The Week

 Here's what's been going on this week.

Morry left Tuesday morning to go to Tucson to help Jack/Zayde.  He came back this evening.

I taught and tutored.

The kids and I mostly stayed at home.  Evan missed his Tuesday practice because I was tutoring.  Wednesday's practice was canceled because the coach's wife had a positive Covid test.  It turned out to be a false positive and she's fine.

Yesterday, while I was teaching on my students noticed a coral snake slithering between our outdoor classroom and not of the other outdoor classrooms.  Of course, it was a big deal. Coral snakes are venomous and the kids were going crazy.  One of the coaches/teachers killed it when it slithered into the bushes.

Today the boys came with me to school.  They did their work there and we picked up bagels from Einstein's for lunch.

Morry picked up dinner for all of us from Simply Pho on his way home from the airport.

Morry and I just took a walk.

Here's a picture of the boys playing tennis today.

Errands

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It seemed a little colder on the walk this morning, even though the weather apps on our phones said it was warmer.  It was cloudier and there was more of a breeze.

When we got home, I did some work and then I had to run to the bank and I took my car to get washed.  I can work from the car wash place.

I came home and picked up Rachel and we went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.  We stopped by the post office and Office Depot as well.

We walked to get Noah.  Evan went home with his friend Ethan.  On the way we saw a snake on the sidewalk.  It turns out it was a garter snake.

For dinner, we went to Genghis Grill.  Both boys have been asking us to go there.

The boys are going to bed soon.

Until next time...

Noah Back at School

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel and I fully expected Noah to miss another day this morning.  When he went to bed he still had a fever and wasn't showing any signs of getting better.  I woke him up this morning and took his temperature and just as fast as his fever had come on, it was gone.  I asked him how he felt and if he wanted to go to school and he said he wanted to go to school.

I went into Aaron's for a bit today.  On the way home, I stopped at Smoothie King.

We walked to get the kids from school.  Evan ran up ahead.  He wanted to run all the way home.  He ran all the way to school this morning.  As we got to one corner, Evan came running back towards us with his eyes open big.  He said he saw a snake.  I went up an investigated and it was gone.  Our neighbor was behind us and he poked a stick into the plants that Evan said the snake came out of but it must have slithered off.  Probably it was as scared of Evan as Evan was of it.  I do not think it was any kind of poisonous snake or anything.

Deborah came over for after we got home.  She worked with Lizzy for a while and then I helped her with her site.

After that Josh and his dad came over and Rachel tutored Josh.

We had leftovers from last night for dinner.

Rachel is reading with Noah now and then he will go up to bed.

Until next time...

Hat Hero

This morning it took us a long time to leave the house. I had everything in the car ready for our walk around the lake, but we didn't leave until about an hour after that. The whole morning Noah was acting like he needed to go to the bathroom, but he wouldn't go. I didn't want to get in the car and have him throw a fit because he needed to potty. I also didn't want to have him pee on the side of the trail like he does sometimes. I told him we would not be leaving until he went potty. He wouldn't go, so finally I told him we would just drop him off at Clubhouse for kids and then we would go to the lake without him. He still wouldn't potty. He threw a fit and I got him in the car. As we go tot he corner of our street he finally decided he would go potty. I had to quickly get him back in the house and to the restroom while Evan and Lizzy waited in the car.

At the lake the little Zilker Park train passed in front of us. On the train, a woman's hat flew off and I could see it was a hat decorated by a kid that said "Mom" on it. I quickly parked the stroller. Ran and got the hat and somehow caught up with the back of the train. It wasn't going that fast, but still at a pretty good pace. I handed the hat to the people sitting in the very back of the train so they could give it to the woman. Lots of people around were making comments about how fast I sprinted.

I was going to let Lizzy swim at one point, but saw the snake again. We went to a different part of the trail so she could swim.

This afternoon Gabby came and I tutored.

For dinner we had chicken in the crock pot.

The boys are playing upstairs now and we'll get them ready for bed soon.

Snake Sighting

The boys were up early this morning.

Around lunch time we went to the lake with Lizzy. I packed lunches for the boys to eat while we went around the lake. At one point we stopped to let Lizzy swim and fetch the ball. Evan noticed a snake under a bush. I didn't see it at first, it wasn't that close to us and not somewhere we would have gone. I looked a little bit closer and was pretty sure it was a rattlesnake. I didn't see the rattle, but it looked like the few other rattlesnakes I have seen. It was curled up and probably sleeping. We got out of there pretty quickly.

Gabby was supposed to come at 2:00. I signed up for a 2:30 focus group. Somehow there was a misunderstanding. I'm not sure if I said the wrong time or maybe she heard that I had something at 2:30, but needed her to come at 2 and got the times mixed up. Anyway, about 10 after 2:00 I called Gabby's house and her mom said she left already and would be there at 2:30. I called Blanca to come over. Luckily she was home. I still couldn't get to the focus group in time. I hit every light and they said they wouldn't accept anyone past 2:30. A little before 2:30 I decided just to turn around and not waste my time trying to get there. I knew I wouldn't make it. I ended up getting some stuff done around the house and then shopping at Target while Gabby was babysitting.

I tutored at 4:30, but my second student canceled.

Morry ordered pizza for dinner and I got home right before the delivery guy showed up.

The boys were pretty good today. Let's hope they are good tomorrow too.

Back from Florida

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We are back from Florida. It was a good trip for three generations of Belkin men.

Some highlights:

• We went to a fair at Mixon's which is a fruit farm as well as took a tour. On the tour, Evan was the first volunteer to have a snake put around him. Everyone cheered for him after it was over. He got to pet a baby alligator as well.


• We saw two baseball games. We had good seats to both games. Evan also got to eat popcorn and cotton candy. And he hugged and high-fived the Pirates Parrot. And of course, he got some Pirates gear while we were there.


• We got to play two rounds of miniature golf. Evan was very good and he really enjoyed it. One of the rounds, there was absolutely no one on the course so Evan played each hole at least twice. He also insisted that the two of us hit our ball at the same time which added an interesting handicap to me.


• We got to go to Pirate City which is a training area for the team. Some of the minor leaguers walked by us and said hi to Evan.


• We ate dinner on the Manatee river where the restaurant had a DVD player for Evan to watch while we ate. He got to pick out a movie and he chose the Clone Wars

All in all it was quite and eventful trip and Evan was incredibly well behaved. He enjoyed seeing Zayde and I know Zayde enjoyed seeing him.

Evan was excited to see Noah when we got back and the two boys hugged each other. Then we went to Evan's sports class where he played more golf. Honestly, I don't know how Evan had energy.

When we got back to the house, I saw how much Rachel had cleaned. She went through the toys in the toy box and cleaned up the game room and Noah's room.

The boys are now in bed. Evan really needed to get to sleep. Hopefully he doesn't come out of his room.

Until next time...

Spending the Day with Grandma and Papa

This morning I went to a Team Survivor meeting. They help cancer survivors train for events. The women there were very nice and I met a few other moms who live near me. They will be training for the Danskin Triathlon, but I’ll be out of town the weekend of the race. I hope to do some of the training with them anyway.

After the meeting I came home and Papa picked up lunch for us at Which Wich.

After lunch Noah and I took naps and Papa went to play golf.

For dinner we met Aunt Susan at Mandola’s at the Triangle. Since we were at the triangle we had to go to Yogurt Planet as well for dessert. Noah didn’t eat much at dinner, but of course, he ate all of his frozen yogurt.

I spoke to Morry tonight. It sounds like they had another fun day. Evan and Noah talked to each other on the phone. It was very cute.

Noah is in bed now and it seems to be quiet in his room.

Evan at Mixon's Farm participating in a snake demonstration.

Noah at Yogurt Planet