Thursday was a kind of 'catch your breath' day for the Jones crew. After work I hit the yard maintenance and focused on building a retaining wall (pic #1) on a shrub bed in the front yard and finishing up some shrub placement/grass seeding (pic #2 below). Lots of solid tasks started/accomplished.
After running out of blocks I made my way to the backyard to find Jim A and Ian playing some catch. Ian (and Jim) had a great time and we enjoyed watching; although it is killing me not to be able to throw (yet).Its good to watch both sets of grandparents so involved in our boy's lives and especially have a couple of grandpas who like to toss the ball around with the kids; I am looking forward to doing the same down the road (...far down the road!). It is always sad for the boys when the Appley's pack up and head home for the summer.
Friday morning I embraced the cool windy air and an arm on the mend and knocked out three hours on the road. At long last I was reunited with my 'mistress'. The high winds made for an interesting ride, but my route did a decent job in keeping me fairly 'hidden' from the 50mph gusts. I will say the ride home (tailwind) was a lot of fun and would have been a great day for a point-to-point ride to KC (a little far of a drive for Deb to pick me up). Looking forward to many more affairs with my side squeeze on my early Friday mornings.
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Jake had a meet (OC vs COC) Friday afternoon/evening in Branson and while the forecast was rain/hail we made the journey down skirting the heavy stuff until we reached the meet... then it poured... and poured... and then all of a sudden it cleared up. Deb made good use of the truck time to read with Ian (see pic to the right). Just when we thought there was not a chance of this thing happening it cleared up. The meet started about an hour behind schedule, but son of a gun they were going to get it in. The meet was much smaller from years past (frustrating) which got it clipping right along and before you know it Jake was warming up for the open 800. 
He was nervous as Lebanon, Kickapoo, and Branson have solid 800m guys. Just about the time they announced first call for the girls 800 lightening struck twice; on the third strike they called the meet and Jake didn't get to run - bummer. We loaded up, grabbed some Hong Kong Inn in Ozark with my mom and pop, and then drove home. Not a waisted evening at all as even with the foul weather and not seeing Jake compete we all still had fun hanging out. Friday night was pretty interesting for me as Jake was having a tough 'teenager' day/period and a culmination of track (injury and the pressure of trying to make me proud), school (maintaining high grades and living up to our expectations) and day to day life felt like a ton of weight on his shoulders. He and I ended up spending some much needed time (after 2am when I finally drifted off to sleep) airing out some issues in his life and both of us ended up understanding much more about each other than before. Jake is a solid kid and it so much more 'together' than I ever was/am, but teenage years are tough and from time to time we all need someone to wrap us up in their arms and let us exhale long, slow, and deeply. No way would I go back to my 'teens' if given the chance! I ended up crashing in his room for the night on his lower bunk.
Saturday was spent at SGF's Ewing ball fields as Ian's team was playing in a round robin tournament. They won all three with the first one (17-16) being the only close one of the day (other two were 15-2 and 15-0). Ian probably had the play of the day as in the first game in the last inning he snagged a off-line throw to the plate (he was playing catcher), got back to home plate, and barely tagged a runner (would be tying run) to save the game; pretty heads-up play. It was short of a long day there as we arrived at 10:30am and left around 6:30pm. I was nice to see Jake drove down to watch his little bro play and hang out with Deb and my folks. E-ball's team walked away with 1st place; the kids were lov'in life.
Deb and I like that Ian wants to play so much, but we are still undecided as to how many 'weekend' tournaments to allow as with practice and games during the week I want my 9yr old to have 'down time' as a kid and not fill us all up with a rush-rush lifestyle. In our house kids get to play one sport at a time which never was an issue for Jake, but that has us 'pulling back the reigns' on Ian which is exhausting...
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The rest of Saturday was pretty low key with an after-game meal at Buffalo Wild Wings (always a favorite) and a little tube before calling it a night.
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Sunday morning came early as I wanted to finish up the front yard retaining wall and some odds and ends outside. Church came next and then some time with Ian at the gym shooting jump shots (getting ready for BHS youth basketball camp) while Deb got in a nice bike ride.
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My afternoon focus was a 65 mile steady effort on the road. The temps and light breeze made my efforts bearable. The route selection was a constant run of short steep and rolling climbs which netted me close to 4,800ft of elevation; I was cooked at the end. I feel my fitness is close to that before the arm incident and hopefully will return to racing in a week or two.
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Pulled up to the casa just in time for dinner (grilled chicken salad hit the spot) with a full table (Jones crew, Andie, Jim and Linda). I like our time at the table when it is full. Family dinner has always been a priority at our house and even with busy schedules we typically wait for each other until we can eat as a unit. Afterwards Jim and I put a butt whoop'in on Deb and Linda in an ongoing Spades battle.
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Monday was a Monday what can you say... if it was going to go wrong it did early and a virus hit my laptop and knocked me out of commission (until it was resolved later that afternoon). To relieve some frustrations I took an hour spin on the rig at lunch and that helped (much like always) to regroup. Caught some of Ian's basketball camp, played some catch in the backyard with the little man (that's right, the arm is 90% 'throw' effective), chowed down on some grilled chicken (didn't know they made implants for chickens, but these were some of the biggest breast I'd ever seen... chicken wise), played some Settlers with Deb and Jake, and headed off to bed at halftime of the Spurs .vs. Suns game (bummer SA lost).
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