Summer SumUps: Chase

Here I am, once again, months and months behind on all that's going on in our lives and I'm determined to have a massive blog session to catch up on the entire summer before it's Christmas. I figured I begin with one blog post for each of my kids. Let's begin with Mr. Tall - the child I now call Tall Boy because guess what he's now taller than his dad. Not by much, but he's definitely taller. 

I'm proud of this kid. I know I mentioned in the previous post I talked about how his summer started off, the very next day, with early morning drivers ed classes plus afternoons full of digging out the basement. He was very relieved to get done with that nasty stuff. (Take note - he detested every minute of drivers ed and hates actual driving just as much so you don't have to be nervous to be on the road just yet. I'll give fair warning when that time comes. We're still trying to strong-arm him into any driving time at all.) 

A very sad thing that happened during those first couple of weeks was that he suffered the loss of one of his beloved lizards. Little Samantha, the female and smaller of the two bearded dragons, had been suffering from a tongue injury and wasn't eating and just shrank away. One morning I went in to check on her and she was dead. Very sad. I was sad for sure, but Chase was devastated, as we all are when we lose our pets. He dug the little grave himself, right by the garage where I had just cleaned out the weeds in preparation for a hosta garden in memory of my mother. I'm glad to have had that spot for Samantha. She was a very sweet lizard, and yes there is such a thing as that. 

I feel like I failed Chase a bit this summer. He did have that amazing gig volunteering at the zoo, but he really didn't have quite enough to do. He had times of hanging out with a cute group of friends that made me happy, but often he was at home and not up to much. I was able to get him to join Emma and me on several outings that took place while Romney was at one of her many camps. I appreciated it a lot when he gamely came along. I was glad I got him to the aquarium one last time before our membership ran out. He just loves animals so much and that is a source of joy for me.

He did pester me endlessly about making him a sweatshirt - and when I say I made it for him, I mean that I bought him a sweatshirt on Amazon, taking that great leap of faith of online purchasing that a relatively inexpensive hoodie will not be total garbage, and then buying iron-on vinyl and cutting into the shapes he tells me to then ironing them on. Apparently this sweatshirt is like the top worn by an anime character whose name I can not remember at this time. Not Naruto. That was Halloween last year. Some other guy.

I'll post more about the 4th of July later, but I had to include a couple of photos from our morning cookout up Milcreek Canyon. Chase brought along two friends, Zoe and Carmen. I'm such a dorky dorky mom but I can't help but grin when I think of Chase having his own fun adorable friends, see them hang out together, be buddies together, all that stuff I remember so fondly from my own high school time. All three of them climbed in a hammock and ignored the rest of us like good teenagers do, although they did allow visits from a five year old who was also with us. So cute. He wouldn't let me take a picture of the three of them together, the big jerk - another teenager trait I hear.

We had a quick visit from Heather, mother of an old school buddy of Chase's who moved to San Fransisco. We had a great visit and it's so funny how the moms never seem to change at all (wink wink) and our boys just are changing so much it's alarming!

But the highlight really remained Chase's involvement at the zoo. He was able to sign up for additional days of volunteering, and although I know it was hot and the days were long but when I went to pick him up in the afternoons he was, without fail, happy and excited about his day.

During one visit from the St. Georgians we went to the zoo during one of his shifts and had a blast seeing him in his element.

I don't quite know how to express what it was like to see Chase interacting with zoo guests, squatting down to teach young kids about the giraffes - he worked with the giraffes almost every time he was there. He was confident, personable, happy, respectful. Everything he's not at home. JUST KIDDING! Chase is a wonderful kid, at home and away, but to see him extending himself and really thriving just makes every tough thing about parenting so worth it. I'm so so proud of him and hope he returns to the zoo in other capacities soon.

One of the last things Chase got to do with his summer was head off to the yellowstone trip with his dad, uncles and cousins. I think this was the fourth year. It was back to canoeing on the lake, unlike the tourist trip they did last year. What fun it is to think back to his first trip four years ago which was intimidating for him, such hard work, pretty scary...and this time he was just helpful and excited, ready to roll with the trip. Raising a teenager isn't super easy, but there are some things that are so rewarding.

And as a finale - more pictures of Chase and his very tall buddy Riley the giraffe.

What a kid.