Another Epic Parenting Moment

Yes...that would be me putting Bennett in a headlock. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. We were actually just fooling around in this picture but the kid does not know when to stop. He is the ultimate jokester. Sometimes his comedic timing is perfect. Other times it's not. It's annoying and he doesn't know when to stop. That's typical at 15. He's still perfecting his craft.

That's why you will completely understand my parenting stroke of genius from the other day. Here's what happened: we were all in the car driving somewhere. Bennett thought it hilarious that after anyone said something, he would respond by saying any random sentence that rhymed with what was just spoken, whether is made sense or not. The first few times this occurred, we couldn't help but laugh. It was complete nonsense and actually funny. The 17th time...not so much. For example:

Me: "Bennett would you please stop that."

Bennett: "I don't sit in a hat."

If this was a rap battle, it would be an epic fail. We had to admonish him that timing is everything. A well placed look, joke, comeback makes the situation even funnier. Then the light bulb went off in my head...so I sang him a little diddy.

Me: "Bennett...you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run."

WHAT?!?

The car went silent. Why on earth is mom giving poker tips right now? Would he be wise enough to hear the deeper lesson in those words? So then we did what any parent would do in that situation, we youtubed the famed 1978 song and played it for the kids:

It fits the situation nicely I think. Plus, it adds a small dose of other life lessons to boot. Sometimes parenting happens on accident, sometimes intentionally, and other times you just plain luck out. Not that I have any gambling experience, but when a stroke of genius hits, you just have to run with it whether it makes sense or not. I know this will come back to bite me one day. Bennett will use this against me and we will all laugh our butts off. But this time...I get the last laugh.

Food Truck Rally

One of the fun things about moving to a new area is checking out all the fun, local activities. Fort Collins seems has an ample supply. We had read about the summer Food Truck Rally at City Park and were excited to try it out.

Bennett and I decided to go on a date and see what it was all about. He's always up for an adventure. And we both love food. He was the perfect partner in crime. We thought it would be a fun way to close down summer and usher in the new school year. So last Tuesday, we braved the threat of a thunderstorm and ventured over to City Park.

The first thing we did was walk up and down the street checking out all the offerings. Once I saw a fish and chips truck, I was sold. They only had one item on the menu and that's all I wanted. Easy choice.

Bennett wanted as much protein as he could possibly get. So the Bigs Meat Wagon suited his fancy just fine. 

Here were our meals respectively. And yes, they were delicious. And no, I couldn't finish all mine. And yes, Bennett enjoyed his two types of meat immensely.

Since we were so close to CSU, we decided to walk around a bit. We were able to get a picture of Bennett in front of the arena where they play basketball. His dream is to play here one day. 

UCI Orientation

A couple weekends ago, Chuck, Gavin and I got to travel to SoCal for Gavin's new student orientation at the University of California, Irvine. This university is even better than I imagined it would be. (The only thing that could make it better would be free tuition.)

We had the whole first day we were there free and enjoyed exploring the surrounding area of Newport Beach.

We also spent a lot of time walking around campus, Gavin showing us around.

Here we are posing with his new mascot - Peter the Anteater. We learned a very interesting fact during orientation: UCI is the ONLY school (elementary, middle, high or university) in the U.S. with an anteater as it's mascot. We are embracing the uniqueness. Zot, zot, zot (that's the supposed sound it makes).

As we were walking around we happened upon this amazing place. I think Chuck and I were more excited than Gavin.

Here's Gavin trying to act cool in his dream-like sports arena. These people get him. UCI was one of the first schools in the nation that had a program for playing League at this level of competition.

Here is a close-up of one of the individual computer stations. It is for competing in an online, e-sports game called League of Legends that Gavin has been playing and following for years. I hope to see him here as part of a team one day. And yes, you have to try out for this team, just like any other sport. They take their e-sports seriously at this school. UCI was the among the first universities in the nation to have a top-rate program for e-sports.

Later that evening we went to Laguna Beach and passed this beautiful mural while walking down the coast line.

The water and weather made it too cold to swim, but that didn't stop Chuck and Gavin from making attempts at it.

Some more lovely beach art and rock formations.

The following day we dropped Gavin off for his first day of orientation and then we drove up to LA, about an hour north. We went to Griffith Park and the famed Observatory that gives you sweeping views of the city as well as...

the Hollywood sign.

We spent the majority of our last day there at the University learning all kinds of goodness just for parents. As soon as it was over, we had a dinner date set with a friend we hadn't seen in over 27 years. It was so good to connect again, meet her family and know that someone is close to Gavin if he ever needs help.