100315 - Adventure

100315 - Up and met the team for breakfast.  We then headed to the lounge to get some stuff done.  After a couple hours of staring at our screens we decided that we should at least get some fresh air.  So they team forced me out of the hotel and on foot, in down town Mexico City...  :-o
Today is a holiday in Mexico and not many people stirring about.  We tried to find a place for lunch, but not much success and ended up in a 'Tony Romas'.  I know, not very adventurous or exciting of a place to eat when in Mexico City, but the best we could come up with....
After lunch we walked back, past the hotel, looking for a monument we have seen for years now but have never gone to.  In fact if you look close in the previous post you can see the top of this monument just to the right of Andre's head.  Well we found it with not much trouble.  We think it is a ware memorial...  I took my picture and back to the office in the sky for a bit more work.
Tonight we have agreed to walk to a restaurant we found today for dinner.  I will let you know how it goes...

100314 - Office in the sky

100314 - Up for breakfast and then to or makeshift office in the hotel lounge for a long 13 hour day. We broke the day up with games of 'Pass the Pig'. The team gave me strange looks at the introduction of this game, but soon feel in love with it. We got a ton of stuff done, so tomorrow should be a pretty nice calm day.

Location:Paseo de La Reforma,Miguel Hidalgo,Mexico

100313 - Clear Skies

100312 - Up and got stuff packed. Had a good morning at home. After lunch L& the boys took me to the airport. Said goodbye (always hard!), and off I go.

Met up with Cindy & Josh in Houston and them Andre in Mexico City. We arrived safety and got a bite to eat, all exhausted from traveling. We will regroup in the morning.

100312 + Bubbles Ready

100312 + Up  and working, getting everything finished up on all fronts before the trip this weekend.  I heard lots of laughing outside my window today and found LJ&G blowing bubble out front, thinking that Spring was here.
After work I loaded the family up and they sat in the car while I got a quick hair cut.  We dropped off some letters and then hit target for some last minute supplies.  We had a nice dinner at Steak & Shake and then Lori realized she was hot... now she has a fever...
Home got Lori medicated and I stayed up with the boys watching 'Pale Rider' & 'Kelly's Heros".  D&G stayed up way past their bed times with me, but J fell asleep not long into the first movie.  While we watched the movie D helped me decide which iPad and accessories to order :-D.
"All boys to bed" and off to get some rest myself.

100311 - My Knight in Shining Armor

100311 - Up, feeling a bit better today.  I did the usual work all day, run out have dinner then off to Scouts with D.  We had a game night at scouts and everyone played various games.  The Den leader and I faced off in Cribbage, pretty cool.  After Scouts D & I hit Caribou Coffee.  Now let me give you a little insight to this next section...  I am, with a group of other dads in the area doing this 'Raising a Modern Day Knight'.  Our assignment this week was to interview our sons and see how we are doing as dads...
So here we go...
D got hot chocolate, I got coffee and we found a comfy place to sit.  I explain the Raising a Modern Day Knight things to him and he looks interested, it si quite cool.  I asked him how I was doing and he squirmed around a bit and said 'Your doing ok'.  He then burns his mouth horribly bad with the hot chocolate, I get him some ice water.
I then ask him what it is I do best.  Without much thinking he says 'Do stuff and Build stuff with us.  I love it when I get to do stuff with you and you take the time to be with me.'  OK so we are making progress, he is opening up.. Maybe I am doing ok!
Then I ask, what can I do better????  Not much lag in the response here either  :-o  He said 'You swear too much and work to much.  I want you to become a teacher so you can have the entire summers off and be with us more.'  Well I tried to blame the swearing on his mother, but he wasn't buying that....  But the teaching thing didn't sound like such a bad idea....
We had quiet a long conversation about many other things; what things were like when I was a boy, what we think cars will be like in the future...  all sorts of stuff.  And then we talked about Jack.  About jack being sick a lot and how careful we have to be and especially how scared both him and his friend were only days ago at the Sugar Camp when Jack nearly choked to death...  It was a hard discussion for us.  But a good one.
One last question before we had to leave...
What is the one thing you would change about me if you could?
D responded without any hesitation at all, 'I would give you your eye back'.
In everything we talked about, this hit me the hardest.  Fighting back the emotions, it was time to go....

What a good young Knight I already have!

100309 - Cars Out

100310 - Fever Broke!

100309 - Up and sick, but  worked all day.  This project will not fail...
In the evening after dinner, all medicated, L&D to baseball practice.  I stayed home with J&G and got the electric cars out of the shed, lifting them over all the other junk that has been piled in there over the winter.  The had a blast driving over the remains of the igloo and chasing each other all over the yard.  L&D home, everyone cleaned up and to bed.  Feeling a bit better and with too much to do I stayed up, watched LOST, and worked till 1am.

100308 - Zippppp

100308 - Up and worked all day.  Didn't feel the greatest all day and sore everywhere...  Then I thought I should check my temperature...  Sure enough I have a fever of  101.
I did muster up the strength after dinner to go outside and see the zip line the boys had built in the backyard.  I like them creating things, especially together.  It was very cool, and after I tightened it up a bit for them they had a couple of good runs.
L had a meeting at church tonight, so I got the boys cleaned up early and we watched a bit of TV.  When L got home I medicated myself and headed to bed.  I can not be sick...

100307 - Trap

100307 - Up, LD&J to Church, G&I out errands and met up with LD&J for lunch.  We all headed home and built some leprechaun traps, with visions of holding them hostage until they give us their pots full of gold.  Althought I am not sure how much gold a little leprechaun pot can hold...
It was a rough night all indoors together.  This whole weekend and preceding events are just too much: Jack, houses...  I feel weak all over, to bed early.

100306 - Out of Phaze

100306 - What a gorgeous DAY!  The sun is shining, the sky is clear blue; how much fun is today going be?!
The boys were all up early and down to the barn!  They had a lot of fun real fast. I picked D, his friend & J up, and LG&GmaW went with us to the Sugar Shack back in the woods to help our neighbor make some maple syrup.


We got there and all hiked back to the sugar shack and met up with the sugarin team.  It did not take the boys long to see work would be involved and they vanished off into the woods to see what they could find. They found buckets on trees, tubes running from tree to tree, a stream, a camp and a zip line! FUN FUN!!!



LG&GmaW hung around for a bit until G realized that mommy thought he was too little to try the zip line and he lost it...  Back to the Farm they went.  But D, his friend and J were out for a day full of adventure!
I hung out in the sugar shack and tried to make myself useful and understand how the process all works. Seems a mystery to most, even the guys that have been doing it for decades... We carried firewood and gathered sap, modified the boiler and then were called in for some wood stove cooked breakfast.  The boys stopped in from time to time to check in and all was good.  This time they must have smelled the food and came in and took off all their snow garb.  They had some doughnuts and sausage.  They were thirsty, so I grabbed one of the gallon jugs of water and poured them each a glass.

THIS IS THE POINT WHERE THE FUN ENDS FOR THE DAY.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE STRONG NERVES, PLEASE READ NO FURTHER...

D and his friend went back to sit on the bench and Jack was just staring at me; foaming at the mouth.
I got down to his level and looked him right in the eye and said 'Jack are you OK?'
He shook his head NO.
I said 'Jack can you breath?'
He shook his head NO again!
I spun him around and hit him on the back, everything went still and quiet.
I spun him to faced him again, asked him if he could breath, he shook his head NO as his eyes stared into mine frightened beyond all words, and his lips turn blue.
I spin him around again, put my fists in his gut and with every ounce of strength I had did the Heimlich maneuver, I thrust my fist into his stomach several times.
I spun him to face him again, asked him if he could breath and knew the answer this time before he shook his head NO as his face was turning BLUE and eyes were bulging.
I yelled to the men in the shack to call the squad.
I grabbed Jack up in my arms and started running to the road to be able to meet the squad, mind you we are WAY back in a woods...
As I cleared the shack and crossed the bridge in Olympic sprinter time, I thought to myself and prayed to God: Why?  We just learned he does not have cancer...

WHY ARE YOU TRYING SO HARD TO TAKE HIM FROM ME?!?!?!?!?!?!

Knowing how little time I have, I stop up the hill a ways, ask him again if he can breath?
NO he shakes his head.
I do the Heimlich maneuver again with all of my might,

YOU WILL NOT DIE ON ME!!!!

NOT TODAY!!!!!

A large amount of water bursts from him mouth, he gasps,

  JACK IS BREATHING AGAIN!!!!

He is taking very shallow breaths, but is breathing...  The guys call the squad and let them know.
I carry Jack in his T shirt and snow soaked socks back to the shack.
I give him some water to drink and he immediately spits it out on the floor.
So I take Jack outside so if he has to spit again he can.
He tries and spits it out.
I tell him "Swish this around in your mouth to clean it out a bit and then spit it out."
He does.
I then say "Jack, I need to be sure nothing is stuck in there.  You have to drink just a little sip of this."
He does, but then has to spit a lot.

We are in the clear...

I take him back inside and hang his wet socks on the stove and hold him.
I hold him for about an hour to warm him up and make sure he is OK...
He wants to go out....  So I get him dressed.  As I am getting him dressed L calls and asks 'Is everyone alive?'  I reply 'Barely', her not knowing how serious that statement is...

Jack and I walk hand in hand across the bridge, the bridge I just ran across carrying him, to find his brother and his friend.  He runs off to go sledding with them....

I go back in to the sugar shack and let out a HUGE sigh of relief and we all discuss the events...  Not long after this, a new guys shows up to help.  We offer him some of the awful coffee, but he just wants water.  He grabs the jug the boys drank from, pours himself a glass, takes a drink, and spits it out all over.  He catches his breath and says 'This is NOT water.  It is BLEACH WATER!'  We all stare at each other as the realization hits us.  Jack took a HUGE gulp of bleach water and the chlorine closed his airway.  Not only that.... It was the same water he spit out after he started breathing again, swished his mouth out with, and took a final sip of....

OH MY GOD!!!!

The guy that runs the place takes the jug, says 'Yeah, I brought this down yesterday to clean stuff with, I don't know how it got mixed in with the other water jugs.'...  He poured it out and another guys says, "Well this also explains why the coffee tasted so shitty this morning. That is the jug I used to make the coffee..."  We all had some....

!!!!!!!!!!TWO VERY IMPORTANT LESSONS!!!!!!!!

1. LABEL THINGS
2. If you don't know the Heimlich Maneuver,
   
   
   
   LEARN IT TODAY!!!!   NOW  -> LINK

I stayed around for a bit.  Carrying firewood, checking on the boys, talking about the process, trying to do anything but think of the enormous horrifying event Jack had just gone through.  I am amazed at his resilience.  He is the toughest little person I have ever met.  Although I keep myself busy I am DEEPLY troubled.  I say goodbye to the other men and gather the boys to head to the Farm.  D, his friend & J are under STRICT orders not to say a word about the event.  I could not go through it that soon with L and GMa&paW.

We get back to the Farm, gather our things and leave as quickly as we can.  It is quite obvious that something is not right...  When we go out to get in the car, several Aunts and Uncles drive up and we excuse ourselves as politely as possible.

On the road now, and Lori is on to us...  She asks us what happened.  Jack tells his version and she is horrified.  D and his friend give their pieces of the story and she is struck to tears.  She turns to ask me about it but the tears are streaming so hard down my face I can barely see to drive...  We get control and I give her my details.  She calls poison control and our Dr. right away.  'He will be fine.' is what they tell her.  Too much.  It is just too much...

We get back home, drop off D's friend (explain to his parents what he went through today...) and unpack.  We have only a couple of moments before LIFE takes back over and we are off to D's basket ball game.  It was a good game, what I could focus on....  Home, and a poker game I committed to go to was tonight, with some of my best friends, that I could use their company after today....  I play for only a short time before I realize I am not having fun and need to get home and FEEL what happened today.

I get home.

I check on all my boys, and L.

I fall to my knees in the living room and cry and cry and cry...

I then talked to God....

100305 - Bobsledding

100305 - UP and a rough start with D this morning.  He got in a considerable amount of trouble and was being grounded.  However he was suppose to go to his buddy's house after school and Lori didn't think it was fair, as he had been looking forward to it all week.  So we gave him the choice to make:

• You can go to your friends house after school and be grounded and do nothing this weekend (we are planning to go to the Farm, he knows this, and being grounded would mean he could not go with us...)

OR

• He could not go to his friends house (meaning he would have to explain to his friend why he could not now go) and then be allowed to go to the Farm.

Neither of these was a win win for him...
....Much thinking later D decided to explain to his friend what he had done this morning, and thus not be able to go home with him, but still be able to go to the Farm.  He left with for school with tears rolling down his face (L too).  But he made a choice.

I had a fast paced day trying to get tons of things done and in line.  Actually got most of them done and in good shape.  During the day Lori called the mother of the boy that D was suppose to go to after school  and explained the situation to her.  She was very understanding and appreciative that we stuck to it and were enforcing it.  L and I talked this over and came up with a plan...  D got home and I called him into the office and had a talk with him about his actions this morning and the decision he had to make.  I congratulated him on making that hard decision and told him to get his things ready to go to the Farm.  Still sad, but eager to go, he left the office.  I finished up my stuff and off we went.  but we had a surprise.  Because D made that hard decision and followed through with it, and especially since the friend we were going to see is a very nice little fellow, we picked D's friend up on the way to the Farm, he was going with us!

We got to the farm.  I surveyed the damage to the shed (WOW!!!) had a call to make, and then the snow pants went on and the sleds came out.  The snow had been freezing and thawing and had a really nice layer of ice on top and the hill in front of my Mom and Dad's house is one of the best in to sled down.  All the boys had a blast and set new distance records, almost reaching the road.  After a bazillion trips down the hill they ran in and got armored up to head to the barn for some 'shot the mommy' games and had even more fun.  The night was topped off by some fantastic Chinese food, a ping pong ball war and the finalization of plans for the annual Maple Syrup Day at the Farm.

100304 - Blue & Gold

100304 - Up and full day of work.  Out of the office and Jack not feeling too well so L&J stayed home for dinner.  I packed up D&G and we headed to the annual scouts Blue and Gold Banquet.  We got there and got our seats and then boys being boys vanished, returning periodically with a piece of pizza or a cookie.  Both of my boys did reasonably well, for the setting, with listening, but then the work calls started coming in and I spent most of the evening in the hall on the phone with various folks from around the world trying to solve a problem.  This stress, plus the noise and general mayhem took me over the edge and we packed up and headed home home so I could help solve the work issue (4 hours...).
I had a talk with D tonight about if he really wanted to do Scouts anymore.  I feel that we are just giving up on too many things because it is too far to drive or there is always an argument that 'I don't want to go to ___, I hate it'...  Well when presenting it to him logically he understood the frustration and realizes if he commits to a program he is going to have to follow through and no more 'I hate its...'.  So I think we will stay in a bit longer.  He is a good boy and learning how to make decisions.

100303 - Typical day.  In the evening I spent a bunch of time with D in the shop finishing his Pinewood Derby car.  It looks really cool this year and we have everything set on it just right.  D really enjoys doing with me and I love it when he says 'I wish we could do this more often, just me and you doing stuff like this.' and it breaks my heart at the same time because I need to spread myself out so much with the other boys, who want me around and I want to be with just as much, and trying to find any moment to talk to L, and work, and this, and running here, and that, and going over there...

100302 - Fast day and then out for a makeup basketball game for D.  It was a really good game.  They lost, but D was his most aggressive yet.  Not as aggressive as the kick that tried a full blown Mahamid Ali right during the game (luckily missed) and made everyone gasp in horror...  Back in the car after that game and a short lecture from me on how unacceptable the throwing of punches was (in less of course you are in full gear at karate and are suppose to be doing so...) during a game, and to STAY AWAY FROM THAT KID!

100301 - Good News and Jet pack

100301 - Up and back to the desk. We got one bit of really good news today: Jack's bone marrow test is back. Marrow has depressed myeloid cells, points to his auto immune issue, but no Leukemic or cancerous cells!!!!
 I Worked a full day and then out with the boys. Over the weekend I had found a YouTube channel that had a young kid making movie props and cool stuff.  I showed it to D so today was make stuff day. D got a hot glue gun, a couple pringle cans, a cheezit and brown&serve box and made G a jet pack. It was cool and G didn't even want to paint it. He loved his jet pack and wore it all over the place zooming around.
JG&I tapped the maple tree in the back yard today getting ready to make syrup. We called Dulce & Uncle Roger making plans forthe Maple Syrup Day at the Farm in April.
After dinner, D&J made machine guns out of cardboard. They really liked making their own things. I got them off to bed, then out for a short meeting with the Bible Bangers.