Our Ferry Adventure

Two weeks ago we took the ferry over to the peninsula to see my Aunt Barbara and Uncle John, along with a couple of my cousins who were visiting from Utah.  But because life is never dull I have to tell you about our experience trying to get on the ferry.  We missed the ferry.  We have never missed the ferry before.  Ever.  Unfortunately we left later than planned (thanks to all the boys in my life) but Randy was driving fast so we made it into Seattle with a few minutes to spare. As soon as we got off the freeway our progress came to a standstill as we were instantly surrounded by hundreds of Seahawk fans heading to the football game.  It was so frustrating!  I didn't know there was a game and figured arriving just in time to hop on the ferry the way we always do would be a good plan.  Well, it wasn't!  After anxiously waiting for lights to turn green, crowds of people to cross the streets, and cars to pull into various parking garages, we arrived at the ferry terminal just as it pulled away from the pier.  It was agony!  The next ferry wasn't scheduled to depart for another 50 minutes so our quick drive out to Sequim suddenly felt like an all-day road trip.  Ugh. 
I couldn't take sitting in the van with all the grumpy boys so I took Henry for a walk in his stroller.  Eventually all the boys joined me and they passed the time by walking around and racing each other in the empty parking lanes.  Finally it was almost time to drive onto the ferry so I quickly loaded Henry up, yelled for the boys to get in the van and got ready to pull onto the ferry.  By this time we were boxed in, surrounded by cars waiting to get on the ferry.  I realized Marcus wasn't in the van and was nowhere to be seen so I called his cell and yelled at him to run fast because we were getting on the ferry.  And then the line of cars in front of us quickly started driving forward.  I had no other choice but to drive forward too and looked into my rear view mirror to see Marcus sprinting behind us trying to catch up.  Trust me, as a mom there can't be a worse feeling than driving away from your child as you see them running to catch up to you.  Every instinct told me to stop but there's no stopping when you're in a line of moving cars so I kept going.  This whole thing took place in about a minute or less but as I was driving away from my firstborn child, Parker was sobbing saying, "You can't leave Marcus!  You are the meanest mom ever!  Poor Marcus!" Ethan was yelling at Marcus to run faster, Landon was probably yelling too, Henry was crying, and Randy was so mad at me I won't tell you what he was saying :)  Let's just say he didn't agree with my choice of action.
I was trying to drive, yelling at everyone to leave me alone because I knew what I was doing, and calling Marcus all at the same time.  As soon as I parked the van, I jumped out, grabbed my ticket to get me and Marcus on the ferry, and started looking for my son I had just left behind.  I called him and he calmly said, "Mom, I'm on the ferry and I'm saving you a seat on the 2nd floor."  Then he hung up.  No big deal.  FYI, you can drive onto the ferry or walk on, but if you walk on you need a ticket and you walk on in a separate and safe area, NOT where the cars drive on.  Marcus was sprinting onto the boat when the workers stopped him.  He pointed to the van and told them he was trying to catch up with his family.  The workers didn't ask for a ticket (which he didn't have) and just sent him on with the other pedestrians.  Basically everyone was upset, stressed, or crying except for Marcus.  It was hilarious! Marcus said, "That totally sounds like an episode of The Middle!"  If you haven't seen that show you should really watch it.  It's hilarious and kind of like watching a show about my own life sometimes.

We got out to Aunt Barbara's house an hour later and had a late lunch made even later to our missed ferry episode, but had a good time anyway.  It's so fun to be with family and even better to be with family who loves Washington the way we do.  The boys watched the football game, ate food, played with the dogs, played with the Oculas Rift (a virtual reality toy), and even got crafty and painted rocks.  All while I talked with my Aunt and cousins.  It was great!

Watching people play with this is very entertaining.  They look so funny!

Marcus made himself right at home

After a few hours we headed for home and made it in plenty of time to catch the returning ferry.  This was my first time being on the ferry as the sun set so the views of the city were beautiful and totally worth it!

The ferry boat identical to ours, heading out to the peninsula. 

The only boys who would pose for a picture.  Clearly Henry wanted nothing to do with it.

My Epic Parent Fail

This failure was not entirely my fault, but mostly.
About six months ago Marcus and all the other 6th graders at his school were given the assignment to do 10+hours of community service.  A big packet full of information was sent home and I had to sign a document confirming that I knew what the assignment was and that I had read the {HUGE} packet.  Of course I skimmed through the packet, rolled my eyes, and told Marcus good luck.  The suggestions for service were things like, "You visit a local food bank and notice there isn't much food there so you organize a food drive, gather hundreds of cans of food, create a website so people can continue to donate food/money, and through your continuous efforts you have eliminated world hunger."  Okay, I slightly exaggerated but the ideas were big.  And complicated.  Marcus got together with some friends and found out about a local place where people donate new/used baby items.  He and his friends signed up on the website to go sort through donations which would use up a couple hours of service.  Then they got the idea to host a huge party and invite the entire 6th grade class over to my house.  What?!  Admission to the party was a donation of a baby item for this local thrift store.  And yes, the hours spent prepping for the party, partying, and cleaning up after the party would finish up the last of the ten hours of service.  To make a long story short, the party never happened and Marcus never got to help sort at the thrift store. 
Several months later I get the idea that Marcus could help coach Landon's soccer team with Randy.  I thought it was a brilliant idea.  He planned the practices, played with the kids, hauled equipment, and missed out on social things so he could be the coach at their Friday night games.  I thought all was well.
Last week, out of the blue at dinner Marcus casually mentions he's got to turn in his poster display for his service project that was due the next day.  This announcement was met with much lecturing and frustration from Randy and me and we quickly panicked.  I had marked on my calendar that it was due the next week but figured I must have been wrong and headed off to the store before the 1-hour photo closed.  We got the whole thing done at about 9pm and I left Marcus to put the finishing touches on things when I heard him say, "Ohhhhh nooooo!"
Then silence.
I ran back into the room and he's holding up that blasted packet that I hadn't glanced at in 6 months.  The last page of the packet was a form that needed to be turned in with the the poster and on the previous page was an entire paragraph about how COACHING A YOUTH SPORTS TEAM DOESN'T COUNT FOR SERVICE HOURS!!!  Seriously.  A whole paragraph explaining why Marcus had wasted his time coaching Landon.   It said,"So you want to coach a youth sports team?  That's great but it doesn't count.  However, if you realize poor starving kids in Africa could use some new soccer balls then you could organize and collect donations of new soccer balls for kids in Africa."  I'm not even joking.  That's what it said. 
Then the real yelling and hysterics began.  Randy and I scrambled to come up with a Plan B that looked like it had been in the works for 6 months while Marcus cried in his room.  Pretty sure he cared less about how his grade would suffer and more about the hit his social life took to coach those kids and it was all for nothing.  I drove back to 1-hour photo (still open thankfully) and we threw a pathetic excuse of random service projects together and stayed up way too late doing it.
Since it was my idea to have Marcus coach soccer without consulting with the packet first, I had to take the heat for this one.  And since Marcus put off making his poster until the last minute, resulting in me staying up until almost midnight, he was in big trouble.  And Randy was just mad.
Here's the kicker:  Turns out the poster wasn't actually due the next day.  He had the whole weekend to finish it.  I stayed up until midnight for nothing!

Here's the other kicker:  After talking to all my friends who have suffered through this service project thing with their kids over the years, they said I should've just done the soccer project anyway.  The teachers don't really grade them on what they do but on whether they did something or not.  Grrrrrr!!
Epic parent fail at its finest.

The Runaway

Landon ran away yesterday.  This has happened before but this time was different. Usually it's just empty threats and a lot of anger but this time he was so calm and resigned to the fact that running away was the only option that I was slightly worried.  I watched as he packed his backpack with food while I asked him what his plans were.
I said, "What if you get cold?  What will you do?"
He shrugged his shoulders and quietly said, "I'll figure something out, " and walked out the door.  I wish I took a picture of him as he slowly walked away with his little backpack on, heading out into the big world all by himself, or so he thought.
As soon as he was gone I quickly threw on a jacket and some shoes and headed down the driveway after him. Usually I just wait a couple minutes and they come right back but this was the first time I could actually picture my little boy wandering around aimlessly in the woods for an extended length of time.  I tried not to panic as I headed onto the road when I looked up the street and saw him.  He walked back to me, took my hand and said, "I think I'll come home now."  We walked back home, hand in hand, not saying anything.  I guess he just needed to get away for a minute and trust me, I totally get that!  The thought of running away {or even just hiding in my closet} crosses my mind frequently.
But I love this kid!  He has so much energy and enthusiasm for life.  The kids in his kindergarten class can't get enough of him and his busy social calendar reflects that.  He's one of a kind.

Basketball

Marcus's 2016 basketball season is over and ended in tears.  Poor kid.  It was only rec ball (because the thought never crossed my mind to have him try out for a competition team.  Oops) but his team played well and were expected to do well in the tournament.  Sadly, they lost their first game.  Ouch.  To a team they had already beat.  Ouch even more.
Thankfully our friend took some great shots of the last game so when I tell you Marcus is a good basketball player, you'll believe me.  I have no idea where he gets his natural ability and Randy and I always say it's too bad he's got us for parents because he could probably go really far as an athlete if we knew how to guide him.  I guess that's what coaches are for, right? Randy missed the last game because he was at Landon's basketball game (Landon's coach calls him "The Weapon" and he made 14 baskets that game) which was at the same time.  I sat in the stands, helplessly watching Marcus's team struggle to make any shots.  The ref seemed to only have eyes for Marcus, constantly blowing his whistle, and I had no idea why so I couldn't tell Marcus to stop doing whatever it was.  Occasionally one of the other parents would shout some words of encouragement or yell at the ref which made me feel better.  I know it's just a game, but this loss hurt to watch.  The other moms and I joked about leaving and coming back after it was over.  But oh well.  You win some, you lose some.

Marcus got fouled on a 3-pointer so he went to the line and made all 3 of his shots.  It was impressive!

Big Stuff

Marcus got braces and went to his first dance and he's growing up right before my eyes and I'm completely freaking out about it!
{And the painters were here for four long days painting our house so things have been extra chaotic around here.}

Popcorn party the night before.  No more popcorn for 2 years!  {or at least that's the plan but I'm sure he'll eat it anyway}

The 'before' picture taken at 7am so he was barely awake

So Marcus got braces for the second time.  This time it's the real deal with brackets on all his teeth and they're staying on for two years.  Poor kid.  But I had braces for three years so I'm not that sympathetic.  Especially when he got really grumpy and begged me to rip off the braces because his teeth were killing him.  I told him to suck it up.  Life is pain.  But then I felt bad for him on day 2 of braces when he got elbowed in the face at his basketball game which caused the inside of his cheek to snag on his bracket like a fish getting caught on a hook.  It was dramatic and bloody and caused a big scene.  And no, Randy was not there to help.  I ran Marcus into the bathroom to unhook his cheek while his team lost their lead in the final minutes of the game.  Marcus was devastated.  Their team isn't so great.  Marcus is the point guard, and their only "play" is to pass the ball to Marcus so he can score.  It's hilarious and pathetic all at the same time. 

forget the kids in this picture, check out the dad up on the stage!

 In other news, Marcus went to his first middle school dance.  Let me tell you, his school is fantastic!  They don't do awkward dances where the lights are turned off and the kids all awkwardly slow dance with each other with minimal parent supervision like I had growing up.  The dance is a hoe down, the whole family is invited, and the kids do the line dances and square dancing all night that they learned in gym class.  Marcus was in his element!  After seeing him dance repeatedly with the same girl I told him to ask other girls to dance.  He was happy to oblige but it still made me feel old and I'm already worried about his dating years ahead.  Very worried.  Why can't he be shy and awkward around the opposite sex the way I was?  It would make parenting so much easier!

Ummmm, do I have to put into words why this picture freaks me out?

my friends and I watching/laughing from the sidelines.