are sitting on the faraway couch reflected in the mirror - I'm wearing an orange shirt & he's in a red shirt.

Julio (left) ready to ref at soccer playoffs

soccer playoffs

last day of 5th grade - on to Middle School for HD & Dylan

dropped off at Kenwood for the last time

Abbie's last day with our daycare - we took her to lunch at Ghengis Grill

we got an air hockey game for $10 at a neighborhood garage sale

walking home from G&G's

HD self-portrait at 1st cello lesson

cello class - HD in red

practicing without a bow

our summer daycare kids and their "adopt-a-pot" project for the neighborhood pool

Rehearsing the train scene for Music Man - JM in blue, SM in grey. Right now I'm filling in for all missing salesmen, since I know the song.

JM in the "Wa-Tan-Ye" scene

HD (aka "Fred") entranced by Harold Hill

Harrison's summer job is working as a "camp counselor" for my summer daycare, a job he takes very seriously and does very well. One recent rainy morning, he set up stations all over the house, including making a fort at the top of the stairs.

HARP-Violin-Cello-HARP-Viola-Cello-HARP--Isthatyourfinalanswer???

So the way they do things in our school system, in grades 3 & 5 the Symphony School sends a not-so-qualified musician to the elementary schools, where they force ALL students to pretend to learn how to play the violin, in a series of torturous "lessons" during which they herd the entire class into the cafeteria, where there is a garden of "loaner" violins laid out graveyard-style, and the teacher, who apparently assumes all people under 60 are mentally addled, proceeds to pretend to use the Suzuki method while speaking to the kids as if they are all 3-years-old and slow for their age. The students follow along good-naturedly, working hard not to roll their eyes, and screeching out various "popular tunes" ("We Will We Will Rock You!" - oh yes, the violin is a hip instrument almost exactly like an electric guitar, kids)

Anyway, any student who survives this farce is invited to join the music program in middle school. They have their choice: choir, orchestra or band. Ok, invited is not the right word. They are required to be in the sixth grade choir, orchestra or band. What they don't tell you until after you're signed up is, if you sign up for band, your child will have to attend lessons for his/her instrument every Monday/Wednesday/Friday through the month of July. What they also don't tell you until after you're signed up is that orchestra kids have to come 5 days a week starting the first Monday after school is out (for us, June 15) and continuing through July.

What they also don't tell you, is if your kid wants to play harp, he also has to play another instrument because there aren't enough harps to go around. Then, after you pay for the lessons (a very good deal, so I would have done it anyway - $30 for two months of daily 30 minute lessons) they tell you that harp lessons are free and don't start until August, and if you're willing to bring the harp to school every day that there is orchestra practice, your kid doesn't have to learn another instrument.

So anyway, Harrison plans to play harp next year, and after learning that their harps would be the STUDENT size and not the kind I usually imagine (see picture at beginning of this post to note the difference in sizes) I decided I'd be willing to deliver the harp to the Middle School on orchestra days so he could focus on learning the harp and not have to swap back and forth with another instrument (you have to rent a harp to practice on at home, then share the ones at the school during orchestra rehearsal, and bring another instrument back and forth in the meantime - so we'd be lugging some other instrument to the school on orchestra days anyway).

By the time this was all decided, they already had my check for lessons, so we decided to have HD go ahead and attend lessons on another instrument (one of those "it'll be good for him and anyway, it's paid for" parental decisions). So...which one to learn? We paid $70 to fix up my old violin when we thought he was getting real lessons through the elementary program...but after that debacle he was so NOT about the violin. Mom and Dad had an old cello in the basement that they borrowed from the junior high when John played cello and had never returned, and he decided that would be a good option.

The orchestra director said he'd be happy to fix up the old cello for us, so we hauled it in right after school was out, and he spent 40 minutes convincing Harrison he should play the viola instead. I told him no way, when we were already going to be shelling out big bucks to rent a harp, were we going to rent another instrument when we have on hand a violin, a cello, a flute, a sax and a trumpet. He said he could make our full size violin work as a viola simply by changing the strings. Harrison liked the idea of NOT lugging a cello back and forth, so ok. I agreed to send the violin with him on the first day, and the cello rejoined its long lost compatriots in the Franklin storehouses. So we lost a cello and a violin to gain...a viola. Whatever.

The thing is, the orchestra director has an assistant teaching the actual lessons this summer, so when HD arrived for his first viola lesson, violin in hand, ready to be restrung, he was persuaded to play cello instead. I was busy with daycare kids, and Dad drove him to his lesson, so I'm not sure exactly how that all transpired. At any rate, that's where we stand right now. Harrison is learning cello until August, when he will switch to harp.

(For the record, I wanted Harrison to play an instrument he could march with and play in a combo with. I guess he can do that with a harp...at a Renaissance Faire.)

ALEX is FOUR!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALEX!

I've written a lot about my wonderful nephew, Ben, and his numerous struggles to maintain good health. All too often, I overlook his adorable younger brother, Alex, who is equally precious and beloved.

Alex is one of the sweetest, most cheerful young men I've ever known. He is intelligent, articulate, vivacious, and filled with a zest for life that can't be taught. He is a great little brother to Ben; he looks up to and admires his big brother, and he's very good at helping out with things that are harder for Ben due to medical constraints.

His mischievous smile tells it all. When he was a tiny little guy (not the big 4-year-old he is today), I loved to sweep him into my arms, and growl in his ear "take me to your gold!", because he was the spitting image of my idea of a leprechaun - a tiny, perfect little man with a lot of energy and a devilish grin and the most heart melting giggle you ever heard.

You just can't think about Alex without getting a big smile on your face and feeling a lifting of whatever burdens present themselves in your day. His Mommy and Daddy have some big challenges in their everyday life, and while keeping up with Alex is a challenge in and of itself, the sheer joy he exudes must make it easier for them to get through the tough times.

Happy Birthday, Alex - I hope it's a day just as fun and joyous as you are! LOVE YOU!!!