As I mentioned previously, we spent last weekend in the NC mountains. One of the funnest things about our time up there was the hiking and climbing through and up the mountains. (The climbing was by stairs, not by ropes.) At Chimney Rock State Park we hiked to the Hickory Nut Falls. I really appreciated the view.

My family enjoying time together.

Then we all climbed the 491 stairs to the top of the 315 feet tall rock chimney. Of course we took plenty of photos of the beautiful valley below and mountains surrounding, but I noticed another set of stairs and another trail behind and above Chimney Rock.

Hmmm. Where does that go? I asked the park ranger/attendant standing on the Chimney Rock summit, and learned that there are more summits further up the mountain. I was especially interested in Exclamation Point — the highest peak in the park; another 200 feet up the stairs and trail. It was a challenge that called my name. Wifegrit and Calfgrit13 were done with climbing and wanted to sit and rest before heading back down — it really is quite a climb — but Calfgrit9 was eager to go with me.

CG9 and I parted with the other two and headed on our way to the next summit. Devil’s Head is about halfway up, and it looks down on Chimney Rock.

My little guy and I continued our trek up the mountain. The climb is not easy. Sure, it’s using steps and a trail, not ropes up a wall, but after having already climbed 500 steps, going a few hundred more, in 85 degree heat, at much higher altitude than we low-landers are used to, is really tiring. I’m in pretty good fitness, and it still was a challenge for me. Calfgrit9 is half my height, so it was even more of a challenge for him. But he kept going, even leading the way half the time.

When we reached the top, we were tired and sweaty, and excited and proud. The summit is broad, bald rock, on which sat about a dozen other climbers. (Yes, everyone was sitting. Like I said, it’s tiring.) There was one couple who were probably in their 40s, but everyone else were 20-somethings. Calfgrit9 was by far the youngest climber there — there were no other kids around at all.

He plopped down on the rock, in the shade, and rested while I walked around the edge to see what the view was.

When I came back to him, I sat down and said, “Whenever you’re ready to go, just let me know. No rush. We can sit here and look around as long as we want.”

“OK,” he said, “just a minute.”

We talked a few minutes, and I told him how proud I was of him for taking on this challenge, and how happy I was that we could do it together. I took a selfie with him, (which I won’t show here, because we were both sweaty and looked worn out). He’s such a good kid.

After a few more minutes of rest, we got up and started our way back down. When we got back to Chimney Rock, and Wifegrit and Calfgrit13, we both were excited to tell about our adventure. When asked how tiring it was, CG9 said, “I don’t quit when I’m tired. I quit when I done.” That’s a motivational quote I posted on our refrigerator at home to remind me to keep up my exercise regimens. It made me grin to hear him say it.

All of us then reversed our climb back down to the parking lot and my truck. We were all worn out, and happy about it. That was a really fun day, challenge, and exercise. And I am extra happy that my little Calfgrit9 took it all on with me, happily and energetically. He’s a great kid.

Bullgrit

First summer with a teenager in the family.

Ah, the smell of fresh mowed grass. I’m going to enjoy this summer.

Bullgrit

Calfgrit9 cannot close anything. I don’t think he even has a concept of the idea of “close.” I’m not talking about just the front door when he goes out or comes in, which is the standard/stereotype for almost all children. I mean everything and anything. If a thing has an open and a closed state, he will always leave it in the open version. I think things open for him when he just walks through the house.  It’s like he has a poltergeist following him everywhere he goes.

This is his chest-of-drawers in his bedroom.

If I close the drawers at night when I put him to bed, it’s all open again after he gets dressed in the morning. I’ve told him he’d have more room for playing in his room if he closed the drawers, but it doesn’t matter.

In the mornings, he usually goes downstairs to the kitchen on his own and makes his breakfast — either a bagel, or some microwave pancakes, or a whole bag of Goldfish if he thinks he can get away with it. And every morning when I or Wifegrit goes downstairs, we find the kitchen “open” in every way possible. Saturday morning I took a pic of the usual situation.

For me to get to the refrigerator, I had to move or close several things, or else dodge and weave through it all. The kitchen desk chair was pulled out to the middle of the floor, the desk drawer was pulled open, the pantry door was open, the dishwasher was open, and the microwave door was open, and even the package of frozen pancakes was left open on the counter. I’m sure the only reason the fridge/freezer door was closed is that it self shuts.

Yes, all these open items do drive me crazy. But I’m also concerned about safety. Like with his drawers. With them *all* open, the tall chest could tip over and hurt him. If someone had to move through the kitchen quickly, they’d run into half a dozen things in the way before putting out a fire or catching a falling glass or something. A fire marshal would totally shut down our home as a dangerous environment.

I really am a bit afraid that one day something will happen and someone will get hurt in some way because everything is left open. But aside from following my 9 year old around as he walks through the house, I don’t know how to get him to close stuff behind himself. Maybe we need an exorcist to visit and banish the spirit that seems to open everything in his wake.

Bullgrit

Friday night, Calfgrit13 went to an overnight “lock in” at Adventure Landing with a friend’s church group. His friend’s family picked him up from here at home after 8pm, and he spent the entire night playing laser tag, video games, driving go-carts, and generally doing anything to keep from falling asleep. Although CG13 says he did sleep for about an hour, in a chair, laying his head on a pillow on a table.

Saturday, Wifegrit had to work, so she got out of bed at 5:30, ate breakfast in the kitchen, took a shower, got dressed, and headed out to the hospital for her 12 hour shift in the mother/baby unit.

Calfgrit9 woke up before 7:00, came into our bedroom to let me know he was up, and then went down the kitchen to eat breakfast. I just continued to lay in bed for a while, until CG13 got home at about 7:30.

CG13 was tired, but happy from a night of fun. That was his first all-nighter. He has been to, and had, sleep-overs with friends before, but usually they do end up sleeping at least some of the night. As soon as he got upstairs, I put him right to bed. And he fell right to sleep.

This Saturday was a make-up school day for one of the snow days they had off earlier in the year. But we were letting CG13 skip this so he could participate in the lock-in Friday night, and sleep in Saturday. CG9, though, was going to school. So we got his stuff together in his backpack.

To kill some time until time to go, we shot some basketballs in our driveway. We have the basket up at the official 10′ height, so CG9 has to really get his whole body into every shot, and he does a pretty good job. He misses as much as he makes, but that’s pretty good for someone only 4′ tall and about 60 pounds.

At 8:45, I walked the little guy to school and wished him a fun time. It’d be only a half day, so I’d pick up at 12:35.

After that, I thought I’d get out and run an errand while CG13 continued to sleep. I went to Target and picked up a couple of items, and went to IHOP for a waffle breakfast. Then I went back to a quiet house. Perfect opportunity for a little personal quiet time. A mid-morning nap is a wonderful thing.

My phone alarm woke me up at noon. I got up, stretched, checked on CG13, (still sleeping), straightened up the kitchen, then headed out to walk to the school.

At the school, I stood out in the grassy “walkers’ point” with many other parents and waited for the bell to ring and the kids to be let out. I chatted with the dad of CG9’s friend for a bit, and then the kids came out. CG9 had a good day, and we talked about it on the walk back home.

CG13 had a trumpet practice at 1:30, so I had to wake him up before 1:00. We picked up lunch at a drive through on the way to the music school and ate it in my truck. CG9 and I sat through CG13’s practice, and then we all headed back home.

CG9 was anxious to get out and play with his neighborhood friends, and CG13 was wanting to just hang out alone in the house. He was still tired from the long night awake. And I was thinking about going for an afternoon run around the park lake behind our house.

At home, CG13 went up to his room. CG9 took their cell phone and went across the street to play with friends. And I changed into my running clothes. I stuck my head in CG13’s door to tell him I was going out running. I called CG9 on his phone to let him know, too. Then I took off.

The sun was warm, the air was fresh, and I ran and ran and ran, (with a couple of walk breaks, too). I ended up going for over an hour, [brag]burning 983 calories[/brag], according to my heart rate monitor. I wanted to keep going, to break through 1,000 calories, but CG9 wanted to bring his friends inside our house for a board game. (They can’t have friends inside the house unless there is a parent inside, also.) So I ended my run and let the boys inside.

While I had been out running, Wifegrit called to say she was getting off work early. Yay! She ran an errand right after and then came home. When she got here, we hung out a bit, sitting on the front porch, talking. Then we went inside and I made chicken and stuffing for dinner. We had a nice meal at the kitchen table. Afterward, the boys and I played an hour of Minecraft — I created a new survival server, and we had a big ball together.

Then we herded the boys into their showers. When they were finished, Wifegrit took over getting them into bed while I took my own shower. Yes, I had been a bit post-run stinky for a couple hours by this point. Such happens sometimes when one thing happens right after another during a family day. But I was all clean and fresh for bedtime.

Although it had been a very unusual Saturday, what with one boy sleeping in half the day, the other going to school, the wife working part of the day, and me getting over an hour of free running time, but it was a pretty good day. A pretty good day.

Bullgrit