It's quiet

One of the worst things about working from home is summer, when the kids are off school and generally around the house a lot. The kids have done a good job respecting my office space and not coming in when I have the door closed. I don't usually have too many conference calls right now but who knows what they might interrupt by walking in, in addition to my concentration.

But this year we start the summer vacation off with Cate and the kids off for two weeks to visit her mom in Philadelphia. So it's definitely been quiet.

After a pretty depressing Monday I decided I wasn't going to work in my office downstairs for the rest of the time they're gone. It's functional but there are no windows, it's always a little cooler down there and I just couldn't stand the thought of being in a box for two weeks. So I'm sitting at the kitchen table, with easy access to the radio, a ceiling fan, windows and doors to open as the weather permits, that sort of thing. It's one thing to work in the box when Cate and the kids are around because I can always pop my head out, go upstairs and be social. But on Monday, of course, there was nobody to socialize with.

While they're gone, I've had thoughts about cleaning up the house (don't know how far I'll get, but I did start), doing the laundry, trying to get some yard work done, stuff like that. The winter coats can be cleaned and stowed for a couple months. I have easy access to the kitchen as well, which is a mixed blessing, but I'm cooking up jambalaya to eat tonight and freeze for future consideration. I've gotten to hang out with some friends and I still have Minnesota Chorale rehearsals. I'm also doing a singing workshop on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to, trying to extend the comfort zone.

It'll be strange not having the kids here for Fathers Day, but we knew that going in. It's more important for them to have time with their grandmother than with me right now and if we're flying four people halfway across the country, we need to get them their money's worth in terms of time.

So, yeah, look me up. I've got some free time!

Four days in ...

So we're four days into our grand Bloomington adventure. Cate is safely in Ireland with Patty and Jeannie. And so far the kids have gotten all their meals, have been to bed on time, the laundry and dishes are caught up and all that jazz.

Elizabeth is trying not to let the extra authority go to her head. I do definitely need her help, just because I'm still working at home during the day. But in the afternoons she has taken to crocheting upstairs in our bedroom while watching TV. She needs her alone time, after all, and basically neither of us is going to get much of it the next few weeks. She and I also have a touch-base meeting every night, where I encourage her to speak freely. She did ask one good question and I hope she will continue to be honest.

Robert shows most outwardly how much he misses his mom. Colleen will mention Cate in passing and Robert will instantly look a little sad. He mopes. He recovers. He doesn't like to talk about it. Tonight he didn't feel much like dinner but he was quick to remind me that he had a whole sandwich for lunch instead of his usual half, so I didn't make a big deal out of it. He asked if he could have cereal for dinner, but I told him cereal for breakfast, PB&J for lunch and cereal for dinner was not going to cut it.

Colleen is doing great so far. She doesn't have a whole lot of worries. Someone gets her breakfast in the morning. She plays on the computer, reads books, gets outside a little bit but has a hard time getting her siblings to go along with her outside. She and Robert each got a new Webkin in a care package from Patty, while Elizabeth got a Harry Potter game for the Wii. My goodness, they can kill a lot of time with those things!

Elizabeth has the night off, sleeping over at a friend's house. Much deserved. There she doesn't have to help get anyone ready for bed or clear dishes. Well, she might have to clear the dishes, not sure.

For a high-tech guy, I keep the calendar pretty low-tech. Any new appointments or items for the to-do list are on the one-a-day calendar on the desk in my home office. Tomorrow is pretty busy. Robert was invited to a classmate's birthday party, Elizabeth needs to be picked up from the sleepover, Colleen is spending the night with Neil and Alicia and Elizabeth and I are going to a family get-together. So, today we had to go out and buy a gift and drop Elizabeth off at her friend's. Also, Mom came over and picked up the kids and took them to the park for a few hours, helping them knock an item off the bingo card.

Sorry, no pictures. But I promise they are all still alive.

Safe travels

As we speak, Cate is on the trip of a lifetime, as she's heading to Ireland with her mom and sister.

There were more than a couple of tears shed by the youngest members of the family today as we dropped Cate off at the airport. She won't be back for more than two weeks.

I hope she thinks about us but doesn't worry. We'll be fine. She's left town for a week at a time a couple times before in the past couple of years, so we can take it. Meanwhile, I'll whip these kids into shape.

Ehh, who am I kidding!

Have fun, Cate!

That Elizabeth trip with Dad

Cate mentions that Elizabeth was off on a special trip with me this weekend. I'm not so sure how 'special' it was, though.

The last time I took Elizabeth with me on a basketball trip, we had a great time in Gettysburg, Pa. But that was a trip planned ahead of time, in part around her. This time, not so much. I went to kiss her good-bye Friday night on my way out the door and she asked, "Ooh, can I come?"

Robert had gone to a game with me in St. Paul earlier in the week, so I think she was feeling a little left out.

Little did she know it would require about 13 hours in the car and not much in the way of kid-friendly activities. I didn't even book a nice hotel because I thought I was traveling by myself. The game was in Grinnell, Iowa, at 1 in the afternoon, so we didn't really have time to seek out anything interesting to add to the itinerary. We stopped at a gift shop in town, which had absolutely nothing to offer, even to the point where Elizabeth noticed we were the only ones in the store, and said, "We can't even sneak out!"

She also had hot chocolate -- actually three times Saturday, in fact -- and a cinnamon roll at Saints Rest, a coffee shop in town. She helped me maintain my cover (I went to the game unannounced) and watched it with me, and was interested for a while but even a 130-109 game couldn't hold her. She was patient as I talked to players after the game.

Where she broke down was after two hours in the car on the way home, when I was suggesting we would stop anywhere but an Applebee's.

See, we were about 65 miles south of the next Applebee's on the interstate, and the road was not in great shape, so I was hoping we could stop and eat in hopes that the road would get treated and be a little more drivable. But no, not so much. Her response was, "when we go out to dinner, we never get to eat anywhere NICE!"

Real tears. And yes, apparently Applebee's is the definition of nice.

So, Ryan confirmed for me that the next Applebee's north of us (there was no chance I was backtracking 20 miles in that weather) was in Mason City, Iowa. And Elizabeth wanted to wait. So we trudged north at anywhere from 40-55 mph to get there.

Elizabeth ordered steak, but I was impressed: The first thing she ate off the plate wasn't the steak, or the gigantic baked potato (with its -- honest to goodness -- three tablespoons of butter), but the zucchini. And then the broccoli. She rattled off for me all the things she loves about Applebee's: the kitsch (my description) on the walls mostly. But honestly, it's almost the only place she's ever been on a regular basis, going back a decade. I remember taking her to Applebee's with the Jensens when she was a baby. Before she ate, frankly. And it's the place she would go to dinner with Patty most frequently. (Breakfast, IHOP, different story.) So it's sentimental value for her. Much like ... uhh ... yeah, I can't come up with anything for me. We stopped going when we started needing to feed and entertain three kids there.

My car doesn't have a functioning CD player, so we were at the mercy of the radio the whole trip. Elizabeth's popular musical appreciation is somewhat limited, but she's familiar with just about anything the folks at Kids Bop have covered, which apparently includes John Mayer's Waiting for the World to Change. I got a kick out of listening to her sing that.

I'm sure she'll remember it as boring, and I know it was for her. But it was nice to have her riding shotgun. And if I have more than five minutes' warning we can work on the itinerary with her in mind.